Wouldn’t it be great if your government owned the English name of your country on Twitter? You could proudly @mention your country or support your national team with a tweet. Today all English-language country names have been registered on Twitter; however, only 23 governments and state tourism boards have secured their English-language country name on Twitter, up from only nine, four years ago.

British television network BBC2 is planning TV shootings in Thessaloniki and Imathia from July 24-31, with the support of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT), with the view to promoting popular and lesser-known Greek destinations abroad, through the entertainment industry. Other “filming trips” with the support of EOT are ongoing in Athens, Peloponnese and Crete by the Australian television travel programme “The Travel Bug TV Show”. 

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his five-day, four-nation tour of Africa on July 11. He spent two days in South Africa and made brief visits to Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. As he left Nairobi at the end of the tour, Modi had covered 42 countries in his 51 trips abroad. Antarctica is now the only continent he has not visited in his two years in office.

In what seems likely to be a concerted and protracted charm offensive, China has been inviting hundreds of Myanmar opinion-formers to “improve understanding” on their part of China’s intentions. China is telling Myanmar that it knows Myanmar has changed, and that China’s attitude has changed too.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn urged the Ethiopian Tourism Transformation Council (ETTC) to utilize resources of the country and make the nation one of the best tourist destinations in the world.

The “soft power” of shows such as Downton Abbey and Sherlock can help the UK bounce back globally from the shock of Brexit and help Britain remain a cultural international powerhouse, according to a former ambassador and foreign policy adviser to David Cameron. [...] he is “pretty confident” that “there will be a group set up specifically” to promote Britain and its creative industries around the world.