Our annual Marketing Game Changers feature aims to recognise and celebrate those client-side marketing leaders whose actions and insights have made the greatest impact on their brands, their industries and the region’s marketing community over the past 12 months.
One of them for this year is Alka Winter, who is the Destination Marketing and Communications at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.
With more than 18 years of experience, including four and a half in her current position, Winter oversees a team of 11 people at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.
Alka Winter
Vice President, Destination Marketing and Communications, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority
Years in current position: 4.5 years
Years in the industry: 18
Size of team: 11 (in-house)
What would you place at the top of your brand and marketing priority list in 2025?
Becoming a better behavioural scientist. Looking at genuine insights, both quantitative and qualitative, on consumer motivation when it comes to travel. This may sound obvious, but in tourism, it is a never-ending pursuit of trying to understand when travellers start dreaming, considering and booking travel and how this could lead – we hope – to customer loyalty and lifetime value. While data sets and reports are aplenty, doubling down on key stats and variables, combined with field work and figuring out the right omnichannel mix, is sound decision-making with some alchemy thrown in.
What is the one thing you would change about the industry if you had a magic wand?
To invest more time, energy and money in culture. Forming teams with diverse backgrounds, opinions and different skills sets is critical, and welcoming a multi-generational workforce is key. But really, it goes beyond that. Our industry should embrace disruption and borrow from other industries on how to approach challenges, draw inferences and take on a true multi-sector approach.
Are we using the latest technologies optimally to enhance brands’ overall customer experience?
I think we are doing the best we can with the level of technology we have. Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, said it best: “No one will deliver on the promise of AI this year”, as the technology is constantly upgrading and getting better. Our job as marketers is to really stay on top of technological advances, incorporate AI in processes and optimisations, pitches and final products – if not too over-manufactured and relevant for the brand. One area where I’ve seen immediate gains is working with our media strategy agency to leverage AI technology in optimising media spend in real-time, resulting in higher ROI for our campaigns. This is certainly an area that all marketers should take advantage of.
Are there a say-do gap and a green skills gap within sustainability that need to be addressed?
I see the response to this question as being two-fold. From an operational perspective, there are very skilled professionals who work with industries such as ours in auditing, collecting clean data and benchmarking against sustainable standards ranging from waste and greenhouse gas emissions all the way to gender parity and inclusion in the workplace. From a communications perspective, there is a noticeable gap in marketing and PR. Given the greater scrutiny in this area, and greenwashing, more work needs to be done in being factual, leading with metrics and tangible proof points and putting this within the context of the industry and the destination in which we work.
What is the top challenge facing brand safety and reputation management?
When it comes to brand safety, the top challenge is preventing the dilution of the brand and its values, which typically happens with management shifts or strategy changes within an organisation. Brand value, safety and affinity are really a long game. Protect them. With regards to reputational management, there still is some hesitation amongst PR practitioners in being upfront and straightforward to media and stakeholders when their brand faces challenges and/or a crisis. However, communicating as quickly as possible, and getting a jump on the narrative instead of being led by it, is the way to get back to business as usual.
What were the top demands and expectations of consumers in 2024?
In the tourism space, it’s a range of consumer expectations, from off-peak travel – meaning that tourists are no longer restricted to traditional holiday periods when travelling – to blended or ‘bleisure’ travel, tacking on some leisure time when visiting a destination on business. We’re also seeing gig-tripping, or the ‘Swift’ effect driving event-led tourism and contributing significantly to GDP. It’s also recognising the shifting patterns of how people become inspired and how they decide where to go. The dreaming phase for millennials and Gen Zs is not where you would typically find it – a destination’s website or an online travel agency, or even on TV or in print; it’s on social. Whether that stays or changes is yet to be seen, with dedicated programmes that incorporate travel and drama, like White Lotus, and new ways of advertising on streaming platforms becoming increasingly influential.
How can marketers be a better voice of customers in the boardrooms or on the ExCo?
By demonstrating the value of creativity in marketing and PR and highlighting the price of being dull. This is directly from two seminal marketing leaders, Adam Morgan and Peter Field, who argued that uninspired and dull creative campaigns not only undermine the brand but also its financial performance. This also leads to marketers working more closely with their CFOs to show (and sometimes educate) how their budgets lead consumers down and up the marketing funnel, and finding the right balance between tactical, conversion-led marketing and brand-building awareness campaigns.
RAPID FIRE
Next destination on your bucketlist?
Svalbad, Norway to see the Northern Lights.
Go-to cheat meal?
Magnum classic ice cream (the 440ml tub is a meal in itself for me).
Advice to the newest member on your team?
Listen more, learn on-the-go, and try not to be everything to everyone.
Most thought-provoking quote you’ve heard in 2024?
Be tough on the work, but kind to the people.
Your favourite place in the Middle East?
Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah. It’s not just a nod to my work, but I genuinely feel
rooted there.
A personal goal you want to achieve?
More patience. As a mother, friend and leader.
The first thing you do when you get to work?
Hydrate (my commute is just over an hour).
The person who has influenced you most in 2024?
Raki Phillips, my boss and friend who has deep reservoirs of both enthusiasm and problem-solving ability – a killer combo.
Agency Reference
Joanna Agnew, General Manager, Tales & Heads
Alka is a natural leader whose professionalism and vision have inspired not only me but the teams around her. She consistently remains calm under pressure. Alka is proactive in assessing evolving needs, building her team and agency network, and implementing key changes. She delivers strategic, data-driven work with clear direction that empowers those who work with her. Alka is not just a brilliant professional, but also a valued collaborator and friend. She is exceptionally smart and detail-oriented, and is relentless in achieving excellence.
