Best Practice
Local product branding - a new view of a tourist region Moravian Karst
The Moravian Karst is a region with outstanding nature values (Protected Landscape Area of Moravian Karst, sites of European importance – Natura 2000, a “Ramsar” wetland “Podzemní Punkva”).
The name “Moravian Karst” has been used since 1905. The name “Moravian Switzerland”, which is used sporadically until today, was used in 1850 – 1920. The area has an extraordinary tourist potential that mainly concerns only short-term visits to caves open to the public.
Out of the total number of 1,000 caves, only five are accessible for the public. Attendance of these caves varies substantially during the year. In average, about 400,000 visitors come every year. Most of the visitors (64%) spend here only several hours, or one day as maximum. The remaining 36% stay longer in Moravian Karst.
Our vision: the regional brand should be connected with a wide and comprehensive offer of activities, events, services and information and motivation products that will have the right potential to succeed in the tourism market.
How to do it:
- Addressing producers and service providers
- Product preparation
- Compilation of the offer
- Establishment of a travel agency
- Distribution
- Sale of the products
- Marketing of the products
When creating new tourism products, we took advantage of the basic principles and theory of tourism focused on experiences. Experiences-focused tourism has arisen as a marketing tool to support the local brand. It was based on the following idea: if a customer gets acquainted with production of his favourite product and with the company’s tradition and philosophy, and he will become an expert (e.g. recognising it among the other brands by taste), his loyalty to the brand increases while he tells his friends about his experiences and promotes the brand.
What are the experiences about? The experiences are often constructed and organised socially, which means that they are not “natural” at all. Tourists often use service and buy goods that are not necessary and unordinary in some cases. If, for instance, a mere view of a tourists’ space or a nice place is processed and presented in a sophisticated manner, it can invoke for the tourists much more sensitivity for visual elements of the landscape or town than they could ever have if they looked at the places only by themselves, or in comparison with incentives they can meet in everyday life.
Contacts:
http://www.regionalni-znacky.cz/moravsky-kras
http://www.mas-moravsky-kras.cz
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