About

Summary

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) recognised that to capitalise on its awareness campaign for tourism in the Kingdom it needed to encourage and support the sector quickly by developing experiences for tourists that establish the country as an unforgettable, competitive and authentic destination.

Consequently they set a target of identifying, designing and supporting 200 experiences under the brand of “Amazing 200”.  These experiences were targeted at the mid-value, high-value and VIP segments and had to meet pre-agreed standards, of which the main experiences were unique, authentic, local and not mass market - tailored and personal.  The top 50 experiences were to be labelled as “Signature” with 150 labelled as “Amazing”. 

The development of the criteria to select and design the experience formed the foundation of a Product Framework, which was a strategic guide for stakeholders in the sector, along with a Design Guide to help the industry develop experiences to meet the Signature and Amazing standards. 

Our Approach

Working with our consortium’s international and local specialists, and regular interaction with the STA team, we recommended the framework and criteria for both the Signature and Amazing experience standards that fit within the three key pillars of uniqueness, authenticity and tailored.  This led to the compilation of the Experience Framework Manual. 

The next phase was undertaken in two modules; one being the creation and curation of experiences and the other being the more detailed design guidance, leading to the stories for the Signature experiences and the videos for 10 of these.

These were undertaken through data and information gathering from multiple sources to generate a comprehensive long list of viable experiences which were then filtered, using the Strategic Framework into a short list of 200 experiences covering at least 50 Signature experiences with a balanced representation across themes, regions and value range.  We interviewed a large number of stakeholders across the KSA tourism supply chain and carried out local data research, international benchmark research and expert workshops. 

Outcome

For each of the 200 experiences we produced:

• Experience Passport: this was a one-page summary of each Signature and Amazing Experience including the key factors, logistics, Destination Management Company (DMC) needs, and pictorial references to demonstrate the emotional intent of the experience.
• Experience Manual: a fuller set of guidelines for the design and execution of an experience for the DMCs and Saudi Tourism Authority; for the Signature Experiences we also prepared PR copy to describe the experience to bring it to “life” with location, experience, and “benefit” descriptions to appeal to the target value segment; copy for websites, press releases and DMC brochures; and narrative which formed the foundation for the descriptive content and scripts for the hero videos.