Online Marketing and Branding Analysis for USAID's Tourism for All Project in Timor-Leste

The project, launched in 2018, has a budget of US$9 million and is set to run until 2021. The main goal of the project is to expand and improve the country's tourism offerings, resulting in broad Timorese participation in selected tourist niches and product activities, and increased income for Timor-Leste generated by tourism. The project's Year One Work Plan calls for an assessment of online marketing and branding needs to identify interventions that may support an increased demand for Timor-Leste's tourism product. The project will work with the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry (MTCI) and other relevant public sector partners to develop marketing of the country's tourism product, as well as provide support to private sector stakeholders on integrating the official branding and improving Timor-Leste's online presence. Timor-Leste has made significant progress towards developing the tourism sector, including on branding and promotion. The country's National Tourism Policy, approved by the Government of Timor-Leste (GoTL) in March 2017, provided a vision for tourism development in the country. The destination branding, officially adopted by the Council of Ministers in July 2017, gave the tourism product an image to work on promoting Timor-Leste as a visitor destination. The official tourism website, launched in October 2016, established the beginnings of a world-class tourism website, an important promotion tool in destination marketing. The vision advanced in the Tourism Policy points to a vibrant tourism sector that makes a significant contribution to employment across the country, is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable, helps promote a positive image of Timor-Leste overseas, and is an industry that people wish to work in. Aligned with this vision, the Ministry of Tourism, with technical assistance from The Asia Foundation (TAF), developed the destination brand, having established a logo, associated design elements, and a slogan – Explore the Undiscovered. The official brand is in line with the intention to prioritize ecotourism and establish Timor-Leste as an "off the beaten path" destination, highlighting the country's unique selling points of attractive landscapes, pristine environment, and untouched nature. Destination marketing is essential for increasing awareness and generating demand for a given tourism product, being a key factor for successful tourism development. In the digital age, this necessarily encompasses the extensive use of Internet and a strong presence across a variety of online channels. According to a study carried out by Google Traveler in June 2014, 77 percent of leisure travelers used the Internet as a trusted source of information when choosing a destination for travel, while 65 percent use search engines specifically for this purpose. In addition, online travel bookings comprised 63 percent of the total, and 48 percent of bookings were influenced by referrals or other social media user-generated content in 2016. The estimates presented in the Timor-Leste Tourism Barometer 2018 suggest that in 2017, Timor-Leste received 12,552 tourists, signaling that strong and competent destination marketing needs to be implemented as a priority if Timor-Leste is to achieve the goal advanced in the National Tourism Policy, of receiving 200,000 tourists by 2030.