Tourism Marketing

1) Elaborate on the concept of tourism marketing

Analyzing the concept of tourism marketing

Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry. No matter how attractive a tourist destination is, people aren't going to go to it if they don't know about it. Therefore, promotion and marketing are critical to the success of any tourism venture. Almost by definition, tourists are from somewhere other than where the destination is, so marketing efforts need to be very broadly disseminated in order to reach the target market. The Internet is custom-made for tourism promotion. The problem is, of course, that everyone knows this, so the competition for public attention on the Internet is fierce. Development of an easy-to-use and compelling website is essential for any tourism company, but don't expect it to bring you instant fame. Because of the competition, a website is a prerequisite, not a ticket to success. In addition to a website, exploit the possibilities of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. By maintaining a consistently high profile in venues such as this, you can grow public awareness of your location and venture. It will take time for this to happen; a consistently high-profile online presence, as well as patience to help it grow, are essential.

Placing an ad in an airline magazine is a good way to reach your target demographic. People who read this magazine are by definition people who travel, so they are more likely to be interested in visiting your location than your average person. Like the Internet, airline magazines are a popular advertising medium, so go the extra mile to make your advertisement larger and more compelling than any other. Effective gimmicks could include offering discounts to readers of that magazine, two-for-one sales, or offers of special accomodation for people who book a visit within a certain time frame

Many companies are experimenting with the possibilities of viral marketing, a nebulous field that is still developing. Essentially, viral marketing involves the presence of advertising where people aren't expecting it; for example, in casual conversation in a bar. People are hired by a company to engage socially with others and to promote a product. Other methods include written messages in unlikely places and the emulation of counter-cultural techniques, such as wheatpasted posters or graffiti. This methodology could be adapted for tourism promotion by appealing to people who are already in the target area as tourists and offering them various discounts or special deals if they return with their friends or family.

Marketers who work in the tourism industry must learn to create marketing campaigns that will reach the population they wish to target. People tend to travel in groups or to destinations that match their age group and family situation. Marketers who promote an adventure park or a family travel packages will want to reach tourists who will travel with children. Marketers who want to advertise a singles tour will search for ways to target the singles market, and depending on the tour package, will look for the correct singles age-range population to whom to market the package. Tour marketing companies who intend to fill a Christian trip to the Holy Land, for example, will advertise the tour among Christian groups, since the trip’s purpose of Christian spiritual exploration will appeal to individuals who want a Christian experience.Marketers who work in the tourism industry must stay abreast of developments that may affect the tourism industry. Security and political events throughout the world affect the industry in many countries and tourism marketers should build marketing campaigns that consider the geopolitical climate of any area before trying to present it to tourists. This often presents challenges to marketers who must help tourists find safe ways to travel to seemingly dangerous areas. On the other hand, this can also become a tourist market in itself, as a tour marketer can market “fact-finding” tours to encourage people who have an interest in a certain geographic location to travel to the area and learn more about the issues that cause the present climate of unrest.

Tourism marketers must stay on the cutting edge of the industry, noting the different options for tourism that travelers want. Many tourists do not want to simply walk around and see sites. They want to participate in trips that will allow them to challenge themselves through their travels. A tourism marketer can creatively market trips to appeal to individuals who want to find adventure, perform community service, study, participate in ecological activism, join an ecotourism or genealogical heritage tour or otherwise involve themselves in a unique form of travel. Marketing to travelers who search for such specialty tourism can spell success for a tourism marketer

Marketing tourism destinations is not a new concept, but it's growing.

Promoting the tourist attractions for a city, country or even region is a fast-growing tool for developing economies and enriching culture. In-depth tourism marketing involves several facets, including consumer research, budgeting and promotion. It also can involve networking with other tourism promoters.

According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is "a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." Some destinations lend themselves to a brand, such as "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

A variety of ways exist to market a tourist destination in-depth, including traditional vehicles like newspapers, television and radio. Airline magazines are another viable option. However, with the growth of the Internet, destinations can significantly benefit from building attractive websites. Marketers can also attract tourists by using eye-catching buttons on social networking sites

Building a group of people, organizations and businesses committed to improving an area's tourism industry is key to in-depth tourism marketing. Through networking, groups such as chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, and cities and regions themselves can often pool financial resources to make marketing more effective.

The tourism sector could not remain, of course, immune to marketing. Tourism market dynamics and high complexity (multiple types of tourism, multiple market segments) are necessary to develop a marketing culture in the tourism firms. On the other hand, in the last 10-20 years have seen strong growth in tourism offer both the tourist areas and tourist enterprises, in other words an increase in competition. Times the tourist-oriented countries such as Italy, Spain or Greece attracted large flows of visitors without the need for special marketing activities abroad, are gone. Traditional tourist areas have lost their market share for others, strong market positions erodes sooner or later due to the actions of competitors. Hence the need to know the requirements of consumers and to develop tourism products able to satisfy.

Jost Krippendorf considers tourism marketing as "a systematic and coordinated adaptation policy tourism enterprises (...) in order to meet the needs of groups determined optimal for consumers to obtain a profit."

Therefore allows tourism marketing company:

∙ to identify clients

∙ tocommunicate with her to know (and influence) wishes

∙ tourism product to adapt to achieve organizational objectives in terms of maximizing consumer satisfaction.

The tourism marketing can distinguish two levels, depending on the actors involved in the game:

∙ public tourism marketing (or macromarketing), for the State and other public entities with responsibilities in tourism

∙ tourism marketing at the enterprise level (or micromarketing), for the private tour operators.

The combined presence of public actions and private tourism marketing gives an unusual character among other marketing industry. In short, the overall effectiveness of tourism marketing activities is related to the interdependence that exists between marketing policies at public and private level.

Management guidelines in tourism marketing