Global Destination And Competitiveness – Destination Marketing Literature Review

Literature review

Discuss about the Global Destination and Competitiveness.

In the sector of tourism and hospitality, the chief aim of is to increase the number of the visitors and to hold a potential brand image. In order to accomplish this core aim of business, an organization belonging to the tourism sector prioritizes destination marketing. In the words of (), the phrase destination marketing is a distinct form of marketing whose sole concern is to promote an individual destination. Unlike the form of product marketing, in which products are provided to the clients with the help of distribution channel, in the destination marketing it is the interested individuals who come to the destinations to become the customers. Therefore, it is to say that in terms of destination marketing, an organization also advances its competitive edge. The present purpose of the considered assignment is to accomplish a policy review for the organization – Tourism Australia. Most important to denote in this respect, that the considered destination for this organization is the Sunshine coast of the Queensland Australia.

For accomplishing this very purpose, the assignment has intended to establish an in-depth literature review initially about the core aspects of the policy of destination marketing, which are destination branding, positioning, visioning and targeting. Thereafter, reviewing the policy, the paper has preferred to make fruitful recommendations for the considered organization.

Getz and Page, (2016) has stated that destination marketing organizations being public or private organizations must have an in-depth understanding of the tourism policy of the operating countries. The understanding of the tourism policy is categorized into three aspects such as process, content and structure. Structure and content of tourism policy illustrates a framework of relationships with the government and organization. Process includes the involvement of stakeholders towards the tourism policy (Pike, 2015).

Destination branding identifies the strongest point and mostly competitively appealing aspect of a particular destination. Destination marketing aims at making the strong point of a destination appealing to the potential visitors. It builds a story about the destination, which make it stand out above its competitors (Gummesson, 2014). Destination marketing organization use destination branding for promoting a specific place to the specific audience like leisure travellers. Moreover, it communicates the special offerings of a specific destination to the potential visitors. On the other hand, it can be stated that accomplishment of destination branding depends on the brand images used for establishing the destination choice. According to Pike and Page (2014), in destination marketing, the images of the travelers regarding a destination contributes significantly in destination choice. In this context, it can be stated that the problem in destination branding is the intangibility of the destinations that cannot be tested prior to the final purchase. Furthermore, in terms of destination branding, the definition of destination images is a sum of impression and ideas those people possess regarding a destination. On the other hand, as per Smith and Font (2014), destination image in terms of destination branding is a set comprised of cognitions and affections to represent a particular entity to the general audience.    

Branding in Destination Marketing

The concept of branding is important in marketing of a product, place or a service. The role of branding is vital that can be categorized into two aspects such as pre-experiences and post-experiences. Pre-experiences in terms of branding include differentiation, identification, expectation, reassurance, and anticipation (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). On the other hand, recollection or post experiences in the perspective of branding include consolidation and reinforcement (Line & Runyan, 2014).

Visioning is a useful technique for supporting group of stakeholders towards developing shared vision for the future. It is extremely important in destination marketing, which plans the strategies for making a particular destination attractive to the tourists. The vision statement is essential to engage the stakeholders with common direction for destination management. Proper visioning is also important for setting the future strategies towards promoting the specific destination (Smith & Font, 2014). Nevertheless, as per Lugosi and Walls (2013), a vision statement for destination marketing is essential for providing an exact overview of the marketing mix to the employees. Therefore, it can be said that a vision statement in tourism strategic marketing is necessary for providing inspiration to the employees, which implicates that visioning in marketing is useful for advancing the internal strength by educating them about the marketing plan. Tourism visioning allows an agreed focus regarding the way the tourism organization should develop their plan manage and market their destination over the times. It also leads to shared statement of intent, which is manageable and promote unite tourism organization in a specific destination.

Position is an effective form of marketing communication, which plays a vital role towards enhancing the attractiveness of tourism destination. The objective behind the position of a specific destination is to create a distinctive place in the minds of potential visitors. Positioning differentiates a destination from its other competitive destination. It conveys the diverse mix of features regarding a destination, which makes it different from others destination. It identifies the competitive advantage of a particular destination and effectively communicates it with the visitors. Positioning also identifies the potential visitors, who can be interested on the specific destination place.

In this context, it is to state that in destination or tourism marketing, positioning    imprints destination images in the minds of the customers. On the other hand, positioning in destination marketing is considered as a communication strategy that is thoroughly followed through segmentation and target marketing. More precisely, according to Heeley (2015), the concept of positioning is not related to the particular premises needed to be covered for the product. Therefore, it is to say that the intension of positioning is to influence the minds of the prospects. Specifically, in destination and tourism marketing, based on Line and Runyan (2014), positioning in terms of marketing is indicative of an individual statement that will inspire as well as guide the entire marketing plan. In this respect, it is to keep in mind that in tourism marketing, positioning statement is required to encompass the particular destination and should give a hint of the marketing tools.

Visioning in Destination Marketing

As per Gummesson (2014), three key elements of the tourism positioning are an emotive expression, brand personality and particular attributes of the destination. It has been understood that accomplishment of a tourism-marketing plan is possible only when the positioning statement of an organization is honest. In this case, a positioning statement should be prioritize when an organization is designing its advertisement choices, change management and making progressive plans for the future ventures (Ghosh & Sarkar, 2016). Henceforth, it can be concluded that positioning in specifically tourism destination is essential for the acquisition of competitive edge.

Prior to review the tourism policy, it is required to have a profound knowledge about the considered destination for the DMO. Sunshine Coast of Queensland territory is identified as a per-urban area of Queensland, which is also known as the third most populated area of Queensland. The significance of this place is probably a handful of stretches of stitched beaches that has covered the area from the Sunshine Beach to the Coolum Beach and from Point Arkwright to Mudjimba and Buddina past the Caloundra CBD. The place is located between the south peninsula and the mountains of Inskip’s Glasshouse. It is probably the natural amenities of the mountains and of south peninsula, which works in favor for marketing for the travel organizations of the place (Barnes & Ballou, 2014). Most significantly, the place is also enriched with excellent restaurants and five-star resorts, which attract an impressive amount of both domestic and international customers from all over the world.

However, the considered DMO – Tourism Australia’s destination marketing relies upon the organization’s honest approach towards destination marketing, which is its positioning strategy. Keeping in mind about the poor infrastructure quality, the organization has taken the initiative to improvise the infrastructure facility of the place. In terms of destination policy, the organization’s main vision is to attract the visitors through honest offering and their initiative to modify the infrastructure of the place proves that they prioritize their vision sincerely. Moreover, it has been understood that the outline of the destination policy indicates that familiarization tours, cooperative programs, trade shows and public events are their prime promotion strategies. On the other hand, in terms of positioning, it has been identified that the considered DMO utilizes the natural amenities of the Sunshine coast. The unbroken beaches along with the Australian zoo are key aspects of positioning for the DMO (Ghosh & Sarkar, 2016). On the other hand, in terms of branding, the Tourism Australia has seven international hubs and industry developments in near about 16 core markets accompany the organization’s policy for destination branding. On the other hand, in terms of target policy, it has been identified that the DMO’s two prime target markets are the connectors in regional Queensland and the unwinders in Sydney. However, in this respect it is significant to denote that the concerned DMO prioritize Tourism 2020 in terms of destination policy and it has been identified that the organization has designed most of its strategic methods in accordance with this national strategy of Tourism 2020.

Positioning in Destination Marketing

Tourism Australia has seven international hubs and through these hubs, the organization pursues consumer marketing and industry development in 16 core markets. The organization has targeted the visitors of Europe, America, New Zealand, Greater China, Japan and South Korea and South East Asia. While branding Sunshine Coast, Tourism Australia conveys the unique attraction of the destination to the visitors. The Aquatic Costal Campaign highlights the varied and unique fishing experience in Sunshine Coast (Lugosi and Walls, 2013). Moreover, the destination management organization also promotes the wild life attraction to the adventurous visitors of the world. One of the most attractive features promoted by the DMO is the Australia Zoo of Sunshine Zoo. The visitors can also enjoy bushwalking and cruises, which are great medium for spending leisure time.

Tourism Australia is focused on international recognition in the perspective of the destination marketing and branding approach of the particular destination. In this particular case, the destination selected for the marketing and branding is Sunshine Coast, Australia. The market segmentation is a method that is important for formulation of marketing and branding strategies. Sunshine Coast is an area that can attract almost all tourists of age groups. However, in form of destination branding, it has been found that there are some negative aspects related with the brand destination policy of the organization. It has been indicated that the DMO organizes various public events and campaigns to increase its brand image. It is unfortunate to notice that due to large number of destination branding, the organization is representing the nation to be a leisure-oriented one that is strongly making constraints for the territory’s reputation in technological, political and product exporting field.   

It has been reviewed that considering the natural quality of the Sunshine coast, the organization has a targeting policy that involves three tiers. According to the DMO’s policy and the first tier, the DMO targets the connectors belonging to the regional Queensland and Brisbane, whereas according to tier two, the DMO targets the unwinders in Sydney, Melbourne, Germany, Scandinavia and North America. On the other hand, according to the tier three of their policy, Tourism Australia targets the population of Hong Kong, India and Korea. Most significantly, it has been identified that the DMO is presently developing a new target market from the territory of Taiwan.

The vision of Tourism Australia is to encourage high quality tourism experience and develop tourism infrastructure for driving demand of tourism industry.

Policy Review

The organization is visioning for better investment facilitation for improving the tourism infrastructure of Sunshine Coast. Better infrastructure would help the tourism organizations in this destination to attract the potential national and international visitors. Moreover, the organization has concentrated on more aviation capacities towards transportation facilities for the visitors. Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavour of the organization, which ensures that tourism destination is accessible to all people regardless of their age, disabilities and physical limitation (Heeley, 2015). The organization also has better access to labour and skills towards effective promotion for Sunshine Coast to the potential visitors. However, the organization stills lack in entering in some developed countries, which is limiting the number visitors in Sunshine Destination.

Sunshine Coast is regularly rated as the most desired tourism destination in Australia. Moreover, it stands at number one position in terms of its attractive features. Tourism Australia strives to convert this support to travel in Sunshine Coast. Visitors can enjoy the opportunity to explore an incredibly diver array of sea life. They also can interact with wonderful Marine Park in the underwater world. Visitors can also invent 100 different species in the Australian Zoo and have exciting experience of wild life (Pike & Page, 2014). However, with the increasing number of visitors, there is a problem in accommodating visitors in the national park. Tourism Australia also promotes Sunshine Coast as a greater place to have excellent flying experience. The visitors can have exceptional flying experience with excellent scenery of sea beaches, forest park and multi city attraction. The community in this destination is still unable to learn towards providing warm welcome to the visitors. Moreover, the visitors also face road congestion at the peak time of tourism, which bothers the visitors.

Tourism Australia should improve the tourism infrastructure of the Sunshine Coast. The organization should highly concentrate on enhancing the space at National Park and other forest parks. Moreover, the organization should also improve the transportation facility of the destination for both national and international visitors. The organization should train the employees of tourism sectors towards providing excellent tourism experience to the visitors. On the other hand, the DMO should promote the importance of tourism in Sunshine Coast within the community people. It would help the community people to provide warm welcome to the visitors. Furthermore, the organization should also improve the road transportation condition of Sunshine Coast. However, considering the possible constraints related with the destination branding of Tourism Australia, it can be recommended that to maintain the political, technical as well as the exporting nature of the Queensland regime, the campaigns should act as the organization’s corporate social responsibility. Considering this, it can also be recommended that in their public events and campaigns, the organization could also promote the area’s any contemporary political interest or technological investment (Dwyer et al. 2014).

Conclusion

From the entire assignment, it can be deduced that the considered DMO has adopted some of the most relevant positioning, branding and visioning strategy. In forms of branding, the organization mainly depends on public events and campaigns. However, unfortunately the paper indicates that in terms of branding, the DMO has some constraints such as the trend of organizing public events is creating problem for the territory’s voices for technical, political and other business approaches. Therefore, at the final stage, the paper has given the recommendation, which says that the DMO can combat this problem by promoting contemporary technical, political and business approaches through their own public events and campaigns. On the other hand, it is fortunate to denote that the DMO has adopted the Tourism 2020 for developing the entire dimension of the tourism sector of Queensland. In accordance with this mission, the DMO prioritize in advancing the infrastructure of the entire place.

References

Barnes, J. C., & Ballou, D. (2014). Case Study: Using a Sport Event within Coordinated Destination Marketing: A Case History of the New Mexico Bowl. The Journal of SPORT, 3(1), 5.

Dwyer, L., Pham, T., Forsyth, P., & Spurr, R. (2014). Destination Marketing of Australia Return on Investment. Journal of Travel Research, 53(3), 281-295.

Ellram, L. M., & Cooper, M. C. (2014). Supply chain management: It’s all about the journey, not the destination. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 50(1), 8-20.

Getz, D., & Page, S. J. (2016). Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events. Routledge.

Ghosh, T., & Sarkar, A. (2016). “To feel a place of heaven”: examining the role of sensory reference cues and capacity for imagination in destination marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 33(sup1), 25-37.

Gummesson, E. (2014). Productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations: A revisit in a new service paradigm. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(5), 656-662.

Heeley, J. (2015). Urban Destination Marketing in Contemporary Europe: Uniting Theory and Practice (Vol. 66). Channel View Publications.

Line, N. D., & Runyan, R. C. (2014). Destination marketing and the service-dominant logic: A resource-based operationalization of strategic marketing assets. Tourism Management, 43, 91-102.

Lugosi, P., & Walls, A. R. (2013). Researching destination experiences: Themes, perspectives and challenges. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 2(2), 51-58.

Pike, S. (2015). Destination marketing. Routledge.

Pike, S., & Page, S. J. (2014). Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature. Tourism Management, 41, 202-227.

Smith, V. L., & Font, X. (2014). Volunteer tourism, greenwashing and understanding responsible marketing using market signalling theory. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(6), 942-963.