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Most of my work in communications involves policy advocacy for global health and  development issues. Last week, I served on a panel at the Corporate Council on Africa’s bi-annual conference in Washington. The subject of the session was how to reposition Africa as a tourist destination.

At first glance, tourism and development  might seem to have little in common. But nothing could be further from the truth. For many African countries, tourism provides a major source of foreign exchange and foreign direct investment, and it is a major money earner in the “formal sector” (i.e., the sector of the economy that provides wage employment, is “on the books,” and generates tax revenues that can fund development).

The challenge is that Africa currently earns very little from tourism relative to other world regions.  (Go to the web sites of the UN’s World Tourism Organization and the World Travel & Tourism Council for more information.) While some African countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa enjoy significant proceeds from tourism, the scale of their revenues just doesn’t compare to destinations in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America.

How can African countries turn this around? I think the solution requires a mixture of tried-and-true approaches to destination marketing, as well as a  disciplined approach to: (1) recruiting a broader array of brand ambassadors, and (2) getting the bulk of African news off the front page. (More on that second, seemingly counterintuitive, point below.)

The tried-and-true approach includes a combination of proactive marketing and reactive crisis communications.  This means that African national tourism boards still need to invest in marketing their countries via multiple media channels, trade shows, and events, but they also need to develop effective crisis communications plans that empower brand managers to respond to crises when they arise and take steps to reassure the public and the tourism industry.

In regard to recruiting a broader array of brand ambassadors, I believe that there are four key markets to engage.  First, there are high-net-worth Americans, Europeans, and Asians who are looking for the vacation of a lifetime.  The African tourism sector can target this group with vacation packages that highlight the five-star quality of many African vacations and the unique qualities of a holiday in the Serengeti, or Kruger, or by the boiling waters of Victoria Falls.

Second, African tourism boards can target what I will call - for lack of a better expression - the “backpacker set.”  These are the twenty-something experiential tourists, the returned Peace Corps Volunteers, the American and European university students who pick Ghana or South Africa for their semester abroad, and medical and nursing students who want to practice their professions in communities that need access to primary health care.

If we can target this set when they are young - using the social media channels that are their most credible source of information - we can convert them to the cause and create lifetime brand ambassadors.  This younger set can also sing the praises of destinations that are stilll off the beaten track for high-net-worth tourists - like the beautiful hillsides overlooking the Zambezi inland delta in Mongu, Zambia or the rugged shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

A third critical target audience are African Americans who are seeking to reconnect to their heritage.  The west African tourist industry in particular can benefit by working with African American destination marketers to create tourism packages that highlight 500 years of cultural connection between west Africa and the Americas.

A fourth target audience is the sizable population of first- and second-generation African immigrants to America who maintain strong connections to their countries of origin and can broaden the conversation about Africa beyond landmarks, flora, and fauna to contemporary conversations about music, food, fabrics, and art.

This brings me to my counterintutive observation.  People who think about Africa’s image in the world often say that Africa never makes front page news unless the story relates to war, disease, hunger, or hardship.  While this statement oversimplifies matters (and is a definite reflection of the specific tone and focus of media coverage in the U.S., UK, and Germany), it also bears real elements of truth.

I believe that we need to change the image of Africa by investing in a rebranding process that features more stories - stories that appear in the Food Section, the Business Section, the Style Section, and, yes, the Travel Page.  We need to start telling new stories - based on credible facts - about Africa’s economic growth over the past decade, about Africa’s unrivalled biodiversity, about Africa’s potential leadership in the production of organic foods and materials, about Africa’s diverse cuisine and innovative music scenes (in Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya).

Telling new and surprising stories is key to repositioning Africa as something other than front-page tragedy.  Front pages are normally reserved for crises, wherever they happen, and it’s time to get the bulk of African news off the front page.

With the wide variety of clients at Ogilvy, my colleagues and I travel to a wide variety of trade shows throughout the year, including the International Consumer Electronics Show, New York Times Travel Show, the American International Toy Fair and many, many more.

Over the past six months, we’ve noticed the same trend – fewer exhibitors and journalists are traveling to these shows. Journalists are either choosing to stay home or being told they’ll stay home by publications cutting costs. With online press kits and phone interviews, these reporters feel they can still get the same information over the phone. Others are spending one day at a show when they would normally spend two or three, as time is more valuable and travel budgets are tight.

Beyond that, exhibitors are showcasing modest product offerings and making sure to offer affordable options for businesses and consumers, as referenced in a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about the 2009 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show. Some manufacturers are staying home altogether, choosing to reallocate the money they would depend on booth rental to extra advertising or other marketing initiatives during tough times.

The question is whether a phone call is as valuable as meeting with clients and media if you are a manufacturer or vice versa for media face-to-face on the show floor. New technology is making things like virtual tradeshows possible and nearly any information can be emailed or put on an online press kit.

Is this a trend that will turn back around after the recession recedes? If so, will we be able to replace the value of meeting with a potential client/customer in person?

Trade shows involve many long hours and sore feet, but they are invaluable for face-to-face time with media and clients. Allowing journalists to get a first-hand look at products or hear first-hand about a destination is key to their understanding. And, for client relations, meeting in person is always helpful to sustain solid relationships beyond emails and weekly calls.

So bring on the comfortable shoes and the coffee – I’ll be at a hotel technology conference in Anaheim in three weeks!

What happens when you take a bunch of Web 2.0 gurus armed with laptops and iPhones, ship them down to college town in Texas, and hold the most important social media confab in all the land?

You have South By Southwest Interactive - an event that has arguably done more for Austin, TX’s reputation and tourism industry over the last few years than the Longhorn football team.

Attendees at SXSWi 2009 (Creative Commons image courtesy of indigoprime on Flickr)

South By Southwest Interactive (SXSWI) has made Austin THE place for social media discussion, innovation and, to the regret of some (and delight of others), karaoke.

Brands from PepsiCo (Ogilvy PR works for several divisions of PepsiCo but did not do any work for SxSWi) to Levi’s to Dos Equis to Dell and many others had one sort of presence or another (ranging from official sponsor to party-thrower).

In a world where social media has become a powerful force in making or breaking brands, why not harness that power to make your destination brand?

Landing the hosting duties for the next big social media conference (whether you are a city or a hotel) could be a way to ingratiate your destination/property with key influencers, and bask in the halo of all the conference-related content that lives on for eternity in social media.