FutureBrand donates Country Branding Index Report to CRST

FutureBrand SE Asia CEO Sarah Reiter has returned to Sri Lanka to officially donate the FutureBrand 2012-2013 Country Brand Index (CBI) valued at US$ 80,000 to the Centre for Research and Sustainable Studies in Tourism (CRST) as part of their commitment to Sri Lanka’s nation building.

Reiter handed over the CBI data to CRST and said: “FutureBrand has been conducting the global Country Brand Index for the past eight years and we were delighted Sri Lanka achieved entry in the last round of research jumping into the rankings for the first time at such a respectable placing of 67th globally out of the 118 countries analysed.”

“We recognise that CRST is a non-profit, industry based, organisation dedicated to providing the industry with a regional resource centre not just with data and statistics but market intelligence and trends, crucial for decision making and planning. We are confident that the donation of this data will support the Centre, and Sri Lanka at large invaluably. FutureBrand has in-depth knowledge of country branding throughout Asia Pacific and predicts that Sri Lanka has an even brighter future and we welcome the opportunity to be part of the journey.”

“Nation branding is a hot topic among marketers. Research and data on nation branding is a recent development. Having researched information is the foundation of developing a sustainable nation branding strategy. This data will be highly useful for CRST and our nation as a whole,” said founder of the CRST Dileep Mudadeniya.

CRST Advisor Srilal Miththapala added: “I have always believed that Sri Lanka tourism needs a very clear positioning and destination branding strategy in place, if we are going to be able to compete as a mature tourism destination in Asia. Previous cohesive and good efforts in Tourism Branding did not fully materialise, and the foundations already laid, need to be urgently revisited, revised and built on.

“It is equally important to be able to access whether such strategies in branding are yielding the desired results. It is therefore, imperative that an independent assessment and verification of the success of such a destination branding effort,  be pursued. In this context, FutureBrand has a proved to be a able to provide good analytical and independent assessments, evaluation and benchmarking of such branding, in an international context .
Their association with Sri Lanka, through the Centre for Research and Sustainable Studies in Tourism (CRST) will be a great boost to Sri Lanka tourism.”

The country Brand Index is a preeminent global study of country brands. FutureBrand annually measures and ranks global perceptions around the world’s nations – from their cultures, to their industries, to their economic vitality and public initiatives. The index is a result of trend reportage, expert findings, data-rich analysis and future-positive prediction. Sri Lanka is off to a flying start with attributes such as a stable legal environment, history, authenticity, natural beauty and arts and culture that resonate with visitors just as much as ‘value for money’ or accommodation.

In line with the Centre’s mission to go beyond statistics and analysis, the FutureBrand CBI findings will provide key insights for strategic thinking and planning based on the indicators that underpin tourism/visitor perceptions/participation.

“These are real indicators, identifying specific areas up and down the ranking that can give confidence to, or the need to address issues and either way provide input for future planning activities for the tourism sector as a whole or across individual providers such as accommodation, airlines, public attractions, cultural institutes or travel agencies,” said Reiter.

While the CBI data provides significantly more global and regional detail across all values and attributes a regional tourism oriented snapshot indicates that:

Sri Lanka achieved its highest rankings in ‘Natural beauty’, ‘Art & Culture’ ‘Attractions’, ‘Resort & Lodging Options’, ‘Yolerance’ and ‘Freedom of Speech’ attributes.

Comparing ourselves to our neighbours in ‘Art & Culture’, ‘Attractions’ and ‘Authenticity’, Sri Lanka outranked Bangladesh, The Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Sri Lanka also outranked Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia in ‘Safety’ and ‘Most like to live in’ and outranked The Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia for ‘Job Opportunity’ and ‘Standard of Living’.

FutureBrand understands the dynamics of this highly competitive and culturally complex region and as markets continue to emerge and develop, it can and does play a strategic role working with the public and private sector to defend and improve their market position by strengthening and growing their brand.

Having an immerse cross-market perspective, multi-disciplinary capability and a deeply connected FutureBrand network has helped many countries and commercial brand leaders enter the world stage successfully. FutureBrand is now proud to play a significant role in supporting CRST’s mandate through its contribution.