Chile reaches the 34th place in the Country Image rankingPublished: January 2, 2011
The study, conducted to 3,400 tourists, revealed an increase of six positions. The country is in the second place in South America in tourism.
Easter island.Country Brand Index is the name of the ranking carried out by the company Future Brand, based on interviews to 3,400 travelers from 13 countries.
In 2010, Chile located in the 40th position and was highlighted with an emerging star distinction, since it had improved in aspects such as knowledge, support and economic stability.
In two years, the country ascended 25 positions in this index. "This shows us a really significant advance over the country image towards the world", pointed out the Undersecretary of Tourism, Jacqueline Plass.
In the five aspects that are evaluated for this ranking, tourism is where Chile is able to stand out, "being one of the top ten leaders in Latin America, which reveals that all the effort invested has been fruitful", states Plass.
In 2011, the country positioned itself in the 22nd position worldwide in the tourism area, which translates into the fourth position in Latin America. Compared to the South American countries in the ranking, Chile is only beaten by Brazil, located in the 14th position and Argentina in the 19th.
The reasons that support this transformation, according to the Undersecretary of Tourism, have to do with a radical change in the national promotion. "We stopped promoting Chile as a destination and we started to focus in an advertising campaign as an experience", she added.
There are six strengths that make the country stand out as a possible touristic attraction in front of foreigners: adventure, nature, wine and gastronomy, city and entertainment, thermal baths and spas.
In order to define the positions in this study, that determines the power of a country brand or image, through the perception of the five dimensions: tourism, culture and heritage, business, quality of life, value system.
The first two dimensions are directly linked: tourism responds to the attractions to visit in each country, while the culture and heritage have to do with the competence each nation has in the attractive transmission of its history.
Business reflects whether a country is a good place to do business, but also includes factors such as environmental regulations in this area. Quality of life is related to the business opportunities and the educational system. The value system relates to the political freedom, a friendly and stable legal environment.
There were a total of 113 countries located in this list. Canada is in the first place in country image for the second year in a row, the second country is Switzerland, followed by New Zeeland, Japan, Australia and United States. In regards to tourism, Japan is in the first place of the ranking, followed by Italy.
Source: La Tercera Newspaper