During this difficult hour for global tourism, caused by the now global outbreak of COVID-19, countries are taking different approaches to address the issue of marketing themselves to travelers. While some are focused on the problem at hand, other countries seem to have discovered an opportunity to reset or to evoke emotions that might travel beyond the timeframe of the pandemic. Let's look at some of the ways countries have reacted.

Estonia

From a plain social media perspective, Estonia might be one of the winners here. Visit Estonia, the country's tourism department just tweeted the below:

Clearly, this kind of messaging shows the level of responsibility the world is seeking right now. However, let's put this into context, and start with considering this: according to the World Data Atlas, tourism in Estonia "only" contributes 15.2% to the country's overall GDP (with a steady downward trend in recent years), and more than half of tourism is domestic. In other words, it's safe to say that Estonia's tourism is not at the same level of risk as Thailand, for example, where tourism makes up over 21% of GDP and a much higher total of over $90 billion.

To keep this short, for Estonia, this period actually represents a great opportunity to market themselves as a future tourism destination, and by beating everybody to the Social Media punch, they have been able to attract more attention than ever before.

Our judgement: SOCIAL MEDIA WINNER

Scotland

Visit Scotland followed the lead of many other tourism departments and went down the emotional route by highlighting the beauty of its sights and places of interest while still sending out a message of caution.

This is a nice way of reminding people about the beauty of the destination without appearing insensitive and oblivious to the current situation across global travel.

Our judgment: EMOTIONAL WINNER

Dubai

The most famous Emirate of the UAE is known for being a technology pioneer. Unsurprisingly, Visit Dubai reacted quite quickly and focused on the working-from-home version for travel.

As a result of the current situation, Dubai Tourism ensured that its most-visited cultural sights still remain "open" to the public via an online platform that let's users "wander" the sights virtually. Dubai's approach to the situation also highlights the need for the hospitality industry to use this period to genuinely evaluate technology that will make future travel better. Have a read here for 3 suggestions from us.

Our judgment: MODERN OUTLOOK WINNER

Seattle, United States

The Washington State city in the country's north-west was one of the United States' early hotbeds for the outbreak of COVID-19, but it seems as though empathy from the city's tourism department reaches far and wide.

Visit Seattle is evoking a sense of togetherness and highlights the fact that local organizations are working hard to help the likes of hospital staff get their hands on food and that extra bit of TLC. In times like these, there's a lot of talk about togetherness, but here's one city that actually puts that into practice.

Our judgment: EMPATHY WINNER

Without a doubt, the world is coming together digitally more than we have experienced ever before. Beyond the 4 examples above, there are several countries, regions, cities and government departments that are striving for quick improvements. We should all take a leaf out of their books!