Don’t be a tourist, be a local, new slogan for Basque Country’s tourism campaign

• The Basque Country set not to have a specific summer campaign, but will distribute the development in waves outside the summer periods
• The campaign is aimed at respectful tourists who are looking for unique local experiences, in line with the principles of the Code of Ethics for Tourism

The Minister for Tourism, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Javier Hurtado, today presented the campaign and the Basque Country’s tourism strategy for 2023, accompanied by Lander Imaz, the marketing director of Basquetour. The minister explained that 2022 has been the year of recovery, but also an atypical year of inflection “We believe that 2023 will be a year of stabilisation of demand. We have a sustainable tourism model, which we have consolidated over the last decade and which we are going to continue to strengthen”.

And to continue promoting this model, the Department of Tourism has relied on the most innovative projects and tools, such as the Tourism Intelligence System (SIT). A system at the service of public managers, and especially of the private sector, to be able to make informed decisions that contribute to the balanced development of our territory.

“We have several objectives. Firstly, the diversification of supply. Secondly, the increase in the average stay, which now stands at 4.4 days. Thirdly, the movement of flows through the territory. And finally, seasonal adjustment. We want to promote the arrival of tourists all year round. For this reason, the Basque Country will not have a specific summer campaign. We have high levels of tourism in the summer and holiday season. So we have re-evaluated where and when to target our development, to design a year-round and off-peak campaign. And we will focus our efforts on holiday periods for visitors outside the summer.

The Minister recalled that tourism marketing is changing with the new habits of travellers, and that we must therefore turn to a new type of campaign. “These are hyper-segmented and multi-product campaigns, in which we go exactly to the tourist we want to attract. It is intelligent and adapted marketing, segmented by interest groups and origin, according to each of the tourism products.

To this end, several types of promotional actions will be deployed. On the one hand, those known as trade, i.e. aimed at professionals, tour operators and travel agencies. On the other hand, those aimed at visitors. Furthermore, in 2022 the Basque Country was a pioneer as an Autonomous Community in carrying out comarketing actions with Turespaña, which proved to be a success and had a very positive impact on attracting tourists. For this reason, this year they are going to be optimised with cooperative marketing strategies with Expedia and other platforms.

“With these objectives in mind, we are presenting a campaign based on a premise expressed by those who visit us. According to our studies, those who come to the Basque Country are looking for the authenticity of the destination, the uniqueness, the culture and the gastronomy in relation to the territory. They want a varied and distinguished experience. So, through the campaign slogan we tell them: “Don't be a tourist. Be a local.” We want those who visit us to feel at home, to discover places, activities, experiences to enjoy, to recommend and to repeat”.

Furthermore, the minister analysed, the campaign is in line with the premises of the Code of Ethics for Tourism in the Basque Country. These are ethical principles such as respect for cultural diversity and heritage; the development of sustainable and responsible tourism; the development of the local economy; the protection and defence of human rights and the promotion of cooperation and dialogue between tourism stakeholders.