澳大利亞三度問鼎“最佳品牌國家”

Tourism campaigns featuring bikini-clad models and images of the outback as in the new epic movie "Australia" have helped Australia win the title of world's top country brand for the third consecutive year.

An annual country branding index designed to track travel trends and pinpoint opportunities for tourism had Canada rising to second place in the list of countries with the best brand reputations after coming sixth last year.

The United States slipped one place to be ranked third in the index compiled from a survey of 2,700 travelers from nine countries by brand consultancy FutureBrand and public relations firm Weber Shandwick.

Other countries to make the top 10 in the fourth annual Country Brand Index (CBI) were Italy, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Britain, Japan and Sweden.

The index identified China, the United Arab Emirates and Croatia as the top three "rising stars" - those likely to become major tourist destinations in the next five years.

FutureBrand's senior executive director Rina Plapler said some countries were now taking on board the idea of brand but this was still a largely underdeveloped category with most countries not using marketing to differentiate themselves.

"Particularly in the coming years, country brands must improve both their strategic orientation as well as their delivery," she said in a statement, referring to tougher times ahead for the travel industry.

Australia has just launched a global tourism campaign pitching itself as a place to "find yourself" aligned with the outback movie "Australia" released this month starring Nicole Kidman, focusing on the beauty of the country's vast landscape.

Tourism numbers to Australia dropped 4.7 percent last year as the country relied on a failed campaign starring a bikini-clad model asking "where the bloody hell are you?"

Although Australia came top overall, when it came to the best branded countries for arts and culture the list was led by Italy, France and Egypt.

The best country brands for doing business were named as the United States, Germany, Britain, France and Italy.

When it came to nightlife the leaders in branding were Japan, Brazil and Spain, for fine dining the winners were Italy, France and Japan, and for shopping, it was hard to beat the United States, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

But when it came to the country where travelers would most like to live in, Australia came first followed by New Zealand, Canada, and Switzerland.

The survey also identified various travel trends including women traveling more and without men, affluent retirees traveling with their grandchildren, and more people visiting places or species that are seen as endangered or in some form of time-related environmental risk.

最新上映的史詩電影《澳洲》向人們展示了澳大利亞迷人的比基尼女郎和北部大地的原始風情，而以此爲主題的旅遊推廣活動則幫助澳大利亞連續第三年摘得全球“最佳品牌國家”桂冠。

這項一年一度的“國家品牌指數”榜旨在追蹤全球旅遊業的新興趨勢及開發旅遊業發展機遇。在今年的最佳品牌國家榜上，加拿大從從去年的第六位升至第二位。

美國下滑一位，名列第三。這份榜單由FutureBrand品牌顧問公司和萬博宣偉公關公司根據對九個國家的2700名遊客的一項調查編撰而成。

今年是“國家品牌指數”（Country Brand Index, CBI）發佈的第四年。躋身今年排行榜前十名的國家還包括意大利、瑞士、法國、新西蘭、英國、日本和瑞典。

中國、阿聯酋和克羅地亞被評爲三大旅遊“未來之星”，有望於五年後發展爲世界主要旅遊目的地。

FutureBrand的執行董事里納•普拉普勒說，一些國家已認同並樹立了品牌觀念，但目前這一領域仍待開發，多數國家沒有進行市場推廣來突出自己的特色。

她在說及經濟衰退形勢下旅遊業的發展時指出：“特別是今後幾年，國家品牌必須進一步完善其戰略定位和產品。”

澳大利亞最近啓動了一項面向全球的旅遊推廣計劃，該計劃將澳大利亞定位爲一個“讓你找到自己”的地方。爲配合該活動，由妮可•基德曼主演的影片《澳洲》於本月上映，該片向人們展示了澳大利亞廣袤原始大地的美麗風情。

去年澳大利亞的入境遊人數下降了4.7%，這都是去年旅遊宣傳片中的一句廣告詞惹的禍，片中的比基尼女郎問道：“該死的，你在哪？（Where the bloody hell are you?） ”。

澳大利亞的綜合排名位列第一，但藝術和文化榜的前三甲則爲意大利、法國和埃及佔據。

美國、德國、英國、法國和意大利名列最佳經商品牌國前五位。

日本、巴西和西班牙名列最佳“夜生活”國家前列；意大利、法國和日本佔據最佳美食榜前三位；此外，美國、阿聯酋和新加坡被認爲是最佳購物目的地。

澳大利亞還是旅遊者最希望居住的國家，新西蘭、加拿大和瑞士位列其後。

該調查還發現了目前興起的多種旅遊新趨勢，其中包括女性遊興起，沒有男士陪伴的旅行增多；退休老人和孫輩的“隔代遊”越來越多；此外，觀賞瀕危物種和遊覽因環境關係可能會永久消失的目的地的瀕危遊也越來越流行。

Vocabulary:

outback:指澳大利亞等偏僻而人口稀少的地方，尤指北部大地

take on board:understand and accept（認可；接受）