We hear a lot about branding a company. We don't hear nearly as much about branding a country. How does a nation like France, with a well-established (though not wholly positive) image, sell itself to American tourists, investors, and corporations? What issues must be addressed? What hurdles overcome? This article explores the answers.
Paris. The City of Light. La cité de l'amour. With 25 million tourists a year, the most visited city, in the most visited country, in the world. And of those 25 million, which foreigners lead the pack, stay the longest, spend the most? Americans.
The past few years have been rough for the French tourism industry. First, there was September 11, in the wake of which overseas travel took a king-sized kick in the shorts. In 2000, 3.8 million Americans visited France; in 2003, a mere 2.4 million. (Note: Tourism to the US also declined, but what's remarkable is that the drop-37% vs. 18%-was clearly more significant on the other side of the Atlantic.) In 2003, with the spate of French bashing and an anemic dollar, many Americans forsook the Pont Neuf and Provence for other destinations.
In 2004, the tide turned, with a 10% upswing in the number of Yanks returning. Hotels and restaurants hurrahed. And, in a country accustomed to weathering setbacks, the French stoic shone through. As Jean-Claude Demais, head of Normandy's tourist bureau, remarked: "The most cultivated Americans were able to look past the differences. But other Americans were told that French people were jerks and believed it."
The image of France is marbled with misperceptions. Although France is associated with tourism, tourism represents only a dollop of the economy (i.e., there's more to the country than Roquefort and Merlot). |
