Crafting a strong storytelling narrative is key to marketing new destinations to gain trust and secure business.
At the Beyond the spotlight: the rise of new event destinations session at the 62nd ICCA Congress in Bangkok last week, Maria Oriani Ucros, meetings industry manager at Procolombia, said for a long time Colombia was regarded as a dangerous country.
However, positive promotion in recent years has successfully changed opinion.
“Colombia has been considered a violent country for a long time,” said Oriani Ucros. “It’s been a hard situation for many years. However, it’s part of our story, but we’ve changed the narrative from negative to positive.”
This includes marketing, From cocaine to coffee and a hard-hitting campaign with the slogan, Columbia, the only risk is you want to stay.
“This changed the perception of many people,” she noted.
Fellow panellist Leslie Zeck, who represents the International Association for Dental Research, said his organisation hosted its annual conference in the Colombian capital of Bogota in June. However, when voting on the destination five years ago, concerns were raised.
“The first thing that came up was safety,” Zeck said, adding that intense research was conducted, as well as a site visit to Colombia. Organisers then worked together to deliver this message to delegates.
Mohamed Ghadfi, director of business development and marketing at Niger Convention Agency, shared on the panel: “The business events industry is new to us. When we decided to build the convention bureau, the first thing to do was make business events known to decision-makers.”
This included devising campaigns targeting the government and officials to communicate how the sector can be a strong economic contributor.
He emphasised: “We brought this new spirit around business events to show it is an economic contributor to the country. It’s not only a segment of tourism, it’s a segment within itself.”
