How strong is the Visit Luxembourg brand? What values does it promise? Which topics have potential? All this is shown in the long-term “Destination Brand” survey conducted over the past two years. Questions to Alain Krier, Head of Research & Media Management.
What is the content and what are the objectives of the new survey?
Simply put, it’s all about the potential for trust in holidays in Luxembourg. How strong is the brand, what topics and values are associated with it and where can we identify growth potential. To determine these factors, we conducted representative surveys in ten European source markets. The results deliver recommended courses of action for our orientation with regard to content and the necessary focal points of our campaign.
How is Luxembourg’s image as a tourist destination developing, and what role does communication and marketing play?
Around a half of the Europeans surveyed find Luxembourg an attractive proposition as a tourist destination and, generally, around a quarter can consider visiting our country for a holiday. We do, however, observe significant differences from one source market to another. Essentially, though, we have determined that the relative shares of both attractiveness and intention to visit show continuous improvement since 2018. This may well be a direct consequence of successful, inspirational and active destination marketing.
What do most people spontaneously associate with Luxembourg? Are there differences according to nationality?
When we ask residents of the individual countries what spontaneously comes to mind when they think of Luxembourg, the Belgians and Dutch predominantly mention nature and tourism, which reveals considerable knowledge of Luxembourg as a destination. The associations in the case of persons surveyed in German-language regions are more frequently neutral in character – often political, such as “EU” or “finance”. Nevertheless, they also mentioned numerous positive aspects – frequently with regard to the capital city, hospitality and good food. The fact that it is the world’s only Grand Duchy and monarchy in general were also frequently mentioned in the majority of the source markets.
What are the key interests of travellers?
Aside from the key travel motivation of “recreation”, the most important holiday themes are city trips, nature, gastronomy and culture. Trends such as walking, hiking and wellness are also of interest to 40 per cent of tourists and are expected to become even more significant in the coming years. In general, customers have been increasingly multi-optional for several years, i.e., they are interested in a large number of different themes and destinations. The data also show how various themes can be combined. For instance, an above average number of people with an affinity for sustainability issues are not only interested in nature, but also in discovering the country, its culture and people.
How much potential does Luxembourg have for the development of these interests?
Today, as in the past, Luxembourg tends to be thought of in terms of a city trip or secondary core competence aspects such as culture and castles (the latter are particularly often mentioned by the southern European markets). There are, however, other countries such as Belgium and Italy that strongly associate us with hiking. In contrast, this theme, like nature and gastronomy, still has strong growth potential in Germany and France. Cycling, on the other hand, is a theme that is already rather strongly associated with Luxembourg.
Can changes be identified within the target groups?
Going forward, the LFT core target groups – Explorers, Perfection Seekers and Nature-Loving Actives – will continue to offer the best growth potential. In the case of the Explorers, we must differentiate between markets in close proximity to Luxembourg and those further away: in the case of the latter, the knowledge of relevant topics is not particularly strong, and we will have to address these target groups with greater intensity by means of inspirational campaigns.
We must also consider the regional component: the survey reveals that potential also exists in regions where, up until now, our active marketing engagement has been relatively limited. Here, direct accessibility plays an essential role, as is shown, for example, by the increased interest identified in south-west France since the establishment of new flight connections to Bordeaux and Toulouse.
What do today’s travellers expect from a destination?
Aside from themes such as hiking, outdoor recreation and wellness mentioned earlier, we observe a significant increase in the importance of “localhood”, namely immersion in the culture and lifestyle of the local people, particularly in our core target group “Explorers”. Topics such as health, wine and mountain biking show a stronger interest by potential new customers than by those who have already visited Luxembourg one or more times in the past.
When it comes to holidays, a recent analysis by German travel analysts “Deutsche Reiseanalyse” confirms the high expectations expressed by holidaymakers with a special affinity for Luxembourg. This applies especially to the expected effects of holidays, namely positive transformation. Broken down, this looks like: “more mindful travelling”, “slow travel”, “broadening of horizons”, “building self-confidence”, “doing more for your health on holiday” and “experiencing moments of real happiness”. Much more than sightseeing, these emotions, experiences and encounters represent the true value of a holiday for travellers with an affinity for Luxembourg.
For further information about the image survey, please contact:
Alain Krier
Head of Research & Media Management