Brilliant! Pristine! Countries Sling Epic Tourism Slogans!

By JAKE DOHERTY DEC. 26, 2016

Any advertising campaign needs a good slogan, and if the client is a national tourism board, the trick is to encapsulate a country’s wonders and charms in just a few words.

Some manage it better than others.

The English-language tourism slogans of more than 150 countries have been compiled by FamilyBreakFinder, a travel website, and the approaches can be as different as the deserts of Algeria (Tourism for Everybody) are from the snow-capped peaks of Nepal (Once Is Not Enough).

Many countries settle for just an alliterative adjective: Brilliant Barbados, Epic Estonia, Incredible India, Remarkable Rwanda and, at the alliterative apex, Pristine Paradise Palau.

But some strive for something a bit more majestic: Kingdom of Wonder (Cambodia), Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures (Brunei) or Kingdom in the Sky (Lesotho).

The slogans on the list can seem remarkably matter of fact, like Visit Armenia, It Is Beautiful, or cautious, like Latvia: Best Enjoyed Slowly. Others go for the exhortatory, including Paraguay: You Have to Feel It! and Albania: Go Your Own Way!

Some slogans, like Syria’s Always Beautiful, seem disturbingly disconnected from current events. Some are just plain puzzling: El Salvador used to promote itself as the 45-Minute Country. Why? According to some accounts, it was possible to drive to most destinations in the country in less than an hour. (These days, the country’s tourism site touts it as Impressive instead.)

Some nations advertise themselves as one-stop shopping: All You Need Is Ecuador; Dominican Republic Has It All; Everything Is Here (Honduras); and All of Africa in One Country (Cameroon).

For a tourist seeking a state of bliss, a journey from Bhutan (Happiness Is a Place) to Denmark (Happiest Place on Earth) to Fiji (Where Happiness Finds You) might leave you feeling like a puppy chasing its tail. But for those who just want to forget all their troubles, Cape Verde offers this pledge: No Stress.

The countries farthest from the beaten tourist track may have the toughest time sloganizing. Some rise to the challenge by trying to make a virtue of circumstance. East Timor, for example, offers “a destination (almost) untouched by human hand” in ads suggesting that “being first has its rewards.”

P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/world/what-in-the-world/brilliant-pristine-countries-sling-epic-tourism-slogans.html