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Destination: Cambodia

Course: Corporate communication, Author: Stine Josefine Hedemann Hansen, Supervisor: Steen Michael Hejndorf, Exam number: 288499, Institut for Language and business communication, year 2011, Units: 175000 = 79,54 standard pages

1 Table of contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………….4

1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………6

1.1 Problem statement……………………………………………………………………………………..9

1.2 Reading guide……………………………………………………………………………………………..10

1.3 Delimitation………………………………………………………………………………………………..12

1.4 Scientific choice of method………………………………………………………………………….13

2 Theoretical fundament………………………………………………………………17

2.1 choice of theory…………………………………………………………………………………………17

2.2 Society & tourist motivation……………………………………………………………………..21

2.2.1 Tourism in contemporary society…………………………………………………………..21

2.2.2 Tourist motivations……………………………………………………………………………….21

2.3 Adaptation and cultural differences………………………………………………………..24

2.4 From motivation to choice of travel destination………………………………………27

2.5 Destination branding…………………………………………………………………………………..28

2.5.1 A definition on Destination Branding……………………………………………………..28

2.5.2 Corporate branding vs. destination branding………………………………………….29

2.5.3 The destination’s stakeholders……………………………………………………………..31

2.5.4 The destination branding process……………………………………………………………32

3 Methodological fundament………………………………………………………..44

3.1 Choice of practical method…………………………………………………………………….44

2 3.2 Method in praxis………………………………………………………………………………………..45

3.3 Analytical approach………………………………………………………………………………..53

3.4 Transcription method…………………………………………………………………………………53

4 Analytical fundament………………………………………………………………..55

4.1 The identity of Cambodia………………………………………………………………………..56

4.2 The potential of Cambodia in relation to the Danish tourists………………….64

4.3 Cambodia’s image among the Danish tourists…………………………………………..71

4.4 Summary: Juxtaposing of the analyses…………………………………………………..82

5 Brand strategy…………………………………………………………………………88

5.1 The brand identity………………………………………………………………………………………89

5.2 Implementation of the Brand identity…………………………………………………….91

6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..94

7 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..98

8 Appendix (in a separate folder)

3 Abstract

As a consequence of the growing substitutability tourist destinations of today suffer from, this thesis seeks to find out how it is possible to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists. The reason for having chosen the Danish market only is a belief in the necessity of adapting branding and advertising strategies to local habits and consumer motives, instead of standardizing them. Furthermore Cambodia is not among the tourist destinations preferred by the Danish tourists.

The thesis begins by employing two theoretical frameworks. Firstly, sociological theories of the contemporary western society are applied. The purpose of this is to shed a light on possible factors within contemporary society that influence tourism and the reasons why people travel. In continuation hereof the thesis takes a look at generally considered tourist motivations that are often the results of people’s home societies, as well as the importance for destination marketers to understand tourist motivations. Also the need for adapting one’s marketing to local habits and consumer motives are looked upon and Hofsted’s five cultural dimensions are introduced. After having applied the sociological framework, the thesis moves on to the second theoretical framework: the field of destination branding. The purpose of this framework is to achieve knowledge upon how destinations successfully can work with branding. Among other things, Seppo Rainisto & Teemu Moilanen’s destination branding process is being applied. Within this, four steps are being highlighted: To establish the organizational identity, to establish the tourists’ present image of the destination, to develop the brand identity, and to implement the brand identity. In relation to the second step, Echtner and Ritchie’s model of destination image measurement is introduced: a model that measures both the common components of a destination’s image as well as its unique components. The last mentioned components being the ones that indicate whether a destination is differentiated or not. During the third and fourth step, several recommendations for the development as well as implementation of an appealing and distinctive brand identity are proposed.

After the theoretical fundament the more practical part of the thesis follows. With inspiration from the theoretical fundament, the investigation is focused around three areas: the identity of Cambodia, the motivations and travel habits of the Danish tourists and the Danish tourists’ present image of Cambodia. The thesis furthermore takes a qualitative empirical approach by making four focus group interviews with a selection of Cambodian and Danish people, respectively.

4 As a consequence of the focus on the above-mentioned three areas, the thesis contains three different analyses investigating these.

In the identity analysis the thesis chooses to use the image measurement model by Echtner & Ritchie’ to measure the unique holistic components of the identity. Here it is revealed that Cambodia has several unique holistic components. These are: a laid- back atmosphere, the offering of “Robinson Crusoe experiences”, the Angkar temples and a diversity of travel activities. Among the more common components of the Cambodian identity are: a beautiful nature, a friendly and hospitable people, and a general travel safety.

In the second analysis the thesis discovers that the Danish tourists in general are motivated by and interested in the same assets and activities that Cambodia has to offer. On basis of this, the thesis’ concludes that Cambodia has a great potential in relation to the Danish tourists. However, the third analysis shows that the present image of Cambodia is very poor due to a limited knowledge of Cambodia and what it has to offer. As a result of this, a brand strategy for Cambodia is made with the purpose of changing the present image of Cambodia among the Danish tourists into an appealing and distinctive one. This is done by firstly incorporating the Cambodian characteristics into the brand identity. Because they fit the travel motivations and habits of the Danish tourists it is argued that the image will be appealing. Furthermore it is argued that especially the promotion of Cambodia’s many unique characteristics will make the image distinctive as well. Even more, the brand identity is developed in such a way that it creates associations of the lifestyle experiences people can look forward to when choosing Cambodia as a travel destination. A strategy that in the theory is recommended as an effective way to make the brand identity distinctive and appealing. Furthermore this choice of strategy fits several findings of the thesis. To capture the essence of the brand identity, two strategic suggestions were made:

1) A lifestyle campaign that reflects the diversity of Cambodia via the following lifestyle categories: ‘Nature-adventure lifestyle’, ‘Relaxing in the sun lifestyle’, ‘Party like an animal lifestyle’, ‘Big city lifestyle’, ‘Cultural lifestyle’

2) Small viral movie clips filmed by satisfied Danish tourists enjoying different lifestyle experiences in Cambodia.

5 1 Introduction

Over the past six decades tourism has continued to expand and is according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) now one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world with an estimated number of 880 million international tourist arrivals as of 2010 (Appendix, 14).

Along with the huge and steadily rising number of international tourist arrivals, more and more areas of the world are developed for tourism, which means destination choices available for tourists are continually expanding. The result is a fierce competition where about 194 nations are “clamoring for a share of the tourist’s heart, mind and wallet” (Balakrishan, 2009: 611).

This competition has led to severe problems for destination marketers since most destinations of today are so developed that it has become difficult to differentiate them:

“Today most destinations have superb five-star resorts, hotels and attractions, every country claims a unique culture and heritage, each place describes itself as having the friendliest people and the most customer-focused tourism industry, and service and facilities are no longer differentiators” (Morgan et al 2002: 335).

To overcome this substitutability, one of the challenges for destinations has become to create a unique identity and find a niche that stands out from the competitors (Morgan et al 2002: 336).

Some destinations have already succeeded in this, whereas others have failed hard. Among the more successful ones is New Zealand with its campaign ‘100 % Pure New Zealand’ from 1999, which created what is considered to be one of the most successful and effective destination brands in the world1. Among the destination campaigns that are considered to be pure disasters is for example the Philippines’ ‘Philipinas Kay Ganda’ campaign from 2010.

Often, however, the situation is not black or white. A lot of destinations fall in a category somewhere in between, meaning that they may have succeeded in attracting a lot of tourists compared to previously (through destination branding or not), but that there is still room for a lot more, both literally as well as if one compares the destination with more successful but similar tourist destinations.

An example of this is Cambodia: After almost three decades of war and genocide peace has finally arrived to this lovely country. The result being that the Cambodian people have opened up their arms to the world, and tourism has taken well off. As of today, tourism can be said to have

1http://www.tourismindustryblog.co.nz/2010/04/100-pure-new-zealand-brand-is-it-time-to-change/

6 brought many benefits to Cambodia. To mention just a few it has provided opportunities and employment for a whole new generation of Khmers (the Cambodian people) and has brought a renewed sense of optimism and pride to the country (Ray, 2010:12-13). However, despite the increase in tourists, Cambodia is still in a desperate need for even more tourists if it is going to boost its economy and reduce its poverty2. Furthermore, when compared to its wealthier and more popular neighboring countries of Thailand and Vietnam, there is still a long way for Cambodia to reach the same numbers of tourist arrivals3.

This means that one or several destination branding efforts for Cambodia are highly relevant. Except from creating a unique identity and find a niche that stands out from the competitors, the question still remains how this is best done in relation to Cambodia?

Before I started considering visiting Cambodia myself I did almost not have any perceptions about the country. And among the few perceptions I did have, most of these were not very positive, and some not even true: I had a perception about Pol Pot and the way he and his Khmer Rouge had racked the country and performed genocide on almost one third of its citizens about 30 years ago (true). I had a perception of the country as very poor where it is not uncommon that parents feel forced to prostitute their kids or even sell them to be able to make a living (true). I had a perception that in general it was a very dangerous country to travel in - much more dangerous than for instance its neighboring countries of Thailand and Laos (not my present experience having now traveled in all three countries). The only positive perception I had about Cambodia was that it was the country of the world famous, and supposedly stunning, Angkor Temples. Besides from that, I knew absolutely nothing about the country.

So why did I start to consider to visit the country then? There are two reasons for this: The first one is the thesis you are holding in your hand: I wanted to write about destination branding, as it is a subject which had occupied my mind for quite some time, but I had not, at that time, visited any destinations which I thought had the potential to be the object for my writing. What I was looking for was a place that, in my opinion, has more tourism potential than the tourist numbers show – with the purpose of figuring out how to market that destination better than previously in order to attract more tourists. Specifically I was on the outlook for a destination where I could see more potential for the Danish tourists than the tourism numbers show. The latter because I figured that it would be too big of a mouthful for me to look into and change all of the tourists on the planet’s image of a certain destination, and since I am a Dane myself this would be the most obvious segment to look into. Furthermore I believe in the necessity of adapting branding and advertising strategies to local habits and consumer motives, instead of being standardized.

As such, I was looking for a destination, preferably a country that could use some (re-)branding in order to attain a new and better image among the Danish tourists than previously. An image that more accurately fits the reality. The last thing was very important to me, since I did not wanted to write about a destination which I did not think could live up to a potential image change.

2 http://www.prlog.org/10692739-cambodia-to-present-big-events-to-attract-more-tourists.html 3 http://www.world-tourism.org/facts/menu.html

7 For this reason Cambodia did, at first, not cross my mind, since I had almost only negative perceptions about the country myself. However, one episode was about to change this.

One day, last spring, when I was drinking coffee at a girlfriend’s place, she and I were talking about potential subjects for both our theses. I told her about my problems finding an interesting country to write about. Without hesitation she instantly mentioned Cambodia! Apparently she had, to use her own words, “been dragged there” a couple of years ago by her British ex-boyfriend. The reason why she had not been “thrilled” to go there was the fact that she, like me, had an overall poor image of the country. Not because she had ever met anyone who had actually been there and told bad things about the country, but more because she had this sort of “feeling”, an idea of the country, possibly fostered by the media, that it was a dangerous place to be for a westerner, with no tourist attractions whatsoever apart from the famous Angkar temples. In short: the same image of the country that I had.

But, as she told me, this changed as soon as she got there. And only changed more and more during her three and a half week there. She absolutely loved the country and everything it had to offer! From the stunningly beautiful beaches and paradise islands in the south, to the bustling yet charming capital Phnom Penh in the middle, to the wild eco-adventures awaiting in the jungles and mountains of the west and east, and last but not least the marvelous Angkar temples in Seam Reap in the north. But more than anything: it was the lovely hospitable Cambodian people that got her to really fall in love with the country. After having heard my girlfriend’s story, I started to do a bit of thinking as well as research about the country and soon realized that Cambodia could indeed have potential to be a great case for my thesis. Especially two things convinced me in this:

Firstly I figured that if her positive opinion about Cambodia fits the general opinions of Cambodia among travelers who have visited the country, and both her and my originally poor image of the country was shared among the Danish people in general, then there certainly was an image/identity gap to look into. Secondly, I discovered during my little research that the Cambodian people really need tourists – and many of them - in order to get out of their poverty and generally poor economic situation.

In order to figure out whether I agreed with my girlfriend, and thus whether I wanted to write about Cambodia at all, I naturally had to visit the country myself. So I did. And “luckily” I fell as much in love with the country and its people as my girlfriend during my two and a half months journey through the country this summer. Having returned to Denmark there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is a country with great potential for the Danish tourists. By looking at the tourism statistics4, much greater than I believe most Danish people know. For example when looking at the list of destinations the Danish people visited in 20095 Cambodia is not mentioned at all. This is not particularly odd since only 20 destinations are on the list. However, considering Cambodia’s neighboring country

4 From “Danmarks Statistik”: Holidays in foreign countries in 2009 (appendix, 14: table 12)

5 The only statistics and year I could gain access to from “Danmarks statistik”

8 Thailand is on the list – a destination that in my opinion is furthermore very similar to Cambodia – one should think that Cambodia could just as well have been on the list. This leads me back to my earlier question regarding what should be done in the marketing area for Cambodia…

1.1 Problem statement

As a result of the above issues in relation to Cambodia and the Danish tourists, the problem statement for the thesis is as follows:

How is it possible to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists?

In order to answer the problem statement, I need to be able to understand and answer the following operational questions:

1) Why do people travel? (Theory) 2) How can destinations successfully work with branding? (Theory) 3) What is the Cambodian identity? (Empirical) 4) What is the potential of Cambodia as a travel destination in relation to the Danish tourists’ travel motivations, preferences and habits? (Empirical) 5) How do the Danish tourists perceive Cambodia as a travel destination? (Empirical)

Thus, during my thesis, I will firstly investigate theoretical issues in relation to destination branding, identity, travel motivations, image formation, with more. Furthermore, with help from my theoretical knowledge, I will gather and analyze empirical data from a selection of Danish as well as Cambodian people with the purpose of being able to understand: Travel motivations, preferences and habits of the Danish tourists, how the Danish tourists perceive Cambodia as a travel destination and what the Cambodian identity is.

In the end the combination between my gained theoretical knowledge and the results from my empirical data should lead to an answer to the question of how to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists.

My goal with the thesis is to be able to develop a brand identity for Cambodia especially targeted the Danish tourists, as well as some strategic recommendations of how to implement this brand identity. The idea is that the Cambodian tourism board6 can be inspired by the brand identity as well as make use of the recommendations in the future as part of their overall marketing of Cambodia as a tourist destination.

6

9 However, anyone with an interest in marketing Cambodia towards the Danish people could potentially make use of the recommendations: a Danish travel agency, travel agents, tour operators, etc.

1.2 Reading guide

The thesis is divided into three parts with appertaining chapters: a theoretical part, a methodical part, and an analytical part. Furthermore the thesis has a fourth part which is the brand strategy part (brand identity and implementation).

The first part makes a theoretical fundament that is necessary in order to be able to work with destination branding. Before establishing the fundament, however, I will elaborate on my choice of theory. Hereafter three subsections follow: ‘Society and tourist motivation’, ‘Adaptation and cultural differences’, and ‘Destination branding’.

‘Society and tourist motivation’ consist of two additional chapters, both of which try to answer operational question number one: why do people travel?

The first chapter is called ‘Tourism in contemporary society’ and deals with a general understanding of contemporary western society in relation to tourism. It seeks to help answer question one by shedding a light on possible factors within contemporary western society that influence tourism and thereby also why people travel. Due to a limited amount of pages at my disposal I have chosen to put this part of the thesis in the appendix (appendix, 1). The second chapter is called ‘Tourist motivations’ and takes over from where chapter one was letting go, by answering more directly the question why people travel by making an outline of some of the many different factors that motivate people to travel. Many of these due to the nature of people’s home societies. The second subsection ‘Adaptation and cultural differences’ hereafter follows which introduces the concept of adapting advertising and branding strategies to cultural differences as well as local habits and consumer motives. Furthermore it introduces the Hofstede model and his five cultural dimensions.

The third subsection of part one, called ‘Destination branding’ deals with the question: How can destinations successfully work with branding? It covers different aspects of destination branding, such as: what is destination branding, differences and similarities between destination branding and corporate branding, the stakeholders of destination branding and the destination branding process.

After having established the necessary theoretical fundament, the second part follows which is the method chapter. It contains an elaboration of my considerations in relation to my empirical investigations of the thesis (my work with the focus groups) as well as later analyses.

10 The third part of the thesis is the analysis part, which contains three different analyses: The purpose of the first analysis is to identify the Cambodian identity on the basis of qualitative focus groups with Cambodian people. This analysis is relevant because I want my developed brand identity of Cambodia, as well as the recommendations for implementing this, to be rooted in what Cambodia has to offer as a travel destination. An important part of identifying the Cambodian identity is furthermore to find out how the Cambodian people want Cambodia to be perceived as a tourist destination. This analysis therefore seeks to answer operational question number three.

After having analyzed the Cambodian identity, I will seek to answer the fourth operational question: What is the potential of Cambodia as a travel destination in relation to the Danish tourists’ travel motivations, preferences and habits? This is important since there is no point in figuring out how to market Cambodia if what it offers does not fit the Danish tourists. Therefore this analysis first seeks to get an understanding of the travel motivations, preferences and habits of the Danish tourists based on qualitative focus group interviews with Danish people. The knowledge achieved from this analysis is hereafter being juxtaposed to the knowledge I have achieved from analysis number one about the Cambodian identity. It should now be possible to answer the above-mentioned question.

The last and third analysis has the purpose of investigating the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia and is, like analysis number two, carried out on the basis of the results of the two Danish focus group interviews. The reason why this analysis is important is that I need to establish the present image held by the Danish tourists in order to be able to know how to change it via a brand strategy. This final analysis is thereby trying to answer the final operational question: How do the Danish tourists perceive Cambodia as a travel destination?

After having made the three analyses I will juxtapose the results from all of the analyses. By doing this I should be able to find out how to change the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia via the development and implementation of a brand identity for Cambodia targeted the Danish tourists. The brand identity and implementation of it constitutes thereby the fourth part of the thesis. In the end I will make a conclusion on the thesis and answer the question: How is it possible to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists?

Before moving on to the first part of the thesis, I will cover delimitations of the thesis as well as my scientific choice of method.

11 1.3 Delimitation

Destination branding and nation branding may cause some confusion and lead people to think that they are two different terms for the same phenomenon. There are, however, significant differences between them: Nation branding is a broader term than destination branding with the goal of creating an overall positive image of the nation. An image that is used to advance everything from the sales and export of the nation’s products (country-of-origin) to businesses and investment, as well as tourism. Destination branding is, thus, a subcategory of nation branding as it concentrates mostly on marketing the destination in order to attract tourists (Fan, 2005:6-7), whereas nation branding needs to attract everything from politicians, to investors, companies and tourists. Since the purpose of this thesis is to investigate how to market Cambodia as a tourist destination towards the Danish tourists, it will mainly concentrate on the concept of destination branding. That being said, if destination branding is going to be successful it needs to attract and be on good terms with a lot of other stakeholders besides tourists, such as managers of hotel chains and politicians. Nevertheless, due to the limited timeframe as well as number of pages at my disposal in relation to this thesis, I have chosen to focus on the stakeholders I consider to be the most important for destinations only (cf. 2.5.3).

12 1.4 Scientific choice of method

A central question when working scientifically is to know which values one has in relation to the understanding of reality. The reason why this is important is that these values are going to determine which paradigm one’s investigation is controlled by, and thereby also which scientific method one should use.

In relation to scientific investigations, there are considered to be four general paradigms:

1) The positivistic paradigm 2) The neo-positivistic paradigm 3) The critical paradigm (critical theory) 4) The constructivist paradigm

The paradigms are different from each other in the way they answer three basic questions: What is reality (ontology), how is reality being recognized (epistemology), and how can the investigator investigate reality (methodology).

The answer to these three questions, thus, constitutes one’s basic set of values, and thereby which scientific paradigm one relates to (Nygaard, 21-24).

1.4.1 The constructivist paradigm

Since I am of the opinion that there is never one single recognition of reality only, this thesis relates to the constructivist paradigm:

In the constructivist paradigm reality is considered to be relativistic and the recognition of reality to be subjective (Nygaard, 2005: 25). In other words reality in the constructivist paradigm is believed to be a construction made by people, and there is therefore not considered to be just one single truth about reality (= relativistic ontology). Furthermore reality is considered being recognized via an endless list of different interpretations (= subjective epistemology).

The constructivist paradigm thereby relates to the postmodern thought with its lacking belief in universal truths (A:1).

1.4.1.1 Social constructivism

The constructivist paradigm encompasses a lot of different approaches that are all within the general paradigm. One of these is the social constructivism (Nygaard, 2005:37), which I confess to in relation to this thesis.

However, there is not just one type of social constructivism.

13 Therefore, to be able to position my own investigation within the paradigm of social constructivism, I will make a quick summary of four different types as classified by Collin (2003).

Collin (2003) is classifying his four social constructivism paradigms on the basis of whether one is assuming that reality itself is a construction (ontological constructivism) or whether knowledge about reality is a construction (epistemological constructivism). Furthermore he is classifying them on the basis of whether the type of reality that is ‘at stake’ can be considered to be a social one or a physical one (Nygaard, 2005: 128).

This altogether creates four different types of social constructivism paradigms:

The epistemological constructivism paradigm about the physical reality: Within this paradigm it is argued that knowledge about the physical reality is a construction, created via interaction and negotiation between people. The physical reality therefore exists independently from our realization of it.

The epistemological constructivism paradigm about the social reality: In this paradigm it is argued that knowledge about the social reality is a construction, created via interaction and negotiation between people. Like with the paradigm above, the constructed knowledge does not represent the social reality itself, which therefore exists independently from our realization of it.

The ontological constructivism paradigm about the physical reality: in this paradigm it is argued that the physical reality itself is a construction, which means that – as opposed to the ones above – it does not exist without our realization of it.

The ontological constructivism about the social reality: Within this paradigm it is argued that the social reality is a social construction that is created via our knowledge of it and therefore does not exist independently from our knowledge of it (Nygaard, 2005: 128-130).

1.4.1.2 Where my own investigation belongs

The thesis is operating somewhere in between the ontological and the epistemological constructivist paradigms. Below I will elaborate on this.

The purpose of my thesis - how to market Cambodia towards the Danish tourists - is primarily relating to an ontological constructivist paradigm. This is due to the fact that my choice of marketing Cambodia towards the Danish people only, as opposed to tourists from all countries on the planet, is based on the belief that marketing should be adapted to cultural habits and consumer motives instead of being standardized. A part of the logic behind this belief is that (tourist) motivations and habits are social constructions shaped between people in the different cultures. In continuation of this, it can also be argued that my theory chapter about tourist motivations takes a predominantly ontological constructivist perspective, since most of the motivations in the outline are based on the home societies of the tourists – indicating that motivations are socially constructed phenomenons.

14 In other areas of the thesis my approach is closer to the epistemological constructivist paradigms. For example is my theory chapter about destination branding, and the destination branding process, mostly of an epistemological constructivist nature. This can, among other things, be seen in the way I have incorporated theories that view organizational identity as a phenomenon that has to be agreed upon among the members of the organization and/or destination in order to achieve knowledge about it. Yet I am still aware that there is a Cambodian reality outside the agreed opinions of what the Cambodian identity is. In continuation of this my method of investigation in relation to this thesis can furthermore be argued to be operating mostly within the epistemological paradigms. This can be seen via my choice of using focus groups, as this is a type of method whereupon knowledge of reality is being achieved via interaction and negotiation among the participants in the focus groups (cf. 3.1). However, reality itself is not being created.

This means that I, via the focus groups, will achieve knowledge about the Danish as well as the Cambodian people’s perceptions of the Cambodian reality (image and identity, respectively) on the basis of their agreements and negotiations. However, the Cambodian reality itself is not created via the discussions.

Furthermore I will via the focus groups achieve knowledge about the potential of Cambodia as a travel destination in relation to the Danish respondents discussions and negotiations about their travel motivations, preferences and habits – but not a definitive no/yes answer to whether Cambodia does in fact has a potential or not.

Since I consider the reality of a destination to be both physical (nature, accommodations, tourist attractions, etc.) as well as social (interaction with local people, meeting other travelers, etc.) the type of reality of investigation in relation to the thesis is both social and physical. The thesis can thus be said to operate within all four social constructivist paradigms.

When relating to a social constructivist paradigm one of the “consequences” is that the investigator’s own perceptions are going to affect the results of the investigation, since it according to the social constructivist paradigm is not possible to separate the investigator and the investigated (Nygaard, 2005: 28-29). As mentioned in the introduction my perceptions of Cambodia are very positive after having been there myself. Therefore this is most likely going to affect my way of interpreting the different analyses. Had I had some very negative perceptions about Cambodia, my conclusions on the basis of the analyses would probably have turned out differently.

15 Theoretical fundament

16 2 Theoretical fundament

2.1 Choice of theory

The purpose of this section is to give a brief introduction to the theories I have chosen for this thesis as well as elaborate a bit on the reasons for having chosen these instead of other theories.

2.1.1 Tourist motivations

This theory chapter has the purpose of making an outline of some of the most frequently discussed tourists motivations within the tourism literature over the years.

The reason why it is only going to be an outline is that my interest within tourist motivations, in relation to this thesis, lies in the motivations of the Danish tourists, as opposed to general tourist motivations. In continuation of this, I do not believe in any universal tourist motivations, but instead in cultural related tourist motivations that advertising and branding strategies therefore need to be adapted to. Nevertheless, I have found that a general understanding of the many different travel motivations tourists may have in relation to traveling to be an inspirational help in my later work of understanding some of the motivations the Danish tourists have for traveling.

Because the purpose of this chapter is to make an outline of some of the many discussed tourist motivation theories, I have deliberately chosen not to be especially selective in my choice of theoreticians within this chapter. My only requirement has been that I via my research have found them to be dealing with some of the most frequently discussed and known tourist motivations. The theoreticians I have chosen for my outline are: Dean MacCannell, Graham M.S. Dann, Richard Sharpley, Rolf Jensen, Nigel Morgan, Anette Pritchard & Rachel Piggott and Giuli Liebman Parrinello. Except from these theoreticians I will furthermore in the chapter now and then relate the different tourist motivations to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

2.1.2 Adaptation theory

Due to the nature of this thesis, and its belief in the necessity of adapting branding and advertising strategies to local habits and consumer motives, I have found it necessary to gain insight into the Danish culture and what especially motivates people within this kind of culture. To help me with this I have chosen culture theorist’s Geert Hofstede and his findings in relation to cultural differences and consumer motives.

17 The reason for choosing his findings as opposed to other culture theorist’s findings is that I find his five dimensions to be very useful and applicable in relation to the development and implementation of a brand identity for Cambodia targeted the Danish tourists. That being said, I will not just make use of the knowledge blindly since I believe it is a bit generalizing to propose that a whole country’s culture can be simplified down to only four or five dimensions.

Besides from making use of them in relation to the development of the brand identity and later implementation, I will furthermore relate to them when making the analysis of the Danish tourists’ travel motivations, preferences and habits.

2.1.3 Destination branding

I have chosen to use Seppo Rainisto and Teemu Moilanen’s proposed destination branding process as a framework for the destination branding chapter, as well as my own working method with developing a brand identity for Cambodia. There is one significant reason for this, namely that the method differentiates from the rest within the field of destination branding7 by incorporating organizational identity issues.

Whereas organizational identity is a concept that has been recognized and used widely within the field of corporate communication for years, for a destination branding method this is very unique. Despite a realization among destination branding academics that the internal aspects are just as important as the external ones in order to develop a strong brand identity (=corporate identity), the main focus has always been – and still is - on the image perspective (Konecnik, 2008: 177). For this reason I have found it very difficult to find literature as well as methods within the field of destination branding that handle this ‘internal’ identity aspect. Besides from Rainisto & Moilanen’s work (2009) I have only been able to find a couple of other destination brand academics that handle this issue, namely Maja Konecnik & Frank Go (Konecnik, 2008), and Nigel Morgan, Annette Pritchard & Rachel Piggott (Morgan et al. 2002). However, when it comes to Konecnik & Go they are, in my opinion, taking a bit drastic approach by only focusing on the internal aspects, and thus ignoring the image perspective completely (Konecnik, 2008: 178). Since I consider both aspects equally important I have chosen not to use their method. Nigel Morgan, Annette Pritchard & Rachel Piggott (2002), touch a lot upon the importance of organizational identity as well (Morgan et al., 2002). Nevertheless, I find the way they handle the work of finding the organizational identity to be somewhat superficial, as they do not include the destination’s citizens in their work, as opposed to Rainisto & Moilanen. A stakeholder I find to be extremely important (cf. 2.5.3). I have therefore chosen not to use the above two proposed destination branding processes as method despite their incorporation of organizational identity. That being said, except from the organizational identity perspective, Rainisto & Moilanen’s destination brand development process is very similar to most other agreed development processes. For example both Hudson & Ritchie (2008), Morgan et

7 Among the literature I have been able to find.

18 al (2002) and Vellas (2003) have proposed multistage methods for destination branding that are very closely related to Rainisto & Moilanen’s.

Despite Rainisto & Moilanen’s incorporation of organizational identity, their method is not without weaknesses, as they use very limited space in explaining why the internal aspects are important in developing a brand identity as well as how to find them. Especially their handling of the internal aspects in relation to the research stage (cf. 2.5.4.2) is very limited.

For this reason, I have chosen to incorporate knowledge from corporate communication during this step. More specifically I have incorporated contributions from: Joep Cornelissen (2008) Peggy Simcic Brønn & Roberta Wiig Berg (2005), George Cheney (2004) and Philip Kotler et al. (2002).

Another weakness of Rainisto & Moilanen’s method is in my opinion that they have not incorporated the fact that a country can be a destination into their work. Instead they have made two different models: one for destination brands and one for country brands. The destination brand model is customized to “tourism destinations with relatively limited geographical areas and limited number of stakeholders, such as ski destinations, paradise islands or equivalent” (Moilanen & Rainisto, 2009: 164). This means that even though my focus is on destination branding, I have felt compelled to draw on the country brand method from time to time. Mostly, however, I have focused on the destination brand method, since I have found it to be the most relevant and applicable one for the thesis.

Even though I use Rainisto & Moilanen’s method in relation to the process and the steps within this process, except from organizational identity, most of the elements within the steps (such as image measurement, developing of a brand identity and implementation) are agreed upon as being important for the development of a successful destination brand by most academics within the field of destination branding. For this reason I also draw on work from a lot of other destination branding academics during the destination branding chapter as a whole. These are: Liping A. Cai (2002), Melodena Stephens Balakrishnan (2009), J.A. Rooney (1995), Graham Hankinson (2006), Morgan et al. (2003), Simon Hudson & J.R. Brent Ritchie, (2009), Laurie Murphy et al. (2007), Ana M. Gonzalez and Laurentino Bello (2002), Henrik Vejlgaard (2001) and Charlotte M. Echtner and J.R. Brent Ritchie (2003)

In relation to the last mentioned academics, Echtner and Ritchie, I use their model of destination image measurement to measure the Danish respondents images of Cambodia, as well as the Cambodian identity. I find their model (which is build on classic image research) brilliant since it helps measure the unique holistic components of an image as well as the common attribute based. This is important since it is the holistic components of an image that indicate whether a destination is differentiated or not.

In relation to contributions from within corporate communication I do not only draw on this field in relation to organizational identity, but in several of the other steps in the destination branding process as well. For example I make use of David A. Aaker (1996) and Philip Kotler et al. (2002) in relation to the brand identity chapter and the implementation chapter, respectively.

19 2.1.4 Method chapter In relation to my methodological work with the focus groups, I have made use of Bente Halkier (2005). This I have done because I consider her to be among those academics that have had the most practical experience with focus groups and therefore to be among the best within this field to learn from. Besides from Bente Halkier, I have made use of Steinar Kvale (1994), Ana M. Gonzalez & Laurentino Bello, as well as Philip Kotler et al. (2002) during my work with the interview guides.

20 2.2 Society & tourist motivation

This part of the thesis consists of two chapters: ‘Tourism in contemporary society’ and ‘Tourist motivation’.

2.2.1 Tourism in contemporary society As mentioned in the chapter ‘Reading guide’ this chapter deals with a general understanding of the Western society of today, with the purpose of creating a realm of understanding of the world contemporary tourism is operating in, and thus also indirectly why people are traveling. It is done by shedding a light on some of the most talked about ‘societal concepts’ of present time (e.g. the postmodern society, The Dream Society, and The Experience Society) and, where it is possible, linking characteristics of these to the tourism of today. As mentioned previously, this chapter has been put in the appendix (appendix, 1) due to a limited amount of pages at my disposal.

2.2.2 Tourist motivations

This chapter takes over from where chapter one was letting go by answering more directly the question why do people travel?

This is done by firstly explaining the importance of tourist motivations for the tourism industry in general as well as for destination marketers. Secondly it will represent an outline of some of the many different travel motivations tourists are considered to have – many of them due to the characteristics of contemporary society described in chapter one.

2.2.3 Why tourist motivations are important The reason why tourist motivation is important for the tourism industry in general is the fact that it acts as the trigger that sets off all the other events involved in travel (Parrinello, 1993: 233). The motivation to take part in tourism is namely “manifested in a felt ‘need’ to travel and only when the decision has been made to satisfy that need does the individual move on to the subsequent stages in the process” (Sharpley, 2003: 5.2). In other words, tourism would simply not exist if it were not for the tourists’ needs and desires (= motivations) to travel in the first place (Sharpley, 2003: 1.21).

For destination marketers tourist motivations are important to understand because choice of destination is first and foremost based on the needs and wants of the tourists (Sharpley, 2003: 5.2). This means that if the destination marketers do not understand the needs and wants of their target tourists, they are not going to be able to create destination brands or marketing that attracts them.

21 Below I have drawn a model of the so-called Tourism Demand Model as proposed by Mathieson and Wall in order to illustrate the role of motivation within all the other stages of the process of choosing a certain holiday destination.

Mathieson and Wall’s Tourism Demand Process model: (Sharpley, 2003: 5-2)

Stage 1: Stage 2: Stage 3: Stage 4: Stage 5: Felt need or Information Travel Travel Travel travel desire collection decisions preparations satisfaction and evaluation and travel evaluation (= motivation) experience

2.2.4 An outline of tourist motivations

As implied further above, in the literature you will find a whole bunch of suggestions to what motivates people to travel. Below I will make a summary of some of the most talked-about suggestions. In order to make it easier for the reader I have classified them into two different categories: motivations to escape and motivations for personal grow and self-promotion.

2.2.4.1 Motivations to escape

Many tourist motivations are believed to be rooted in people’s home societies which due to their often modern conditions, are perceived ‘normlessness’, meaningless, distressful, oppressive etc. As a result many people often feel a need to escape their home society by taking a holiday.

For instance many people go on holiday in order to get away from the routines and constraints of everyday life – to rest and relax, whereas others are motivated by a wish to experience something new and different their modern home society cannot fulfill (Sharpley, 2003: 5.6). The latter could for instance be to visit people in foreign countries who are different from themselves in culture, geography and lifestyle (Jensen, 2003: 53), or to satisfy some hedonistic needs that are sanctioned in their home society, such as overindulgence of sex, food and alcohol (Dann, 1996: 115). In other words: to liberate the libido.

Many people are furthermore motivated by a need to experience an authenticity they feel they cannot find in modern, developed societies. For this reason they seek it elsewhere as tourists in foreign, pre-modern cultures:

“The progress of modernity (…) depends on its very sense of instability and inauthenticity. For moderns, reality and authenticity are thought to be elsewhere: in other historical periods and other cultures, in purer, simpler lifestyles” (MacCannell, 1989:3).

22 The tourists of today thus become kind of pilgrims in the search for authenticity in other places and other people’s life. And often these places are countries or societies in the less developed parts of the world as they are more authentic in the eyes of modern tourists (Sharpley, 2003: 7.3).

2.2.4.2 Motivations for personal growth and self-promotion

Motivations within this category are all rooted in the individual’s concern for personal growth and/or self-promotion in one way or another, through tourist experiences.

Living in the so-called Dream Society (appendix, 1) more and more of the products people surround themselves with are about self promotion: it is all about expressing the exiting person one is, the values one has as well as the people one belongs to and differentiates from (Jensen, 2003: 75).

A reason that can be found in the characteristics of the postmodern consumer: “Postmodern consumers seek to feel good in separate, different moments by acquiring self-images that make them marketable, likeable, and/or desirable in each situation or moment” (Galloway, 2005: 7).

Holidays are being no exception to this trend: Many people feel motivated to go on holiday by an opportunity to be recognized and get their confidence or ego boosted. Something that can be achieved by getting a suntan, sending a postcard, showing photographs of places visited via Facebook, etc. The latter two being ultimate status symbols of ‘I am here but you are there’. The opportunity for ego and status enhancement can furthermore be directly related to Maslow’s self-esteem needs (Sharpley, 2003:5.16).

Other people, on the other hand, may be more motivated by a need for personal growth - or self-actualization to stay within the terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This can for instance be seen in people’s more and more adventurous holiday activities such as mountain climbing in India or diving with great whites in South Africa. Experiences that move boundaries for the perception of who we are, as well as challenge ourselves and the destiny (Jensen, 2003: 47-48).

In some cases, however, holidays even allow us to change the person we are completely – even if it is only for a short period of time.

As Horst Opaschowski for instance states:

“People on vacation want to consider themselves as a kind of actors. Holiday means the ability to assume a different role, to swap the old in favor of a new, better. Vacation will be to compare with a staged piece” (Opaschowski, in Jensen, 2003: 54).

The above quote is interesting as it uses two of the same metaphors that are being used in relation to the experience economy (appendix, 1) with the tourists being described as ‘actors’ playing roles and holidays being compared with “a staged piece”.

23 Whereas it is no surprise that the tourism industry is a part of the experience economy, the above quote of Opaschowski is interesting as it illustrates how the tourist experience has the potential of being an even more ‘staged experience’ than other experiences: Due to the special conditions that are often involved with being on a vacation – such as being far away from home and meeting new people – it is much easier for people to let themselves be staged in addition to the tourist experience and become different persons than it is with a more everyday life experience such as going to the cinema.

As a consequence hereof tourists of today are not as much asking ‘what can we do on a holiday?’ but instead ‘who can we be on a holiday?’ (Morgan, 2002:338).

2.3 Adaptation and cultural differences

In continuation of the earlier described tourist motivations of escaping one’s home society for several reasons, it has been proposed that global advertising and branding strategies should be adapted to local habits and consumer motives, instead of being standardized.

Earlier standardization in advertising has been the common method due to efficiency reasons. However, several studies in recent time have demonstrated that an adaptation strategy is in fact more effective (Hofstede, 2010: 85).

The reason for the effectiveness can (a bit simplified) be explained like this:

“When the values of consumers are congruent with the values reflected in advertising, the link to liking the ad, the brand or the company increases, and advertising will be more effective” (Hofstede, 2010:99).

Therefore understanding cultural differences and the variations in what motivates people is today viewed as extremely important for positioning brands as well as developing advertising appeals in different markets (Hofstede, 2010: 93).

2.3.1 The Hofstede model In the past decades several models for understanding culture have been proposed of which the Hofstede model is the one that has been applied the most to global advertising and marketing due to its large numbers of countries measured (76) as well as the simplicity of the dimensions (Hofstede, 2010:85-88)8. In the model, Hofstede has identified five dimensions contributing in differentiating cultures: Power Distance (PDI), Individualism/Collectivism (IDV), Masculinity/Femininity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) as well as Long-/Short- Term Orientation (LTO) (Hofstede, 2010:88).

8 See in appendix (appendix 2) for a review of the story behind.

24 2.3.1.1 The power distance dimension The power distance dimension can be defined as “the extent to which less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally” (Hofstede, 2010: 88). In cultures with large power distance everyone has his or her rightful place in a social hierarchy, and one’s social status must be clear in order for others to be able to show proper respect. This concept is important for advertising, especially branding, as brands can help people to be clear about their social status towards other people.

2.3.1.2 Individualism/collectivism This dimension can be defined as “people looking after themselves and their immediate family only, versus people belonging to in-groups that look after them in exchange for loyalty” (Hofstede, 2010: 88-89). In individualistic cultures, one’s identity is within the person, people are ‘I’-conscious and self-actualization is important. In collectivistic cultures on the other hand, people are ‘we’- conscious and their identities are based on the social system they belong to (Hofstede, 2010: 89).

2.3.1.3 The masculinity/femininity dimension This dimension can be defined as follows: “The dominant values in a masculine society are achievement and success; the dominant values in a feminine society are caring for others and quality of life” (Hofstede, 2010: 89). In masculine societies achievement must be demonstrated, which means that status brands and products such as jewelry are important in order to show one’s success. In feminine cultures on the other hand relations and modesty are important characteristics. This means that a relationship orientation (including family values) is not only a characteristic of collectivistic cultures but is also found in individualistic cultures that are also feminine. When it comes to role differentiation this is small in feminine cultures and large in masculine (Hofstede, 2010:89, 91). This could for instance be shown in the way women from more feminine cultures enjoy travel experiences, which in masculine societies might be looked upon as ‘masculine’, such as rock-climbing, or river rafting.

2.3.1.4 Uncertainty avoidance This dimension can be defined as “The extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid these situations” (Hofstede, 2010: 89). People in cultures of high uncertainty avoidance need rules and formality in order to structure life. This means that they believe in experts and are searching for one truth. Furthermore, people of high uncertainty avoidance are less open to change and innovation than people from low uncertainty avoidance cultures (Hofstede, 2010: 89- 90).

25 2.3.1.5 Long- versus short-term orientation This dimension can be described as “The extent to which a society exhibits a pragmatic future-orientated perspective rather than a conventional historic or short- term point of view” (Hofstede, 2010:90)9.

2.3.1.6 The dimensions vs. the Danish culture

The Hofstede model provides scales from 0 to 100 for all of the 76 countries and for each dimension. Each country has a position on each scale or index, relative to other countries (Hofstede, 2010: 88).

In the figure below one can see where Denmark stands in relation to four of the dimensions10 (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_denmark.shtml):

As can be seen in the figure, the Danish culture is characterized by having a low power distance, a high individualistic culture, a feminine culture (low masculine), and low uncertainty avoidance.

9 I will not go into anymore details concerning this last dimension due to the fact that it was, as the only one of the dimensions, only applied to 23 countries, and Denmark was not one of them (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_denmark.shtml). 10 See footnote above why the last dimension is not incorporated.

26 2.4 From motivation to choice of travel destination

In the beginning of the motivation chapter I wrote that if people did not have the need or the desire to travel, tourism would not exist. For this reason we also saw that tourist motivations acts as a trigger that sets off all the other events involved in travel.

In other words, tourist motivations make up the so called push factors that lead to the decision of going on a holiday to begin with, with the nature of those motivations determining what type of holiday or destination it is going to be (Sharpley, 2003:5-4). For instance, a motivation to rest and relax most likely will lead to a holiday with beach and sun (or cottage and wood), whereas a motivation for self-actualization might lead to an adventurous holiday in the mountains.

However, as we also saw, there is still a long way from these motivations to the actual travel experience. The most being the choice of travel destination and purchasing of a particular holiday.

This is where the so-called pull factors enter:

“…the image or known attributes of the destination, the impact of advertising, the distance and mode of travel to the destination, previous experience, the advice of family and friends and so on” (Sharpley, 2003: 5.2).

After having realized his or her motivations (needs and wants), the tourist is trying to figure out which particularly destination or holiday will fulfill them. This decision is based on the above described pull factors such as the images of the different destinations, advertising, previous experience, advice of friends and family, etc. Furthermore the choice of holiday is constrained by factors such as finance and commitments to family and work (Sharpley, 2003: 5.2).

As can be seen, a lot of the pull factors have to do with destination branding, such as the influence of the destination image, and the impact of advertising. Destination branding therefore plays an extremely important factor in determining the tourists’ choice of holidays.

With that being said I will turn my attention to the field of destination branding and how countries can work with destination branding.

27 2.5 Destination branding

This chapter is primarily dealing with the question of how destinations can work successfully with branding.

However, before trying to answer this question I will establish a definition on destination branding.

2.5.1 A definition on Destination Branding

I have already mentioned a couple of times during the thesis what destination branding is about, namely: the marketing of destinations with the purpose of attracting tourists (cf. 1.3). The destination being everything from a tourist resort, a city, a region, a country, or groups of countries, such as the Caribbean (Vellas, 1999: 183).

However, in order to be more specific, destination branding can be defined as: The selection of a consistent mix of branding elements to identify and distinguish the destination through positive image building (Cai, 2002: 722).

As can be seen from the definition, destination branding is closely related to other types of branding, such as product branding, service branding and corporate branding. As with the other types of branding, destination branding is namely about creating identification and recall of a destination’s key factors and differentiating it from competition (Balakrishan, 2009:612). With the goal being to attract and keep customers (Rooney, 1995:48) – or in the case of destination branding: tourists.

There is one type of branding, however, which destination branding is closer to than the others, namely corporate branding. In fact, these two types of branding, or brands, share some significant similarities, which I will elaborate on in the chapter below.

28 2.5.2 Corporate branding vs. destination branding

The similarities between corporate branding11 and destination branding are primarily due to the similar contexts surrounding both types of brands, which, therefore, have an influence on the management of them. Both destination brands and corporate brands are namely:

1) Comprised of a bundle of ‘products’. In a destination brand context this could for instance be theatres, museums and hotels, whereas in a corporate brand context this could be clothing, accessories and shoes. This means, in a management context, it requires management at a high level in the organization in both of the branding types (Hankinson: 2006: 246, Balakrishnan, 2009: 613) 2) Subject to the growing market complexity: e.g. globalization, internal and external government policies, and natural environment. 3) Dependent upon a good departmental coordination internally as well as strong compatible alliances externally in order to be effective (Hankinson, 2006: 246). 4) The “owners” of a wide range of stakeholders they need to manage and communicate with (Hankinson, 2006: 246).

Despite the above similarities, there is, however, one significant difference between the two types of brands as well as the management of them: the ‘products’ of the destination brands (e.g. hotels and museums) are co-produced by a diversity of autonomous organizations, whereas in corporate branding it is still one single organization that is in charge.

For this reason destination brands are also called networks brands: The location of brand planning as well as management is often shifted from a product and corporate level to a network level where a network of different organizations are cooperating in order for the destination brand to be successful. Usually, however, a new organization is developed by the network to coordinate all the activities of the network. This new organization is also called a Destination Marketing Organization (Balakrishan, 2009: 611-612), or more modestly: a Destination Branding Team (DTB).

The DBT’s job is to organize, coordinate and manage the Destination Branding project and can have a variety of names, such as ‘Board of Managers’, ‘Branding Group’ or ‘Action Group’. Well functioning DBT’s usually have members from the top management of all the largest companies operating within the destination, as well as some representatives of the public sector that are responsible for areas that have some direct influence on the destination, such as infrastructural planning and environmental regulation (Moilanen & Rainisto: 2009: 165-167).

11 “The ultimate ambition of corporate communication is to develop and present the organization as one unified brand: a corporate brand” (Cheney, 2008: 60).

29 In Cambodia a so-called ‘Tourism marketing and promotions board’ is about to be established, with members from both the public and private sector (appendix, 16).

DTB’s status as network organizations often create considerable managerial challenges due to the fact that their members are from a wide range of different organizations that may have diverse strategic objectives, or worse be competitors in other areas than the management of the destination brand (Moilanan & Rainisto: 2009:168-169). Furthermore DTB’s do not have top down implementation control as “normal” organizations have, due to the fact that they still need to consider the other organizations in the network in their decisions (Balakrishan, 2009: 611-612). In such, destination branding is not a brand of a single product, neither of a company, but of the destination itself (Moilanen & Rainisto, 2009: 114-115).

Despite the differences between corporate branding and destination branding, the fact that there are still some significant similarities have led to a proposal from different marketing specialists12 that the literature from corporate branding as well as corporate communication has the potential of making an important contribution to the management of destination brands. Especially since destination branding is still in its infancy literature wise (Hankinson, 2006:241).

As mentioned in the choice of theory chapter, during my own research and work with destination branding, I have found there to be some gaps within destination branding literature wise, especially within the area of organizational identity. Gaps that I find some of the literature within the field of corporate branding and corporate communication has the potential to fulfill. For this reason I will now and then draw on literature from these fields in the following chapters.

Nevertheless, even when not incorporating theories directly from other types of branding, such as corporate branding, a lot of the literature within destination branding is building on the literature as well as practices from older branding types.

Before moving “deeper” into the field of destination branding, I will shortly give an introduction to some of the many stakeholders a destination has, as well as the stakeholders that are in focus in this thesis. Again I will touch upon some of the similarities and differences between the management of destinations and organizations…

2.5.3 The destination’s stakeholders

12 E.g. Hankinson (2006)

30 As mentioned in the chapter above, one of the similarities between corporate brands and destination brands is that they both have a wide range of stakeholders – internal as well as external - they need to manage and communicate with. The importance of this has for a long time been recognized within organizations. In fact, this recognition has been so strong that it has led to the “birth” of the concept of corporate communication:

“Corporate communication is a management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination of all internal and external communication with the overall purpose of establishing and maintaining favourable reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the organization is dependent” (Cornelissen, 2008: 5).

The positive result of the “birth” of corporate communication is within a stakeholder perspective that organizations are increasingly communicating with stakeholder groups they would never speak to before such as employees and members of the community (Cornelissen, 2008:38).

Even though destinations have acknowledged the importance of communicating with both their internal as well as external stakeholder groups (e.g. Morgan et al., 2003:287, Hankinson, 2006:246), I have during my research found a lack of focus on one of the internal stakeholder groups I consider to be among the most important ones; namely the destination’s citizens. Ironically, when “translated” to a corporate communication perspective, this stakeholder group can be compared to both of the above-mentioned stakeholder groups that managers within organizations have realized to be important, namely ‘the employees of an organization’ as well as ‘members of the community’. I will elaborate more on the reason I find this particular stakeholder group to be important for destination branding in the chapter ‘Organizational identity held by the citizens’. Besides from a destination’s citizens, destinations have a lot of other important stakeholder groups - especially the bigger destinations such as countries. However, as mentioned in the delimitation chapter (cf. 1.3) due to a limited timeframe as well as number of pages at my disposal, I have in this thesis chosen to focus on those stakeholders only I consider to be the most relevant in relation to destination branding. Besides from citizens of a destination, I consider this to be the tourists, as they are the ‘customers’ of the destination. Nevertheless, since I have already elaborated on this stakeholder group in relation to the chapter about tourist motivations and I am going to touch a lot more upon it later in relation to the analyses of the Danish tourists (cf. 4.2, 4.3) I do not want to elaborate on this stakeholder group any further here either.

For the sake of clarity I have in the model below highlighted some of the many stakeholder groups a destination like Cambodia has.

Figure 1: Stakeholder map for destinations

31 2.5.4 The destination branding process

In this chapter I will move closer to the answer of the question: How can destinations successfully work with branding?

The way I am going to do this is by elaborating on those elements within the destination branding process that among several destination branding academics are considered to be the most important for the development of a successful destination brand.

However, as mentioned in the choice of theory chapter, I have chosen to use Rainisto & Moilanen’s proposed destination branding process as the framework, since it differs from other methods within destination branding in a positive way by incorporating organizational identity issues. Still, as also mentioned, I find there to be some gaps, why I yet again will draw a bit on theories from corporate communication. Furthermore I will supplement with several other theoreticians from destination branding as well.

I have not elaborated on all of the elements within the different steps of the process, but only the ones that are relevant for the scope of this thesis.

32 2.5.4.1 Stage 1: Start-up and Organization

The start-up phase of the destination branding process is crucial for the project’s success. The aim of this phase is to create the Destination Branding Team, to create commitment and communicate the objectives and benefits of the project to the members of the DTB as well as other key stakeholders. Last but not least it is vital in order to be able to create a strong destination brand to put a focus on the identity of the destination. This step I consider to be the only relevant one in relation to this thesis, why it is the only one of the steps from this stage I will elaborate on.

2.5.4.1.1 Focus on Organizational Identity

During this stage the members of the DTB are trying to put a focus on and understand the identity of the destination. Despite being about destinations though, Rainisto & Moilanen use the corporate communication term: organizational identity.

So what is organizational identity then? Organizational identity can be thought of as a shared answer to the question “Who are we as an organization?” In a destination branding context this question is translated to “Who are we as a destination?” Organizational identity represents the insiders’ perceptions and beliefs about what distinguishes their organization or destination from others (Moilanen & Rainisto, 2009: 168). Similar, Hatch & Schultz define organizational identity as the many different elements all of the members of an organization have an opinion on as well as how they think of themselves. It represents the ‘who we are’ and ‘what we stand for’ (Brønn & Wiig, 2005: 104). A bit more abstract management scholars Albert & Wetten view organizational identity as the consistent thread that runs through an organization over time – the organization’s ‘core’. As such organizational identity can be understood as the central, distinct, and enduring dimensions of an organization (Cheney, 2004: 108). Or just the core values (Cornelissen, 2008: 70).

Seen from a more general identity perspective, identities are what make it possible for people to recognize and differentiate one individual or organization from other individuals and organizations. In this sense, it is not possible to define an identity, or talk about any identity as unique, without having something to compare it with. To illustrate this, it would be difficult to describe the identity of Body Shop without comparing it with less environmentally friendly cosmetics and personal product manufacturers (Cheney, 2004: 108). In other words identity is to a great extent about differentiation.

As mentioned in the introduction of the thesis, most destinations of today are so developed that they can market themselves on having five-star resorts, great service, sun & sand, superb attractions, friendly people, etc. However, because organizational identity represents the core of an organization, something unique that comes from within, it can offer a great solution to the substitutability problem. In fact it is considered to has become the basis for survival within a globally competitive market- place (Morgan, 2002:336)

33 For this reason it is crucial that destinations, just like organizations, understand their core values/the organizational identity before they develop their Corporate Identity: the picture of the organization or destination that is presented to external stakeholders13 (Cornelissen, 2008: 70). Corporate identity - which in destination branding terms and this thesis relates to the brand identity (cf. 2.5.4.3) - thus needs to be rooted in the organizational identity. Making sure that the corporate identity/brand identity is rooted in the organizational identity not only offers a ‘distinctive edge’ and great differentiation but also ensures that the projected image is authentic and shared by the members of the organization/destination as opposed to cosmetic (Cornelissen, 2008: 69). This is very important since a brand identity should – above all - capture the reality of the tourism product (Rainisto & Moilanen, 2009: 174).

2.5.4.2 Stage 2: Research stage

The purpose of this stage is to collect extensive basic information for the later decision-making. I consider the most important steps within this stage to be: ‘Research on the destination brand images held by the tourists’, as well as to research on ‘The destination brand images held by the destination’s citizens’. In relation to the last issue, I choose to name it “Organizational identity according to the destination’s citizens” instead, as I consider citizens of a destination to be internal stakeholders, and thus perceive ‘image’ to be a misleading term.

2.5.4.2.1 Destination brand images

Images have always been of great interest and concern for marketers due to their direct link with consumer behavior. Destination images are being no exception to this tendency. As with product and corporate images, several studies have (non-surprisingly) shown that destination images do influence tourist behavior. More specifically, the destinations with strong positive images are much more likely to be considered and chosen in the travel decision process, than those with weak images. For this reason the creation and management of a distinctive and appealing image of the destination has become a key component of the destination branding process. Before being able to create or change any destination image, it is crucial to first establish the present image held by the consumers (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:37-38). In fact, any effort in changing a destination’s image without first establishing the present image held by the consumers is most likely wasted, since it would then be impossible to know whether the branding efforts are moving the present image in any new and positive direction (Gartner, 1993: 207).

There has over the years been a host of different definitions on destination image. Many of them, however, are very alike with descriptions such as:

“perceptions held by potential visitors about an area”

13 In other words: all planned forms of communication, symbolism, and behavior of employees (Cornelissen, 2008: 66).

34 (Hunt, 1975, in: Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:41),

“Perceptions or impressions of a place” (Phelps, 1986, in Echtner & Ritchie, 2003: 41) and: “The sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that people have of that place” (Kotler, 2002: 229).

As can be seen from especially Kotler’s image definition a destination image embodies a simplification of a large sum of different types of associations attached to a place (Kotler, 2002: 229).

However, according to Echtner & Ritchie (among others), most of the existing destination image definitions are too vague, as they do not specify whether the researchers are thinking of the attribute-based components of the destination image, the more holistic components, or both. Furthermore, when examining the research behind the definitions it becomes evident that the destination image researchers are conceptualizing the attribute-based components only. This is a problem since classic image research considers both types of components to be equally important parts of an image (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003: 40-41).

For this reason Echtner & Ritchie have proposed a model of destination images that builds on classic image research. They are of the opinion, however, that previously research has overlooked one additional dimension of the image concept: namely that the attribute-based components are common components meaning that they can be used to compare all destinations, whereas the holistic components are unique in the sense that only one or a few destinations can have them (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003: 43). This is important since it is the holistic components of an image that indicates whether the destination is differentiated or not.

35 Figure 2: The components of a destination’s image (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:43)

As the figure illustrates, a destination image is composed of two main dimensions, namely the common attribute-based components and the unique holistic-based components. Each of these, however, can be divided into functional characteristics and psychological characteristics.

The attribute-based components thus represent common functional characteristics of an image such as price level, types of accommodation, transportation, climate, etc, as well as commonly psychological characteristics, such as quality of service, level of friendliness, safety, etc. On the other end of the scale we have the holistic components. These are divided into unique functional characteristics such as features and events, and unique psychological characteristics such as auras, feelings and atmospheres (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:43).

In order to exemplify Echtner & Ritchie’s model, figure 3 below illustrates how Nepal may be perceived as a tourist destination.

Figure 3: An illustrative example of four components of destination image: Nepal (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:43)

36 What differentiate Nepal from other destinations are thus its unique holistic components such as its stunning mountainous villages (holistic-functional) and its mystic atmosphere (holistic-psychological). The rest of the components of Nepal’s image are common, which means that they can be found in other tourist destinations as well.

The Echtner & Ritchie model is being used to measure the image a certain destination has among the consumers.

For destination marketers the goal is to obtain information on the traits common to all destinations, as well as capturing the unique features and auras that differentiates the destination from its competitors (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003: 44). I consider the latter to be especially important since differentiation is one of the most crucial elements in attracting tourists (cf. 2.5.1). Therefore if no unique features and auras are found during the image measuring, or if ‘wrong’ ones are found that does not fit the organizational identity, the discovery will help the destination marketers in knowing what to focus on when building the brand identity.

In the method chapter I will describe how to measure destination image on the basis of the Echtner & Ritchie model as well as in general (cf. 3.2.6.3).

Even though the model is only meant to measure destination image, I find it just as useful in determining a destination’s identity. For this reason I am not only going to

37 make use of the model in relation to my analysis of the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia, but also in relation to my analysis of the Cambodian identity (4.1).

How are images formed? Images are widely considered of being formed via the flood of information that people are being exposed too during their daily lives. In the case of destination images the flood has various sources, including promotional literature, the general media and the opinions of others (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:38). The sources can be divided into so- called image formation agents. In the chapter Image formation agents (appendix,3) I elaborate on these agents: their strengths and weaknesses, as well as when to use which ones.

2.5.4.2.2 Organizational identity according to the destination’s citizens

This step of the destination branding process constitutes the second part of the investigation of the organizational identity.

As written in the organizational identity chapter (cf. 2.5.4.1.1) one of the reasons why the brand identity has to be rooted in the organizational identity is the fact that it ensures that the projected image is authentic and shared by ‘all of the members’ of the destination. As citizens must be considered to be just as much ‘members’ of a destination as the members of a destination branding team are, they should be asked as well.

Furthermore, when the created brand identity matches the citizens’ idea of the reality (= organizational identity), it will be easier for the citizens to deliver it to the tourists’ vacation experience, e.g. via their often service related jobs (Rainisto & Moilanen, 2003: 173).

In continuation hereof, the way the local citizens behave towards the tourists is a very important part of the vacation experience. To mention an example, it is vital that the citizens are proud of the destination, as tourists will soon discover this when visiting the destination (Kotler, 2002: 101). For this reason so-called ‘pride building’ is a primary element of place marketing strategies. When the citizens have a fundamental knowledge and feeling of the uniqueness of the destination, they will consciously or unconsciously act as place marketers (Kotler, 2002: 101-102).

2.5.4.3 Stage 3: Forming the brand identity

38 The third stage’s objective is to define the elements in the destination’s brand identity based on the research results from stage 1 and 2.

2.5.4.3.1 A definition of brand identity

According to Aaker, brand identity is:

“Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organization members” (Aaker 1996: 68).

As can be seen from the above quote, Aaker defines brand identity as a unique set of brand associations the brand marketers want to create in the minds of the customers. Furthermore the associations both need to represent what the brand stands for as well as imply a promise to the customers.

2.5.4.3.2 Choosing the elements of the brand identity As mentioned a couple of times already, destinations are suffering greatly from substitutability problems. One solution to the substitutability problem is, as we saw during the previous stages, to root the brand identity in the organizational identity. Furthermore we saw that the brand identity needs to take a starting point in the present destination image in order to know how to change it, and, thus, which direction the creation of the brand identity should take. Not to forget that the brand identity necessarily needs to fit the motivations of the target tourists in order to have any effect at all (cf. 2.2.3). However, to live up to these ‘basics’ are not enough to create a brand identity. What we are “missing” is some general brand recommendations for how to create a brand identity that is going to attracts the tourists.

In the chapter below I will elaborate on some of the most agreed upon recommendations among destination branding academics.

2.5.4.3.3 Branding emotional ‘lifestyle’ experiences

39 Several academics within the field of destination branding14 are of the opinion that what differentiates one ‘exotic sun-and-beach destination’ from another, and thus attracts the tourists, is the marketers’ capability of making the tourists feel emotionally connected to the destination. One way of doing this is by branding an experience rather than just the physical attributes of a certain destination; also called experiential marketing:

“…experiential marketing views consumers as emotional beings, focused on achieving pleasurable experiences” (Hudson & Ritchie, 2008: 218)

Among the proponents of this kind of marketing are Morgan et al who state that: “The challenge for destination marketers is therefore to make the destination brand live so that visitors truly experience the promoted brand values and feel the authenticity of a unique place” (Morgan et al., 2002: 339).

In other words it is about creating an expectation of the future holiday experience via the brand identity (Hudson & Ritchie, 2009: 220). In order for the tourists to feel emotionally connected to the branded experiences, it is not enough, though, to create marketing messages that focus on the tourist experiences, but the promoted experiences necessarily need to appeal to the emotions of the potential travelers as well (Hudson & Ritchie, 2008: 217)

For this reason it is proposed that the branded experiences should be related to the lifestyles of the targeted tourists (Hudson & Ritchie, 2008: 483). The reason for this proposal is that it in general has become accepted that consumer decisions are often based on whether or not a product fits into their lifestyles or not (Murphy, 2007: 6), as opposed to their socio-demographic and economic backgrounds because consumers that differ in socio-economic and demographic terms have shown to have very similar purchase behaviors (Gonzalez & Bello, 2002:51)

Therefore it is only natural that destination marketers integrate the concept of lifestyles within their branding methods as well. As Murphy et al say: “…travel and tourism marketers need to focus on and confirm more of what the costumer would like to see in and of themselves and their lifestyles, rather than on the tangible properties of the product or service being promoted….” (Murphy, 2007: 6).

And choice of holiday is indeed considered an important lifestyle indicator that tells who we are or who we want to be (Morgan, 2002: 338, Vejlgaard, 2001: 28)

In such, choice of holiday destination has a great potential in fulfilling the tourists’ needs for self promotion, or staging, which we saw in the motivation chapter is very important to the contemporary consumer living in The Dream Society. Furthermore staging is being one of the main characteristics of The Experience Society (cf. 2.2.4.2)

The term lifestyle suggests a patterned way of life where consumers fit various activities, products and resources (Arnould, 2004: 436). Through the ages there have been several different definitions on lifestyle. One of the more recent ones is proposed by Vejlgaard who defines lifestyle as: “A staging of life

14 E.g. Moilanen & Rainisto, 2009: 173 - Williams, 2006: 483 - Roberts, 2009: 2 – Morgan et al 2002: 336 - Hudson & Ritchie, 2008: 217.

40 from an aesthetic awareness” (Quote translated, Vejlgaard, 2001: 157).

2.5.4.4 Stage 4: Implementation

The objective of this stage is to create an implementation plan based on the strategic objectives (brand identity) defined in stage 3.

The goal is to figure out how to capture the essence of the brand identity and communicating it out it via marketing communication through different marketing communication channels (Rainisto & Moilanen, 2009: 182).

Below I will elaborate on some of the tools available for destination branding teams to capture the essence of the brand identity.

2.5.4.4.1 Tools for capturing the brand identity

Roughly speaking, there are three different tools destination marketers can draw on when implementing their brand identity. These are: 1) slogans, themes and positions, 2) visual symbols; and 3) events and deeds (Kotler, 2002:241). I will elaborate on the two first of them below.

2.5.4.4.2 Slogans, Themes and Positions

Slogans: A slogan is a short, encompassing phrase with the purpose of embodying an overall vision of a place. A good slogan offers a platform from which a destination’s image can be further enhanced. As an example south Australia’s slogan “Relax, indulge, discover, enjoy” gives a great introduction to the public as to what the destination has to offer. Often slogans are used to unify a specific campaign.

Themes: Themes are regularly used to drive specific marketing programs addressed to target segments. An example of a theme used as a platform for a destination campaign is the Indian province Kerala’s theme: “The Green Gateway of India” (Kotler, 2002:241-242). Themes are, thus, a great way to create an expectation of the future holiday experience, which we saw during stage 3 is one of the main recommendations for the creation of a strong brand identity (cf. 2.5.4.3.3). The request for themes is furthermore one of the biggest influences of the Dream society.

Image positioning: image positioning is about a place positioning itself as a place for a certain type of activity and/or as a great alternative to another place that might have a stronger, more well-established position, such as Siargao has done it with its image- positioning statement “Surfing Capital of Asia” (Kotler, 2002:242).

2.5.4.4.3 Visual symbols

41 Just like slogans, themes and positions, visual symbols are great tools as well for changing a destination image. To be successful a visual image needs to support the rest of the elements in the destination brand campaign. There are in the literature four commonly used visual image strategies:

The diverse visual: The destination uses a wide range of visual images. The goal is to show as many of the characteristics of the destination as possible.

The consistent visual: This strategy is the opposite as the previous, as the destination seeks to apply a consistent image. It is easier to assemble this strategy when the destination already possesses a clear and positive image. Problems may arise when the destination tries to hit several different target groups with the one and same visual (Kotler, 2002: 243).

The humorous visual: Here the destination is being portrayed in a humorous style. This strategy can be especially useful when dealing with a negative aspect of the destination. For example Australia’s inconvenient geographic location on ‘thee other side of the world’, has been made into a humorous campaign, with the slogan “Discover the other side of yourself”.

The denying visual: This strategy seeks to handle a negative image by only showing positive visuals of the destination, and thus denying the negative aspects. There is a big risk connected with this strategy, though, since the negative aspects may turn up as soon as the tourists visit the country and are being confronted with the realities (Kotler, 2002: 244).

42

Methodological fundament

43 3 Methodological fundament

3.1 Choice of practical method

In this thesis I have chosen to use a pure qualitative method.

There are a couple of reasons for this: First of all it fits the social constructivist belief systems (cf. 1.4.1.1). Secondly, my goals of reaching a thorough understanding of 1) the motivations, preferences and habits of the Danish tourists, 2) their perceptions of Cambodia, and 3) the Cambodian identity, would not be achieved via quantitative methods, since they would not give access to the depth of understanding I am looking for.

As mentioned in the scientific choice of method chapter (cf. 1.4.1.2) I have furthermore chosen to use focus groups. The reason for this is that in my opinion it is the only method that really fits the social constructivist paradigms due to its unique nature:

A focus group can namely be understood as “a scientific method, whereupon data is being produced via group interaction about a subject, which the scientist has decided” (translated quote, Halkier 2005: 11).

Focus groups thereby differentiate themselves from more classic types of interviews, including ordinary group interviews, by giving direct access to ‘action’ in the form of negotiations of meaning instead of just accounts about ‘action’. In other words, the participants in focus groups exchange accounts and comprehensions about the world and negotiate them in a way that resembles the way they interact in their daily lives with families, friends and colleagues.

Besides getting direct access to ‘action’, another advantage for the researcher doing focus groups instead of ‘classic’ interviews is the opportunity to get access to social experiences that have become so-called tacit knowledge. This happens because the participants in focus groups are getting the opportunity to “force” each other to be explicit in their negotiations with each other, which sometimes leads to an expression of before tacit knowledge (Halkier 2005: 12-13).

Below I will elaborate on my thoughts and choices in relation to my own practical work with the focus groups.

44 3.2 Method in praxis

For this investigation I have chosen to have two focus groups with Danish people and two focus groups with Cambodian people.

3.2.1 Mix of focus group participants To make the interview situation as natural as possible, and thus have a better chance of getting access to a dynamic which resembles the way people interact and discuss in daily life, I have tried to find groups of participants who know each other from their daily lives in one way or another: through work, by being part of the same circle of acquaintances, by being close friends, etc. This has another advantage as well, since the participants may feel more secure during the interview situation when they know each other and thus will find it more easy to take part in the conversation (Halkier, 2005:34).

When it comes to the Danish focus groups I have furthermore tried to make sure that the participants within each group are in their same phase of life in relation to having kids. This means that one of the Danish focus groups is consisting of participants who have kids, whereas the other is consisting of participants who do not have any. This I have done because I believe that people’s travel habits might be influenced by whether they are having kids or not.

An exclusive concern when it came to the Cambodian focus groups was the fact that I had to make sure that the participants had some travel experience outside of Cambodia. The reason why this is so important has to be seen in the light that it is not possible to define an identity, or talk about any identity as unique, without having something to compare it with (c.f. 2.5.4.1.1) The Cambodian people, thus, would not be able to say something relevant about the Cambodian identity without having experienced other countries. To find Cambodian people with the above characteristic was not as easy as it may sound since Cambodia is such a poor country that most people cannot even afford leaving their hometown. In the end though, I succeeded in finding some Cambodians with a lot of travel experience.

Despite the above homogeneity of the focus groups, the focus groups are very heterogeneous when it comes to two other areas: sex and social background. This is a deliberate choice as well, since a mix of sex and social background among the participants is important for my investigation to be valid. Validity can be translated to “whether a method investigates what it is supposed to investigate” (translated quote, Kvale, 1994: 233). In the light of the main purposes of my investigation15, I would find neither the ‘Cambodian identity’ nor the ‘Danish tourists’ perception of Cambodia, if for example all of my participants had been from the ‘top’ of the respective societies, or if they had all been of the same sex. Furthermore we saw in the chapter about organizational identity that organizational identity is defined by the many different elements all of the members of an organization have an opinion on (c.f. 2.5.4.1.1)

15 What are the travel needs and wants of the Danish tourists, how do the Danish tourists perceive Cambodia as a travel destination, and what is the Cambodian identity.

45 One might think that the Cambodian participants cannot be very mixed when it comes to social stratums since they all have travel experience despite coming from a poor country. This is not the case however. During my travel in the country I was lucky to meet some Cambodian circus artists who have been traveling all over the world via their jobs, despite the fact that two out of three of them were coming from very poor families.

Another important aspect for my investigation to be valid besides a broad representation of social stratums and a representation of both sexes is the need for both the Cambodian and the Danish participants to represent different parts of the countries. Also this aspect has been fulfilled in the final focus groups.

An aspect in relation to validity that has not been fulfilled though is the aspect of age. In my opinion the ideal would be if both the Cambodian as well as Danish participants represented all age groups between the early twenties and the sixties. The age of both groups, however, is only stretching between the early twenties to the late forties. This is not bad, but it had been even better if I had been able to get a couple of participants to represent the ‘old people’ of both populations. This has unfortunately not been a possibility.

3.2.2 Number of groups and participants

When creating focus groups it is not only important to have the right mix of participants (Halkier, 2005:30), but the number of participants, as well as focus groups, should also be of concern (Halkier, 2005:38).

I have chosen small groups consisting of members between 3-4 people. My reason for that is that in my experience 4 people is the maximum number that in real life can have a conversation together without the group splitting up into two. Even though my role as moderator of the interviews means that I have some kind of power to control the conversation, if the focus group is splitting up, the main benefit with focus groups is, as mentioned before, the opportunity for them to resemble the way people interact in their daily lives. For this reason I have also chosen to use as less moderator involvement as possible (see also later in relation to the execution of the focus groups: Cf. 3.2.4)

When it comes to the number of focus groups, I have, as mentioned earlier, two focus groups with Danish people and two focus groups with Cambodian people. Ideally I would have liked to have had a few more groups in order to cover a wider spectrum of both the Cambodian as well as the Danish people. The reason for the limited number of the Cambodian groups is the fact that I did not succeed in finding any more people that had both the before mentioned travel experience and were able to participate at the right time and at the right place. When it comes to the number of Danish focus groups I did have a plan on doing a third interview. However, two out of three cancelled at the very last minute, why I did not see any reason to do the interview.

Below you can see an overview of the four focus groups as well as a short description of the participants.

46 3.2.3 Presentation of the focus groups

Cambodian Focus Group no. 1: Members of a Cambodian circus that travels all over the world.

Cambodian Focus Group no. 2: A group of friends living in Phnom Penh.

All of the participants are connected to the Cambodian tourist industry in one way or another. Their jobs, however, are very different: from a tourism coordinator to a “tuk- tuk” 16 driver, to a manager at Bangkok Airways and a fourth works at a hotel.

Danish Focus Group no. 1: A group of singles from Sjælland without any children.

The participants in this group have as different occupations as: hairdresser, architect, psychology student, and HF student.

Danish Focus group no. 2: A group of married/w.girlfriend with kids from Jylland.

The occupations of the participants in this group stretch from kindergarten teacher, to jurist and craftsman.

3.2.4 Execution of the focus groups

Because there is a lot more interaction going on between the participants in focus groups than in classic group interviews, the main job for the interview person, also called moderator, is to make room for the social interaction instead of controlling it (Halkier, 2005: 54-55). For this reason I have, as mentioned earlier, chosen to use as less moderator involvement as possible during all the interviews. In praxis this meant that I for both the Cambodian and Danish interviews tried to stay as much out of the discussions as possible and only interfered with new questions when necessary.

Due to the very different purposes behind the Danish and Cambodian interviews, however, there were a lot of differences between the two types of interviews. Below I will go through some of the unique characteristics of the Cambodian and Danish interviews, respectively, as well as the thoughts and considerations behind them.

3.2.5 The Cambodian focus groups

3.2.5.1 The Cambodian Identity Before I began the interviews with the Cambodian people, I introduced them to the subject: the Cambodian identity. Furthermore I told them that it would be great if during the interview they would have in mind the other countries they have been to. There are two reasons for this: first of all I believed it might help them to be more able to speak about the Cambodian

16 A ‘tuk-tuk is a special type of motor vehicle that has the function of a taxi.

47 identity since we saw in the theory chapter that one cannot define or talk about any identity as unique, without having something to compare it with (cf. 25411). Secondly, I thought that this awareness of the other countries might get them to speak out loudly about how Cambodia differentiates from these other countries. Something I could potentially use as part of my later creation of a brand identity for Cambodia. Luckily the participants in both the focus groups were very “generous” with comparisons between Cambodia and other countries.

To make it even easier for the Cambodian people to talk about the Cambodian identity, I prepared before the interviews an interview guide with about ten overall questions relating to subjects that in the general travel literature are considered to constitute a destination, and thereby a destination’s identity. These subjects are: Attractions, nature, climate, culture, economy, language, religion, history, politics, natural resources & products, and the inhabitants of the destination. The idea was that I intended to ask the participants questions like: How would you say the Cambodian nature is like? Or: what would you say is characteristic for the Cambodian people? During both of the interviews, however, it showed that most of the questions I had prepared in the interview guide, I did not need to ask, since the participants actually touched upon all of the subjects in relation to the questions by themselves during the conversation. In both of the interviews it was enough for me to ask two questions to get them to talk about all of the before mentioned subjects. These two questions were: How would you describe Cambodia with a few words? And later: what would you say is Cambodian culture? Especially the question about culture got in both cases the conversations to “roll”, meaning that it did not take long before they talked about a lot of other subjects as well.

3.2.5.2 Identity in a tourist destination perspective Since the purpose of this thesis is to figure out how to market Cambodia as a tourist destination, it has been important to me that the respondents kept this in mind when discussing the identity in order for the discussions to be relevant for the thesis17. Therefore an underlying purpose with the discussions about the Cambodian identity has been to figure out how the Cambodian people want Cambodia to be perceived as a tourist destination

To make sure the focus groups discussed the identity in a tourist destination perspective I told them before the interviews what the general purpose with the interviews and my thesis was. As it showed during the interviews the focus groups to a large degree did discuss the identity in a tourist destination perspective.

However, to make sure I got some more direct answers in relation to how they want Cambodia to be perceived as a tourist destination, I had in the interview guide created a couple of questions related to the subject. These questions are: “which areas would you like Cambodia to be known for”, and: “What do you think foreigners’ image of Cambodia is?”

17 Furthermore, organizational identity can in a destination branding perspective be translated to “Who are we as a destination?” (Cf. 2.5.4.1.1)

48 Whereas the purpose with the first question is to get a specific idea of how the Cambodian people want Cambodia to be perceived, the purpose with the second question is to get an idea of whether there are some areas where the respondents believe Cambodia’s current image does not fit the reality and in continuation hereof get them to talk about how they want to be perceived instead.

Since the respondents had already incorporated how they want Cambodia to be perceived in their discussions about the identity, I changed in both the interviews the first question into the clarifying questions: “So if you could choose some other things Cambodia should be known for it would be its nature? And: ”So - besides the temples - the nature and beaches and the Cambodian people are areas you would like Cambodia to be known for as well?” The second question, however, the respondents did not answer by themselves why I “had to” directly ask the question.

As mentioned in the theory chapter (cf. 2.5.4.2.1) I will use Echtner & Ritchies model of destination images as an inspiration when measuring the Cambodian identity. The reason for this is that it will help me to find the unique holistic components of the Cambodian identity, and thus which elements I should especially highlight in my developed brand identity in order to differentiate Cambodia from other destinations.

3.2.6 The Danish focus groups

3.2.6.1 Before the interviews When I asked my Danish participants whether they wanted to participate in my focus groups I did not tell them exactly what it was about. What I told them was that it was about their travel motivations, preferences and habits (which is true), but I did not tell them that half of the interview was going to be about how they perceive Cambodia. The reason for this is that I did not want them to go home and read a lot about Cambodia before the interviews and get their present perceptions ”colored”. Furthermore none of the participants know me personally, and thereby do not know anything about my own Cambodian travel history. If they did, also this would probably have colored their perceptions about Cambodia, or at least hindered them to be hundred percent honest about them during the interviews. To spare myself for translating the interviews later into English, I asked the participants before the interviews whether it would be okay if we could speak English. Luckily they were all willing to do this.

As with the Cambodian focus group interviews, I made an interview guide as part of the preparation for the Danish focus group interviews as well. Because there are two purposes with the Danish interviews, I divided the interview guide into two parts: one about the participants’ travel motivations, preferences and habits and one about their perceptions about Cambodia.

3.2.6.2 Part 1: Travel motivations, preferences and habits This part of the Danish interviews is very important since it is the basis for figuring out whether Cambodia has a potential as a tourist destination in relation to the Danish tourists.

49 I began both of the interviews by asking the participants “How often do you travel?” The reason why I asked this question is that I wanted to make sure that the participants represent the target group from my problem statement: Danish tourists (cf. 1.1). I followed the question up with: What type of destination do you prefer when going on a holiday/traveling? This question I asked because I find it interesting to see whether the participants have an interest in destinations that reminds of what Cambodia has to offer. After these somewhat introductory questions, I asked the participants in focus group 2: “What motivates you to travel” The reason why I only asked one of the focus groups this question is that the participants in the other focus group had already talked a bit about their motivations for traveling in relation to the previous question. Therefore I asked focus group 1 the clarifying question instead: “It sounds like your main motivations for traveling is to experience new and exotic cultures? And become friends with the locals? Is that correct?”

The next question on my interview guide is: What kind of activities do you prefer when traveling? This question is important because I wanted to get an idea of the participants travel lifestyles. As mentioned in the Destination Branding chapter, all branded travel experiences should be related to the lifestyles of the targeted tourists (cf. 2.5.4.3.3). According to Gonzalez and Bello (2002) there are two methodologies to use for destination marketers when they want to segment people on the basis of lifestyles: The first methodology is to segment people on the basis of their general lifestyles, and the second to segment them on the basis of their lifestyles specific to the product or service concerned. In other words the style of tourism the travelers are usually engaged in (Gonzalez and Bello, 2002: 57). As can be seen from the question above, I have chosen to segment the Danish tourists on the basis of the second methodology, namely their lifestyles in relation to traveling. This I have chosen since I consider the first methodology to be a bit too comprehensive for my investigation. As with the question about travel motivations, I only asked this question to focus group 2 as well, since the participants in focus group 1 had already talked about their preferred travel activities earlier in the interview.

3.2.6.3 Part 2: Perceptions of Cambodia As mentioned in Destination Branding chapter (cf. 2.5.4.2.1) I will use Echtner & Ritchies model of destination images as an inspiration when measuring the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia as well, since I find it important to capture all of the four components of Cambodia’s image - especially the unique features and auras (holistic components) since they are the ones who differentiate a destination from its competitors. If no unique features and auras are found during my image measuring of the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia, or if ‘wrong’ ones are found that do not fit the Cambodian identity, the discovery will help me to know what to focus on when building the brand identity. According to Echtner & Ritchie it is crucial in order to capture all of the components of a destination’s image, to use both structured and unstructured methodologies. In relation to this they propose that standardized scales can be used to measure the perceptions of functional and psychological attributes, whereas open-ended questions can be used to determine the holistic impressions and to capture the unique auras and features (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003:46).

50 Since I have chosen to use qualitative focus groups to determine the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia, standardized scales are not especially appropriate. However, I have still found it to be possible to capture the functional and psychological attributes via the interviews. The difference is that the answers I am getting are a lot richer than they would be via for example a five-point scale in a questionnaire. At the same time I have from the beginning found it to be a lot more ideal to capture unique auras and features via a qualitative methodology such as a focus group instead of via a questionnaire for example, since open-ended questions (for obvious reasons) are much better fitted in an interview than in a questionnaire.

Echtner & Ritchie propose that the subjects of the structured methodologies (in their case: standardized scales) should be found by asking a focus group before the creation of the questionnaire. This way it should be possible to uncover a complete list of relevant characteristics of destination images in relation to functional and psychological attributes, since the existing lists of characteristics according to them are incomplete. (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003: 45). I thought about using this methodology myself when creating questions in relation to uncover the functional and psychological attributes of Cambodia’s image. However, I found it to be a too big of a mouthful to ask the Danish participants of which characteristics they thought would be relevant. Especially since I have a lot of other areas to cover during the interviews. For this reason I chose instead to be inspired by the characteristics the Cambodian participants themselves have mentioned in relation to the Cambodian identity when creating the questions in the Danish interview guide. In other words: I first used the Cambodian interviews to identify how they see Cambodia. And then used their views as an inspiration when making some of the more structured questions in the interview guide. Besides sparing the Danish participants for a lot of time, there are also a couple of other advantages by using this method. First of all I did not only have to make use of the functional and psychological attributes, but also the holistic features and auras. Secondly, the method makes it easy for me to see during my analyses whether there is a gap between the identity and the image.

I chose to design this part of the interview guide in such a manner that in the beginning I asked the Danish participants a lot of open-ended questions about their perceptions of Cambodia with the purpose of especially capturing the holistic auras and features of their perceptions. Later in the interview guide I then, in a more structured manner, asked into all four of the image components on the basis of the characteristics Cambodia has according to the Cambodian participants. The reason why I have placed the more structured questions in the end of the interview guide is to make sure that they do not color the Danish participants’ own associations of Cambodia.

To come with an example of the more open-ended questions I asked in the beginning of part 2 the participants: How familiar are you with Cambodia? Besides from giving room for some discussions that might reveal the more holistic perceptions the participants have of Cambodia, the purpose with this question is to establish the participants’ familiarity with Cambodia. This is important since it will help giving me a clue about whether Cambodia has an awareness problem (Kotler, 2002:236). After this, I asked them to mention some cities, places or attractions in Cambodia. This question is important as well since in a more directly manner it will inform me how familiar the participants are with

51 Cambodia by telling whether the participants are aware of some of the functional characteristics (holistic features as well as attributes) of Cambodia, and which ones. After having established the participants’ familiarity with Cambodia, I moved on to the question: What would you say is your immediate impression of Cambodia? The purpose of this question is to get an idea of how favorable the participants feel towards Cambodia, which will furthermore give me a clear idea of whether Cambodia has an image problem (Kotler: 2002: 236). Before asking this question, however, I needed to split one of the focus groups into two (focus group 2) and thereby also the rest of the interview into two, since I discovered that one of participants had been to Cambodia before, and I did not want his answers to color the answers of the other two participants (see more: appendix, 13).

After having asked the above-mentioned question, I had prepared to ask all of the participants the question: Can you mention some of the associations you get when you hear the name Cambodia? The idea was to get a lot of discussions that would reveal the participants more holistic perceptions of Cambodia. However, most of the participants in both of the focus groups had actually already talked a lot about their associations during the previous discussions. The only participant who had been a bit cautious was the one who had already been to Cambodia. Therefore I decided to ask the question to him only.

At this point of the interview we have reached the more structured questions, with the purpose of measuring the image in relation to the Cambodian identity, to see whether there are some gaps between the two. To accomplish this, I asked the Danish participants to comment on several statements based on the characteristics of Cambodia. To illustrate my method in relation to this, one of the characteristics of Cambodia is the psychological attribute: hospitality of the destination’s inhabitants. To measure what the Danish participants’ perceptions are in relation to this attribute, I asked them to comment on the statement: The Cambodian people are very hospitable.

Because the Cambodian participants, during their interviews, talked a lot about how Cambodia differentiates from other countries, some of the structured questions are incorporating these views as well. An example of this is the functional attribute of beaches. In both the Cambodian interviews the participants mentioned that Cambodia has a lot of beautiful paradise beaches, and that they can easily compare with the beaches in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Greece. To measure what the Danish participants’ perceptions are in relation to this attribute, I asked them to comment on the statement: Cambodia has just as beautiful beaches as they have in for example Thailand and Vietnam.

Part 2 of the Danish interviews therefore do not only give answers in relation to how the Danish people perceive Cambodia, but also how they perceive Cambodia in relation to other countries.

3.3 Analytical approach: meaning condensation When it comes to my analytical approach, I have chosen to be inspired of the so- called meaning condensation (Kvale, 1994). Due to a limited number of pages at my

52 disposal, I have decided to put the description of this method in the appendix (appendix, 9).

3.4 Transcription method When it comes to my method of transcription there is according to Kvale no standard rules (Kvale, 1994: 171). I have chosen to be as faithful to the respondents’ statements in real life as possible. In other words: I have avoided changing their language from spoken language to an “academic” language. However, I have edited it a little bit, when it comes to grammatical mistakes, etcetera.

53 Analytical fundament

4 Analytical fundament

This part contains analyses of the thesis’ qualitative investigations and is going to form the basis for the later development of a brand strategy for Cambodia targeted

54 the Danish tourists.

First of all I will make an analysis of the Cambodian identity on the basis of the interviews with the Cambodian focus groups. The purpose with this is to find the special characteristics of Cambodia that are going to differentiate it from other destinations. Then I will make the second analysis, which seeks to find out what the potential of Cambodia is as a travel destination in relation to the Danish tourists’ travel motivations, preferences and habits. As mentioned in the Reading Guide (cf. 1.2) this is done by firstly analyzing the travel motivations, preferences and habits of the Danish tourists, and secondly by juxtaposing the knowledge gained in this analysis to the knowledge gained in the first analysis about the Cambodian identity. After having established the potential of Cambodia I will move on the analysis of the Danish tourists’ perceptions of Cambodia. As we saw in the theory chapter, a brand identity not only needs to be rooted in the organizational identity and motivations of the targeted tourists, but to take a starting point in the image as well. The reason for this is, as we saw, that one needs to establish the present image first, in order to know how to change it.

After having made the three analyses I will juxtapose the results from all of the analyses. By doing this I should be able to find out how to develop an appealing and distinctive brand identity for Cambodia, and thus answer the problem statement: How is it possible to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists?

A note to the reader: When reading the analyses below, the parentheses following the quotes are references to the transcriptions in the appendix. They have to be interpreted like this:

A = Appendix chapter 4 (The “A” Refers to: Focus group A) B = Appendix chapter 5 (The “B” refers to: Focus group B) C = Appendix chapter 6 (The “C” Refers to: Focus group C) D = Appendix chapter 7 (The “D” refers to: focus group D)

The number in front of the letter in each parenthesis refers to the number of the quote in the concerned transcription. For example does “17:B” means quote number seventeen in focus group B, chapter 5 in appendix.

4.1 The identity of Cambodia The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the identity of Cambodia on the basis of my focus group interviews with the Cambodian respondents. In the chapter I will define a list of categories that are the main characteristics of Cambodia18, according to my focus groups. As mentioned in the method chapter, the focus groups in general discuss the Cambodian identity in a tourist destination

18 Some of the categories the focus groups believed to be main characteristics of Cambodia, I have chosen to put in the appendix, since I have not find them to be useful in relation to this thesis. These categories are: ‘Food’, ‘Economy & politics’, and ‘Hard working Cambodian people’ (appendix, 11).

55 perspective, and thus incorporating the issue of how they want Cambodia to be perceived as a tourist destination into their discussions.

4.1.1 The Cambodian people The respondents in both of the focus groups agree that one of Cambodia’s biggest assets as a travel destination compared to other countries is its people. They especially mention three areas whereupon this shows: the Cambodian people’s innate warmth, friendliness and hospitality, their excellent English skills, and their curiosity in getting to know the tourists.

Some of the statements the respondents make in relation to these three areas are:

 “The Cambodian people are also more warm and friendly to the tourists I think than in many other countries. For instance in Thailand people more want to be together with other Thai people. And in Vietnam: people are not that interested in getting to know the tourists also (…) But in Cambodia many people want to learn the tourists… they want to talk to the tourists. And get to know them – you know” (18A)

 “…And people they often tell me that they think I am a very nice and friendly to them. But it is because I want to know them also you know. And also I want them to have a good vacation. So maybe they want to come back in the future” (20A)

 “…but also I think because we are more hospitable than in countries like Vietnam and Thailand. I know a lot of people from Thailand especially and they do not want to speak with the tourists. They just don’t care. But in Cambodia we are very curious” (26B)

 “And also in Cambodia people are much better in speaking English than in Thailand (…) not only Thailand but in Vietnam and Laos also …for example” (17A)

 “…and I have also been told that the Cambodian people are much better in English than most other countries in Asia. For example in Laos and Thailand. They cannot speak English so well. So that is irritating for the tourists. So that is why they will rather talk with the Cambodian people” (25 B)

Statements like these indicate that the Cambodian people are truly interested in tourists, not only for the money but also on a more human level. Furthermore it is a sign that a visit to Cambodia is just as much a visit to a people, as it is a visit to a place. A people that are friendly and hospitable, easy to communicate with, and who would like getting to know you.

4.1.2 The Cambodian nature Besides from the Cambodian people, another big subject in both the focus groups is the nature of Cambodia, which all of the respondents agree is very beautiful and has a lot to offer the tourists. Among the most frequently discussed “nature-assets” are the Cambodian beaches:

56 “The Cambodian beaches are very beautiful also” (47B), “yes! And we have so many of them. I don’t think people know that. They only think it is Thailand and Vietnam they have beautiful beaches” (48B), “it is better in Cambodia I think because there are not so many tourists yet. So people can still find a beach for themselves” (49B), “yes. Cambodia is very…what do you say? Pristine like that” (50B)

As can be seen from the above conversation, it is important for the respondents that tourists become aware that it is not only in the neighboring countries of Thailand and Vietnam they have beautiful beaches, but in Cambodia as well. Furthermore, they believe that Cambodia has an advantage compared to the before mentioned countries as it is still possible for the tourists to find a beach of their own in Cambodia, without being disturbed by a horde of other tourists.

In the other focus group the respondents have a similar conversation:

“Another good thing about Cambodia is its beaches. In Cambodia we have many beaches – many people do not know that. They just come because of the temples. But in Cambodia we have many beaches like in Thailand… You know like paradise beaches with white sand and palm trees and clear blue water…” (22A), “yes. The big difference is that in Cambodia most of the beaches are not as crowded as in Thailand. In fact many of them are yet to be discovered. This means that in Cambodia you have a greater chance of pretending you are Robinson Crusoe or something. Ha Ha. And you know discover new beaches where no people - or almost no people - have been before. For example on the many islands outside of Sihanoukville” (23A), “yes I think many tourists like that” (24A)

As can be seen from the conversation, the advantage in relation to the many secluded beaches takes a whole new level than the first conversation with the mentioning of the possibility for the tourists to become modern Robinson Crusoe-types that discover new beaches on small islands where no people – or almost no people – have been before. For those tourists who do not like to pretend they are Robinson Crusoe, one of the respondents assures, though, that it is also possible to get a more “average” beach experience in Cambodia:

“yes. But still it is also possible to be a typical tourist and go to a beach with maybe a hundred of other tourists. Some people also want to have an opportunity like that. Like a real holiday beach experience. Like in other countries” (25A).

In continuation hereof another one of the respondents adds that in Cambodia there are also great opportunities to do all the usual beach activities, such as snorkeling, water skiing and kayaking. Even scuba diving is getting more and more common (26A). In relation to this, the respondents in the other focus group at one point talk about the Cambodian beach capital Sihanoukville which apart from beautiful beaches offers a great nightlife:

“I think a lot of tourists are surprised by our beach capital in Sihanoukville” (51B), “Yes. I think so too. Most people only come here to see the temples. And when they go down south and see all the beautiful beaches and the nightlife they think. Wow” (52B), “yes. We have so much more to offer than the temples. For example people mostly go to Thailand to party and be at the beaches and then they come to

57 Cambodia to see the temples. But it is like: we have parties and beaches as well! Down in Sihanoukville there are a lot of clubs and bars for westerners, and in the high seasons there are a lot of westerners there” (53B)

It is interesting to note how the respondents yet again compare Cambodia to Thailand, by making it clear that Cambodia has just as much to offer as Thailand in relation to the popular beach-party experiences. Furthermore they point out that the world famous Angkor Wat temples are not the only reason to go to Cambodia, even though many people think that. Except from the beaches, the many Cambodian national parks with great possibilities for outdoor-adventures constitute another popular nature-subject among both of the focus groups. Some of the statements in relation to this are:

 “We have a lot of beautiful nature. With the many national parks and its mountains and waterfalls” (41B),  “yes. And a lot of them (the national parks) offer great possibilities for amazing adventures for the tourists. For example elephant rides through the jungle, visiting big caves, mountain climbing and canoe trips along the rivers” (42B),  “yes there are many trips the tourists can take (…) Some of them are very interesting and last for several days through the jungle where the tourists get to sleep in the wild on a hammock and things like that” (43B),  “…we have a lot of interesting national parks in Cambodia with a lot of beautiful nature. Just waiting to be explored” (26A),  “Many mountains and national parks – like many options for do trekking in the jungle and things like that” (31A),  “yes there are a lot of eco-tourism options in Cambodia” (32A),  “There are a lot of opportunities in Cambodia for outdoor adventurous people. Such as trekking through the jungle, riding on elephants, exploring caves, or just take a swim in a lake” (40A)

4.1.3 The Cambodian culture As mentioned in the method chapter, when I asked the respondents about the Cambodian culture, it did not take long until they started talking about subjects not purely related to culture. However, both of the focus groups did discuss several more culture-related subjects, and, as with the two previous categories, a lot of these were the same.

4.1.3.1 Human qualities of the Cambodian people First of all, the earlier mentioned human qualities of the Cambodian people are reflected in the culture as well:

58 “yes. But I think another thing that is typical for Cambodian culture is its people. I mean I think we are a very friendly people” (21B), “Yes. I think so too. We are very caring – both for the people who are close to us but also our neighbors and people on the street. And everyone else” (22B), As can be seen from the above interview sample the respondents believe the Cambodian people are very caring for each other. Not only the people that are close to them, but also the ones that they do not know very well. In the other focus group one respondent goes more into detail about in which way the Cambodian people are caring by saying: “I’m not sure but I think a typical Cambodian thing is that we are very caring for each other. I mean if someone have a problem we always help them…” (8A) Just like the participants from the other group, she adds that it is not only the ones closest to them they like to help but also strangers they meet on the street (8A). The reason for this behavior is according to one of the other respondents that the Cambodian people like to think of all people as their friends: “yes that is true. I think so as well. It is like the Cambodian people would like to think all people as their friends. Even the people we have just met…” (9A)

4.1.3.2 The Angkar temples An area the respondents in both of the focus groups agree upon is typical as well as very important for the Cambodian culture, is the famous Angkar temples:

“I think another thing that is a very important part of our culture is the temples. Especially Angkor Wat is a very important part of the Cambodian culture” (34B), “yes I think that as well. Did you know that Angkar Wat is one of the seven wonders of the world?” (35B), “Like the temples: they do not have these in Thailand. Or in any other country in the world. It is only in Cambodia. And I think they are an important part of both the Cambodian culture as well as the Cambodian tourism industry” (16A)

All of the above quotes indicate that the world famous temples are something the Cambodian people are particularly proud of, since not only do they not have them in “any other country in the world” but the most famous one of them (Angkar Wat) is even “one of the seven wonders of the world”.

This indication is being confirmed later when one of the respondents says: “Yes Angkor Wat is a very important part of the Cambodian identity if you can say that. Because it is something that makes us very proud. And it is something that our grand-grand-grand-grand fathers have built. And nothing in the world is like that” (36B)

A statement the other respondents in the focus group agree on: “Yes no one has been able to build like that. Everyone is very proud of it” (37B), “yes I think it is what makes me the most proud about being a Cambodian too. They are very special. Very breathtaking.” (38B)

4.1.3.3 Easy, laid-back lifestyle and atmosphere

59 The last and perhaps most interesting discussion to mention in relation to the Cambodian culture, is one about the easy, laid back Cambodian lifestyle as well as atmosphere. The respondents in one of the focus groups namely agree upon that Cambodia is a very easy, laid-back place to live (11B-14B). As one of the respondents states:

“…It is a very easy place to live. And also to be for tourists. It is like…everything is easy. You don’t need to do a lot to feel happy. You don’t need to take a lot of cloth on because of the weather. And you don’t need to do a lot to get something to eat. It is just right outside at the street corner you know” (12B)

Besides from believing in an easy lifestyle, the Cambodian atmosphere is also mentioned as very easy and relaxed (11B-14B). For example one of the respondents states:

“In the rest of Thailand it is not that relaxed either I think. But in Phnom Penh and in rest of Cambodia it is more relaxed. It is a more easy atmosphere” (11B)

As can be seen from the quote, the respondent compares Cambodia with Thailand, which in his opinion has not got as relaxed an atmosphere as Cambodia does.

4.1.4 Cambodia’s image according to the Cambodian people

When I ask the respondents what they think foreigners’ image of Cambodia is it is both positive and negative.

4.1.4.1 The Angkar temples In both of the focus groups the respondents agree that people’s positive associations of their country relate to the world famous Angkar temples. As a respondent in one of the focus groups mentions:

“I think it is good – for instance I have met many people in Thailand and also Vietnam who wanted to go to Cambodia because they wanted to go and see the temples…” (46A) Likewise a respondent in the other focus group states: “I think many people have a good image of the temples. I mean they want to come and see them” (67B). A negative thing in relation to the temples is, however, as mentioned previously in the analysis, that the respondents believe that people think the temples are the only attractions Cambodia has to offer. As the very same respondent, for example, adds shortly after the statement above:

“But maybe not so much the rest of the country. I mean. I think many people believe it is only the temples we have. So many people they go to Thailand and just take a quick visit to Cambodia to see the temples and then they go again. Back to Thailand you know. Or to Vietnam” (67B)

60 In relation to this, one of the focus groups discuss earlier in the interview how much they want the tourists to know that Cambodia has so much more to offer than the temples (52B-57B). As one of the respondents claims:

“Yes I want the tourists to know that we have so much more to offer. There are so many different things for the tourists to do. They can go trekking in the jungle, climb the mountains, sail in the rivers or the ocean or jump from island to island. And just relax at one of the many beaches” (56B).

To show their agreement, two of the other respondents continue the listing of the many things to do in Cambodia by talking about the Capital of Cambodia (Phnom Penh) as a “real Asian capital” where you can do “everything” including being cultural, go shopping and partying (57B-58B).

Since the diversity of Cambodia is something that is being highlighted several times during both of the focus groups interviews, I consider it to be among those assets the Cambodian people especially wants the world to know about.

4.1.4.2 Dangerous, corrupt and poor country Perhaps on the most negative end of the “associations-scale” the respondents in both of the focus groups agree that people perceive Cambodia as a dangerous country to travel in because of its brutal history. A perception the focus groups do not believe fit the present reality. As one of the respondents states:

“And perhaps also that it is a dangerous country to travel in – because it has been quite dangerous before. Of course it still can be dangerous but not more than it is in so many other countries, like for instance Vietnam or Thailand. Or Chile or Mexico… And in general I would say that it is a safe country to travel in” (50A)

As can be seen from the statement, the respondents in general believe Cambodia to be as safe as any other country to travel in (50A-51A, 69B-76B).

In continuation of the discussions about Cambodia as a dangerous country to travel in, one of the respondents mentions that she believes many people have a bad image of Cambodia because they hear it is corrupt. As she adds though, this is not something the tourists will feel (75B). Another one of the respondents corrects her a bit saying: “No. Maybe only a little bit, but again it is nothing. It is the same as in Thailand and Vietnam. Or any other country. People just don’t know that” (76B).

The last subject being discussed in relation to Cambodia’s image is among one of the focus groups that they believe people think of Cambodia as a poor, developing country. This image, however, they do not believe is a negative thing since – as they mention - tourists in general do not mind visiting poor, developing countries, as long as it does not mean they are also dangerous to travel in (55-56A). Furthermore the image of a poor developing country does also fit the reality of Cambodia. As one of the respondents states:

“I mean of course we are still a developing country. Even though we have been developed a lot, compared to western standards we are still a lot behind” (54A).

61 4.1.5 Summary In the above analysis we saw that the Cambodian people revealed a lot of characteristics of Cambodia. As mentioned a couple of times already, I have chosen to use Echtner & Ritchies model intended to measure the components of a destination image to measure the Cambodian identity. The reason for this is that it will then be easier to measure whether Cambodia has any unique characteristics that differentiate it from other destinations. Furthermore, when later used on the image analysis with the Danish respondents, it will be easier to measure whether the image fits the identity, or not.

As can be seen in the figure below Cambodia has several unique holistic characteristics, according to the Cambodian respondents:

Figure 3: The Cambodian identity according to the Cambodian respondents

62 After having established the Cambodian identity, I will now move on to the second analysis, which is going to measure the potential of Cambodia in relation to the Danish tourists.

63 4.2 The potential of Cambodia in relation to the Danish tourists

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the potential of Cambodia as a travel destination in relation to the travel motivations, preferences and habits of the Danish tourists.

I will therefore first analyze the focus group interviews I made with the Danish respondents and thereafter relate this new knowledge to the knowledge I have gained from the previous analysis about the Cambodian identity. By juxtaposing the two analyses it should be possible to conclude the potential of Cambodia in relation to the Danish tourists. During the analysis I will relate to the general theories of travel motivations - both in relation to similarities and differences (cf. 2.2.4.)

4.2.1 Frequency of traveling In relation to the first question I asked the Danish focus groups – How often do you travel? - I will conclude that all of the respondents represent the target group of my investigation: Danish tourists (1.1). The reason for this is the fact that most of the respondents travel at least one or two times a year, and some of them even more (2C-7C, 2D-3D). Only one of the respondents states that some years he do not travel at all due to lack of money. However, because he really likes to travel, he travels “constantly” the years he can afford it (4D).

4.2.2 Type of destination When I ask the focus groups what type of destination they prefer when traveling all of the respondents agree that they want to experience something new and different from Denmark. First of all they are all interested in experiencing a destination that offers a different culture and different experiences than in Denmark (17C-18C, 25D-26D). As one of the respondents states:

”I think it’s very important that you get to experience something new and different from the place where you live. A new culture, that offers new experiences” (17C)

In relation to meeting new and different cultures, the respondents in one of the focus groups agree that they prefer warm and exotic destinations. One of the reasons for this is that they believe exotic places more often than non-exotic places have cultures that differentiate a lot from the Danish culture. As one of them states: “yes. I guess that is also why I prefer more exotic places – you know like the Philippines or Thailand. Or African countries for that matter. Places where the cultures

64 and the local people are a lot different from Denmark. More warm and welcoming. Of course not all people are like that. Not even in exotic countries. Ha ha” (18C)

The last part, about the human qualities of the local people, is another area that is particularly important for the respondents in this focus group (18C-21C): ”yes the way the local people behave is very important for the overall travel experience. I have had some amazing experiences with the locals in for example Bukina Faso and Kenya. But also some horrible experiences in India” (20C), ”I don’t think I have ever gotten to know the locals when traveling. But I would really like to. Guess it could be an interesting experience” (21C)

As can be seen the respondents have a wish of getting to know the locals and share experiences with them. In continuation of experiencing exotic cultures and meeting the locals, three of the respondents agree that they find it interesting to visit cultures and people that are more behind from western standards, because it “gets more interesting” (23C) and “seems more real” (24C). The reason for this preference can be explained by a need among the respondents for authenticity. As we saw in the chapter about tourist motivations (cf. 2.2.4.1) modern tourists cannot find authenticity in modern societies and therefore seek it elsewhere as tourists in foreign pre-modern countries.

Besides from experiencing new, different, pre-modern and exotic cultures with more warm and welcoming locals, another area that is important to the respondents in both of the focus groups is the geography/nature of the destination:

“Yes I feel the same. I also think it’s healthy to experience something new and different from what you are used to in Denmark. Not only in relation to cultures, but also geographically. For example differences in the nature and things like that. The nature is actually very important to me…” (26D)

Besides for the fact that they want the nature to be different from Denmark, they also want it to be beautiful: ”Of course it has to be a beautiful place as well! (14C), ”yes that is very important. The nature and stuff. It has to be beautiful…”(16C) ”...I mean Denmark does not have so much to offer in my opinion so it is nice to get to see something else. More beautiful and more extreme. That is one of the reasons why my husband and I really love to go to Norway and Sweden” (27D)

Two of the respondents even state that they would never travel to a place that is not beautiful (29D, 30D). The beauty, however, does not necessarily needs to be rooted in the nature, but can just as well be the architecture of a destination: ”For example if you are going to spend a holiday in Prague it is not the nature you are coming for, but the beautiful architecture and special atmosphere. And I mean with so many beautiful places on earth why pick an ugly one?” (30D) The above preferences of experiencing something new and different from one’s home society (Denmark), as well as visiting people in foreign countries that are different from one’s home society (Denmark) in relation to culture and geography, can all be related to the motivations to escape (cf. 2.2.4.1)

65 4.2.3 Travel activities The respondents in the two focus groups are very similar when it comes to their preferences in travel activities (=habits). There are in general three types of travel activities that are important to both of the focus groups: nature-adventure activities, beach activities, and big city-activities. Furthermore the respondents in one of the groups enjoy party-activities as well. Below I will analyze the interview on the basis of the four categories.

4.2.3.1 Nature-adventure As the name reveals, this category relates to active adventure-activities in the nature. The respondents in both of the focus groups enjoy everything from hiking in the jungle, to mountain climbing, scuba diving, tubing, sailing and visiting caves (35D- 37D, 35C-39C). As one of them states: “Well, like I said, many of my traveling activities have got something to do with being in the nature. I enjoy everything from hiking, to mountain climbing, to sailing in all kinds of boats, to scuba diving, to...yeah well, basically everything in the nature!” (35D). In the other focus group a respondent states: “I think I’m more the nature-adventure kind of guy. You know. I really like to do things like hiking or mountain climbing” (35C). As a response to this, another respondent starts talking about a nature-adventure experience he once had, which was one of his best travel experiences ever: “I think the best travel experiences I have had has been when I have been on a nature-adventure like that. For example I had a really great experience a couple of years ago in Thailand where I went on this jungle trip with a France guy I had met. We got to see a lot of beautiful nature, and do a lot of cool things. Like tubing down a river with dangerous snakes hanging down from the trees, and visit a huge cave in the middle of the jungle. And mountain climbing as well. This was also when I got to know some locals like I mentioned before. It was a really great experience” (36C)

In one of the focus groups the respondents have a conversation about why they enjoy these kinds of travel activities: “Yes I think stuff like that is also really cool. It makes you grow in a way…”(37C), “yes like you feel you become a completely different person afterwards. In a good way. Like a hero” (38C) “yes exactly! (39C), “Ha ha. I can see your point” (40C)

In other words, some of the reasons why the respondents enjoy these nature- adventure activities can be found in motivations of personal growth and self- actualization, as well as the motivation of self-promotion and being recognized (cf. 2.2.4.2) - in this case as ‘heroes’. However, the motivation of especially self-actualization does not come as a surprise since the respondents are Danish and therefore live in an individualistic culture where this type of motivation is one of the most important ones (cf. 2.3.1.2) Furthermore we saw in the theory that the need for both self-promotion as well as self-actualization is typical for people living in The Dream Society, and that one way this can be seen is via people’s more and more adventurous holiday activities such as mountain climbing (cf. 2.2.4.2)

66 4.2.3.2 Sun & beach activities Like the nature-adventure category also this category is a very popular travel activity among the respondents in the two focus groups (31C-32C, 41C-43C, 44D-49D). Some of the statements in relation to sun & beach activities are:

“Definitely. We love to just relax at a beautiful beach all day. To just stress completely out and get a tan” (45D), “To just relax at the beaches and get a tan” (31C), “yes that is very important to me as well. I mean to get a chance to just let go…not worry about anything” (32C), “I’d rather just stay at a beach and relax. Ha ha” (41C), I love beaches as well! (42C), “yes me too. That is like basic. A very important basic (43C) “Or relaxing by the beach if we are in that kind of place. That is very nice as well” (44D).

As can be seen from the statements some of the reasons why the respondents carry out ‘beach activities’ are: to relax, to get a tan and to let go and not worry about anything. These more passive beach activities can be related to the motivation to escape from the routines and constraints of everyday life (cf. 2.2.4.1). Not all of the preferred beach activities are on the passive end of the scale though. As one of the respondents says: “And then maybe if things gets too boring one can always take a nice swim or perhaps go snorkeling for a bit if it is possible” (47D). Activities that the other respondents in the group as well as their families enjoy also (48D-49D). A respondent in the other focus group mentions (as the only one) that to enjoy more active beach activities is the only reason why he visits beaches: “If I go to a beach it is only to try out some water activities. Like water skiing or snorkeling. Things like that” (44C).

4.2.3.3 Big city activities This third category encompasses all of the activities tourists usually do when visiting big cities: Going shopping, visiting museums, going to concerts, eat in restaurants, partying, or just strolling along the streets. All of the respondents like visiting big cities when traveling and doing some or all of the above mentioned big city activities (46C-53C, 39D-43D). Furthermore a couple of the respondents mention that they enjoy going on so-called “big city holidays”:

“Yes definitely! That is why I really like to take a holiday in a big city. Like Paris, or Rome. Where you can go crazy in shopping. Ha ha. And party of course” (47C), “There is nothing better that just stroll along the streets of a beautiful city like Prague or Paris on a sunny day. On holidays like these out travel activities are very classic big-city activities like going to museums and concerts, eat in nice restaurants and of course go shopping… “ (39D)

One of the respondents who does not like to spend a whole holiday in a big city mentions that one of the reasons why she still enjoys visiting big cities when traveling is that it is often in big cities cultural activities are possible (42D). In general cultural activities are among the most frequently mentioned big city activities and something all of the respondents enjoy (51C-53C, 39D-43D). The next frequently mentioned activities are shopping and eating in restaurants (46C, 52C, 39D-40D). To make it clear that big cities and big city activities constitute an important part of travel experiences in general, one of the respondents states: “There has to be at least one great big city in the county you are traveling too” (48C)

67 4.2.3.4 Party activities This type of activity is only mentioned as important to the respondents in one of the focus groups (33-34C, 47C). This might be due to the fact that the respondents in the other focus group are all having children and husbands/girlfriend, whereas the respondents in this group are all singles with no children. One of the respondents states the following in relation to party activities: “To let go is especially important to me…. Ha ha. I mean to party and stuff like that. I often feel a need to just book a plane to somewhere. A nice place with some crazy parties where I can just let go and be myself. Be a better me. Or maybe worse. Ha ha. You know just let lose” (33C)

The last part of the statement about becoming “a better me. Or maybe worse” is interesting as it relates to the travel motivation of changing the person one is in favor of a better one (cf. 2.2.4.2) The expression of “letting go” and “let lose” can furthermore be related to a motivation of liberating the libido (jvf. motivation chapter) as the mentioned expressions in combination with partying are often related to an overindulgence in alcohol and sex. Another one of the respondents mentions that “crazy parties” are the main reason why he loves to visit destinations like Koh Phangan or Phuket in Thailand, and Ibiza in Europe (34C). Whereas a third mentions that parties along with shopping is the reason why she likes to take a holiday in a big city like Paris or Rome (47C).

4.2.3.5 A mix of activities

In the end of this part of the interview, the respondents in one of the groups has a conversation about how they do not prefer one travel activity from another because it is the combination that makes traveling fun (54C-58C). As some of the respondents states:

“I mean I like holidays or longer travels where I can do it all: you know like lying at the beach in the morning, do a hike in the afternoon and party in the evening” (56C),

“Definitely. It is the combination that makes it fun. You get bored if you lie at the beach all day, 14 days in a row, and you might get a little tired if hiking and being adventurous all the time. Shopping can be very exhausting as well. Ha Ha” (57C),

“Except from the shopping I agree on this one. I like to do a lot of different things when traveling. Being cultural, being adventurous, take a sailing trip down the river, or just sit and relax at a nice restaurant – enjoying the sunset” (58C)

Only one of the respondents states that she prefers the three activities of relaxing at a beach, go shopping once in a while, and partying (59C). Even though it is only one of the focus groups where some of the respondents explicit agree to prefer a combination of travel activities, I consider the respondents in the other focus group to have the same preference. The reason for this is that we during the above analysis have seen how they as well prefer all kinds of traveling activities from nature-adventure activities, to beach activities, and big city activities.

68 4.2.4. Summary: The potential of Cambodia in relation to the Danish tourists

The Danish focus groups had the following preferences in relation to type of destination, which are at the same time all related to the motivations to escape from one’s home society:

 They prefer warm and exotic destinations

 They prefer visiting cultures and people that are more behind from western standards = the motivation of visiting ‘authentic’ destinations

 They prefer destinations where the local people are warm and welcoming and where you have a chance of getting to know them and share experiences with them.

 They prefer destinations that have a beautiful nature that differentiates from the Danish nature.

If relating the above preferences to the knowledge gained from analysis one about the Cambodian identity, Cambodia must be said to be a highly relevant destination in relation to the Danish tourists: First of all Cambodia is a developing country and thus behind from western standards (cf. 4.1.4.2) Secondly the Cambodian people is, according to the Cambodian respondents, warm, friendly and hospitable, easy to communicate with and most importantly “eager” to getting to know the tourists on a more personal level (cf. 4.1.1). Third, the Cambodian nature is very beautiful with lots of beautiful national parks, beaches, mountains, jungles and waterfalls (cf. 4.1.2.). Nature assets that furthermore differentiate from what the Danish nature has to offer since Denmark does not have either mountains, jungles or “paradise beaches with white sand and palm trees” (cf. 4.1.2.). At last, even though the Cambodian respondents do not mention the word exotic during the interviews, there should be no doubt that Cambodia is a warm and exotic destination. First of all because it has got a tropical climate, and secondly since the Danish respondents mention the term ‘exotic’ in relation to destinations where the cultures are a lot different from Denmark, and the local people are more warm and welcoming. Something we saw are both characteristics of Cambodia.

In relation to travel activities that the Danish respondents enjoy, they agreed about the following, which are at the same time indirectly travel motivations as well:

 Nature-adventure activities – the motivation for self-actualization, personal grow and self-promotion.  Beach activities – the motivation to escape from the routines and constraints of everyday life

 Big city activities (and great big cities that offer these)

 Party activities (“crazy parties” like the ones they have in Ibiza and Thailand) - travel motivation of changing the person one is in favor of a better one as well as the motivation of liberating the libido.

69 Furthermore the focus groups prefer destinations that offer a combination of different travel activities, instead of just one or two.

If relating these travel activities to the activities Cambodia has to offer, Cambodia must yet again be said to be a highly relevant destination for the Danish tourists: First of all we saw in the identity analysis that Cambodia offers all kinds of nature- adventure activities, such as elephant rides through the jungle, exploring big caves, mountain climbing, scuba diving, and canoe trips along the rivers (cf. 4.1.2). Secondly, the Cambodian beaches offer all the classic beach activities such as snorkeling, water skiing or sailing in kayaks. On top of that the Cambodian islands with its many pristine beaches offer unique “Robinson-Crusoe-experiences”, as it is still possible for the tourists in Cambodia to find a beach of their own, without being disturbed by a horde of other tourists like in most other tourist countries (cf. 4.1.2)

Also big city activities are possible in Cambodia, since the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh is described as a “real Asian capital” where it is possible to do everything from shopping to being cultural and partying at clubs (cf. 4.1.4.1). When it comes to the fourth travel activity of partying, the Cambodian respondents agree that Cambodia has the same to offer as for example a destination like Thailand when it comes to “crazy beach-party experiences” (cf. 4.1.2) As indicated above, also the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, offers a great party scene.

Last, but not least, the Cambodian respondents believe and want the tourists to know that Cambodia offers a wide variety of different activities, such as the ones described above (cf. 4.1.4.1).

4.3 Cambodia’s image among the Danish tourists

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the image of Cambodia on the basis of the second part of my focus group interviews with the Danish respondents.

70 Since one of the Danish respondents has been to Cambodia, I have chosen to make two different image analyses: one with the respondents who have never visited Cambodia, and one with the one respondent who has visited Cambodia. The fact that I both have an analysis with respondents who have never been to Cambodia and one with a respondent who has been to Cambodia, will help me to get a clue whether there is any difference between the way the general Danish tourist perceive the Cambodian reality and the reality seen from the eyes of those Danish tourists who have actually visited the country. Due to a limited number of pages at my disposal, I have chosen to put the second image analysis in the appendix (appendix, 12) and create a short summary of it in the thesis (cf. 4.3.2).

4.3.1 Image analysis, number 1: Respondents who have never visited Cambodia

4.3.1.1 General familiarity and associations of Cambodia When I ask the respondents in the two focus groups how familiar they are with Cambodia they reveal very different levels of familiarity: Two of the respondents believe Cambodia is a country in Africa (61C, 54D), a few others have an idea that it is somewhere in Asia (63C, 53D), one does not have a clue of where it is (64C), and two know exactly where it is located (62C, 55D). Among the two who know where it is, one of them is the one who has been in Cambodia before, and therefore has the highest level of familiarity with Cambodia among the respondents19 (55D).

Besides from mentioning where they believe Cambodia is located some of the respondents that showed least familiarity in relation to the location of Cambodia have a small conversation about how they do not know anything about Cambodia (56D- 58D). Despite this, the conversation reveals that even these respondents do have some associations in relation to the country.

As two of the them state: “Isn’t it a very poor country? And dangerous?” (57D), “yes that is what comes to my mind as well. Ha Ha” (58D)

In other words, despite having agreed previously that they do not know anything about the country they still have some (negative) perceptions about the country.

In the other focus group the majority of the respondents have the same perceptions: that Cambodia is a poor and dangerous country (87C-89C). Furthermore two of them have the impression that it is a place where people come to adopt kids:

“Isn’t it the place where Angelina Jolie has adopted Maddox?” (83C), “yes it is. Maybe that is what I think of when I think about Cambodia. A country where people come to adopt kids…” (85C)

19 See image analysis part 2, appendix, 12)

71 The fact that the respondents mention the famous actor Angelina Jolie and her adoption of her son Maddox in relation to why they think of Cambodia as a country where people come to adopt kids indicates how much power celebrities can have when it comes to the image formation of a destination.

4.3.1.2 Specific associations of Cambodia: Cities, places and attractions

In general the respondents are not capable of mentioning a lot of cities, places or attractions in Cambodia20. And among the few things they do mention, it in general comes from the same two or three respondents, which means that the majority of the respondents know nothing, or almost nothing, specific about the country:

Only three of the respondents have heard about the Angkar temples, with only one of these being aware that they are located in Cambodia (68C-70C, 67D). Two people know that Phnom Penh is the capital (75C, 62D), one of these, as she said, only because she heard it mentioned in the news recently in relation to the tragedy that happened in the capital during the water festival21 (62D). One respondent mentions that he is familiar with the Tuol Sleng museum in Phnom Penh22, and knows about “the horrible things that happened during the Pol Pot regime” (75C). In relation to the last issue, a couple of other respondents mention their knowledge about this tragic part of the Cambodian history (78C, 64D). One of these respondents states:

“I have heard about Pol Pot. Does he still have some people running around and kill tourists?” (78C) This statement is interesting since it does not only reveal a very negative image of Cambodia, but also an image that does not fit the present-day reality since 16 years have passed since the three tourists were killed by the Khmer Rouge23

As can be seen from the respondents very scarce associations of Cambodia – both the general as well as the more specific - the familiarity with the country is in general very low. This indicates that Cambodia might have an awareness problem. Furthermore among the associations of Cambodia the respondents do have, most of these are very negative, which indicates that Cambodia might have an image problem as well. When I later in the interview ask the respondents more specifically about what their immediate impression of Cambodia is both of the above indications become even stronger: In one of the groups three of the respondents mention outright that their impression is negative (92C-94C), one of them adding that she does not think of Cambodia as a place where people go on holiday (94C). The fourth and last respondent states, however, that he is indifferent about it the reason being that he would like to go and

20 Except from the one who has been to Cambodia already 21 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/23/cambodia-water-festival-phnom-penh 22 The Tuol Sleng museum: a former high school which was used as the Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum) 23 (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1968996,00.html)

72 see the temples, but do not know enough about Cambodia to say: “that’s where I want to go on my next adventure!” (95C).

In the other focus group two of the respondents have been a bit colored by the respondent who has been to Cambodia (appendix, 13) why one of them mentions her impression of Cambodia in past tense: “Hmm it was negative. Very negative actually. Like I said I just thought it was a very poor, and dangerous country. You know the kind of place where a lot of kids with big hungry stomachs sit on the streets and beg. Like the pictures we see of Africa in the television” (93D)

As can be seen from the statement her impression was very negative as well, before she got colored a bit by the respondent who has been to Cambodia. The second respondent still has a very negative impression though:

“I have an idea that it is a very poor and corrupt country. And yes maybe kinda dangerous place for tourists to be. A bit too dangerous. And I have traveled in a lot of other countries that might be considered as dangerous (…) But I still kinda have an idea that Cambodia is more dangerous. Like that you can more easily get shot or something…” (94D)

Like earlier in the interview the associations of Cambodia as a poor and dangerous country are yet again mentioned in both of the statements. However, as opposed to previously, this time it is being explicitly stated that Cambodia is perceived as a dangerous destination for tourists, where one might get shot.

4.3.1.3 Measuring image on the basis of the identity

Because the Danish respondents due to limited familiarity had very little to say about Cambodia during the more unstructured and open-ended questions, I found it necessary to ask into all of the characteristics of the Cambodian identity during the more structured part of the interviews. First of all to reveal a more complete picture of the Danish tourists’ image of Cambodia, and secondly to be able to see whether there are gaps between the image and the identity.

73 4.3.1.4 The capital Phnom Penh In relation to the first characteristic that the capital of Cambodia is a “real Asian capital” where you can do everything including being cultural, go shopping and partying, I asked the respondents to comment on the statement: The capital of Cambodia (Phnom Penh) has little interesting to offer tourists compared to other capitals in Asia.

In general the respondents agree with the statement, meaning that they do not believe Phnom Penh has as much to offer as other Asian capitals, or is as interesting as other Asian capitals. The main reason for this perception is according to the respondents that they believe they would have heard about it if the capital was interesting and had a lot to offer (98C-101C, 101D-102D).

4.3.1.5 The Cambodian beaches When asking the respondents to comment on the statement: The Cambodian beaches are just as beautiful as the beaches in for example Thailand and Vietnam, the respondents have a two-sided opinion:

On one hand they have the same reaction as to the characteristic above: that they believe they would have heard about it if there were beautiful paradise beaches in the country. On the other hand, after having become aware that Cambodia is located between Thailand and Vietnam, they agree that the nature cannot be that different from the nature in the neighbouring countries.

As some of the respondents state:

“I guess there is a great chance that they do since Cambodia is so close to Thailand and Vietnam. But it’s tricky. I mean. Again. We haven’t heard about it. So I would say I agree with the statement again” (104D) “Haven’t got a clue. But again: don’t you think we would have heard about it if there were?” (105C) “I mean it is right next to Thailand and Vietnam so the nature can’t be that much different from these countries can it?” (106C)

Despite some of the respondents’ rationalizations regarding the similarity of the nature between the East-Asian countries, beautiful beaches do not seem to belong to any of their immediate impressions of Cambodia. As two of the respondents mention:

“It is definitely not something I think of when I think about Cambodia. I don’t have this like exotic association of Cambodia” (107C) “No me neither. It is not like you think beautiful beaches with palm trees and like beautiful ladies with flowers in their hair dancing around ha ha… in the background when you think about Cambodia...” (108C)

As can be seen from the above statements the respondents do not have any exotic associations of Cambodia, for which reason beautiful beaches do not come into their minds, when thinking of the country.

74 4.3.1.6 The Cambodian party scene

In relation to the third characteristic, that Cambodia has a great party scene, I ask the respondents to comment on the statement: Cambodia has no real party scene compared to other tourist destinations.

Yet again both of the focus groups’ agreements do not fit the Cambodian identity, as in general they do not believe there are many places for tourists to party (107C-111C, 120D-121D). As some of the respondents state: “And I especially don’t think there are parties going on there. I mean like at the beaches in for example Thailand” (107C), “yeah I definitely don’t think Cambodia is THE place to go if you want to party” (110C) The reason why they have this perception is that they have not heard about it (111C) and that they do not believe there are enough tourists in Cambodia to be able to party with a lot of other tourists (109C, 120D). They believe, however, that it should be possible to party with the locals: “Or. I mean of course I believe the Cambodian people themselves party. Like most people do. But I don’t think that there are a lot of places for tourists to party. That is just a feeling I have” (120D)

“Yes. It is probably most for the Cambodian people themselves. I think so as well” (121D)

“No I don’t think so either. It is probably not so touristic. To be able to party there have to be a lot of tourists. Or you could party with the locals I guess…” (109C) It is interesting to note how the respondents do not seem particularly thrilled with the idea of partying with the locals, despite the fact that they earlier in the interview have agreed that they would like to visit destinations where it is possible to get to know the tourists and share experiences with them (cf. 4.2.2). The reason for this might be that even though they like the idea of getting to know the locals, they still want to be able to have that “classic” tourist-party experience where they get to “go crazy” with a lot of other tourists.

4.3.1.7 The Cambodian nature

This category - the Cambodian nature is beautiful - is very close to the category about the Cambodian beaches. Perhaps for this reason the conclusions are also very similar: First of all they rationalize that the nature must be beautiful since it is so close to Thailand (128-129C). However, they do not associate beautiful nature with Cambodia, and they definitely do not think it is as beautiful as for example the nature in Thailand and Vietnam (129C-132C, 107-109D). One of the respondents mentions what her impression of the Cambodian nature is

75 instead:

“No. I don’t really think nature when I think Cambodia. I more think of – well yeah maybe I think of nature, but I more think of a very like dry landscape. With a lot of what’s it called – straw cottages. You know. And then a lot of poor kids hanging around” (131C)

An impression the other respondents in the focus group agree on (132-133C).

4.3.1.8 The selection of adventurous outdoor-activities

When I ask the respondents to comment on the statement; Cambodia has as many adventurous outdoor-activities to offer as other Asian countries, the conclusion does yet again not fit the Cambodian identity: The respondents do not believe Cambodia has as many adventurous outdoor-activities as the other countries (113-115C, 11-112D). The conclusion is rooted in the same perceptions as mentioned earlier:

First of all the respondents believe they would have heard about it if there were a lot of adventurous outdoor-activities in Cambodia, plus that Cambodia would have then been a more popular travel destination (114-115C). Secondly, they do not believe there are enough tourists in Cambodia to offer a lot of these kinds of activities (111D).

One of the respondents does mentions, however, that he “guess it is possible to go trekking and stuff like that” as there should be some jungles in Cambodia (115C).

4.3.1.9 The Cambodian people

When I ask the respondents to comment on the statement, The Cambodian people are very hospitable, the respondents in one of the focus groups agree about not having a clue (117-120C). On the other hand, the respondents in the other focus group state:

“That I don’t have any answer to. I mean if there are not many tourists in the country they probably are. But have no idea” (114D)

“No me neither. But usually people in Asia are very friendly. Aren’t they. I think I remember they were very friendly when we were in Thailand” (115D)

As can be seen from the statements the respondents in this focus group believe that the Cambodian people might be friendly because 1) they have a perception there are not many tourists in the country and 2) people in Asia are usually friendly.

Despite these positive rationalizations about the Cambodian people, the many insecure sentences in the selfsame statements such as “That I don’t have any answer to”, “But have no idea”, and “Aren’t they” strongly indicate that it is not their perception that the Cambodian people are especially hospitable.

76 4.3.1.10 A laid-back atmosphere

The last Cambodian characteristic I want the focus groups to comment on is: Cambodia has an easy, laid-back atmosphere.

The respondents’ reaction to this statement is very similar to their reaction regarding the Cambodian people: It is not their perception - however, they do not regard it as unlikely due to the fact that it is an Asian country:

“Hmm does it?” (122C), “It probably has. I mean it is Asia after all” (123C), “yes it probably does” (124C), “But it is not something you think about when you think about Cambodia. I mean…”(125C), “No it is not like it’s image or anything. Or at least I think...” (126C), “Hmm. Yes. Why not?” (123D) “Yes it doesn’t sound so unlikely” (124D)

4.3.1.4 Summary of image analysis number 1.

As can be seen from the above analysis, the Danish respondents revealed an overall poor image of Cambodia, during both the more unstructured parts of the interviews as well as the structured ones.

77 Furthermore, the above discussions in relation to the Cambodian characteristics revealed that none of the Danish respondents’ perceptions of Cambodia fitted the Cambodian identity. In fact, many of the characteristics found in the Cambodian identity the respondents did not have any perceptions about, such as the beautiful Cambodian beaches, the great selection of outdoor activities and the interesting capital. However, as we saw, because they did not beforehand have any perceptions in relation to these areas, the respondents considered most of the characteristics not to be true. The logic being: what they did not perceive (e.g. that the beaches in Cambodia are beautiful) was due to the fact that they had never heard about it, and what they had never heard about could not be especially beautiful, great or interesting. In other words: they did not consider the Cambodian beaches to be beautiful, the outdoor activities to be plentiful, or the capital to be interesting due to the fact that these Cambodian characteristics did not belong to any of their perceptions about Cambodia. In short: in these three cases, no perception about a certain characteristic is the same as a negative perception about the characteristic.

In relation to two other characteristics however - that the Cambodian people are friendly and that there is an easy laid-back atmosphere in Cambodia - the respondents had a different logic: Both of these characteristics the respondents considered to be realistic, despite the fact that they had not had any perceptions of these characteristics in relation to Cambodia either. However, as it showed, they had perceptions about these characteristics in relation to Asia: namely that people in Asia are in general friendly, and an easy laid-back atmosphere is not unlikely for an Asian country. Still, these two characteristics were not part of the respondents’ perceptions of Cambodia either.

As can be seen, the above five “non-existing” perceptions in relation to Cambodia reveal as much about the respondents overall image of Cambodia as the perceptions they do have (e.g. that Cambodia is a poor and dangerous country). The reason being that the perceptions they do not have imply how the respondents do not perceive Cambodia, and thus indirectly also imply how they perceive Cambodia. For this reason I have chosen to incorporate these “non-existing” perceptions about Cambodia into the image model below. In order to separate the “real” perceptions from the “non-existing” perceptions I have added a few boxes into Echtner & Ritchies image model below: Outside the boxes are the “real” perceptions, whereas the “non-existing” perceptions are inside the boxes.

Figure 4: The Danish tourists image of Cambodia (Destination image model, further developed by Stine Hedemann Hansen)

78 As can be seen in the model, during the interviews, the respondents revealed all four types of image components. In the main summary where I juxtapose all analyses (4.4) I will talk more about these and how they are going to influence my later development of a brand identity, as well as the answer to my question: How is it possible to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists?

Firstly, though, I will make a short summary of the second image analysis below.

4.3.2 Image analysis, number 2:

79 The respondent who has visited Cambodia

Summary The second image analysis (appendix, 12) first of all revealed that the respondent who has been to Cambodia has a very positive image of the destination.

Secondly, his perceptions about Cambodia fit the Cambodian identity almost hundred percent. First of all he believes that the Cambodian capital is a very exiting capital that has just as much to offer and is just as interesting as other Asian capitals he has been to. Secondly, he believes that the Cambodian beaches are just as beautiful as the beaches in Thailand and Vietnam and mentions (with other words) the “Robinson Crusoe” opportunities as well. He also believes that Cambodia offers a lot of great possibilities for outdoor-adventures, that the nature is “stunning”, that there is a great party scene, and that a laid-back atmosphere is “typically Cambodia”. Last but not least he finds the Cambodian people very friendly and hospitable, and believes they are easy to talk with and “remarkable” good in English. Furthermore he mentions that there is something very special about them that makes them stand out from most other nationalities he has met, and that they are “lovely”, and full of life and energy. In relation to the characteristic about Cambodia as being poor, he agrees that it is very poor. However, he does not perceive it as an especially dangerous country to travel in compared to rest of the world. As he for example states: “I mean what country isn’t a bit dangerous to travel in these days” (Appendix, 12).

In the figure below, the respondent’s different perceptions of Cambodia can be seen:

Figure 4: The perceptions of Cambodia belonging to the respondent who has visited the destination

80 As can be seen, the image model above is almost identical to the model from the identity chapter (cf. 4.1.5).

Besides from being identical to the identity model relating the above model to the image model of the first image analysis, it is clear that there is a great difference between the perceptions of the respondents who have never visited Cambodia and the perceptions of the respondent who has visited Cambodia. Since this last image model is almost identical to the identity model, I have chosen to use only the first image model when comparing the identity with the image in the summary below.

81 4.4 Summary: Juxtaposing of the analyses

In this chapter I will mainly juxtapose the image analysis with the identity analysis by relating them to Echtner & Ritchie’s model. By doing this I will first of all be able to see which of the Danish tourists’ present perceptions of Cambodia that should be changed in a branding strategy in order to better fit the characteristics of the Cambodian identity. Furthermore I will try to figure out how to change the perceptions via a brand strategy on the basis of what Cambodia has to offer, as well as what I know from the second analysis that the Danish tourists want.

The main goal with the summary is to get closer to an answer to the question of how to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists. For this reason I will especially take a look at the unique holistic characteristics of Cambodia.

Below I have (yet again) highlighted the two models from the identity and the image in order to be able to juxtapose their components.

Figure 3: The Cambodian identity according to the Cambodian respondents

82 Figure 4: The Danish tourists image of Cambodia

4.4.1 Gaps between identity and image The two models above illustrate that there is a great difference between how the Cambodian people describe their country and the way the Danish people perceive Cambodia. Many of these differences are due to the Danish respondents’ limited knowledge of Cambodia, which has led to negative and untrue perceptions about Cambodia within several areas. Below I have listed the differences:

 The Danish respondents perceive Cambodia as a dangerous tourist destination  According to the Cambodian respondents it is “as safe as any other country”.

 The Danish respondents perceive the Cambodian party scene to be poor with very limited options for tourists to party  According to the Cambodian respondents the parry scene is great with a lot of clubs and bars for westerners.

83  The Danish respondents do not perceive the Cambodian nature to be particularly beautiful compared to other countries  According to the Cambodian respondents the nature is very beautiful.  The Danish respondents do not have any perceptions of beautiful beaches in Cambodia  According to the Cambodian respondents there are plenty of beautiful beaches which, besides from “classic” beach-experiences such as snorkeling and beach-parties, offer “Robinson Crusoe-experiences” as well.

 The Danish respondents do not have any perceptions of a great selection of outdoor activities in Cambodia  The Cambodian respondents mention a great selection of outdoor activities in Cambodia identical with the type of activities the Danish respondents have mentioned to be interested in.

 The Danish respondents have no perceptions about the Cambodian capital (Phnom Penh) being interesting or having a lot to offer tourists  According to the Cambodian respondents Phnom Penh is a “real Asian capital” that offers most or all of the big-city activities the Danish people have mentioned to be interested in.

 The Danish respondents have no perceptions about the Cambodian people being hospitable or friendly (even though they consider it as realistic)  The Cambodian people are according to the Cambodian respondents very friendly, hospitable, caring and warm, with excellent English skills and a curiosity in getting to know the tourists.

 The Danish respondents have no perceptions of Cambodia having a laid-back atmosphere (even though they consider it as realistic)  A laid-back atmosphere is one of Cambodia’s characteristics according to the Cambodian respondents. In relation to this they also believe it is easy to feel happy in Cambodia.

If the Danish people had a better knowledge of Cambodia in relation to the above areas it would probably have a positive effect when the Danish people are going to choose a travel destination next time. Especially since we in the analysis about the Danish respondents’ travel preferences etc. (analysis 2) saw that most of the above Cambodian characteristics (seen from the Cambodian respondents) fit the Danish people’s travel motivations, preferences and habits. However, if Cambodia is going to stand out as a travel destination from competitors such as Thailand and Vietnam it is important to especially highlight the unique holistic elements of the Cambodian identity when branding the destination (cf. 2.5.4.2.1) Among the above-mentioned areas the easy laid-back atmosphere is a holistic aura and thus something that is unique24 for Cambodia. Furthermore the Robinson-Crusoe experience is a holistic feature and thus unique for Cambodia.

4.4.2 Similarities between image and identity

24 The term unique has in this context to be understood as a characteristic only one or a few destinations have

84 It is not all of the Danish people’s perceptions that differ from the Cambodian identity though. First of all the Danish people perceive Cambodia as a poor country, which the Cambodian people themselves also mention as a characteristic of their country. In the image analysis the Danish respondents talk about the attribute ‘poor’ in relation to why they have a negative perception of the country. However, in the analysis about travel preferences we saw that the Danish respondents are in fact interested in visiting cultures and people that are more behind from western standards, because it gives a more ‘authentic’ travel experience. The reason for this ambiguity might be rooted in what one of the Cambodian respondents themselves mentions (cf. 4.1.4.2) namely that tourists in general do not mind visiting poor countries, as long as it does not mean they are also dangerous to travel in. Since we saw in the chapter above that the Danish respondents believe Cambodia to be a dangerous country to travel in, they might perceive ‘poor’ as a negative attribute in this context. For this reason it is even more important to communicate towards the Danish tourists when branding the destination that Cambodia is in general a safe travel destination, as this is going to change their perception of Cambodia as a poor country from a negative one to a positive one. In continuation of the perception of Cambodia as a poor and dangerous country, the Danish respondents also have a perception that it is a corrupt country. In relation to this the Cambodian respondents mention that their country is corrupt, but that it is not something the tourists will feel.

The last perception that fits the Cambodian identity is that Cambodia is home to the Angkar temples (including the most famous: Angkar Wat). Unfortunately though, as we saw in the image analysis, not all of the respondents were familiar with the temples, and among the ones who ere not all of these knew that they are located in Cambodia. For this reason the incorporation of the temples in the destination branding of Cambodia is still relevant. Especially since they are truly unique features existing nowhere else in the world, and the most famous one of them, Angkar Wat, is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

4.4.3 Other perceptions

85 A few of the perceptions the Danish respondents revealed were not mentioned by the Cambodian respondents themselves. These are:

 That Cambodia is a country where people come to adopt kids

 That some of the followers of the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot (the Khmer Rouge) are still running around and killing tourists

In relation to the first perception there is no point in denying that it is true.25 However, the Danish respondents do not mention it as a particularly bad thing in a tourism perspective. Furthermore, people of today are practically adopting kids from all over the world, including some of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, such as Thailand, China and Mexico26. In a destination branding perspective the important thing in relation to this issue is to make sure that the Danish tourists understand that to adopt a kid is not the only reason to go to Cambodia.

In relation to the second perception, that some of the followers of the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot are still running around and killing tourists, it is, as mentioned earlier, a false perception since it was more than 16 years ago since the three tourists got killed in Cambodia by some of the men from Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge (cf. 4.3.1.2). If this false perception, which is furthermore a holistic perception, is a common perception among the Danish people, it is crucial to make clear in the branding of Cambodia that the perception has got nothing to do with the present reality in Cambodia.

Besides from the above perceptions of Cambodia, one very important holistic feature of the Cambodian identity, which has not been mentioned in relation to the Danish respondents’ perceptions of Cambodia, is the diversity of Cambodia: that Cambodia is a destination that offers the possibility of enjoying all kinds of travel activities, including the ones the Danish respondents prefer (cf. 4.2.4). An asset, which we saw the Cambodian people highlighted as something they especially want Cambodia to be known for, since they have a perception that foreigners are not aware that Cambodia has other positive things to offer besides from the Angkar temples. A perception we found out via the above analysis is true. The famous Angkar temples were, namely, the only positive perception the Danish respondents had of Cambodia.

25 http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/FactOverview/international.html. 26 See reference above.

86

Brand strategy

87 5 Brand strategy Brand identity and implementation

In the development of my brand strategy for Cambodia I will focus on the following areas:

 That it is rooted in the identity of Cambodia  That it is consistent with the way the Cambodian people want Cambodia to be perceived as a tourist destination  That it takes a starting point in the Danish tourists’ present image of Cambodia  That it fits the travel motivations, preferences and habits of the Danish tourists.

Furthermore I will be inspired by the recommendations from the theory chapter regarding how to create a successful brand identity, as well as the existing tools for successfully implementing a brand identity.

The purpose of the brand strategy is to create a distinctive and appealing image of Cambodia in the minds of the Danish tourists that will differentiate Cambodia in a positive way from similar tourist destinations such as Thailand and Vietnam, and thus reposition Cambodia as an attractive tourist destination among the Danish tourists.

88 5.1 The brand identity

In the Destination Branding chapter (cf. 2.5.4.3.3) we saw that a great way to differentiate a destination from other destinations is to make the tourists feel emotionally connected to the destination by branding an experience rather than just the physical attributes of a certain destination. Furthermore we saw that it is proposed that these experiences should be related to the lifestyles of the targeted tourists, in order to enhance the emotional appeal.

In my development of the brand identity I have chosen to do this as well: To create a brand identity that gives associations of the lifestyle experiences people can look forward to when choosing Cambodia as a travel destination, instead of just branding its physical attributes, such as beautiful beaches and friendly, hospitable people.

The reason for this choice, however, is not only that it is recommended in the theory as a way to differentiate one’s destination. First of all we saw during the above analyses that the activities Cambodia offers fit the preferred travel activities and thereby lifestyles (cf. 3.2.6.2) of the Danish tourists very well. Secondly, I conclude lifestyles to be the best way of segmenting the Danish tourists, since we saw during the second analysis (cf. 4.2.3) that the Danish respondents, despite their differences in age, sex and social background, are interested in the same travel activities. In other words: a social-demographic and economic segmentation would not have been appropriate27. Third, when branding the many different lifestyle experiences Cambodia offers, it is at the same time easy to reveal all of the unique Cambodian assets we saw during the analysis of the Cambodian identity that Cambodia has and which will differentiate Cambodia when branding them; its diversity in travel activities, its laid-back atmosphere, pristine “Robinson Crusoe” islands and breathtaking temples. As a “bonus”, also the other Cambodian characteristics, which we saw fitted the preferences and motivations of the Danish tourists, will be easy to reveal: That it is a warm and exotic destination, has friendly and hospitable locals that want to communicate with the tourists, a beautiful nature, and an ‘authentic’ culture that is behind from western standards. Furthermore lifestyle experiences, or experiences in general, can easily be coupled with opportunities for self-actualization and personal growth: the possibility of discovering a true but unknown side of oneself or perhaps even becoming a new and different person. Motivations we saw being important for the Danish respondents and typical for people living in individualistic cultures, which Danish tourists do (cf. 2.3.1.6). Even more we discovered that those kinds of experiences the Danish tourists couple with self-actualization are among the experiences Cambodia offers.

The most important reason, however, for branding lifestyle experiences is that it will show the diversity of Cambodia: a unique asset which the Cambodian people highlighted as something they would especially want Cambodia to be known for.

By branding all of the above unique and common Cambodian characteristics towards

27 Furthermore a socio-demographic and economic segmentation is (for the self same reason) no longer considered to be the best way to segment people (cf. 3.2.6.2).

89 the Danish tourists, it will be possible to change the poor image we saw the Danish respondents have of Cambodia. The reason for this is that we saw their poor image is mostly due to the fact that they have a very limited knowledge of Cambodia. Therefore by making them aware of the above positive characteristics of Cambodia, which furthermore fit their own travel motivations, preference and lifestyles, it should change their image of Cambodia from a poor one to an appealing one. Even more, because of the many unique holistic characteristics of Cambodia, the image will be distinctive as well.

There is, however, one part of the Danish respondents’ image of Cambodia I have not yet mentioned: the Danish respondents’ perceptions of Cambodia as a very dangerous country to travel in. As we saw during the analysis of the Cambodian identity, however, the Cambodian respondents believe Cambodia is as safe as any other country to travel in. It is therefore important to communicate this out via my developed brand identity as well.

With inspiration in Aaker’s definition of a brand identity (cf. 2.5.4.3.1) my proposed brand identity of Cambodia targeted towards the Danish tourists constitutes the following:

Core idea A safe, exotic, diverse, laid-back, yet adventurous Asian destination with a remarkable friendly and hospitable population that wants to get to know the tourists, a beautiful nature that offers everything from wild jungles to pristine paradise beaches, and last but not least, unforgettable experiences for all kinds and lifestyles: From exiting outdoor-adventures, to enjoyable big city activities, relaxing beach activities, ‘crazy’ parties, and breathtaking cultural visits to ancient temples.

Overall brand Promise An excitingly safe and transformational adventure to an exotic and beautiful Asian pearl with a laid-back atmosphere, a friendly people, and a diversity of travel activities.

5.2 Implementation of the Brand identity

90 To capture the essence of the brand identity, I have chosen the following two strategic suggestions that are both related to lifestyles in one way or another:

1) A lifestyle campaign that reflects the diversity of Cambodia via the following lifestyle categories:

 Nature-adventure lifestyle

 Relaxing in the sun lifestyle

 Party like an animal lifestyle

 Big city lifestyle

 Cultural lifestyle

2) Small viral movie clips filmed by satisfied Danish tourists enjoying different lifestyle experiences in Cambodia:

The main purpose is to heighten the credibility of the lifestyle campaign (strategic suggestion number 1), as well as giving the Danish tourists a feeling that Cambodia is not only a fun and exiting country to travel in but also safe.

In the chapter below I will elaborate on the elements in the lifestyle campaign, as well as the ideas behind.

5.2.1 Lifestyle campaign

As we saw in the second analysis (cf. 4.2.3.5), most of the Danish respondents do not only prefer one type of travel activity but a mix of different travel activities. For this reason the lifestyle categories of my suggested lifestyle campaign are not supposed to be seen separately but as lifestyles that can be integrated into each other. Thereby the campaign will have the potential of reaching both the Danish tourists who only prefer one of the travel lifestyles as well as the ones who prefer a mix of lifestyles.

In all of the lifestyle categories I am proposing to use different themes in order to enhance the expectation of the Cambodian travel experiences that awaits the Danish tourists (cf. 2.5.4.4.2) as well as to capture more than one of the activities Cambodia has to offer within the concerned category. In other words, this campaign is, above all, applying a diverse visual strategy (2.5.4.4.3).

Most of the themes are showing before/after scenarios in order to illustrate the transformational experiences Cambodia offers in a humorous way. Furthermore I am

91 trying to show different constellations of people (e.g. families, couples, friends) to show that Cambodia is for everyone.

Due to a limited amount of pages at my disposal I have chosen to describe the themes of the first category below only, to illustrate the idea behind them, and put the descriptions of the others in the appendix (appendix, 8).

Nature-adventure lifestyle

The first of the lifestyles is meant to primarily reflect all of the nature-adventure activities Cambodia offers, such as trekking in the jungles, mountain climbing, visiting caves, kayaking in the rivers, or jumping from island to island while pretending to be Robinson Crusoe. At the same time it is supposed to reveal the beautiful, exotic and diverse Cambodian nature.

The suggested slogan for this type of lifestyle is: Discover your inner adventurer! The slogan as well as the lifestyle category is supposed to create associations of Cambodia in the minds of the Danish tourists as a destination where it is possible to let one’s inner adventurer lose, and thus being a place for adventures and self-actualization. Something we saw is important for the Danish tourists.

The proposed themes of this first category are:

1) Before: A “pretty boy” sitting with his laptop at his office. After: a Robinson Crusoe look-alike arriving on an exotic island.

2) Before: A couple of scenes/pictures from a family’s boring non-adventurous daily life. After: A family with kids going trekking in the Cambodian jungles – visiting caves, taking a swim under a waterfall, meeting friendly, hospitable locals in small villages on the way, etc.

Relaxing in the sun lifestyle This category is meant to reflect the relaxing and passive end of the sun & beach category from the second analysis (4.2.3.2). However, I have changed its name since I have chosen to extend the category to not only include relaxing beach activities, but relaxing activities in general. The reason for this is the fact that I want to shed a light on Cambodia as a destination where you can be relaxed and enjoy the sun at other places than just the beach, since we saw that a laid-back atmosphere is one of Cambodia’s unique characteristics. The slogan for this lifestyle category is: Leave the busy you behind and relax in the Cambodian sun!

The slogan as well as the lifestyle category is supposed to create associations of Cambodia as a warm, sunny, exotic and laid-back destination, where it is possible to relax hundred percent and forget everything about one’s busy daily life back home. See the proposed themes in the appendix.

Party like an animal lifestyle

92 This category is meant to appeal to all of those Danish tourists who choose destinations like Thailand and Ibiza to engage in ‘crazy’ parties (as we saw some of the Danish respondents do). As we saw in the identity analysis the Cambodian respondents are of the opinion that Cambodia has the same to offer as these destinations, when it comes to crazy party experiences. The slogan for this category is: Let your inner party animal loose! See the proposed themes in the appendix.

Big city lifestyle This category is meant to reflect all of the big city activities the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh offers, such as going shopping, being cultural and partying at clubs. The slogan for this lifestyle category is: Explore a real Asian capital! The slogan as well as the category itself is supposed to give associations of an authentic, exiting, exotic and laid-back Asian capital. See the proposed themes in the appendix.

Cultural lifestyle This last category is primarily meant to reflect the ancient Angkor temples. As we saw in the image analysis, even though these are among the most known of the Cambodian characteristics, there still seems to be a need on putting some focus on them. First of all because not all of the respondents were familiar with the temples, and among the ones who were not, all of these knew that they are located in Cambodia. Secondly, the temples must be considered to be among the most important Cambodian assets, if not the most important, as they are truly unique features (WOW) that exist nowhere else in the world. To put some more “spice” on the category, I suggest that it should reflect some of the many other cultural activities Cambodia offers. As we saw in the second analysis about the Danish respondents’ travel habits, most of them were very interested in cultural activities. The slogan for this lifestyle category is: Discover a cultural Asian nation As can be seen the slogan is in fact not only a slogan but a positioning (cf. 2.5.4.4.2) as well, since it positions Cambodia as a cultural Asian nation, and thus indicates that it has more cultural offers than other Asian destinations.

As can be seen from the above suggestions, most of the core elements from the brand identity are being embraced in the lifestyle categories. However, one element seems to be somewhat missing, namely the Cambodian people and their positive human qualities. This important Cambodian asset, however, is reflected via the themes as I have suggested the Cambodian people to appear and interact with the tourists in most of them. In continuation of this: to appeal to the feminine culture, which Danish tourists are part of (cf. 2.3.1.6) I have in most of the themes made a focus on relationships, implying that Cambodia is a great destination for sharing unforgettable experiences with others.

I am proposing to use both traditional as well as untraditional medias as communication channels for the lifestyle categories and their themes: Small movie ads for the television as well as the Internet (viral marketing), and graphic ads and posters for magazines.

93 6. Conclusion

In the problem statement I asked:

How is it possible to market Cambodia as an appealing and distinctive tourist destination towards the Danish tourists?

I will now seek to answer this question on the basis of what I have found out during my investigation.

First of all we saw during the theoretical chapters that in order to build any appealing and distinctive brand identity it is important that it is rooted in the organizational identity of the destination, that it fits the travel motivations of the targeted tourists, and that it takes a starting point in the targeted tourists’ present image of the destination. I therefore made three analyses to be able to answer the problem statement: one with Cambodian people about the Cambodian identity, one with Danish tourists about their travel motivations (as well as other areas), and another one with Danish tourists about their present image of Cambodia as a travel destination.

Furthermore we saw during the theoretical chapters that a great way to differentiate a destination from other destinations is to make the tourists feel emotionally connected to the destination by branding an experience rather than just the physical attributes of a certain destination. Even more we saw that it is proposed that these experiences should be related to the travel lifestyles of the targeted tourists, in order to enhance the emotional appeal. During my development of a brand identity I chose to do this as well: To create a brand identity that gives associations of the lifestyle experiences people can look forward to when choosing Cambodia as a travel destination. The reason for making this choice, however, was not only that it is recommended in the theory as a way to differentiate one’s destination. As it turned out during the above-mentioned analyses, to brand lifestyles experiences was a perfect fit for this thesis: First of all I discovered during the analyses that those types of experiences Cambodia offers fit the preferred travel activities, and thereby lifestyles, of the Danish tourists very well. These are: nature-adventure activities, beach activities, big city activities and party activities. Secondly, I found lifestyles to be the best way of segmenting the Danish tourists, since we saw that the Danish respondents, despite their differences in age, sex and social background, are interested in the same travel activities. Third, I found that when branding the many different lifestyle experiences Cambodia offers, it will at the same time be easy to reflect all of the unique holistic Cambodian assets the analysis of the Cambodian identity revealed; its diversity in travel activities, its laid-back atmosphere, its pristine “Robinson Crusoe” islands and its breathtaking ancient Angkar temples. Especially we saw that the diversity of

94 Cambodia was an important unique asset to reflect since it was highlighted among the Cambodian people as something they would especially want Cambodia to be known for. As a “bonus” also the more common Cambodian assets, which I discovered fitted the preferences and motivations of the Danish tourists, would be easy to reveal: That it is a warm and exotic destination, has friendly and hospitable locals, a beautiful nature, and an ‘authentic’ culture that is behind from western standards. At last I estimated that lifestyle experiences, or experiences in general, can easily be coupled with opportunities for self-actualization and personal growth. Motivations I discovered are important for the Danish respondents as well as typical for people living in individualistic cultures, which Danish tourists do. Even more I found out that those kinds of experiences the Danish tourists couple with self-actualization are among the experiences Cambodia offers.

When incorporating all of the above unique and common Cambodian characteristics into a brand identity, I concluded that it would also be possible to change the poor image I discovered the Danish respondents to have of Cambodia. The reason for this is the fact that we saw their poor image is mostly due to the fact that they have a very limited knowledge of Cambodia. Therefore by making them aware of the above positive characteristics of Cambodia, which furthermore fit their own travel motivations, preferences and lifestyles, it will change their image of Cambodia from a poor one to an appealing one. Even more, because of the many unique holistic characteristics of Cambodia, I concluded that the image would be distinctive as well.

One of the strongest and most negative perceptions the Danish people have of Cambodia is that it is a dangerous country to travel in. However, also this perception does not fit the Cambodian identity. The Cambodian respondents namely believe that Cambodia is as safe as any other country to travel in. I therefore realized that it is important to communicate this out via my developed brand identity as well.

On the basis of all of the above discoveries, I proposed the following brand identity for Cambodia, targeted the Danish tourists:

Core idea: A safe, exotic, diverse, laid-back, yet adventurous Asian destination with a remarkable friendly and hospitable people that want to get to know the tourists, a beautiful nature that offers everything from wild jungles to pristine paradise beaches, and last but not least experiences for all kinds and lifestyles: From exiting outdoor-adventures, to enjoyable big city activities, relaxing beach activities, ‘crazy’ parties, and breathtaking cultural visits to ancient temples.

Overall brand Promise: An excitingly safe and transformational28 adventure to an exotic and beautiful Asian pearl with a laid-back atmosphere, a friendly people, and a diversity of travel activities.

To capture the essence of the brand identity, I chose the following two strategic suggestions that are both related to lifestyles in one way or another:

28 ‘Transformational’ reflects the opportunities for self-actualization and personal grow.

95 1) A lifestyle campaign that reflects the diversity of Cambodia via the following lifestyle categories:

 Nature-adventure lifestyle

 Relaxing in the sun lifestyle

 Party like an animal lifestyle

 Big city lifestyle

 Cultural lifestyle

2) Small viral movie clips filmed by satisfied Danish tourists enjoying different lifestyle experiences in Cambodia.

In relation to the first strategic suggestion, the lifestyle campaign, we saw in the analysis about the Danish tourists travel motivations, preferences and habits, that most of the Danish respondents do not only prefer one type of travel activity but a mix of different travel activities. I therefore proposed that the lifestyle categories of my suggested lifestyle campaign should not be seen separately but as lifestyles that can be integrated into each other.

In all of the lifestyle categories I furthermore suggested to use different themes in order to capture more than one of the activities Cambodia has to offer within the concerned category, and thereby use a diverse visual strategy. Most of the themes are showing before/after scenarios in order to illustrate the transformational experiences Cambodia offers in a humorous way. Furthermore different themes will make it easier to show different constellations of people (e.g. families, couples, friends), and thereby show that Cambodia is for everyone.

The nature-adventure lifestyle is primarily meant to reflect all of the nature-adventure activities Cambodia offers, as well as the beautiful Cambodian nature. Furthermore it is meant to create associations of a destination that offers possibilities for adventures and self-actualization. For this reason my proposed slogan for this type of lifestyle is: Discover your inner adventurer! The next lifestyle category, Relaxing in the sun lifestyle, is meant to create associations of Cambodia as a warm, sunny, exotic and laid-back destination, where it is possible to relax hundred percent and forget everything about one’s busy daily life back home. For this reason, the slogan I suggested for this lifestyle category is: Leave the busy you behind and relax in the Cambodian sun! The Party like an animal lifestyle is meant to create associations of a destination where it is possible to engage in ‘crazy’ parties as the ones they have at destinations like Thailand and Ibiza. The slogan I proposed for this category is: Let your inner party animal loose! The Big city lifestyle is supposed to reflect all of the big city activities the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh offers. Furthermore it is supposed to give associations of an authentic, exiting, exotic and laid-back Asian capital. The proposed slogan for this lifestyle category is: Explore a real Asian capital!

96 The last lifestyle category, Cultural lifestyle, is primarily meant to reflect the unique ancient Angkor temples. However to put some more “spice” on the category, I suggested that it should reflect some of the many other cultural activities Cambodia offers as well, since the Danish respondents in general revealed an interest in cultural activities. The slogan for this lifestyle category is: Discover a cultural Asian nation.

In order to reflect the Cambodian people and their positive human qualities, several of my proposed themes incorporated this. In continuation of this a focus on relationships was integrated in most of the themes implying that Cambodia is a great destination for sharing unforgettable experiences with others. The purpose of this was to appeal to the feminine culture Danish tourists are part of.

When it came to communication channels for the lifestyle campaign and its themes, I proposed to use a mix of traditional and untraditional medias: Small movie ads for the television as well as the Internet (=viral marketing), and graphic ads and posters for magazines.

In relation to my second strategic suggestion, small viral movie clips filmed by satisfied Danish tourists enjoying different lifestyle experiences in Cambodia, the idea is to heighten the credibility of the lifestyle campaign as well as giving the Danish tourists a feeling that Cambodia is not only a fun and exiting country to travel in but also safe.

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