Online tourism destination marketing in Kumasi Ghana

This study develops a conceptual research model to identify and induce local and international tourists to visit historical attractions and facilities in Kumasi the Ashanti region of Ghana. Websites provide valuable information about tourism destination marketing and tourism products to visitors and enhance tourists purchasing intentions. Data from a judgemental sampling technique were used for the research. Full time front desk employees from 36 hotels and 396 customers contributed to the study. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the model measurements. The analytical results indicate that online destination image, online word of mouth, online security vulnerability test significant with tourists’ satisfaction as a mediator. The results also provide reliable reference for tourism administrators and researchers interested in online destination marketing and suggest that tourists perceive online security vulnerability as a menace to society and should be prevented.     

论旅游目的地联合营销的理论基础及其对中国的启示

时于以旅游经济为支柱的地区来说,目的地营销一直是一项极具挑战性的任务.联合营销可能为目的地旅游组织解决这一挑战提供有效的路径.本文以组织关系理论为基础,探讨和阐述旅游目的地联合营销的先决条件、动机成因、合作过程和预期成果,并对其理论和实战两个层面的影响进行阐述.     

Positioning a tourism destination to gain a competitive edge

Positioning is a form of market communication that plays a vital role in enhancing the attractiveness of a tourism destination. This article describes the different parts of the positioning process and applies it to the case of positioning a U.S. destination to Japanese visitors.     

Conceptualising a contemporary marketing mix for sustainable tourism

This paper outlines how marketing, though traditionally considered an enemy of sustainability, can play a role in implementing sustainable tourism. It notes the redefinition in 2007 by the American Marketing Association of marketing's aims to consider wider societal issues beyond those of clients and customers. It illustrates how the recognition of the importance of sustainable tourism at all scales of tourism activity provides marketing with an opportunity to pursue sustainability outcomes. We review the strategic tourism marketing planning process and conceptually develop a sustainability tourism marketing model that embeds sustainability considerations at each stage of the planning process. Our proposed model contributes to sustainable tourism theory development and offers a conceptual tool for managing a tourism organisation's ecological and societal footprint on the supply side and a critical opportunity for transforming consumer decision-making on the demand side, irrespective of tourism scale. A 30-cell matrix is proposed that cross-references a strong set of 10 marketing elements (product, price, promotion, place, participants, process, physical evidence, partnership, packaging and programming) against the questions posed by the triple bottom line of economic factors, the environmental and sociocultural concern, creating a check list of indicators for management purposes.     

Sustainable tourism,justice and an ethic of care: toward the Just Destination

While a strong knowledge base has developed in sustainable tourism, theoretical links to justice and ethics have been slow to emerge at the destination level, especially about fairness, equity and justice for disadvantaged local groups, including poor, minority and indigenous populations. This paper draws upon, and justifies the use of several key philosophical traditions and social-political perspectives on justice to tackle this issue. A case study illustrates a range of justice issues experienced by local Mayan residents in Quintana Roo, Mexico, related to procedural and distributive justice, fairness and equity in the development and marketing of their natural and cultural heritage for tourism, as well as discriminatory and exclusionary practices toward that ethnic minority. Together, theoretical and empirical insights corroborate the need for a justice-oriented framework that addresses the social and cultural well-being of disadvantaged populations, and attempts to ensure that the poor are better off through tourism development and marketing. Following Rawls’ concept of justice, and linked to Fainstein's Just City, a preliminary framework, based on a joint ethic of justice and care, is outlined to guide tourism development, marketing and policy making in the Just Destination and to offer performative resistance to a globalized culture of consumption.     

Best Practice Marketing for Regional Tourism Destinations

This article reports on destination marketing best practices from 21 regional destinations around Australia. The results advocate an integrative approach to destination marketing that aligns with destination management and development objectives. From this, a framework is developed, within which nine best practice principles are identified as essential to successful and sustainable marketing of regional destinations. The key initiatives used to achieve success are discussed in detail, highlighting the need for destination stakeholders to foster a cooperative and strategic approach and ensure consistent design and delivery of a destination brand and image which is supported by tactical advertising and promotional strategies, effective visitor information services, and events to support the destination brand and image to target appropriate visitor markets.     

Proposing a sustainable marketing framework for heritage tourism

This study tests a sustainable marketing protocol for heritage tourism institutions. The marketing plans of 20 museums across the United States are examined to grasp the empirical reality of the proposed model. The model is crafted along strategic marketing criteria, including measures such as environment analysis, level of local community involvement, partnership, and maintenance of traditional preservation-based objectives of the museums. A gap between the philosophical underpinnings of the proposed model and the existing marketing strategies is found. It is noted that the contemporary museum ethos in many regions of the United States is centered on short term plans and current survival. Additionally, regardless of locations, funding and short-termism dictate the core elements of all marketing plans. Overall, the results indicate that dedicated efforts and more awareness are needed to sustain the core purpose of contemporary museums. Using an applied approach, this study offers a unique and realistic perspective to a conceptually drawn framework. The results enhance the marketing literature, offer suggestions on how museum marketing plans could include sustainable elements and become part of a sustainable heritage tourism paradigm.     

The dimensions of rural tourism experience: impacts on arousal,memory, and satisfaction

ABSTRACT

Rural tourism is driven by the search for unique and memorable experiences in particular settings, but knowledge on visitors’ experiences in rural destinations is still scarce. This paper analyzes the rural tourism experience of Portuguese tourists who answered an online survey (N = 252). The paper aims at validating, in the rural tourism context, a previously proposed tourist experience scale, and analyzing the relationships between the experience, arousal, memory, and satisfaction. Results reveal that the rural tourism experience dimensions of education and esthetics positively predict rural tourists’ arousal, whereas escapism and esthetics determine memorability. Finally, implications for rural tourism marketing are discussed.     

Psychology and tourism management

As more people recognize that tourism is indeed an industry and so does require skilful and informed management, so it becomes apparent that depth of experience, rules-of-thumb and personal intuition, valuable as they are, are not enough for the successful development of the industry. As a consequence, the scientific study of human behaviour and experience—psychology—is being looked to for answers to many questions in tourism. This paper briefly reviews some of the ways in which psychology can be harnessed to benefit tourism management.     

Effect of cultural distance on tourism: A study of pleasure visitors in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the effect of cultural distance on pleasure visitors, mainly vacation overnight visitors, in Hong Kong. Secondary data on 10 source markets are extracted from the annual report of visitor profile 2014 published by Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The data are compared to recognize the influence cultural distance can have on visitor profiles and trip characteristics, including travel patterns, expenditure, and satisfaction levels. Deteriorating effects ascribed to cultural distance are clearly observed in the following three important aspects: repeated visit, length of stay, and expenditure; however, these effects do not extend to all aspects. Therefore, cultural distance may be used to complement physical distance in order to explain the tourist flow, and it should be further studied.     

Cider and the Marketing of the Tourism Experience in Somerset,England

Summary

The paper provides a background to the history, development and importance of the cider industry to the county. A case study approach is then adopted, in order to demonstrate the richness of cider experiences available to the tourist travelling both through, and within, Somerset. Three case studies of individual firms are provided. The paper notes that a firm's reasons for engaging in tourism bear great similarities to those utilized by wineries. The paper also highlights the importance of collective marketing strategies at both the firm and business level.     

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.     

Dental tourism: Examining tourist profiles,motivation and satisfaction

Despite the overwhelming interest in medical tourism research, knowledge in dental tourism, which is its subspecialty, remains limited. This study is the first to measure tourist profiles, travel motivation and satisfaction among inbound dental tourists in Malaysia. We purposely sampled twelve selected private dental clinics in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Melaka and Penang; and distributed the questionnaires to their inbound dental tourists. A total of 196 inbound tourists responded to the questionnaire, mainly from Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In order of importance, the main motivation factors were dental care quality, dental care information access, and cost-savings. Tourists were extremely satisfied with dental care services received in the country. While dental care quality, dental care information access and supporting services positively influenced tourist satisfaction; cost-savings and cultural similarities had negative influences. Based on the research findings, we propose some managerial and marketing recommendations.     

Segmentation by motivation for rural tourism activities in The Gambia

In The Gambia, as in many other African countries, rural areas rarely profit from the turnover earned in the country's tourism sector. In academic and political literature, however, rural tourism is frequently identified as a diversification strategy that may trigger local economic development in remote communities. To promote rural tourism development, further knowledge is required to understand why tourists are motivated to engage in distinct tourism market segments. In this study, survey data was collected from 450 tourists in The Gambia using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed to identify the key characteristics and motivations of tourists so that the significant market segments could be categorized and the (latent) tourist demand for rural tourism activities could be gauged. This study identified four distinct segments of tourists in The Gambia: heritage & nature seekers, multi-experiences seekers, multi-experiences & beach seekers, and sun & beach seekers. Drawing on our key findings, we conclude by identifying a development path that could diversify Gambia's tourism sector. The development path would also include event-based rural tourism initiatives that align with the motivations of the identified market segments and may additionally benefit rural communities by reducing economic leakage rates.     

Implications of marketing and promotion for the development of tourism

The author considers some oft-neglected aspects of marketing and promotion in the development of tourism, with special reference to the implications of travel marketing and promotion for the tourism industries of developing countries.     

The destination competitiveness of Kinmen's tourism industry: exploring the interrelationships between tourist perceptions,service performance,customer satisfaction and sustainable tourism

Based upon an empirical investigation, the study draws upon the responses of 1623 tourists in Kinmen to explore the notion of destination competitiveness and how it is related to customer satisfaction with tourists’ perceptions, service performance and destination competitiveness. It also considers the question of destination competitiveness and sustainable tourism development. Variables such as tourists’ pre-visit perceptions, post-visit satisfaction toward destination attractions and resources, willingness to recommend and revisit, and competitiveness with foreign destinations are tested. The results of the study suggest that there is no correlation between tourists’ overall satisfaction and destination competitiveness. Implications of the study outcome illustrate that a destination's unique tourism characteristics can be the most important variables for destination competitiveness. In Kinmen's case, battlefields, historic relics, beautiful scenery and travel security gave it a competitive edge, despite high prices. In addition, developing the destination's brand image was found to be critical for tourism marketers and authorities in the context of increasingly global tourism competition.     

影视旅游:旅游目的地营销推广新方式

电影电视中出现的旅游目的地会影响旅游者的旅游兴趣,促成旅游行为。绝大多数现有文献是研究影视旅游对于目的地旅游者数量和对旅游者决策过程的影响和作用,也有探索影视作品对于旅游目的地旅游形象的影响的。由此说明影视旅游是可以作为一种推广旅游目的地的营销新方式。影视旅游之所以成为营销工具,相关旅游地的旅游形象在其中起了重要作用。本文在现有文献理论和实证研究的基础上,分析论述了影视旅游作为营销方式的特点和原理,结合影视作品的拍摄和放映两个阶段,探讨了在每个阶段影视旅游营销工作的重点和形式。     

A Preliminary Investigation of NFL Games and Self-Drive Tourism

Abstract

This article addresses the thesis that the presence of an NFL team in a market area creates a unique self-drive (i.e., travel by car) tourism opportunity. Even though the impact of the presence of one or more professional sports teams in a community has been repeatedly studied, the research to date has not looked specifically at the impact on any one industry, or examined the extent to which the self-drive sports fan presents marketing opportunities for the host communities. The purpose of this study is to address these two gaps in the research by investigating the impact of an NFL team's play dates on lodging industry revenue (i.e., occupancy percentage, average daily rate, revenue per available room and total dollar impact) in the market area and to discuss destination marketing strategies to increase lodging revenues by targeting the self-drive NFL fan.     

Heritage as a motivation for four-wheel-drive tourism in desert Australia

Desert Australia is a vast, largely unpopulated area serviced by few roads. In recent years, tourism has been identified as an industry that has some potential to generate employment and investment opportunities in the region. Because of the distances involved and the largely unsealed road network that radiates off the main north-south highway much of the region is inaccessible to conventional vehicles. As a consequence, interest in four-wheel-drive (4WD) tourism has grown and a number of desert regions have identified this group as a potential market that could be further developed. One of the experiences that is associated with parts of desert Australia is its heritage values, both natural and built. This paper explores the role of heritage as a motivation to travel to desert Australia by four-wheel-drivers and the subsequent proportion of visitor expenditure that can be attributed to heritage tourism consumption. It concludes that while heritage is just one of many components of a 4WD trip, there may be substantial potential for increasing its economic contribution.     

边境旅游研究进展与启示——以SSCI论文为例

边境旅游是促进区域一体化发展和强化跨境旅游合作的主要手段,深入分析国际边境旅游研究脉络与研究热点,对促进富民兴边、睦邻安邦及对接国际国内旅游“双循环”具有重要借鉴意义。本文以1995—2021年发表的1 124篇SSCI英文文献为基础,对边境旅游研究领域的时间分布、关键词突现、聚类特征等进行可视化分析。研究发现,英文文献中对边境旅游的研究可分为起步阶段、发展阶段与创新阶段;主要研究议题包括边境旅游吸引物、边境旅游影响、边境旅游安全及跨境旅游合作;边境旅游研究趋势发生两大转变,一是研究视角从单一向多元转向,二是理论探索从功能说向效应说深入。建议国内对边境旅游的研究应结合国家战略拓展边境旅游研究议题,强调中国边境旅游特色的同时贡献“中国智慧”。