When you go on summer vacation and spend days shopping in antique stores, hiking in a national park, eating local food and taking in a musical at the amphitheater, you are being a tourist. Tourism occurs when you leave your normal surroundings where you live and work to go to another environment to engage in activities there, regardless of how close or how far it is. You are a visitor, and what you do while visiting is tourism. Individuals and organizations at your destination promoted those activities through advertising or other forms of marketing.
Tourism Marketing Plan
Every marketing effort should begin with a plan, and tourism marketing is no different. The marketing plan is your road map and details the attractions in your area. It forces you to set a budget on your promotional spending. At the end of each tourism season, you can use your marketing plan to set goals and make changes for next year. For example, if revenue at one attraction did not meet expectations, perhaps it needs product development -- some upgrades to make it more appealing to visitors -- or better advertising.
Tourism marketing can be expensive, particularly if you want to attract national or international tourists. Typical funding sources are state tourism agencies and taxes, including hotel taxes. To stretch tourism dollars, public/private partnerships often form among local and regional businesses and chambers of commerce. For example, if there are several tourist attractions in a specific county -- or across several neighboring counties -- the entire area can be marketed as an appealing weeklong destination site by combining advertising and other marketing activities. Partnerships can provide tourists with a fuller travel experience.
Tourism marketing has distinct characteristics from other marketing plans. Because tourists are temporary, they are exposed to an area's goods and services for shorter periods. But tourists are counting on having a good time, so marketers should consider strategies that appeal to the emotions, such as treating kids to a memorable experience. Tourism-dependent businesses rely on other organizations: One example of leveraging this dependence would be a musical venue offering discount coupons for meals at a nearby restaurant.
Combining tourism with volunteer opportunities is another tourism marketing strategy that appeals to many tourists. Popular both domestically and abroad, such volunteer tourism can range from repairing schools on American Indian reservations to installing water systems in poor communities. Promoting sustainable tourism efforts also appeals to environmentally conscious travelers. Sustainable tourism emphasizes a balance on tourist activities and the effect it has on its surroundings, such as the environment. Practices include such things as energy-saving upgrades, environmentally friendly products and signs and even limiting the number of visitors to outdoor areas.
- American Marketing Association: Definition of Marketing
- World Tourism Organization UNWTO: Understanding Tourism -- Basic Glossary
- University of South Carolina College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management: Tourism Marketing in an Era of Paradigm Shift
- University of Wisconsin-Extension: Let’s Talk Business -- Rules for Successful Tourism Marketing
- California Travel and Tourism Commission: California Sustainable Tourism Marketing Handbook
- VolunTourism: VolunTourism FAQs
- Global Volunteers: FAQs
- University of South Carolina, Department of Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management -- State Tourism Funding: Equity, Consensus, and Accountability Models
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