A recent article in the WSJ caught our eye and we think it's worth sharing. The story outlined the failure of the Italian government to create not only a tourist website (five years -- and more than €45 million set aside -- on creating the portal, and nothing to show for it.), but to create a recognizable "brand" as well.
Did you know that over the past 30 years, Italy has watched France, Spain, the U.S. and -- more recently -- China surpass it as a tourist destination?
On the other end of the spectrum is Spain -- which in 2002 launched an attractive website that now draws 65 million page views a year and debuted a shiny new logo featuring Joan Miró's sunny "España" emblem. Spain is now the world's second-most-popular tourist destination after France.
What's this have to do with Greece? Well, we think the next couple of years will be critical in building out not only Greece's infrastructure (perhaps a new website), but also it's entire branding campaign.
We'll go on record as saying we think Greece is going in a positive direction and look forward to Secretary General of Information, Panos Livadas, expanding his "Brand Greece" initiatives.
DF: With billions of tourism dollars at stake, this is a huge opportunity.
WSJ
Spain's tourist site
Italy (future site)
Greece's tourist site
posted on Thursday, August 28