Malaysia's Tourism Development and Marketing

Abstract

Malaysia has proven itself as one of the most successful and fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. Being one of the world's greatest undiscovered and unexplored countries, there exists a vast tourism development potential in Malaysia. The Malaysian government in recent years has placed unprecedented importance on the role of tourism in its economic development process. This article reviews recent developments in tourism development and marketing efforts in Malaysia.     

Modeling Tourist Flows to Indonesia and Malaysia

Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the major factors that influence the flow patterns of tourists from six important tourist-generating countries to Indonesia and Malaysia. The primary determinants included in the demand models were income, prices, and time trend. Two models that employed different indicators for the price variable were estimated; one with exchange rates in addition to relative prices, whereas the other included only an exchange rate adjusted-relative price variable. Annual time-series data covering the period 1980 to 1997 were used for estimation. The results generally indicated that the factors provide reasonably good explanations for the demand for Indonesian and Malaysian tourism. The measure of thejoint effect of the changes in exchange rates and relative prices also seems to be a better indicator for the price variable for both destination countries. The study has important marketing implications for the tourism industries in Indonesia and Malaysia.     

Strategic Management of External Change in NSW Registered Clubs

ABSTRACT

This research examines how clubs strategically manage change resulting from alterations in their external environment. Specifically, this paper aims to investigate the marketing implications of recent legislative change arising from restrictions imposed on advertising and promotion of club gaming in one Australian state, the most populous state of New South Wales (NSW). Managers of three northern NSW clubs situated adjacent to the southern Queensland (QLD) border were interviewed to obtain primary data for this investigation. Results show that legislation restricting gaming advertising, promotion and external signage has caused difficulties in marketing these three clubs whose core product is gaming machines. Short-term results of revised marketing strategies indicate that club member numbers are steady but spending is unpredictable. Visitors are harder to attract, particularly new visitors.     

From Civil War to Civil Rights

Summary

Alabama sold its Old South heritage by commemorating the Confederacy and celebrating the wealth produced by slave labor through pilgrimages. Yet in the 1980s, the state cut a new course by marketing African-American heritage and the sites of civil rights conflicts. Joining other groups in memorializing the movement, Alabama successfully commodified its controversial past as heritage tourism. Ironically, Governor George Wallace initiated the marketing strategy to alter Alabama's negative image. Selma captured the idea with its “From Civil War to Civil Rights” advertising campaign. The juxtaposition of apparently incongruous events points not only to the mixed motivations behind heritage tourism but also to the potential that exists as the public engages and confronts contested pasts.     

The Marketing Planning Index: A Tool for Measuring Strategic Marketing Effectiveness

Abstract

Managers practice in a consistently changing environment necessitating the need for an effective strategic marketing process. Nevertheless, measurement of marketing effectiveness has tended to be ignored in the literature. This study proposes a new managerial tool called the marketing planning index, which measures the effectiveness of marketing. The tool is tested on the service industry-in this case the hotel sector. Our findings indicate that the marketing planning index is a simple but powerful managerial tool that helps develop the diagnostic information needed to generate corporate and business level initiatives designed to improve strategic marketing effectiveness.     

A multilevel analysis of the service marketing triangle in theme parks

ABSTRACT

This study explores multilevel relationships between employees and visitors within 25 theme parks in Taiwan. The adapted constructs with corresponding items of interactive, internal, and external marketing were developed based on the service marketing triangle theory and previous literature. The results show that interactive marketing influences visitor satisfaction and behavioral intentions; internal marketing influences interactive marketing, and moderates the effect of interactive marketing on satisfaction; external marketing influences satisfaction; and satisfaction affects behavioral intentions. This study demonstrates that examining the influence of cross-level service marketing on internal and external customer satisfaction is crucial to the operational success of theme parks.     

Travel Motivations

Abstract

One hundred and twenty-three usable questionnaires returned from Virginia Bed and Breakfast operators were analyzed for current marketing techniques and conditions. The findings indicated the value of location of the operation, the use of brochures and guidebooks in advertising, as well as the importance of word-of-mouth in marketing.     

Marketing Culture and Business Performance in the Airline Industry

Abstract

In recent years the airline industry has witnessed increased emphasis on the cultivation of a culture which fosters the effective implementation of marketing programmes. This growing attention stems from the belief that sound marketing practices provide an important source of competitive advantage in the service sector which is characterised by high levels of interaction between firms and their customers. Moreover, marketing academics and managers proclaim that a strong marketing culture leads to customer retention, which in turn, yields higher profitability. In this study an attempt is made to investigate empirically the relationship between UK airline firms' marketing culture and business performance. Our results indicate a strong relationship between marketing culture and business performance. To conclude, implications of the findings for airline managers and avenues for future research are discussed.     

In Search of Competitive Advantage in Caribbean Tourism Websites

Abstract

The intense competitiveness of the global tourism industry increasingly demands the most effective possible marketing for individual destinations. The strategic management literature suggests that competitive advantage can be gained through capitalizing on a destination's unique attributes. In marketing terms, this translates as “competitive positioning.” To what extent do the individual destinations of the Caribbean seek to competitively position themselves as unique attractions among their many competitors? This paper returns to the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) as a practical and straightforward framework for analyzing distinctiveness in tourism marketing. An exploratory analysis of web-based marketing in the Caribbean suggests widespread failure of destinations to market themselves in terms of unique competitive positioning. The analysis also reveals several exemplary models of the USP concept in tourism marketing, suggesting opportunities for greater regional cooperation through stronger individual destination identities.     

The Role of Local and Regional Food in Destination Marketing

Summary

An analysis of the relevant tourism literature and the promotional material of various destinations indicate that the role of food in the marketing of destinations has until recently received very little attention globally and locally. All indications, however, are that local food holds much potential to enhance sustainability in tourism; contribute to the authenticity of the destination; strengthen the local economy; and provide for the environmentally friendly infrastructure. This paper will highlight the key findings of the preliminary study regarding the utilization of food as a key or supportive attraction by destination-marketing organizations in South Africa. Guidelines for the future development, packaging and marketing of local and regional foods will be postulated and proposals for future research will be outlined.     

Relationship Management

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) is an organizational culture that emphasizes internal integration at the same time that it demands innovation in the marketplace. TQM effectively integrates the internal and external activities of an organization. In business to business marketing, the role of relationship management is to bridge internal quality management with external quality management. In a hotel, the convention services manager must be sure that the promises made by external marketing activities can be fulfilled through interactive marketing activities. Internal marketing processes which enable employees to fulfill marketing promises are an equally important part of the service quality equation.     

Modelling E-Marketing Strategies: Internet Presence and Exploitation of Greek Hotels

Abstract

Despite the wide use of the Internet in the tourism industry and the exponential growth of e-commerce, little is still known on how the new medium is transforming marketing practices and concepts. The purpose of this empirical study is to fill in this gap. Specifically, the study first analyses Internet's capabilities as well as the Virtual Marketspace and the marketing transformations that the Internet is creating. After reviewing models and strategies for Internet marketing, an e-marketing mix is proposed that exploits Internet capabilities. The latter is used in order to investigate and provide suggestions on the development of Internet strategies of hotels in Greece.     

Cultural tourism policy in developing regions: The case of Sarawak,Malaysia

There is a need for empirical data that can be used to confirm or disconfirm literature that makes a case for functional linkages between cultural activity, inbound tourism and wider economic activity. This motivates a case-based investigation using Sarawak, a culturally rich state of Malaysia and which is currently trying to diversify and uplift its economy. Using interviews of tourism operators, artists and cultural brokers, visits to art venues and examination of documentary material, the paper identifies Sarawak's cultural and tourism policies, the ways they have been operationalized, and some of the concrete outcomes. The findings are interpreted by parsing Adorno's concepts of significance and function into their normative, representational and material dimensions. Tourism planners, it is found, have exoticized and marginalized local communities at the cost of developing a diversified economy. The policy dilemma extends to policy objects. How can artists relocated to urban areas be enabled to be productive on their own terms, and how can faraway communities lend support to their artists? Solutions might be sought, it is argued, using a participatory approach to cultural tourism planning.     

International Business Tourism: Destination Dublin or Destination Ireland?

Abstract

The Republic of Ireland has been running the same basic brand proposition in its various marketing campaigns for some decades (Morgan, Pritchard and Pride, 2002). However, it is unclear whether the destination brand construct that has served Ireland's general tourism market so well can apply equally when attracting business tourism to Dublin, the nation's capital city. This research primarily applies repertory grid analysis and on-line focus groups to understand the brand of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, and explores the way the marketing of a national capital city for business tourism both influences, and is influenced by, the marketing of the nation itself.     

GIS Applications in Tourism Marketing: Current Uses,an Experimental Application and Future Prospects

Abstract

The paper begins with a brief introduction to the technology of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a review of current literature in the field of tourism based GIS (T-GIS). This is followed by a discussion of the theoretical possibilities of using T-GIS for traditional marketing purposes and a review of the related literature. The use of T-GIS for marketing is then considered both from the demand and supply sides. The second half of the paper provides a detailed account of the use of the Internet to incorporate GIS-based models and graphics as a marketing tool for the Alberta Ski Resort industry. Further developments and prospects using this technology are also described.     

Marketing Strategies for Last-Minute Travel and Tourism

Abstract

Travel and tourism arranged at the “last minute” has become a growing trend among consumers today. Responding to this trend, more and more travel/tourism firms are offering services catering to consumers seeking last-minute travel and tourism opportunities. Yet, clearly, not all last-minute travellers are alike. Variability in last-minute consumer characteristics such as motivations, lifestyles, and benefits sought suggests opportunities for astute marketers and revenue managers to collaborate in further segmenting the last-minute market and developing more effective marketing and revenue management strategies to potentially increase the firms' revenues, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Toward this end, this article evaluates and discusses marketing strategies, marketing mix elements, and segmentation approaches that may be most appropriate for more effective marketing and revenue management in the last-minute travel and tourism market.     

Sustainability and marketing in tourism: its contexts,paradoxes, approaches,challenges and potential

ABSTRACT

Tourism marketing has typically been seen as exploitative and fuelling hedonistic consumerism. Sustainability marketing can, however, use marketing skills and techniques to good purpose, by understanding market needs, designing more sustainable products and identifying more persuasive methods of communication to bring behavioural change. This article summarises the latest research on the theories, methods and results of marketing that seeks to make tourist destinations better places to live in, and better places to visit. It explores sustainability marketing's two fundamental approaches, that of market development, using market segmentation, and that of sustainable product development. It introduces a Special Issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism on sustainable marketing, sharing evidence on the motivations, mechanisms and barriers that businesses encounter, and on successes in changing consumer behaviour and pursuing sustainability goals. Particular attention is given to the methodologies of sustainable tourism marketing, to the subject's breadth and complexity, and to its many innovations. Further research is called for to fully understand what contextual aspects influence these pro-sustainability interventions to achieve which outcomes in other settings, in order to validate some of the exploratory studies discussed, and establish the feasibility of scaling up pilot studies for more general use.     

Repositioning a Tourism Destination

SUMMARY

This paper is a case study of the repositioning of New Orleans as a tourism destination after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It examines the event from a post-disaster marketing viewpoint and first outlines the tourism industry in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, including visitor profile, destination image, and positioning statements. The article then recounts the effects of the hurricane on the tourism infrastructure. The effectiveness of recovery marketing strategies, including the repositioning strategies undertaken by the city's tourism marketing organizations, is examined. The disaster management frameworks as discussed in the literature are revisited and extended to include the lessons learned for post disaster market repositioning.     

From Selling to Relationship Marketing at International Trade Fairs

Abstract

The role of international trade fairs in establishing and developing buyer-seller relations has been overlooked by most marketing scholars. Based on a survey of sellers at international trade fairs, relationship marketing at trade fairs is analyzed. Using an interaction approach, some propositions are developed. The article suggests that international trade fairs play a significant role in reducing uncertainty and distance for industrial marketers and in demonstrating commitment to the buyer-seller relationship development process. The implications for practitioners, as well as for future research, are discussed.     

Towards a history of tourism in Sarawak

The study of the historical development of tourism is still in its infancy with the majority of publications focussing very much on development in the western world. Even these documented histories fall mainly into just a few categories; the spas, the pilgrimages, and the Grand Tours. Only a handful record the story in non‐European locations, although these have been primarily about places which have colonial histories, thus maintaining the European focus to a large extent. Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, fits this category also. Famous for its colonial White Rajahs and its indigenous long‐house cultures, Sarawak has a variety of resources on which to base a strong special interest tourism industry. This study seeks to encourage the documentation of the historical development of tourism in Sarawak. A further aim is to provide reference points for other scholars while another is to ensure that tourism is not seen strictly as a post‐federation phenomenon but as a factor which was present in the overall development of the state. It concludes that in tourism, as in every other human activity, the weight of the past is inescapable.