Gillian Saunders🇿🇦

In the past, countries designed national tourism strategy with three main moves: - Audit raw assets (which had typically accumulated over years) - Build infrastructure to convert the asset into a polished experience (the more "shiny luxury-looking" the more you could charge) - Then deploy heavy CNN-style marketing Times have changed. Doha's Hamad Airport shows how some countries are taking the leap. Checkout the video for "The Orchard". It is a "tropical rainforest" tucked into Hamad Airport. Featuring over 300 sustainable trees, 25,000 plants, a 575-square-meter bio-pond water thingy, and a sweeping 85-meter grid-shell glass roof, this spot is a hit with overstressed travelers looking for an oasis. Traditionally, an airport was just the gate. You got marks for how quickly you could process people out. Qatar's Orchard flips this narrative by positioning the airport as the first touchpoint of the destination brand. It also says that luxury is no longer defined by "shiny". It is defined by wellness, space, and feelings of wholesomeness. How best to deliver that than through a connection to nature (biophilic design)? National tourism strategy must recognise changing trends. First, national tourism brands are built from the bottom up via social proof. "Ordinary people" experiencing the flow and spreading the word. A country’s brand is no longer what the Ministry of Tourism puts on a poster. It grows from the raw unedited footage that spreads across social media. Second, that makes CREATIVITY central. Concepts must aim for distinction, memorability, authenticity, and connection. You can't just hire a top agency to do a brilliant one-off ad and move on. In Bangkok airport, they have blended national cultural imagery with authentic Thai dance displays (see pictures in the thread.) The right concept breathes, it evolves, it grows on you. (Now, let me ruin this with a small political jab: that is why Ghana's National Cathedral was so unpopular in certain quarters. 😉 It lacked creative sophistication and distinction.)