Regional Branding in Inbound Tourism

The Correlation Between "Regional Resources" and "Attractiveness"

Looking at the 2016 results of the "Regional Brand Survey" conducted by the Brand Research Institute since 2006, we see a correlation between "regional resources" and "attractiveness." Many prefectures ranking high in regional resources also rank high in attractiveness. Though some prefectures show a gap...

 

Regional branding requires an objective "bird's-eye view" from an outsider's perspective

 

Regional areas possess attractive local resources for foreign tourists visiting Japan. However, to leverage individual local resources and enhance the overall appeal of the region, the concept of regional branding is essential. Establishing a regional brand requires consolidating individual local resources and obtaining an objective evaluation and judgment of the entire set of resources from an outsider's perspective. Through this process of evaluation and judgment, a regional brand is created that maximizes the region's value.

When visiting rural areas, one often hears people modestly say, "There's nothing here. Just people and scenery." However, digging deeper often reveals wonderful historical episodes or interesting content discovered through the lens of culture or sports.

Admittedly, it can be quite difficult for the people within a region alone to reexamine their own area and rediscover its appeal. Even if internal discussions pinpoint hot springs or gourmet food as selling points, it means nothing if inbound foreign tourists don't find them appealing.

In such cases, leveraging the perspective of native speakers from target countries or regions, or the "outside view" of third parties like us whose livelihood is communication, can transform things locals take for granted into golden treasures.

In the book "Inbound Strategy from a PR Perspective" (published last November, authored by Dentsu Inc. Public Relations, Zheng Yan (Dentsu Inc. Public Relations Advisor, Beijing), and Ka Yue (Japan-China Communication Inc.)), we share an episode involving a female reporter from a major Chinese newspaper who visited Hokkaido.

She was from Beijing, where winter temperatures can drop to around minus 10 degrees Celsius. After her reporting trip, the title of the article she wrote upon returning to China was "Hokkaido is Warm." This article was reprinted by various media outlets across China and generated significant buzz.

In Japan, "Hokkaido is cold" is common knowledge. Even something taken for granted by Japanese people can become unexpected when viewed from a different perspective. This is a prime example of the insights gained from an outsider's "view from the outside."

Similar to the recent trend of local government promotional videos, another approach involves extracting individual regional resources and building their appeal from diverse perspectives to support regional marketing and communication.

However, to effectively establish a regional brand for inbound tourism, it is essential to design an information flow structure based on "context building" and "context dissemination." This requires an outsider's perspective to comprehensively survey all regional resources and create information that resonates with the target audience in the intended countries or regions.

Regional brands do not develop overnight. Tactics are certainly important, but communication grounded in this information flow structure—achieved by a third-party "outside perspective" that comprehensively surveys all regional resources—is what sustains regional brands over the medium to long term.

In the next and final installment, we will discuss the essential role PR must play in inbound strategies.