1. Tourism is one of the major industries for many Asian countries, attracting sometimes much-needed foreign exchange Stimulating economic development in industries from hospitality, construction, property development, transportation, and retail To a mass of spin-off small business areas such as currency exchange, restaurants and bars, and tour operations

2. THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES The increase in perceptions of terrorist threat was embodied most graphically in Bali in 2003 Presently however, incoming tourist figures seem to be less affected than even the more optimistic estimates. Bali's tourism industry was of course hit badly immediately following the blast, but even in Bali, recovery has been faster than many predicted. Most significantly, it has been US domestic tourism that has been most affected worldwide, and while US incoming tourism has seen some retraction, inter-Asian tourism has been less affected.

3.  China is already the largest out-going tourist market in the region, and the increase in mainland Chinese tourists to international destinations is a trend that will increase in the foreseeable future.  Asian countries, especially those with large populations of ethnic Chinese like Singapore and Malaysia, have upped their promotion to the mainland Chinese market.  Recent developments include Taiwan to Mainland China tourism and the upcoming Olympics in Beijing

4.  New campaigns from relative market newcomers such as India, South Korea, New Zealand, Egypt, and the Philippines have been launched in the past few years, competing with mainstays Australia, Hawaii, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia

5.  International trends in eco-tourism, luxury exclusive off the beaten track tourism, and increasing grey tourism from such places as Europe, Japan and South Korea.  Cosmetic surgery handout/Mekong handout

6. Thailand, in the wake of it's successful "Amazing Thailand" brand faces a double edged sword, being able to boast some of the highest incoming tourist counts but the lowest expenditure per traveler of any major Asian country destination. Some of this should be expected of course given Thailand's relative low living costs and wage rates, and even more expenditure is hidden with much income disappearing into the cash, black and informal economy.

7. A trend to "sharing" tourism, with countries cooperating in offering packages spanning several countries, increasing value and synergies both to the customer and each economy. See handout With the complexity of the inbound tourism market increasing annually, positioning and brand image is becoming more and more essential to successful branding of Asian tourist destinations.

8. The importance of branding to tourism Every tourist destination in the world has a "brand image". If developed carefully the brand serves to differentiate a destination from competing destinations. Some destinations do not have a brand strategy, and are supported by inconsistent advertising campaigns, creating a confused image to prospective customers. Image must be controlled by a clear projection of brand identity.

9. When consumers decide on a destination for a holiday or a business conference, several "brands" compete for their attention. A strong brand is differentiated from others, has several strong advantages when compared to others, and has an attractive appeal to consumers. In tourism, while factors such as cost of travel, convenience, and quality of facilities are important, the strongest motivator is "image". Image creates an emotional appeal, which enhances that destination's chances of being chosen over others.

11. Interviewing travel agent counter staff is a cost-effective way of estimating brand awareness for tourist destinations as they are "gatekeepers", and likely to emphasize their own "top of mind" awareness to customers. They are also more able to summarize the perceptions of their customers due to their day to day duties - to a larger extent than supervisors or managers who are more distanced from the end-user.

12.  It is interesting also to compare the responses of travel agent counter staff to a sample of end users from focus groups carried out in the same inbound market countries in the following graph.

13. Brand Recognition and Recall  The following graph presents awareness of Asia Pacific travel destinations using unaided recall from a face-to-face personal survey of counter staff employees in 190 travel agent companies in Australia, Japan, US, UK, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, India and Japan specialising in Asian region travel

15. WHAT CAN WE SAY ABOUT VIETNAM AS IT RELATES TO BRANDING AND TOURISM?