BROADENING THE SCOPE OF DESTINATION MARKETING IN 2016

Making a strong start in the first few months of 2016 gives us real impetus for the rest of the year.

TOPOSOPHY faces a busy schedule ahead of February and March, with significant events taking place around Europe. Nothing is actually more exciting than revisiting familiar and interrelated issues, which are already subject to a fresh approach by our experts. 

First, we reckon that in 2016 more and more traditional business will incorporate integrated, innovative solutions powered by the ‘sharing’ or ‘new rental’ economy into their offerings. While monitoring the implications of major developments such as Expedia’s recent purchase of HomeAway, we see the rise of new candidates, eager to respond to the changing needs and expectations of their customers, inside the tourism sector.

Second, our recent experience from the integrated destination marketing campaign ‘This Is MY Athens’ (website, bloggers campaign & website community of visitor greeters) has reinforced the perception of city branding as a process accelerated by a pluralistic formula. Inside the visitor economy, destination branding may primarily reflect the aspirations of tourism stakeholders, but additional groups such as residents and other professionals also have a legitimate voice. All these groups increasingly share their perspectives on how to shape a place’s image in the eyes of different target audiences.

On these grounds, we are initially getting ready for two events in relation to sharing economy and tourism:

-   On February 11, Manolis Psarros participates as a panelist at Adria Hotel Forum 2016 round-table on the theme “Sharing economy and the future of hotel industry”. Following last year’s meticulous work on the legal challenges of short-term rentals, we are now going to exchange views with Chief Executives of major hotel chains, Trip Advisor & HomeExchange on future developments in hospitality industry.

-   A few days later (February 17) Manolis has a similar contribution in Belgium, Antwerp, to a seminar organized by the Federatie van de Toeristische Industrie.

Towards the end of February, however, we turn our attention to the ‘Age of Democratic City Branding’. As the knowledge and industry partner of European Cities Marketing, TOPOSOPHY anticipates a great deal of brainstorming on the manifold perspectives of city and place branding during this year’s Spring Meeting (Madrid, February 24-27). Among valuable insights provided by international marketers, our outreach specialist, Kash Bhattacharya will dig into the opportunities of branding with travel bloggers in a keynote session on February 26 (10am).

Of course all the above are coming before Manolis Psarros along with Peter Jordan represent TOPOSOPHY in forthcoming ITB and set the next round of international events in the second quarter of 2016.

We share with you wishes for a productive year ahead and please feel free to send us a message at info@toposophy.com in case you want to meet us in one of these occasions.