In South Africa, Runsewe Markets Destination Nigeria

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Emeka Umejei

14 July 2011

Lagos — Director-General of Nigeria Tourism development Corporation (NTDC),Segun Runsewe has taken his campaign of marketing and promoting ‘destination Nigeria’ to international investors in South Africa.

Runsewe who addressed a gathering of international hotel investors and executives at a conference organised by Hotel Investment World in Cape Town, South Africa succeeded in selling Nigeria as a veritable destination for hotel investments

Runsewe told his audience that brand is defined by the American Marketing Association as a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

According to Runsewe, branding is endowing products and services with power of a brand. He emphasised that it has to do with making a product or a service stand out among identical products or services.

“A brand is not just a tagline, a logo, a slogan or beautiful packaging to attract the attention of the consuming public to a product or service,”Runsewe said.

“It is endowing a product with an intrinsic value which makes it stand out and endear it naturally to the public. The value may be reflected in how consumers think, feel and act towards the product. Thus, a successful brand is the one which makes an emotional appeal to customers and sustain their loyalty in terms of patronage.”

Addressing renowned hoteliers, tourism experts and delegates from around the world, Runsewe stressed that as a marketing strategy, branding can be applied virtually anywhere there are varieties of products competing for customers’ attention.

He says it is possible to brand a physical good, a service, a store, a person, a place, an organization or an idea.

However, the core of Runsewe’s presentation is cantered on developing a hotel brand in the Nigerian Hospitality sector.

According to Runsewe, every brand must have a reputation in an increasingly competitive world.

He argues that Brand has come to assume a very critical position in the efforts of hotel owners and operators to gain advantage over others in the hospitality industry.

“A brand can make you have access to a facility you may not have requested for. Despite the huge efforts and resources it requires to begin and sustain a brand in the hotel industry, most experts and professionals are generally of the view that branding is a worthwhile exercise,” Runsewe said.

Stating further, Runsewe noted that the issue on hand is not whether branding is necessary in the hotel and hospitality industry but how individual organizations can develop and sustain a brand that could give them an edge over others.

Continuing, Runsewe regretted however that the disconnection in branding remains the massive support and promotion foreign brands enjoy at the expense of domestic brands.

“Local brands are suffering either because they lack reputation or they lack loyalty and my appeal to these brands is to engage the services of brand managers,” NTDC boss said

Informing potential investors on how to start and develop hotel brand in Nigeria, Runsewe noted that Nigeria is a friendly destination for hospitality business.

“It is necessary to emphasize that Nigeria is a tourism friendly nation and that the hotel and hospitality industry in Nigeria is quite vibrant and holds enormous potentials for investors,” Runsewe stated.

“There are hotels of different classes all over the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital territory, Abuja. These can be classified into international hotels, National hotels, urban hotels, Motels and Guest houses, sub-urban hotels and rural hotels.”

According to Runsewe, All major hotel brands in the world are now represented in Nigeria. He also acknowledged that hotel branding is not strange in Nigeria because many of the hotels operate with international brands such as Transcorp Hilton, Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Le Meridian Hotel, Protea Hotel, Ibis Hotel, Novotal Hotel, Golden Tulip Hotel, Oriental Hotel and Diamond Suites among others.

The NTDC boss advised potential investors that in establishing a viable brand in Nigeria, vital areas to be considered include, researching on the Nigerian Hotel Industry which in his words, should entail an adequate knowledge of the hotel industry in the country.

According to the NTDC boss, it is also requisite for investors to conduct an in-depth research on the classes of hotels in Nigeria, the kind of clientele and services they offer, the level of patronage in relation to the different classes of hotels, the status of the consuming public, consumers’ behaviour and responses to variations in tariff. He also noted that the quality of services rendered the level of customer satisfaction and above all what is specifically lacking in terms of service and overall packaging in the Nigerian hotel industry should be considered.

Another guideline highlighted by the NTDC boss is developing the brand appeal even as he asserted that it requires a clear definition of the brand element.

“By brand element hear, I mean the specific distinctive features the hotel wishes to project. What special value are you offering your customer? What makes you different in the crowd of other competitors?”

According to Runsewe, leveraging on the strong investment inflow in Nigeria is also imperative as Nigeria is one of the largest economies in Sub-Sahara Africa with a landmass of over 926 sq kilometers and a population of about 150 million people.

“To leverage on the strong investment inflow into Nigeria is to align with companies in Nigeria with long standing reputation for credibility to launch a brand,” Runsewe said.

“Another way a brand could leverage on the strong investment flow into Nigeria is to deliberately align the services of the hotel to the specific value and taste of the investing public.”

Continuing, Runsewe noted that the utility of international technical partners within the Nigerian business environment was vital, given that such international outfits abound in Nigeria and possessed a long history of competence especially in the construction industry. He cited examples of corporations like, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Gilmore Nigeria Plc, Dantata and Sawoe Nigeria Plc to mention a few.

The DG while identifying the role of developing processes for speed-up development, affirmed that once a brand has been developed, efforts must be made to sustain it and to build upon it. “The development of a brand involves series of processes and strategies. First, the brand must keep and jealously guide its brand promise. It must genuinely be what it claims to be in order to earn the loyalty of its customers,”Runsewe says.

On status of Nigerian Tourism, Runsewe told investors that promotion of domestic tourism a was making steady progress, and disclosed that president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had take the lead by hosting a week retreat at Obudu Ranch Resort in Calabar.

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