Category Archives: Branding & Design

Typography is often one of the most overlooked yet influential elements of a tourism brand. When thinking about branding, one often tends to focus on logos, colours, photography, or storytelling. The fonts, however, are often overlooked or taken for granted. I have always believed that typography is the invisible thread that ties all your brand communications together and creates a sense of trust when used consistently. For tourism businesses, where experiences are often sold long in the ‘Dream’ stage, before they are lived, typography becomes a powerful tool for setting expectations. 

Font Terminology

Before we talk about the importance of typography, let's clear up some terminology. You may have heard words like fonts, font family, typeface, type, and typography being...

When many people hear the word “brand”, they immediately think of logos, colours, fonts, or maybe a slick-looking website. And while those things are important, they are only the surface layer of branding.

Your brand is not your logo.

Your brand is the feeling people associate with your business. It’s the reputation you build over time. It’s what customers say about you when you’re not in the room.

A logo is simply the visual identifier attached to that reputation.

This misunderstanding is one of the biggest marketing myths we still see, particularly in tourism and hospitality, where businesses often invest heavily in visual design but underestimate the importance of consistency, customer experience, and trust.

Brand is Built Through Experience

Think about...

We often talk about how tourism websites should be designed with one goal in mind: attract visitors from search engines (mostly Google) and convert them into bookings. While that objective remains the same, the way travellers discover and interact with tourism businesses is changing rapidly.

With AI-powered search experiences becoming increasingly common, travellers are no longer simply clicking through lists of search results. They're asking questions, receiving recommendations, comparing options, and planning itineraries directly within AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode/Overviews, Perplexity and more.

Given this, your website has three audiences to consider:

• Human visitors looking to book
• Traditional search engines 
• AI search tools looking to...

The Kingdom of Tonga has unveiled its new destination brand, “Kingdom of Tonga: The Friendly Islands”, developed in partnership with Tomahawk. 

Drawing on Tonga’s globally recognised nickname, The Friendly Islands, the new brand celebrates the nation’s warmth, hospitality, and vibrant culture. Each letter in the TONGA logo has been carefully designed to reflect traditional tapa patterns and cultural motifs, creating a visual identity that brings the country’s rich heritage to life. 

What sets this rebrand apart is its people-led approach. Over 20 months, Tomahawk conducted extensive research and workshops across four islands, including 15 workshops and over 20 consultations with tourism operators, cultural leaders, schools, community members, and government representatives....

If you're a tourism business trying to stand out online today, you’ve likely felt the challenge of producing content that actually gets noticed. The right content done well will help to drive visibility, trust, and engagement across every digital channel. But content has evolved and the way we plan, create, and share it has to evolve too.

When putting together content you need to consider how to:

• Reflect your brand identity
• Satisfy Google’s ever-changing search algorithms, AND AI search platforms
• Connect meaningfully with your audience

Here’s a look at how content creation has changed across three key perspectives: SEO, social media, and AI, and why storytelling is the common thread that can tie it all together.

1. The SEO Perspective

Then:

SEO used...

We often hear how tourism businesses and destination marketers should use storytelling techniques to connect with their audiences and entice travellers to book. But what does it actually mean, and how do you go about it in an authentic way that works? 

We delve into these questions and more in a webinar dedicated to Storytelling for Tourism, complemented by a comprehensive eBook to support your storytelling strategy! These key resources will uncover the following key insights and tips:

• Why storytelling is essential in tourism
• The impact of a well-told story
• How to define your brand’s unique narrative
• Tips to resonate with your ideal audience
• Visual storytelling
• Storytelling across digital platforms
• An actionable plan to bring it all together

Watch the...