One way to battle the Euro crisis
by hannahskurnik ~ September 29th, 2011. Filed under: Uncategorized.
After today’s discussion on the Euro crisis, it got me thinking about if my dream of travelling to Europe would be affected.In the EU’s economic downturn tourism is actually an area that they can count on. It is one part of their economy that cannot be outsourced and does not fluctuate in international markets.
It occured to me that Europe could be thought of as a brand. Countries market themselves by displaying pictures of famous tourist sites and have a very strong symbol, their flag. The Euro crisis could be affecting the “brand” of Europe. If European cities are a kind of product and Europe is the brand, then this whole affair is taking a tole on their reputation. Like the incident that IKEA had with its controversial management styles in their US facory, people may be deterred from traveling to Europe because they don’t agree with Europe’s “management style.” Also, the impression of a bad economy could be perceived as a more expensive vacation, even if it’s completely false.
I still want to go to Europe, but it will be interesting to see if the EU’s efforts towards improving tourism will be enough to save their “brand.”