Marketing Tourism
Destinations
Objective: Introducing the meaning, applications and
approaches in the marketing of tourism destinations.
Marketing Tourism Destinations
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This chapter is about the marketing role of
national tourism organizations, boards or offices
commonly known as NTOs which is used to
describe the organization assigned by the state
with responsibility for tourism matters at the
national level.
It may be a full ministry or a directorate of
general or a department or board. In NTOs,
government support in funding and official
recognition is normal in cases where the NTO is
not part of the state.
Principal Marketing Role of NTOs
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The principal functions of NTOs include;
1. formulating and developing the tourist
product or products of the destination
2. promoting them in appropriate markets
The role of NTO is to create and
communicate appealing destination images and
messages to prospective visitors, mainly
through advertising, PR and print.
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For example, in Britain, there are four bodies
which meets the definition of NTOs. They are
the British Tourist Authority, the English Tourist
Authority, the Scottish Tourist Board, and the
Wales Tourist Board.
British Tourist Authority is responsible form the
marketing Britain overseas. The tourist boards
for England, Scotland, and Wales are each
responsible for the development and promotion
of tourism in their areas.
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In the USA, at federal level, the NTO is the
United States Travel and Tourism
Administration which is responsible mainly for
the promotion of tourism into the USA.
In addition, most of the US state governments
have their own tourist offices, which mainly
does the promotion of US domestic tourism
into their areas.
All these national and state NTOs act as policy
advisers for their governments. All have
established formal and informal links for
consultation and joint action with the tourism
industry in their countries or regions.
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Around the world there are some 200 NTOs of
different sizes and organizational patterns.
Nearly all of them are engaged in one or more
aspects of destination promotion. Most of the
promotional effort organized by these NTOs is
aimed at international markets.
Research showed that larger branch netwrorks
of NTOs such as those supported by Britain,
France or Greece, have over 30 offices in the
main countries form which they receive their
visitors.
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The yearly expenditure on marketing
international tourism of the NTOs is between 1
million Euros and 1-10 million Euros. The
average marketing budget of NTOs is around
0.003% of their international tourism receipts.
Destinations with smallest budget include island
states, small South American and former East
European countries; medium range include
larger South American, larger former Eastern
European countries and smaller western
developed countries; OECD countries and
major world tourism countries have the largest
budget.
Strategies Applied by NTOs
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Basically, in marketing a country as a
destination, the role of NTOs are;
1. to reach prospective visitors with the help of the
2.
promotional mix by increasing awareness and
influencing their attitudes and purchasing behavior
- promotional strategy,
to facilitate the marketing activities of mainly
private sector operators of the tourism industry in
the promotion of their own products - facilitation
strategy.
A promotional strategy
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The strategy an NTO adopts in practice should
change according to the stage of the
development a country’s tourism.
Where destinations are largely unknown in the
markets they seek to promote, where existing
tourism flows are small, and where the tourism
industry within the country is mainly weak, the
NTO has to take the leading role in playing a
major role in promoting its destination’s
products.
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To be effective, the promotional campaigns must
be of sufficient weight and impact to create the
necessary numbers of potential buyers. But if
budgets are not adequate for the task, expenditure
on an image-creating strategy may in practice be
waste of money. Generally, the available budgets
is not adequate to engage effectively in image
campaigns in several markets.
The marketing support of international operators
such as airlines, hotel chains and tour operators is
essential for success.
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For better-known, well-established destinations
such as Britain and the USA, the NTO should
focus more of its expenditure on the strategy of
support and facilitation and less on buying
media space for general advertising.
A facilitation strategy
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This strategy creates marketing bridges between
an NTO and the individual operators in the
travel and tourism industry. Under this strategy,
the basic functions of NTOs are;
Establishing promotional priorities for specific
markets and segments.
 Coordinating the elements of tourism products.
 Providing support for new or growth products.
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Creating cooperative marketing campaigns accessible
especially for the hundreds of small businesses, that
would otherwise be unable to participate in
marketing on a national or international scale.
These strategies bring the NTO and its
commercial sector together in joint operations.
Forms of facilitation by NTOs
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Some of the most important facilitation
processes used by NTOs are as follows;
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Flow of research data; by providing a regular, userfriendly flow of research data to the tourism
industry (e.g. short reports on market trends), an
NTO may make valuable inputs to the marketing
planning processes of individual businesses in all
sectors. These research surveys is more cost
effective.
Representations in markets of origin; by
establishing a network of offices in foreign
countries, an NTO can create and maintain vital
travel trade contacts, and act as a point of
distribution for the destination’s products.
 Organization of workshops and trade shows;
NTOs make arrangements where suppliers of
tourist products may meet with prospective buyers
at relatively low cost. Either in the market of origin
or at the destination, individual hoteliers, attractions,
suppliers of conference facilities may be able to
make contact and discuss business in one or two
days of intensive meetings which on an individual
basis could take weeks to organize.
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Familiarization trips; by arranging visits for the
selected foreign travel agents, journalists and tour
operators to the destination, NTOs can increase the
business between the travel trade in markets of
origin and destination products. They are also a
method of improving the information available to
customers at key retail outlets and gaining better
display space at point of sale. The trips also serve an
important PR role and offer many opportunities for
communicating key messages to influence people.
 Travel trade manuals; it is customary for NTOs to
produce one or more trade manuals which serve as
references and guides for use by the travel trade. A
manual lists the details of all operators and their
facilities, and prices. These manuals provide access
to foreign markets at low cost.
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Support with literature production and
distribution; because printed materials are so
important in tourism marketing, some NTOs
produce “shells” for use by small businesses. These
are normally full color leaflets that contain
photographs and empty spaces that may be
overprinted by an operator’s logo and product
messages.
 Many NTOs sell advertising space in their range of
brochures which they distribute overseas. These
brochures are very cost effective advertising media
which small and medium sized businesses can reach
international markets.
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Information and reservation systems; by using
new computerized information technology, NTOs
may assist sectors of their tourism industry by
establishing central reservation systems in support of
the brochures. Travel agents and other distributors
who can access products rapidly through one central
reservation operation are likely to find this the only
way to deal cost-effectively with small businesses.
 Support for new products; NTO can help new
products to emerge and establish themselves in their
markets in the initial 2 to 3 years after their launch.
Smaller businesses are usually unable to afford the
start-up costs of national and international
marketing.
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Consumer assistance and protection; the
marketing task does not end with the sale of a
product. It extends into concern for customer
satisfaction with the service delivery. NTO can
define product quality standards in consultation with
operators in tourism industry. These may include
minimum levels of equipment to be provided in
accommodation, and codes of good practice, e.g. in
giving buyers full information in brochures. These
are done in order to ensure consumer satisfaction
and protection.
Destination Positioning Themes,
Branding, Images and Concepts
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Whatever is the main strategy, promotion or
facilitation, for marketing destinations, NTOs
need to choose the single-minded comunication
propositions (messages and symbols) that
identify and position or brand their countries in
the minds of prospective visitors to differentiate
them from the others.
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Amazing Thailand, Incredible India, Turkey:
Mediterranean and more, Croatia: The
Mediterranean as it once was; Greece: Live your
myth in Greece are examples designed to
identify destinations with unique propositions.
To be successful, such propositions must be;
Based on genuine product values and attributes that
can be delivered and experienced and that visitors
recognize as authentic, not fake.
 Readily understood by customers at the point of
purchase.
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Involve at least the leading players in the commercial
sector.
 Incorporated into the promotional efforts of a
country’s regions and resorts.
 Sustained over several years if they are to overcome
the communication inertia and barriers.
 Systematically exploited in a co-ordinated range of
sales-promotion and customer-servicing techniques
designed to reach visitors on arrival at the
destination as well as prospective visitors in
countries of origin.
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Sources
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Kotler, P.; Bowen, J. and Makens, J. (1999). Marketing for
Hospitality and Tourism (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall: NJ.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2006) Principles of
Marketing (11th ed.). Prentice Hall: NJ.
Middleton, V. T. C. (2004) Marketing in Travel and
Tourism (3rd ed). Elsevier: Oxford.
Middleton, V. T. C.; Fyall, A.; Morgan, M. And
Ranchhod A. (2009). Marketing in Travel and Tourism
(4th ed). Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford.