Marketing and Advertising 101

Indonesia is not on the top list for the foreign travelers to visit when they come to South East Asia. Security concern and the lack of infrastructure may be the main reason. But what I see lacking is the marketing of the tourism industry. The largest component in the USD 1.5 Trillion worth of the international trade in services is travel and tourism. Indonesian government is desperate looking for sources of income to cover the budget deficit, but amazingly they overlook the potential large stream of revenue.

For the case of Thailand, under the slogan of Amazing Thailand, it attracted million of tourists to Bangkok and Pattaya. If we look at the advertisement, Thailand portrayed a wide variety of food, cheap shopping experiences, and wonderful dinner on a boat cruising slowly in the Chao Phraya River, the exotic Floating Market as well as the numerous historical sites. The exotic of Thailand is further enhanced by the amazing yet mysterious and beautiful Thai dancers. Needless to say, the sex industry is additional lifelines to the whole travel industry.

Malaysia takes a slightly different approach. Malaysia adopts Malaysia Truly Asia approach to bring out the unique culture of Asia. From the print and TV advertisement, I would say that the experience that Malaysia offer to the travelers is similar to what Indonesia can offer, like trekking, hiking, canoeing and rafting in the countryside while experiencing the bustling metropolis at the heart of the capital city. Malaysia love to put the picture of satay and nasi lemak and nasi padang which they implicitly say “made in Malaysia.”

Singapore is the best example of having a good marketing approach. The island state cannot afford to ignore the tourism industry because of the dollar that the travelers brought in to support the financial, retail and other service industry. So, Singapore Tourism Board use the slogan Uniquely Singapore as it offers the travelers a distinct feel of the East meets West. Exhibition centers, performing theaters, historical sites and buildings are constructed and preserved to maintain the unique melting pot feeling.

The latest advertisement in the region is by Timor Leste. Some organizations and companies like Ogivly actually come together under the umbrella of “Friends of Timor” to promote the tourism. They claim that they do so without charging any fees. Their commitment, they say, is based on the feelings that they share with others and East Timor as a country while they visit that place. The Ad is simple yet complex: “For travelers and not for tourists.” The point of difference from other place is that backpack travelers (because no infrastructure to support tourists) can swim freely in the beaches of Dilli, play with the dolphins, big turtles and fish in the seaside of Atauru Island. Everything is natural, untouched by modernism, not crowded by other tourists.

What about Indonesia. I think we don’t have such an integrated marketing to market our tourism industry. The only advertisement is for Bali (out of the huge country). But even for Bali, little public relation is carried out to protect its image. After the bombing, we can easily read much of negative news about Bali but nothing positive about it is being mentioned.

Recently, I just discovered another attempts to publicize Yogjakarta as alternative place to visit in Indonesia. The advertisement concept is more of the beautiful nature, traditional Javanese yet exciting culture of Yogjakarta. Efforts are made to sell Yogjakarta, Solo and Borobudur Temple as a package. But shockingly, the choice of the advertisement space is ridiculous. It is not on the national TV, not on the foreign countries, but rather on the Soekarno Hatta International Airport, waiting hall for departure in the international terminal. Where is the logic? They advertise not before the travelers decide where to go but rather after they have finished their traveling.

I feel that the problem is not the way we market our country to the travelers but rather whether our government has the political will to promote tourism. The last major Big Bang in the travel industry is the Visit Asean Year which happened long time ago. We should change our attitude. Many countries are getting aggressive to pull in tourists and travelers. Their spending is a considerable injection to our economy. They are not only paying for their accommodation and transport. They are buying the handicraft, local products and food from the Wong Cilik. Singapore’s bustling retail sector is partly due ot the patron of the tourists.

Don’t you think we need to do something? Perhaps we prefer be inlander forever, to sit comfortably and watch the other neighbors earning big money. Hopeless.