19th - 21th April 2012

Branding the green

How place branding can contribute to the development of the Northwest of Portugal as a green tourism destination

4th ITW Conference

Destination Management and Branding in the Mediterranean Region

Antalya, Turkey

Eduardo Oliveira

Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

� Introduction

� The geographical area of research

�Economic and social background

�The economic contribution of the tourism in Portugal

� Why embrace green and sustainability?

� Why the green economy and green tourism are important?

� Why brand the green?

�Why green tourism destination?

� Research questions.

� Concepts.

� Words for the future.

Places have a past, a present and aspire to a promising future

Places have naturalnatural, cultural,

ethnographic and innovative assets

Nature

Ethnography

Communities

Landscape

DifferentiationDifferentiation

Competitiveness

DevelopmentDevelopment

Where?

Northwest of Portugal

The Place

Viana do Castelo

Braga

Guimarães

Porto

Conference theme: Sustainable Tourism in Times of Crisis

Times of crisisIs the time in the NW Portugal

Photo from the general strike in Lisbon March 22, 2012.

:::Let´s look to the statistics::: 13%

North

January 2012

Sou rce: Statistics Portugal,h ttp://www.ine.pt/

Economic and social background

Exponential Growth

Unemployed population / north / 2011:::250 thousands – 42%:::

3,7

4,16,1

6,5

7,1 8 8,27,8

7,8

10,1

11,1

10,8

3,8

3,7

6,2

7,1

8

99,7

9,1 8,7

11,9

12,712,7

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Portugal North

Unemployment rate (values in %)

2000 – 2011Sou rce: Statistics Portugal,h ttp://www.ine.pt/

Economic and social background

� Public debt of 93% of GDP in

2010;� The relocation of

multinational enterprises tolow-wage regions;

Economic contraction

Less international

trade-exports

Bailout EU / IMF / World Bank

Bring the budget deficit

below 3% (Eurozone) 2014

Sou rce: Statistics Portugal,h ttp://www.ine.pt/

The economic contribution of the tourism in Portugal

GDP (total contribution): 15.2%

2011US$bn

2011

jobs

Employment (total contribution): 17.8%

Source: Portugal Economic Impact Report, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)http://www.wttc.org/site_media/uploads/downloads/portugal2012.pdf

Long term growth, 2012-2022 of the tourism in Portugal

Growth rate of 1.8% till 2022

12-22

12-22

Growth rate of 1.2% till 2022

Source: Portugal Economic Impact Report, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)http://www.wttc.org/site_media/uploads/downloads/portugal2012.pdf

Tourism in Portugal: Estimates & Forecasts

2012 - Black scenario

2012 2022

Source: Portugal Economic Impact Report, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)http://www.wttc.org/site_media/uploads/downloads/portugal2012.pdf

� The UN system / UN World Tourism Organization;

� The Bretton Woods institutions;

� The World Economic Forum;

� The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD);

� The European Union (EU).

Why embrace green and sustainability?

Green Economy Green Tourism

They reiterated their commitment to green growth.

Portugal takes part…

Why the green economy and green tourism are important?

1. Tourism has significant potential as a driver for growthfor the world economy.

2. The development of tourism is accompanied bysignificant challenges.

3. The green tourism has the potential to create newjobs.

4. Tourism development can be designed to support thelocal economy.

5. Investing in the greening of tourism can reduce thecost of energy, water and waste and enhance the value ofbiodiversity, ecosystems and cultural heritage.

Green Economy Green Tourism

Source: United Nations Environment Programme, 2011

http://www.unep.org/yearbook/2011/

New engine of

growth

Green tourism destination

?

Is branding the Northwest as a green tourism destination the

right strategy to address the contemporary issues?

Is the process of branding an efficient and effective tool to

achieve development and competitive advantage?

Green tourism

Green brand

Northwest of Portugal Green area

Minho

River

Douro River

Peneda

GerêsNational Park

Porto

Douro River

Galicia/Spain

Source: http://www.google.com

What green/verde? � Peneda-Gerês National Park?� Whole the NW countryside?

� Rivers?� Moutains?� Ecotourism?� Rural Tourism?

Resources

If you NW Portugal

If you Gerês

� Positioning a brand as a green brand entails an activecommunication and differentiation of the brand from itscompetitors through its environmentally soundattributes.

� Involvement with environmental issues constitutes anessential factor in environmental behavior.

� Future studies should aim to develop standardizedinstruments for measuring the perceptual and attitudinaleffects of alternative green positioning strategies,which finally should lead to the development of morecompetitive green branding initiatives.

(Hartmann et al., 2005)

Branding the green Green tourism destination

� “It is accepted that place marketing can be treated as aninstrument of place management undertaken in pursuitof objectives that relate to the management of theplace”.

(Ashworth & Voogd, 1990)

� “A place brand strategy therefore is a plan for definingthe most realistic, most competitive andmost compelling strategic vision for the place”.

(Anholt, 2003)

Place Branding

Destination Branding

Brand strategy

Vision

Goals

Measures

� Expounding the unresolved issues around its

multiple goals;

� Reinforcing the concepts as a strategic marketing

activities/initiatives;

� Preeminent tool for urban and regional

development, planning and placemanagement.

Place Branding Brand the Green

Destination BrandingNW as green tourism

destination

Long term strategy to support economic andsocial weaknesses

Why branding the green?Why green tourism

destination?

Denominated as Green Coast until

2008 by the tourism institutions.

� The Northwest has been seen

as a green territory /landscape..

� The National Strategic Plan forTourism – mentioned the

green.;

� European Union 2020 Strategyhighlight the bioeconomy andsustainable / green / smart /

inclusive growth.;

� Action plan for TourismDevelopment, mentioned thegreen.

Brand strategy

Green features

Green tourism destination brand

Development&

Competitiveness

Engage participants / stakeholders

Cooperation

Coopetition

Networking

Select

strategies

Analyse

existing

images

Determine

goals

We need – cooperation & competion; exchange relationship

Zineldin (2002)

Strategic

networks Hankinson (2010); Ashworth & Kavaratzis (2010)

Northwest of Portugal Green tourism destination

Improve local values

& inclusive development

Only tourism or something more?

What do we want to achieve?

Community

engagement &

social justice

Planning tool &

place

management

Environment

&

Sustainability

Achieve wide cooperation

Development&

competitiveness

Defining a long term place branding strategy

Thank you for your attention

Eduardo Oliveirae.h.da.silva.oliveira@rug.nl

http://www.rug.nl/staff/e.h.da.silva.oliveira

Any Questions?