The impact of the pandemic was of great importance for country brands that have been affected in the last two years but whose performance continues to be influenced by other issues such as geopolitics, digitalization, climate targets, and sustainability.
In this regard, Paraguay registered an improvement, ranking 16th in the Americas, moving up four places in Bloom Consulting’s latest semi-annual ranking for country branding and tourism.
The US retained its top spot, while Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina were among the top performers.
They are followed by Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, Venezuela, the Cayman Islands, Ecuador, Jamaica, Paraguay, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.
Tourism brands are not fundamentally different from other brands. Most of the services created by tourism businesses are services.
Therefore, compared to product brands, brands from the tourism sector possess the characteristics of a service brand.
The term tourism encompasses the totality of all phenomena and relationships associated with leaving one’s usual place of living and staying at another destination.
According to Mónica Costa, director of the Paraguayan Association of Travel Agencies and Tourism Companies (Asatur), the work of Senatur (Secretaria Nacional de Turismo) has contributed to the development of the economic movement.
“The product has been very well produced and managed by Senatur, and we have had very important events that have brought us to the world’s attention. Last year there was even the president of the ILO, who declared our Jesuit reductions a World Heritage Site,” Costa explained.
She also mentioned that tourism events had been well executed to strengthen our country’s brand.
“We believe that Paraguay has made a significant leap in developing its internal tourism potential. The pandemic has greatly favored this and has led local entrepreneurs to offer our local products, such as Piribebuy, Cordillera, Hernandarias, a series of places that became relevant and that the Paraguayan public supported because they were options that opened at that time.”
Costa considered Paraguay an economically fertile country that attracts business investors and international tourists.
“The publication is in total agreement with what is being done in the country,” she said.
Last year, she said, this was reflected in high hotel occupancy rates, and this year there has been a 97% increase in both outbound and inbound tourism.
She asserted that Paraguay is perceived as a land of opportunity and that the encirclement of the pandemic provides an added incentive to travelers.
Hence, the projections for 2023 are very promising, with a projected growth of about 15% based on more visitors and businesses coming to the landlocked South American country.
“Let’s hope the airlines also keep up with passenger demand because seats and frequencies are still a significant deficit.”