THE TOURISM DESTINATION MARKETING A MANDATORY COURSE FOR THE STUDENTS OF TOURISM

Transcription

1 THE TOURISM DESTINATION MARKETING A MANDATORY COURSE FOR THE STUDENTS OF TOURISM Ispas Ana Universitatea Transilvania din Bra ov, Facultatea de tiin e Economice, Str. Colina Universit ii nr. 1, ispasana@unitbv.ro, tel: Abstract: In higher education it is important that the sometimes unfashionable public sector is included in programs. Tourism is a relatively new academic discipline. The study of tourism as a focal subject has sometimes been treated with derision in academic circles, perhaps because of its novelty, perhaps because of its superficial fragmentation, perhaps because it cuts across established disciplines. Tourism destination marketing is now widely recognized as an essential component in the management of destinations, an integral part of developing and retaining a particular location s popularity. This paper focuses to understand that the Tourism Destination Marketing is a mandatory course for the students of tourism. Key Words: destination, marketing, organisation, skills, tourism Introduction The term Tourism refers to the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of people away from their normal home environments for a variety of purposes. The tourism sector is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the global economy. Although there is a core of recognised course titles, it is also a developing area of study with a great deal of innovation and diversity. This sector is characterised by a breadth of subject matter ranging from the Natural Sciences, through Business Management, to aspects of Geography and Cultural Studies. Despite this diversity, there are many areas of common knowledge and understanding. Tourism is still a very specific sector, so specific knowledge about the sector is required. For the workforce, however, there are still general and basic skill needs for everybody. For example, lack of knowledge of foreign languages has been recently recognized by national tourism organizations of some European countries as a lasting problem and even as a competitive disadvantage. Entrepreneurship a concept still vaguely defined is taken more actively on board by education providers who are working on this notion and thinking of implementing this even at the compulsory school level [CEDEFOP, 2005]. There are also specific skill needs defined by labour category. At management level, these are rather transversal skills; hence tourism managers often have an educational background in accountancy, marketing, law, economics, etc. Nevertheless, managers are expected to possess the following skills and competences: computer skills, business and strategic planning, strategic alliances, management skills, management through visions and values, yield management, accounting, product development, innovation, human resource management, destination management, project management, management skills to cope with globalization influences, change management, marketing and sales skills [EC, 2001]. Most tourism activities take place at destinations, and so the destination forms a pillar in any modelling of the tourism system [Leiper, 1990]. It has even been suggested that destinations have emerged as the fundamental unit of analysis in tourism [WTO, 2002]. Given the proeminent place of destinations in the tourism system it is surprising there have been few texts to date that have focused on the operations of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs). Tourism has been around, in an organised form at least, since the late 19 th century, and for most of that time DMOs have played an active role in the development of tourism worldwide. However, texts concerned with destination planning, marketing and management have only emerged in earnest since the 1990s [Pike, 2004]. An understanding of the nature of DMO operations and challenges should not only be a prerequisite for those seeking a career in destination marketing, but should also be regarded as essential for those who will become active stakeholders of such organisations. As future managers in tourism, students will almost definitely interact with DMOs at national, regional and/or local levels during their career. 918

2 Literature review Tourism Tourism is a word that is so often used in everyday language. All of us have been somewhere on holiday, know someone working in hospitality, travel or tourism. So it is a surprise for many students to learn that there is no universally accepted definition of tourism. Instead, there have been almost as many different definitions as there are researchers. It has even been suggested that defining tourism is almost conceptually impossible. Complications arise from the multidisciplinary nature of tourism research, the ambiguity of what constitutes a tourist and tourism business and overlaps with the concepts of travel, hospitality and leisure. The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) defines tourism as the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited [WTO, 2004]. Most tourism texts offer a different definition. The definition used will also depend on the purpose for which it is to be applied, which is commonly to define markets and analyse statistics. For DMOs these include for example reports that seek to [Pike, 2004]: promote the economic and social benefits of tourism to a community in a bid to enlist government funds for destination promotion promote the scale and growth of tourism in a business investment prospectus highlight potentially negative environmental impacts at a proposed development site report negative socio-cultural impacts at a destination. Destination Destinations are places that attract visitors for a temporary stay, and range from continents to countries to states and provinces to cities to villages to purpose built resort areas [Pike, 2004]. At the foundation level destinations are essentially communities based on local government boundaries.the WTO offered the following working definition of a local tourism destination : A local tourism destination is a physical space in wich a visitor spends at least one overnight. It includes tourism products such as support services and attractions, and tourism resources within one day s return travel time. It has physical and administrative boundaries defining its management, and images and perceptions defining its market competitiveness. Local destinations incorporate various stakeholders often including a host community and can nest and network to form larger destinations. Tourists travel to destinations. Destinations are places with some form of actual or perceived boundary, such as the physical boundary of an island, political boundaries, or even market-created boundaries [Kotler et al., 2006]. Destinations may not welcome tourists uniformly. Due to location, climate, limited resources, size, and cultural heritage, some places have few economic choices other than to participate in tourism. The desire to become a recognised destination presents a difficult marketing challenge. Tourism destination marketing Destination marketing is an integral part of developing and retaining a particular location s popularity. Too often, however, tourism planners focus only on destination developments without paying attention to retaining and preserving the attributes that attracted travelers to the destination in the first place [Kotler et al., 2006]. Wahab et al. [cit. in Pike, 2004] offered the following definition of tourism destination marketing: the management process through which the National Tourist Organisations and/or tourist enterprises identify their selected tourists, actual and potential, communicate with them to ascertain and influence their wishes, needs, motivations, likes and dislikes, on local, regional, national and international levels, and to formulate and adapt their tourist products accordingly in view of achieving optimal tourist satisfaction thereby fulfilling their objectives. 919

3 Destination marketing organisations A destination marketing organisation is any organisation, at any level, which is responsible for the marketing of identifiable destination. This therefore excludes separate government departments that are responsible for planning and policy. The WTO introduced the term national tourism administration (NTA) as authorities in the central state administration, or other official organisation, in charge of tourism development at the national level. The term NTA was used to reflect the new concept of tourism management at national level and to stress that the majority of countries are moving away from the traditional system, where the national tourist organisation is essentially a central publicity body, to the newer concept of a national tourism administration which sees promotion and marketing as one of many functions. Destination marketing organisations (DMOs) are concerned with the selling of places, a field of study that has only relatively recently attracted significant research attention. Contributions have included: destination planning and management [Godfrey & Clarke, 2000; Howie, 2003; Laws, 1995; Lickorish, 1992; WTO, 1994, cit. in Pike, 2004], urban destinations [Page, 1995], case studies of tourist organisations [Pearce, 1992], destination marketing [Ashworth & Goodal, 1995; Heath & Wall, 1992; Nykiel & Jascolt, 1998], the promotion of places [Ashworth &Voogd, 1990; Gold & Ward, 1994; Avraham & Ketter, 2008], destination branding [Morgan et al., 2004] and destination crisis marketing [Bierman, 2003, cit. in Pike, 2004]. A growing number of academic conferences have also featured the destination marketing theme in recent years. The 1993 Association Internationale D Experts Scientifiques du Tourisme (AIEST) conference addressed the issue of the competitiveness of long haul destinations [Pike, 2004]. In 1996 the Fundacion Cavanilles for Advanced Studies in Tourism organised the Second International Forum on Tourism, themed the future of traditional tourist destinations [Buhalis & Cooper, 1998]. In 1998 the 48 th congress of the AIEST focused on Destination marketing scopes and limitations [Pike, 2004]. In 2007, two conferences was focused in this area: UNWTO Conference Creating competitive advantage for your destination Budapest, 9 february and 2007 Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference Destination and Event Marketing Managing Networks, hosted by the University of Valencia. There has also been a wealth of material related to destination marketing published in academic tourism journals. In this respect, aspects as DMOs roles and structure, destination branding, destination positioning, destination image and destination marketing are among the most important issues for the tourism industry and require to introduce this course (Tourism Destination Marketing) in the curricula for Master degree in tourism. This allows students to gain an understanding of the roles and structures of tourism organisations at all levels what is critical is that students have a thorough understanding of issues of globalizations, the public and private sector structures and policies that are in place to both capitalize and protect nations from its effects and are equipped to enter the work force at a senior level surprise free in terms of such issues [Fayos-Sola, 2002]. The objectives and descriptors of course The aim of this course is to provide the student with a general framework of the principles of tourism destination marketing. Tourism and moreover Business tourism does not exist in a vacuum. It can only function if it shares, cooperates and dialogues effectively with many other sectors of society and economy. The course also explains that marketing of destinations should balance the strategic objectives of all stakeholders as well the sustainability of local resources. Destinations need to differentiate their products and develop partnerships between the public and private sector in order to co-ordinate delivery. Destination marketing must lead to the optimisation of tourism impacts and the achievement of the strategic objectives for all stakeholders. Taking advantage of new technologies and the internet also enables destinations to enhance their competitiveness by increasing their visibility, reducing costs and enhancing local cooperation. Following main issues are dealt with in this course: 1. Introducing destinations and destinations marketing 2. Destinations an amalgam of tourism services and experiences 3. The importance and the critical roles played by the DMO (Destination Management Organization) in the tourism policy development and implementation. 920

4 4. The strategic purpose of destinations and their management and marketing 5. Main markets and destination choice 6. Types of destinations, target markets and marketing strategies required 7. Marketing research: identifying market segments for destination products 8. Marketing destinations: strategies and practices 9. Destination marketing mix: formulating the destination product, pricing the destination, distributing tourism destinations, promoting the destination. 10. Destination Branding 11. Destination Image 12. Destination positioning in the marketplace. The core purpose of DMOs is enhancing sustained destination competitiveness. A major element in striving for competitive advantage in the crowded tourism markets is the development and implementation of tourism strategies, since destinations endowed with natural attractions have been forced into competition with places that have developed attractive built environments. To achieve competitiveness the four main goals are enhancing destination image, increasing industry profitability, reducing seasonality and ensuring long term funding. The primarly responsibility of DMOs is destination marketing. The three other important responsabilities are industry coordination, monitoring services and quality standards, and fostering community relations. A market orientation dictates outward-inward market-organisation thinking [Pike, 2004]. In tourism this means firstly anticipating travellers needs, and then developing products and services to meet these. Adopting this approach in destination marketing is problematic. Instead, DMOs generally use inwardoutword thinking by attempting to find markets that will be interested in a destination s existing products. A DMO must somehow showcase the destination in a way that offers benefits sought by travellers, represents the interests of tourism suppliers, and does not commodify residents sens of place. The generally accepted steps in destination marketing planning are: a situation analysis, incorporated a resource audit, environmental analysis and competitive positioning analysis; development of goals and strategy; an action plan, and measures of performance. Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) represents a relatively new approach to marketing. Key tenets of IMC are the development of profitable customer relationship, a cross-functional process and purposeful dialogue and message synergy. The responsabilities of destination brand management should not rest solely with the DMO. Ideally, what is required is an understanding by all stakeholders of what the brand identity is, what the brand image is, and what the brand positioning strategy is. It has been suggested that the future of marketing will be a battle of the brands, and that in tourism, destinations are emerging as the world biggest brands. The process of branding tourism destinations is a more complex undertaking than for most consumer goods and services. The purpose of a brand is to establish a distinctive and memorable identity in the market place that represents a source of value for the consumer. For DMOs, the value of strong consumer based brand equity lies in the opportunity to minimise destination switching through a differentiated value proposition and increased loyalty. The fundamental challenge for DMOs is to somehow develop a brand identity that encapsulates the essence or spirit of a multi-attributed destination representative of a group of sellers as well as a host community. A destination brand manifests as an image (or lack of) in the mind of the consumer, which may be quite different to the self-image intended in the brand identity. Tourism marketing is generally concerned with the selling of dreams, since expectations of an intangible tourism service can only be realised after travel. The images held by consumers therefore play a critical role in their decision-making. Since tourism services can only compete via images, it is imperative marketers understand that perception is reality. The brand image of the destination may or may not be quite different to the brand identity intended by the DMO. Branding is perhaps the most powerful marketing weapon available to contemporary destination marketers confronted by tourists who are increasingly seeking lifestyle fulfilment and experience rather than recognising differentiation in the more tangible elements of the destination product such as accommodation and attractions [Morgan et al., 2007]. Most destinations have superb five-star resorts and attractions, every country claims a unique culture, landscape and heritage, each place describes itself as having the friendliest 921

5 people, and high standards of customer service and facilities are now expected. As a result, the need for destinations to create a unique identity to differentiate themselves from their competitors is more critical than ever. Conclusion Tourism destinations are probably one of the most difficult products to market, involving large numbers of stakeholders and a brand image over which a destination marketing manager typically has very little control. The diversity and complexity of tourism destinations is well documented and this makes brand development very difficult for national, regional and local tourism organisations. Destination branding necessarily involves the focused attention of all tourism-related organisations in a destination, and this can create major challenges in getting all stakeholders to develop a coherent theme for the destination brand. Only those destinations that have a clear market position and appealing attractions will remain at the top of consumer minds when they book their holidays. In the highly competitive and dynamic global tourism environment, there is a need to develop a clear identity, or brand based on reality, while also reflecting the core strengths and personality of its product. In this crowded marketplace, building and maintaining brand value is the key to business success and, as a result, brand management is quickly shifting from a peripheral marketing concern to the core business strategy. This is a reason for including The Tourism Destination Marketing in curricula for the students in the field of tourism. References 1. Ashworth, G. J. and Voogd, H. (1990), Selling the city, West Sussex: Wiley. 2. Ashworth, G. J. and Goodal, B. (eds) (1995), Marketing tourism places, New York: Routledge. Ritchie & Zins, Blumberg, K (2005), Tourism destination marketing A tool for destination management? A case study from Nelson/Tasman Region, New Zealand, Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, Volume 10, Number 1, March, pp (13). 4. ***Cedefop (2005). Panorama. Trends and skill needs in tourism, Olga Strietska-Ilina, Manfred Tessaring (eds), Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, p ***European Commission, DG Enterprise (2001). Improving training in order to upgrade skills in the tourism industry. Final report of Working Group B. Brussels: European Commission, p Gold, J. R. and Ward, S. V. (eds) (1994), Place promotion: the use of publicity and marketing to sell towns and regions. Chichester: Wiley. 7. Keller, K. L. (2003), Strategic brand management (2 nd ed.), Upper Saddle River, Prentice-Hall. 8. Kotler, Ph., Bowen, J., Makens, J. (2006), Marketing for hospitality and tourism, Pearson: Prentice Hall. 9. Leiper, N. (1990), Tourist attraction system, Annals of Tourism Research, 17, Morgan, N., Pritchard, A., Pride, R. (2004), Destination branding: Creatind the unique destination proposition (2 nd ed.), Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 11. Pearce, D. (1992), Tourist organisations, New York: Wiley. 12. Pike, S. (2004), Destination marketing organisations, Advances in Tourism Research, Elsevier. 13. Ries, A. & Trout, J. (1982), Positioning: The battle for your mind, New York: McGraw-Hill. 14. Ritchie, J. R. B. & Crouch, G. I. (2003), The competitive destination: A sustainable tourism perspective, Oxon: CABI Publishing. 922