Concise.pdf - Brugge Plus

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CONCISE
© RUUD GORT
Dogtroep
budget” of BEF 30 million (4 743,680.60), on top of their regular operating budget,
for the preparation of promotional material for various target groups and markets.
As was to be expected, tour operators specialising in cultural tours showed great
interest in this cultural event being staged in their favourite city-trip destination,
Bruges. The traditional travel sector (incomings, tour operators and hotels) also saw
in BRUGGE 2002 a welcome new reason for promoting this “classic” destination. The
timely availability of promotional material containing all the practical information
contributed to the success of the actions in this sector, at least in absolute figures.
We should point out, however, that our enthusiasm for some international promotional
campaigns was not all that great. In certain countries, it was decided all too
quickly to go for direct result, by having the promotional campaigns stress the wellknown
tourist product of Bruges. The message of BRUGGE 2002 was used merely as
a stepping stone in some countries, and not as a product worthy of promotion in its
own right. Even the numerous efforts of Toerisme Vlaanderen were unable to create
a real shift in the traditional modus operandi of the professional travel sector.
However, we must conclude that those partners that did fully go along with the creation
of a distinct profile for BRUGGE 2002 achieved excellent results. This immediately
shows that the search for maximisation of volumes can also be pursued with a
strong discourse in terms of content. The tourist sector is still overly eager to work on
the basis of quantity. If a product has the effect of improving quality, the tourist sector
should support this to the hilt, in the knowledge that this could lead to lasting
results, but that figures giving cause for jubilation can perhaps not always be presented
straight away.