Business on symbols that did not exist

Many tourist places, especially those that have appeared in recent decades, do not have any symbolism of their own, by which this place would be unequivocally recognizable, like Belukha Mountain in Altai or a beaver in the Bobrovy Log ski resort in Krasnoyarsk. The business idea is to create and popularize a symbol - it can be an animal, real or mythical, a sign, a statue or anything else - and earn money in the future by selling souvenirs tied to the newly created symbol.

The business plan of this idea will include several stages:
- Popularization of the symbol. At this stage, there is no profit, investments are organized in advertising, the manufacture of a prototype (a giant statue made of wood or snow, for example). After about a year, you can move on to the second stage.
- The second stage is the production and sale of souvenirs. The sources of profit and costs are obvious.

Success with virtually no investment will be realized when the author himself is directly involved in the manufacture of souvenirs, or even owns the production or is ready to create it.

The idea seems absurd, but there are examples of its successful implementation. This is the famous Museum of Mice, for example, or the Yeti as a symbol ski resort Sheregesh. In both cases, a large copy of the popularized symbol first appeared, attracting attention with its absurdity (a 3-meter statue of a mouse made of metal, a wooden Yeti statue with a pineboard in the hands, the size of a person), tourists are actively photographed against the background of these statues, soon a small tray with smaller samples, and in a few years it is already a well-established industry, bringing its owner a good profit.

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Video - Development of tourism in Russia:

From Rostourism. In 2014, which is associated with the beginning of the crisis, 42,921 tourist trips abroad among citizens of the Russian Federation. In 2017 - 39,629.

Yes, there is definitely a downward trend. But 7 or even 8 percent is not the figure that can "kill" the market. People travel, and in the TOP-20 for 2017 there are Germany, Israel, Italy - countries with far from the lowest prices.

If so, where are the clients?

Many travel companies emerged in the first decade after the collapse of the USSR. At that time, people who had just collapsed the "Iron Curtain" were enough to simply hand over a plane ticket and a hotel reservation, and that's it. The person is happy. He has escaped to see the world and can tell his friends how it is abroad.

Time has passed, and now the bulk of potential customers for the tourism business are children of the 80s and 90s. With a different worldview, more free and independent.

They do not want to lie belly up on the beaches of Antalya. Unless once a year, when you need to "walk" parents and a small child. And they don't want to crowd with dozens of complete strangers around the next cathedral or monument. It is they who can organize their own vacation via the Internet, without intermediaries.

What do they want? Bright, juicy impressions that are difficult to get on your own. Flight to hot-air balloon over Cappadocia. Walk through the "secret" courtyards of Istanbul. A trip to the "Hobbit Village" in New Zealand. Participation in the national holiday. They want to realize their dreams and sparkle with beautiful photos in in social networks.

Conclusion: the market is changing, and we need to change with it.

Promising niches for the next few years

Here we come to the main point. You can talk as much as you like about how the world is changing, but where to run? What can be done to attract the current generation of tourists who are hungry for variety and experiences?

First of all, move from standard solutions to unique ones. Develop your own routes, establish relationships with new format tour operators, collaborate with private guides.

And most importantly, treat the tourism business as creativity, and not as a craft. Creativity is in fashion today - in the broadest sense of the word.

Here are some examples of fertile niches:

• Organization individual tours. People who have money don't want to travel like everyone else. Give them the opportunity to book a tour with the most flexible conditions, without standard solutions. This niche is already beginning to be explored by large tour operators, such as TUI and PAC. They organize trips on individual requests to almost any country in the world, without reference to ready-made "packages". There are also small private companies like White Label Travel, which specializes in the premium segment. But this part of the tourism market can still accommodate many companies.
• Organization of thematic tours. Biking trips, diving tours, cooking classes - find those destinations that interest you and where you can offer something unusual. It is with this approach that Velovuyki, who organize cycling trips around Europe, or Safari Tours, which specialize in diving tours and dive safari, have become popular in their niches. By the way, large tour operators also often make such programs - designed not for a wide audience, but for separate thematic segments. This means that the market exists.
• Organization of author's tours. Bloggers have huge readerships, and many of them specialize in travel. In partnership with them, you can develop unusual programs. For example, one of my favorite projects, Travel Inside, grew out of a purely "blogging" format. They do not have a special thematic niche, they use a different approach - they collect their own warm audience that travels only with them. You can do the same or partner with popular bloggers and organize tours together.
• Organization of tourist groups in a club format. Housing, transport, entertainment and attractions - this is the minimum for organized groups. But you can go further and arrange parties, socializing and other team building elements during your trips. Prominent representatives of this format can be One Life and Mikhail Kozhukhov's Travel Club. Their clients are not just groups that meet every few days and say goodbye forever. No, they ride with them and with each other for many years.
• Organization of tours in Russia for foreigners. All the same approaches can be used within your own country (unusual, author's, thematic tours). Examples include Express to Russia or ExploRussia, as well as foreign companies such as Responsibletravel, which organize tours to Russia for foreigners. They focus not only on history and typical walks in the center of Moscow or St. Petersburg, but also on natural attractions, holidays, national cuisine. The market exists, but is not yet filled with competition, and the scope for new business is huge.

Personal experience

I started working in the tourism business in 2015, in the midst of another crisis. The bulk of clients are from the countries of the former Soviet Union. At that moment, my husband and I managed to intuitively find the right direction and we founded Time 2 Travel club - a company for organizing individual travel.

What worked well:

• Experience and own example. We travel a lot in Europe and Asia, we constantly write about it on our social networks, and customers trust our advice on choosing attractions and hotels. Moreover, they want us, as people who have seen everything with their own eyes, to advise them on the best options.
• Individual approach. We do not offer ready-made tours, but ask what the client would like. Yes, often the choice comes down to one of the ten popular countries for which we already have blanks. But this is how the client gets involved in the process, starts planning the trip even before the moment of payment, feels that this is his trip, his dream comes true. And, as a result, he goes with us to the very end, and does not look at how his competitors are doing.
• Honesty. We play openly and tell our clients: this is the cost of travel, this is our commission. Oddly enough, they trade extremely rarely - apparently, they understand that earnings on one trip are not so great, and they do not fantasize about huge hidden commissions. We also always honestly tell people what they pay for, why one option is more expensive or cheaper than another, what to expect on the spot. This is highly valued and pays off handsomely in the form of positive reviews.

With the organization of individual tours, this was a good decision, and we decided to go further. Now we are expanding our business and will soon launch an online project under the same name Time 2 Travel - search engine, which will bring together organizers of excursions, tours and tourist attractions, as well as travelers who are looking for unusual experiences.

Photo: on

This new project grew out of our pain as travel organizers: it's hard to find quality excursions and entertainment. When clients ask to organize a walk around Istanbul or Paris, the last thing they want is to get on the standard " historical reference' a few hours long. I would like to find a person who loves this city, lives it and not only tells and shows, but gives travelers impressions.

Here we can again return to the issue of free niches in the tourism business. Agree, a guide is not the rarest profession. But if you do not work like everyone else, but do something unusual, really high quality and from the heart, and not according to standard templates, it will be much easier for you to find your audience and sell your services to them at good prices.

A few key words

Free niches are constantly appearing on the market and finding them is not so difficult. What you need is to keep track of how people's preferences change. Yesterday they just wanted organizations within the framework of "visa, ticket, hotel" - it was necessary to meet these needs. Today they want entertainment, experiences and beautiful photos- you need to satisfy these new desires. Tomorrow this will also change and other areas of tourism will begin to gain popularity.

To keep your finger on the pulse, it is useful to regularly read social networks and forums, listen to feedback, and most importantly, ask your audience directly. This should all be part of a continuous and regular workflow.

Don't be afraid of negative reviews. When a client says something is missing, they are giving you the most valuable free consultation and actually pointing out what needs to be improved. In the same way, you can follow the reviews of competitors and draw ideas: what their customers like, what they don’t like.

With this approach, you are unlikely to run out of ideas. Of course, then there is a lot of work to be done to implement the plan, but this is a topic for another story.

Of course, the brand of the country is created in order to attract tourists. But in addition to it, a number of factors influence the increase in the number of tourists: the remoteness of the country, the level of security, the availability of developed infrastructure, the number of major events held, and many others.

There is no universal formula for creating a country brand that would help attract a certain percentage of tourists to the country, emphasizes Igor Blagodarsky. In each case, brand promotion is supported by real changes in the country.

The work of the brand on internal audiences plays almost the main role. It is the people of the country and companies working in the field of tourism and beyond that will create the impressions that the brand of the country promises to its guests.

Branding of which countries is the most striking, conceptual and memorable?

One example is Iceland. It has experienced a tourism boom since the 2010s, with a double-digit annual increase in tourists. The concept of the country brand is a proposal to be inspired by a unique and mysterious lifestyle. This message was actively promoted on social networks and on YouTube. The brand's communication initiative has proved so infectious that the Iceland Academy series of commercials has launched a wave of others already created by the Icelanders themselves. As a result, the country, which used to be associated with ice and a volcano with an unpronounceable name, has become one of the most sought-after destinations for travelers from Europe and North America, and annual per capita GDP grew from $5,000 to $45,000 in 9 years.

Among countries former USSR Perhaps the most interesting example is Georgia. It attracted the attention of tourists from European countries and reactivated the flow of tourists from Russia. According to open data, the contribution of tourism to the country's GDP today is 18%.

By the way, a city can also be a brand. In 2010, our agency developed the Melbourne brand, which presented the city as the creative and progressive capital of Australia. After two years of branding, the city's GDP grew by 10% to $56.8 billion, while its outbound tourism revenue grew by 5% to $3.4 billion.

Most recently, we presented the idea of ​​a new brand of Azerbaijan - "Look in a new way." The brand's visual identity consists of two figures that together form an icon stylized as a capital letter "a" symbolizing Azerbaijan.

The new visual symbol is a lens that allows you to see more, look at the place and its culture from a different angle.

What are the components of the "brand book" of the country?

By itself, a brand book is not the goal of any branding project. The brand book only formalizes all strategic and conceptual developments and decisions within the framework of the project, and their list depends on the tasks ahead.

When developing the positioning of a tourist destination, special attention is paid to the target audience and the opportunities that this country already has. I'm talking about infrastructure, human resources, cultural attractions, business opportunities, transport accessibility.

It is also worth noting that the work of the brand on internal audiences plays almost the main role. It is the people of the country and the companies (working in the field of tourism and beyond) that will create the impressions that the brand of the country promises to its guests. The brand should inspire local people who will further help to spread a positive image around the world.

What was the most difficult thing when creating the brand of Azerbaijan?

Be on time. We started work on the project in July and knew that on November 5th the brand should be presented to the general public at the World Travel Market in London. Taking into account the rather tight timing, we built our processes so that time does not affect the quality. To do this, our team of experts from different countries (including the potential markets of Azerbaijan) worked intensively on the territory of Azerbaijan. In addition, the client's team assisted us in the work processes and brilliantly organized our trip to the country.

We were able in a fairly short time to study the historical and cultural background of the country, the thinking and lifestyle of people, the vision of the future, the opportunity to stand out in a competitive environment. Thanks to this, we have created a truly strong and credible positioning idea and a vibrant and lively brand.

What distinguishes the brand of Azerbaijan from other eastern countries, for example, from Turkey, which also focuses on hospitality, natural diversity, centuries-old culture, and the like?

By themselves, hospitality, natural diversity and centuries-old culture are not unique advantages. The uniqueness lies in the details and nuances, which can be discussed for a long time. And the mission of the brand Azerbaijan is to give guests a taste of these details, and for the inhabitants of the country to do everything to make them proud of them.

One of the key challenges for the country was that people know very little about it (even in the countries of the former Soviet Union there are certain stereotypes about Azerbaijan that are far from reality). However, it also became an advantage. The Azerbaijan brand invites people to discover the mysterious essence of the country, turning the journey into a kind of exploration.

Igor Blagodarsky

What are the statistics: travelers from which countries visit Azerbaijan? What are the expectations - will the new brand change the situation?

Tourists mainly come to Azerbaijan from Russia, the republics of the former Soviet Union and from Iran. Recently, there has been an increase in interest in the Middle East. The main task of the brand is to stimulate an increase in flows from these markets, as well as to interest tourists from Europe.

In 2017, the country welcomed 2.6 million tourists who spent more than $1.3 billion, propelling the country to the top tier of the world's fastest growing tourist destinations. The goal of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board is to double their number by 2023 and make tourism the second the most important industry the country's economy.

In order for the Russian province to become attractive for tourists, full-fledged cooperation between the authorities, business and the population is necessary.

This was discussed by the participants of the Interregional Tourist Forum "History of Russia in Small Towns" held in Kostroma.

Today there are about 700 small towns in the country, but only a few can be considered interesting for tourists. The Association of Small Tourist Towns, for example, has only eight members: Azov, Dmitrov, Yelabuga, Kungur, Myshkin, Suzdal, Tobolsk and Uglich. In addition to the above, there are, of course, other tempting "small" points on the Russian map, but in any case, these are crumbs in comparison with the total array of opportunities that have not yet been used.

Meanwhile, tourism for the periphery is the most serious, and sometimes the only source of economic development. The representative of the small French town of Provins near Paris, Bruno Baron-Renaud, who participated in the conference, named figures that are absolutely fantastic by Russian standards: 700,000 tourists visit this town of 10,000 every year. Such a record is still out of reach even for the leaders of domestic provincial tourism.

It is well known what problems do not allow the Russian tourism industry to soar, forcing them to crawl. Probably only the lazy did not speak about the weak development of infrastructure. But along with the lack of normal hotels, even in "originally tourist regions"We have, for example, the problem of the lack of standardization of hotel services.

Coming to each next hotel of the same star rating, you are not sure if there will be shampoo and slippers. Everything is completely unexpected and each time is different, - said Svetlana Razvorotneva, a member of the commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation on regional development and local self-government. A separate, in her opinion, trouble is the high cost transport communication. Tickets to Baikal or Altai are more expensive than to London or Rome, which is why tourist flows are redistributed in favor of foreign countries.

But the main problem that seriously hinders the development of tourism business in municipalities, according to Svetlana Razvorotneva, is the banal lack of interest in this municipalities. This is one of the consequences of the existing interbudgetary relations, which have narrowed the revenue base of municipalities, since taxes from business activities almost do not fall into local budgets.

Cultural and educational tourism brings little return. The most profitable trips - on vacation

The current interbudgetary system gives rise to dependency, since more than half of the municipalities' incomes are formed by assistance from higher budgets, the expert believes. - A persistent stereotype is acquired: the worse you work, the more you get. Accordingly, the incentive to do and develop something by ourselves disappears.

We are now preparing a serious package of proposals for the redistribution of powers and financial resources in the structure of interbudgetary relations in such a way that a significant share of the revenues of local budgets remains in place. This is an extremely important task, - said Evgeny Markov, President of the Union of Small Towns of the Russian Federation.

But, even if there is an initiative and a head small town he is looking for creative solutions to attract tourists with all his might, he often prefers the implementation of large projects, forgetting that a small city first of all needs small programs.

The head of one of the municipalities, which has a unique tourism potential, explained to me this way: if he puts a factory or a large hotel business, it will be understandable and tangible, - said the deputy head of Rostourism Evgeny Pisarevsky at the forum. - And if you develop entrepreneurship, small hotels, folk art crafts, agricultural enterprises that supply products for tourists, the financial result will not be immediately noticeable. All this is so. But we must understand that the development of small and medium-sized tourism business, first of all, leads to the social well-being of the region: people will be busy with work, employed. They will ensure stability in the region. That is, tangible and intangible indicators should be harmonized with each other.

According to Yevgeny Pisarevsky, it is necessary, of course, to build large hotel complexes, but the advantage of small towns is that citizens living in urban centers come here to enjoy relaxing holiday in an eco-friendly and uncluttered space. And these advantages must be emphasized.

However, the pastoral, which is lovely to the eye, especially in its often wretched form today, is actually very fragile. According to Evgeny Markov, the ongoing processes of concentration of financial and labor resources in several largest cities countries can lead to the depopulation of the periphery and the outflow from there of the most promising, energetic and, what is most sad, young personnel who could develop tourism there:

Every effort must be made to prevent the build-up of this colossal destabilizing process of the country's development - the concentration of resources, globalization, which threatens even the disappearance of the Russian province.

At the same time, small towns themselves should stick together: it is much easier and more convenient to develop tourism together. Evgeny Markov is sure that for this purpose it is necessary to form inter-municipal groups of small towns and create transport clusters around them.

Svetlana Razvorotneva also considers weak inter-municipal cooperation to be a brake on provincial tourism. According to her, if in some town they decided to develop as tourist center, they rarely think about uniting in this endeavor with neighboring municipalities and creating a single program.

And yet, the main thing in the tourism development of the territory, according to Anna Kurbatova, editor-in-chief of the Territory and Planning magazine, is a clear understanding of the potential opportunities of the municipality and a clear idea of ​​what they can bring.

When you draw up marketing strategies for your cities, you should clearly understand what category of tourists you are targeting, how much money these people have and what they will spend it on,” she advised the representatives of the regions who attended the conference. - Because, judging by the presentations seen, a very average approach is developing in the regions in terms of the hospitality model.

According to the expert, tourism is primarily an economy, and if people come to a particular place, but do not spend money there, then the costs incurred by the municipal and other budgets practically remain unrecoverable.

Today we are waiting for government investments in cultural and educational tourism, where we get a relatively small return, - says Anna Kurbatova. - Guests leave much more money on holidays (event tourism), but the most profitable type is trips for recreation. And it is precisely in the entertainment and relaxation industry that private funds are most likely to go. Therefore, it is necessary to create such conditions that provoke investments of investors.

Although a good marketing program, too, as it turned out, is not a panacea. The solution of any one task out of several inevitably leads to a bias. An example of this is the city of Tver Vyshny Volochek. Moscow investors and architects were attracted here, large funds were invested, significant intellectual resources were brought up. As a result, the city received a tourism marketing program, and then even an award at the Venice Biennale of Architecture as a city where our historical future is shown based on the Russian context.

But this is a city with a completely degraded urban environment. It does not have any services in terms of recreation, entertainment, infrastructure. Therefore, starting with communications, the authorities did not achieve results in terms of increasing the economic attractiveness and, in general, the attractiveness of the city as an object of display, Anna Kurbatova believes.

According to Svetlana Razvorotneva, “one gets the impression that the abundance of monuments in the regions simply turns off the brains” and that our rudimentary tourism suffers from a focus on a very narrow target audience - “such intelligent ladies of the Balzac age who know something from history, literature, art and enjoy visiting churches and museums. Meanwhile, there are practically no offers for children and youth on the market. And where can they come from, if most of the small historical towns have an unpresentable appearance. The restoration and maintenance of their monuments, including those of federal significance, are, alas, mainly carried out by the municipalities themselves within their meager budgets.

So, according to the deputy head of the administration of the Uglich district of the Yaroslavl region, Elena Kaneva, there are 167 monuments of history and architecture in Uglich, but over the decade the federal budget has invested 17 million rubles in them, the regional budget - a little less, and the local budget and investors - more than 300 million.

And this - despite the obvious underfunding from higher budgets - is a concrete example of the triumph of the initiative. Success can always be achieved - there would be a desire. Why, for example, in the Ryazan city of Kasimov, standing on the banks of the Oka, with architectural ensemble no worse than in Suzdal - in the words of a forum participant, "emptiness: no souvenir shops, no restaurants, everything is closed"? And in Yaroslavl Myshkin, on the contrary, each ship is greeted with songs and dances, trying to attract tourists to the city. It's certainly not the federal budget's fault...

The development of tourism programs of cities and regions cannot be carried out only by the efforts of the authorities, sums up Svetlana Razvorotneva. - In order for these programs to be implemented and work, full cooperation with the business community is necessary and, of course, public involvement in these processes is mandatory. Where this happens, the tourism business begins to develop. Where this is not the case, all the programs developed by the administrations remain a stillborn product.

Vitaliy Karpinchik, Slonim resident, host of weddings and corporate events, professional traveler and accompanying tourist groups

In the "Three ideas for Slonim" section, our compatriots share their thoughts on how to make our city more attractive for tourists. Today, Vitaly Karpinchik, a Slonim resident, offers his ideas.

There is no effective recipe for making Slonim, like any other place, a tourist destination. Not a single idea that seems very successful or even implemented will guarantee that tourists will pour into the city in droves. First of all, the residents of Slonim themselves should want and be interested in seeing more tourists come to the city, and not only want, but also advertise their city and invite guests themselves. And for this, Slonim residents need to know and love their city, its sights, history. Because the increase in the interest of tourists to our city can only be achieved thanks to the love we ourselves have for our city. Only our love and care, our hospitality, coupled with event tourism, could give a quick result.

Vitaly Karpinchik

1. Hold an official Guest Day
Tourism and hospitality are concepts that are very closely interconnected. Therefore, I would suggest holding an official Day of Guests in Slonim. Slonim would be the only city in the Republic of Belarus where such a holiday would be held.

Discounts in cafes and restaurants on this day, free admission to museums, half the fare on buses - all this would testify to our respect for guests and our hospitality. Slonim residents could have a day off that day.

This idea might work. People would understand that this is a great day to invite friends from other cities to their place. In addition, we have many sister cities in different countries. Therefore, the Day of Guests could be an excellent occasion to invite delegations from these cities.

Gnomes - a symbol of Wroclaw

2. Come up with a symbol-brand of Slonim
The topic of city branding has been trendy lately. For example, a few years ago, a Belarusian designer made symbols of Belarusian cities as a graduation project, using the historical aspect as the basis for the visual images of cities. So, a crystal became a symbol of Soligorsk, Smorgon - a bear.

Polish Wroclaw, for example, is considered not only a city of bridges and students, but also a city of gnomes. Gnomes have become a full-fledged symbol of Wroclaw and are loved not only by the inhabitants of the city, but also by tourists. People believe that they bring good luck and prosperity to the city.

The first figurine of a bronze dwarf appeared in Wroclaw in 2001. Now the sculptures of fabulous gnomes, and there are about 400 of them, are scattered throughout the city center. The search by tourists for the little inhabitants of the city turns into an exciting quest: after all, inconspicuous figures are in the most unexpected places, even on a lamppost. Moreover, each gnome has its own meaning and profession. For example, a traveler gnome with suitcases will meet you at the station, and a friendly gnome will invite you to have lunch at the entrance to the cafe.

A similar symbol-brand could be invented by Slonim residents, based on some local legend or historical fact. To do this, you just need to invite people who are not indifferent and really love their city to a round table.

The production and installation of such a symbol of the city could be timed to coincide with the aforementioned Day of Guests, and over time, there would be more distinctive signs-symbols in the city.

3. One of the business cards of the city to make the shortest street
In the center of Slonim there is a very short street that leads from the square to the synagogue - Pereskok Lane, which has been recently noticed. This lane could become one of the smallest and narrowest streets in Belarus, if, of course, it is played correctly.

In Amsterdam, for example, there is a narrow street where it is difficult even for two people to pass each other. Nevertheless, this is the most visited place in this city.

And in conclusion, I note that no one will go to our city to see the sights or celebrate unique holidays, if its inhabitants themselves do not do this and do not attend these very holidays.

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