Despite being a South Asian powerhouse, India ranks 23rd in the Future Brands’ annual country brand index, a comprehensive study of nations based on levels of awareness, familiarity, preference, consideration, advocacy and active decisions to visit.
The nation is down five places from its perch in 2009, when it stood at 18th position. Concerns over health and safety were reasons cited by 3,400 business and leisure travellers surveyed from 14 countries across the globe for their preference of nations other than India.
The study, into its sixth year, explores the complexity, dynamics and benefits of how nations manifest as brands. The country’s performance has been linked to the negative publicity it garnered in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi this September in addition to terrorist attacks and threats that both civilians and tourists have been subjected to in recent years.
Besides India, other emerging nations such as China and Russia were also down in Future Brands' country brand index by eight and nine places, respectively.
China was down to 56th position, while Russia was down to 81st position in the 2010 edition. Perceptions about political freedom, censorship battles with Google and the nation's handling of environmental issues were contributors to China's weak performance this year, the study said. Russia, on the other hand, had to grapple with issues concerning both political freedom and corruption, the study said.
The countries that did well in the 2010 edition, however, included Canada, which moved up one place to clinch the first spot in the study, followed by Australia and New Zealand respectively, which were ranked numbers two and three in the study.