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SUMMARY
Greece although is one of the top tourism destinations of the world, with a steady
increase of the volume of tourists despite the crisis, has overcome some significant
negative publicity over the last few years. On the present report it is analysed thoroughly
exactly what is a destination brand, why brand a destination,how do we form
impressions on otherdestinations and how to best use the digital world in doing the best
branding of our product. It is being presented the current business landscape and as well
why choosing Greece as an investment destination.
BRANDING GREECE
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WHAT IS A DESTINATION BRAND?
A destination brand is the mix of the core characteristics of the place that make it
distinctive and memorable.
It is the enduring essence
of the place that makes it
different from all other places (and competitors).
Importantly, the brand exists in the
eyes of the beholder-It has to be credible and real it cannot be manufactured.
It is the way in which a destination nurtures,develops and
presents its core characteristics to its main audiences
that enables it to establish,reinforce, or even eventually
change its reputation
WHY BRAND A DESTINATION?
In the globalised world in which we now live, every place has to compete with every
other place for share of mind, share of income, share of talent, share of voice.
Unless a place can come to stand for something it stands little chance of being
remembered for long enough to compete for any of this precious attention.
Most of us spend no more than a few seconds each year thinking about a country on
the otherside of the world.”
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HOW DO WE FORM IMPRESSIONS OF OTHER PLACES?
Export brands
Promotion of trade, tourism, inward investment and inward recruitment
Domestic and foreign policy
Iconic public figures
Events
How citizens behave when abroad............. and how they treat strangers at home
Built and natural environment
World media coverage
Membership of international organisations
Other countries it associates with
Cultural expressioninclusive/exclusive
Sport and entertainment
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BRANDING IN A DIGITAL WORLD
•People’s desires & travel motivation
•New channels of communication
•More “friends”
•More clutter
•Make those “few seconds”count
•Let others help you
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GREECE’S CASE
Greece attracts more than 22.5 million people each year,
contributing 18% to the nation's Gross Domestic Product. Greece
has been an attraction for international visitors since antiquity for its
rich and long history, mediterranean coastline and beaches. In
2005, 6,088,287 tourists alone visited the city of Athens, the capital
city. In 2009, the country welcomed over 19.3 million tourists, a major
increase from the 17.7 million tourists the country welcomed in 2008. The
vast majority of tourists in the country are from within the European
Union (12.7 million), followed by those from the Americas (0.56 million),
Asia (0.52 million), Oceania (0.1 million) and Africa (0.06 million). In the
year 2007, more British people visited the country than any other
nationality, numbering 2.61 million in total, making up 15% of the
country's tourists for that year alone. Additionally, 2.3 million Germans,
1.8 million Albanians and 1.1 million Bulgarians visited the country that
year.] In 2007, 92.8% of the total number of tourists in Greece were from
countries in Europe.
Source:Eurostat
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Economic impact
At the same time, tourism consumption increased considerably since the
turn of the millennium, from US$17.7 bn. in 2000 to US$29.6 bn. in 2004.
The numbers of jobs directly or indirectly related to the tourism sector
were 659,719 and represented 16.5% of the country's total employment for
that year.
Greece’s Brand Value position
The Country Brand Index 2014-15 includes an overall ranking of the 75
countries, rankings by dimension, complete perception dashboards for the
top five country brands, regional leaders and averages and 'ones to watch'
for the future. It will be of primary value to country brand managers,
tourism, trade and investment experts keen to understand the levers they
can pull for competitive advantage. But it also provides valuable insights
for professional brand managers and leaders seeking to further harness
country of origin associations for corporate and consumer brands.
Rank Country
1 Japan
2 Switzerland
3 Germany
4 Sweden
5 Canada
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6 Norway
7 United States
8 Australia
9 Denmark
10 Austria
11 New Zealand
12 United Kingdom
13 Finland
14 Singapore
15 Iceland
16 Netherlands
17 France
18 Italy
19 United Arab Emirates
20 South Korea
21 Ireland
22 Belgium
23 Spain
24 Qatar
25 Fiji
26 Israel
27 Portugal
28 China
29 Czech Republic
30 Greece
31 Russia
32 Bahrain
33 Puerto Rico
34 Oman
35 Malta
36 Taiwan
37 Costa Rica
38 Thailand
39 Saudi Arabia
40 South Africa
41 Panama
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42 Argentina
43 Brazil
44 Croatia
45 Poland
46 Chile
47 Estonia
48 Malaysia
49 Peru
50 India
51 Jamaica
52 Uruguay
53 Turkey
54 Egypt
55 Mexico
56 Hungary
57 Morocco
58 Jordan
59 Slovakia
60 Sri Lanka
61 Lebanon
62 Romania
63 Colombia
64 Vietnam
65 Kenya
66 Indonesia
67 Bulgaria
68 Cambodia
69 Zimbabwe
70 Ghana
71 Iran
72 Bangladesh
73 Pakistan
74 Ukraine
75 Nigeria
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Private initiatives pop up to improve Greece’s
brand image
In the last months there have appeared some initiatives from the Greek
private sector, whether in Greece or outside it (where as many Greeks
live) to repair their tarnished reputation.
One of them is Reinventing Greece which comprises some youthful
Greek-Americans who have travelled to Greece to conduct a media project
to report on how Greeks are addressing the many challenges they face
today. In their own words,
At the early stages of their careers in journalism, communications and
different aspects of public affairs, these young people are here to launch
an ambitious experiment — first to ask questions, and listen to the voices
of those individuals in government, in business, and throughout society
who are offering solutions and proposing new ideas — and then invite a
global audience into a continuing discussion about these efforts to
“reinvent Greece.”
Another one, sponsored by some of the biggest Greek companies, is called
Greece Is Changing (www.greeceischanging.com). It is supported by large
Greek corporations such as Aegean Airlines, Cosmote, Costa Navarino,
Fourlis, Gregory’s, Titan among others.
According to their own definition, it’s a network of like-minded
businesspeople, colleagues and friends who invite foreigners to see
through the stereotypes and realize that there is another Greece which
believes in modernity, in the stability that being part of Europe brings, that
is fighting a battle for change that can be won. They want to attract
attention to the progress Greece and its people have accomplished and the
societal sacrifices made in employment, wages, labor relations and even
growth.
Yet another one is GoodNews.gr, a website broadcasting only good news
from Greece.
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GREECE’S TARGETS
Stand for something
•“Different from what I expected”
•Must go there
•Competitive w Rome & Istanbul
•Crisis =opportunity
More visits
ATHENS CASE:
“Once known for smog, traffic and tacky architecture, Athens is a city reformed thanks to
fortunes brought by the 2004 Summer Olympics. Spotless parks and streets,an ultra-
modern metro, new motorways, an accessible airport and all signs in perfect English
make the city easily negotiable Meriting more than a stopoveren route to the islands,
sophisticated Athens sites include many pillars of Western history,from the Acropolis to
the Temple of Olympian Zeus as well as treasures in the National Temple of Olympian
Zeus,as well as treasures in the National Archaeological Museum.”
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GREECE’S RESULTS ON TOURISM SECTOR
The number of international tourists visiting Greece in the first half of 2014
grew by 17%, driven by the strong demand from key European outbound
markets such as Germany and the United Kingdom.
Such results, which are well above the growth registered in Southern
European destinations (+7%), consolidate the very positive performance of
2013 and confirm the importance of the tourism sector as a stronghold of
Greece´s economy. In 2013, international tourists in Greece reached 18
million (+16%) generating US$ 16 billion (+13%).
According to UNWTO the strength of the tourism sector in Greece is the
result of a robust tourism policy, of the implementation of fundamental
competitiveness measures and of the immense capacity of the private sector
to adjust to a fast changing market.
GREECE’S UNSUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC MODEL TO DATE
Until the recent economic crisis, Greece was actually a growth champion. In fact,
it outgrew most other European nations and even the US, especially after Greece
joined the single European currency in 2002.
But it turned out that almost all of that growth was the result of government and
consumer spending fuelled by low cost credit. In 2009, Greece’s economy
suffered a crash landing when it became clear that the fiscal deficit was more
than 15% of GDP. Between 2008 and 2010, Greece lost 1.75% of its output per
year, which, combined with persistent fiscal deficits and emergency loans from
the EU, the ECB and the IMF, caused the public debt pile to shoot up to more
than 160% of GDP in 2011.It became clear from the debt crisis that Greece had
a flawed economic model. Chronic overconsumption in the public sector spilled
over into the private sector, revealing major structural gaps in competitiveness
and productivity. Greece’s burgeoning private and public spending between 2000
and 2008 (97% of the cumulative GDP growth was driven by consumption)
created a deteriorating trade balance, as demand
could not be met by foreign and domestic investment. In contrast, most of
Greece’s EU peers managed a
much more favorable trade balance and invested around 20% of their GDP in
their economies (Exhibit 1).
As a result of this, even before the crisis, Greece's debt burden was very high
(214% of GDP in 2008) with
public debt and consumer lending being the highest in Europe (111% of GDP
and 15% of GDP respectively.)
- (Exhibit 2).
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Investment and business scale discouraged
As in many Mediterranean countries, where family-owned businesses are still
predominant, the back-bone of the Greek economy comprises mostly small and
micro enterprises. For example, around 30%
of the manufacturing employment in the country is in firms with nine or fewer
employees. In contrast, Italy has just 15% of employees in this segment and
Germany has only 5%. These small firms typically
operate at less than 40% (based on EU-27 average figures) of the productivity of
larger companies with 250 or more employees.
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(Exhibit 5) In addition to family ownership, a number of scale disincentives have
resulted in the lack of large businesses. These include several overregulated
areas of economic activity (where prices, competitive conduct, number and
required ‘credentials’ of market participants are regulated), a frustrating
bureaucracy that must approve investments, tax laws and administration
practices that hinder scale (e.g., different requirements for tax-related
documentation), and labor restrictions on larger enterprises. In terms of
regulation, for example, Greece exhibits one of the highest degrees of product
markets regulation among OECD countries, an index that has proven to have a
strong inverse correlation with productivity. (Exhibit 6)
Exhibit 5
Exhibit 6
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INVEST IN GREECE
WHY GREECE?
-Foreign Direct Investment
In 2013, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Greece was satisfactory compared
with the previous year, despite the intense economic crisis. The total (gross)
capital inflows to the country during this year amounted to 3.3 billion Euro,
while net inflows reached 1.9 billion Euro, increasing significantly from the
previous year.
-Investment Incentives
Greece’s Investment Incentives Law governs the terms and conditions of direct
investment in Greece and provides for the incentives available to domestic and
foreign investors.
-The Greek Economy
As a member of the EU and the Eurozone, Greece offers access to high-
growth and emerging regional markets; is characterised by sectors that
demonstrate significant competitive advantages; has a well-developed
infrastructure; and offers a highly skilled and well-trained workforce, whose
labour costs are highly competitive within the EU. The country's natural
resources complement many areas of investment and the variety of
specialised industrial and technology clusters support optimal entrepreneurial
activity. The need for fiscal adjustment starting in 2009 led to the
implementation of a strict economic policy within the framework of the trilateral
support mechanism comprised of the IMF, the EU and the ECB. As a result,
the country's GDP was negatively affected; however, the consolidation of
public finance continued, a primary surplus was achieved in 2013 and the
promotion of structural changes and reforms continued, that significantly
improve the business-investment environment.
-Trade
Total foreign trade (imports + exports) in Greece amounted to 74 billion Euro in
2013. The EU is an important trade partner of Greece, since it accounts for
50% of the volume of foreign trade of the country. For the year 2013 the trade
flows between Greece and the EU increased, while overall flows between
Greece and third countries decreased.
-Infrastructure
The hosting of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens was a major catalyst for
Greece to initiate a number of changes and improvements in a variety of
areas. One of the greatest benefits was to the infrastructure; improvements
continue today, providing Greece with the infrastructure that enables the
uninterrupted implementation of any investment activity. Despite the current
economic crisis, infrastructure improvement will continue, through the
participation of private investors, and in this way create a significant range of
investment activity and opportunity.
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-Human Capital
During the last three decades, demographic shifts, EU integration, and global
trends have been reshaping the economic landscape so that the human
resources of Greece are highly educated and skilled and meet the needs of
today’s service and knowledge-based economy.
-Access to Financing & Venture Capital in Greece
The conditions that emerged from the economic crisis in Greece have
decreased financial resources. However, the recapitalisation of banks, the
Investment Law and a number of programmes to empower entrepreneurship,
offer investors a wide selection of alternatives for their financing needs to
implement their projects.
-Testimonials
“In 2006, Greece ranked first globally in terms of broadband growth. Microsoft
gives particular emphasis in developing innovation at a local level, since it
constitutes the key growth factor for each country. Within this framework, the
inauguration of the Innovation Centre aims at contributing in the creation of
opportunities for all that will reinforce Greek competitiveness globally.” ― Bill
Gates, Microsoft Corporation
-Emerging National Markets
As an economic and trade center of emerging markets, Greece is a natural
business base to access EU markets and the markets of Southeast Europe
and North Africa.
Investement Sectors in Greece
TOURISM
Greece is one of the top tourism destinations in the world. The number of tourism
visits over the last decade has shown a steady increase. From 14.2 million
international visitors in 2004, more than 17 million people visited Greece in 2008,
and it is expected that in a few years this number will reach 20 million, almost
twice the country’s population.
ENERGY
Greece’s comprehensive energy policy, to establish sustainable, competitive,
and secure sources of energy, has established an encompassing regulatory and
market framework for the energy sector.
ICT
The Greek ICT sector offers a unique opportunity for investment in high-end,
value added services with a global reach, including the creation of software
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development centres and microchip design labs. Greece provides highly skilled,
top-notch researchers and engineers at competitive salaries, in an environment
with superior infrastructure and R&D support.
LIFE SCIENCES
Strong market fundamentals and a top-notch talent pool provide the opportunity
for cost efficient medicine development in Greece.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Food and beverage is the most dynamic and high-growth sector in Greek
manufacturing and the Greek market has shown robust growth for almost a
decade. Investment opportunities include boutique and niche market goods, the
entire gamut of mass market items, products marketed as “Mediterranean,” and
the exploding organic food sector.
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Investment opportunities in waste management are exceptional. The expertise of
foreign firms to meet the demands of the local market is a necessity. Greece is
embarking on a long-term plan to overhaul its waste management practices. New
technologies are needed to deal with an increasing burden of waste and that
meet the demand for disposal, energy generation, recycling, and building new,
closed-loop systems that limit waste generation.
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CONCLUSION
Greece has achieved some good results in rebranding itself through public and
private initiatives. The good results are shown in the steady raise of incoming
tourism that is estimated to reach a number of 20 million on 2015( the double of
its population). Furthermore after analysed the business landscape, although still
many changes can be done in easing the investment procedure(burocracy, tax
laws, labor restrictions) still there are plenty opportunities in key sectors with
Tourism being one of the most promised ones. Highly educated - skilled human
capital, continuously improved infrastructure as well as a new investment law
with a number of programmes to empower entrepreneurship, further enhance the
growth possibilities of Greece to attract investments and win field in being the top
destination.