European Travel

sfs98ud99 · Tue, 06 Nov 2001 16:17:55 -0800

You're a travel industry consultant. What is each
of the following countries doing right in marketing
to Americans? What could each one be doing
better?

UK - The UK has been the number one tourist
destination (in terms of numbers) for Americans for many
years. The UK travel industry bases its ads on the fact
that it's well-known, that English is spoken widely,
and yet it still provides the romance of a European
trip. The negatives are that it's very expensive and
hotels and transportation very often aren't designed for
the tourist. Many frequent travelers often steer
clear of the UK.

Hungary - Hungary is much
less-known than the UK, their language is more difficult to
understand, and their service can be hit or miss. However,
Hungary's tourism industry has been advertising in many
high schools and maintains a continuous presence in
web sites frequented by travelers. Hungary's tourism
officials respond to even the most inane comments with a
desire to do better (even if nothing actually gets
done). Hungary's travel has been steadily improving, and
has a good reputation among average
travelers.

Greece - Greece has a beautiful landscape - quite
possibly even more beautiful than Hungary or the UK - and
some people fall in love with Greece and constantly
sing its praises. However, Greece has a different
language (and the Greek alphabet), and its tourism
industry in the past has often been a "take it or leave
it" approach and a superior attitude. A recent
attempt to improve Greek tourism, while well-received by
frequent tourists to Greece, was met with some
questionable comments by some other tourists who didn't travel
to Europe that often). The response of the mayor of
Athens (printed in a local paper) was that the tourists
didn't know what they were talking about and should have
been focusing on the beauty of Greece instead of
complaining that they couldn't get ESPN.

The Greek
ministry of tourism, noting the success of Hungary and the
UK, keeps on wondering why fewer and fewer people
come to Greece.