The Role of Online Marketing With Social Media in Tourism Destination Marketing - Research Proposal Example

The Role of online Marketing with social media in Tourism Destination Marketing Table of Contents The Role of online Marketing with social media inTourism Destination Marketing 1 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Research Problem and Research Questions 3 Research Problem 4 Research Questions 4 Literature Review 5 Research Aim and Objectives 8 Research Methodology 9 Research Approach 9 Sampling 10 Data Collection 11 Data Analysis 11 Research Rationale and Significance 11 References 13 Bibliography 14 Introduction The activities of the Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are observed to gain needed significance in the current period for the effective marketing and promotion of tourism destinations in different parts of the world. DMOs focus on enhancing the tourism revenue and market share through enhancing the awareness of the tourism destinations and in attracting a large number of tourists to the different regions. A large number of DMOs operating relating to a specific tourism destination or region is observed to generate enhanced competition. Growth of competition on a large scale thus tends to have an impact on their operation of the tourism destination marketing firms thereby leading to loss of revenues, productivity and also in failing to attract potential tourists to the regions. The tourism destination marketing organizations are thus observed to take resort of different types of online marketing and social media marketing networks for effectively promoting their destination and tourism packages to potential visitors and tourists. Marketing and promotional activities are planned and formulated by the companies relating to use of social networking and internet marketing mediums (Pike 2007). Based on the above understanding the paper tends to conduct a research activity based on secondary, case study and qualitative research to reflect on the efficacy and significance of such online and social media marketing activities by DMOs. Empirical analysis would be conducted based on interviewing a focused population pertaining to two tourism destination marketing organizations based in United Kingdom. Research Problem and Research Questions The research activity tends to generate effective inferences to the research problem and questions underlined as follows. Research Problem A large number of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are observed to gain growth relating to a specific tourism destination or region. A large scale increase in the growth of DMOs in specific regions generating to tourism based services to the tourists and visitors is observed to generate cut-throat competition for the tourism marketing organizations. This in turn affects the market share and revenue aspect of the DMOs operating in any specific region. Relating to the above problem the research paper aims to understand the growing use of online and social media marketing activities by the DMOs to effectively market and promote the tourism region to the different visitors and tourists. It would effectively tend to understand the different types of social media networks and online marketing activities used by the DMOs to market the destination or region to the tourists. Research Questions Why are the social media networks and online marketing activities gaining significance relating to the marketing and promotional functions of the Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs)? What is the impact of marketing and promotional activities conducted over social media networks and online marketing by the DMOs in helping attract a large number of tourists to the destinations and in generating considerable awareness? How is the planning of the marketing and promotional events conducted by the DMOs over the online and social networking plane different from the traditional marketing and promotional functions? How does the generation of contents for tourism destination marketing programs differ from one social networking and online platform to another? Literature Review Wang (2011) reflects on the significance of destination marketing as a key pillar in the development of tourism marketing related to a specific region or destination. The effectiveness of the destination contributes in acting as a fundamental unit relating to the analysis of the potential of the tourism activities in place. The concept of destination marketing however reflects needed complexity which requires the designing of a comprehensive and systematic approach to generate a holistic understanding of the idea. The analysis of a tourism destination is carried out relating to the demand and supply parameters. Destination demand is created relating to the expectations made by tourists pertaining to their visits to specific regions or destinations. Their level of expectations tends to govern the selection of tourism destinations made by the tourists. In terms of the supply parameters, the large scale availability of different tourism organizations is thereby making the concerns compete against each other. Destination marketing organizations are endeavouring to generate needed awareness of the destination to help in attracting a large number of visitors to the region. This fact in turn contributes in the development of needed competitive advantage for the organization (Wang 2011). Sigala, Christou and Gretzel (2012) reflect the manner in which destination marketing organizations are focusing on the use of online and social media marketing strategies to generate needed awareness of the tourism destinations to the tourists. In the recent era, it has become imperative for the destination marketing organizations to effectively generate different blogs and social media activities in rightly communicating the destination attributes to the target customers. Destination marketing firms are observed to largely put in use government and other types of corporate blogs to effectively communicate their message with the potential tourists. Use of online activities and social media networks by the tourism destination firms contributes in creating a relevant image of the destination marketing firm and the destination to the emerging tourists. Use of social media marketing platform is taken to largely help the tourism destination firms in gaining access to a larger community of tourists and visitors that reflect an interest to the specific destinations. The expansive use of social media and Web 2.0 marketing strategies is observed to effectively substitute the incorporation of traditional marketing activities for generating awareness of the tourism destination (Sigala, Christou & Gretzel 2012). Morrison (2013) observes that destination marketing acts as a significant activity for any Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). In terms of its increasing significance, the destination marketing activities needs to be rightly planned in a professional fashion. Further the marketing and promotional activities related to destination marketing activities being very costly in nature requires the DMO to plan the marketing and promotional programs based on the needs of the different target customers. Large number of destination marketing firms operating on a worldwide scale tends to create an environment of cut-throat competition for the organizations. It is thus required by the destination marketing organizations to effectively differentiate its product and service offerings to the target market. Marketing and promotional programs related to tourism destination marketing needs to incorporate needed creativity and innovation. Destination marketing activities tend to function based on certain effective principles that can be underlined as follows. Firstly the success activities of a DMO relates to the degree of satisfaction and pleasure generated to the tourists and visitors in terms of meeting their emerging needs and expectations (Morrison 2013). The destination marketing activities is required to work along seven basic stages. The first stage relates to attracting tourists and visitors to help Explore the new tourism destination. The exploration stage reflects lesser number of visitors owing to lack of effective knowledge and reduced access to the tourist zone. The second stage in the Tourist Area Life Cycle Model (TALC) relates to the Development Stage. This stage emerges out of the growing knowledge of the individuals for the tourist destination and the different types of promotional and developmental activities generated to help attract larger number of tourists. The later stages relate to the point of Stagnation that is generated owing to optimal utilisation of the destination resources to generate the maximum possible benefits to the tourists. The DMO to help counter the reduction in the flow of tourists to the region is required to work based on a Rejuvenated approach. Here, the organization is required to focus on the development of technological and infrastructural developments to help in attracting and retaining a large number of visitors (Butler 2006). The TALC Model discussed above can be effectively generated as follows. (Butler 2006) Woodside (2010) reflects on the use of different types of social media marketing tools like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube in the marketing and promotion of tourism destinations to the larger market. Use of such social media marketing platforms contributes in helping in the posting of videos and contents related to the attractive sites in the tourism destination. This method contributes in acting as a cost effective measure to attract a large number of potential tourists to the destination. It contributes in the generation of needed awareness of the tourism destination which in turn attracts potential tourists to the regions. Moreover the use of Tweets generated in the Twitter also help in the spreading of needed information relating to the showcasing of different events that are held in the region. These activities thus are taken to help in the growth in the flow of tourists in the regions in different types of special occasions, events and carnivals (Woodside 2010). Prideaux, Moscardo and Laws (2006) reflect on the utility of the online or the internet marketing programs in tourism destination marketing. Online marketing activities of the destination marketing organizations help the tourists in gaining needed information about the destinations along with the mode of commuting to such regions. Similarly tourism destination marketing activities conducted along the online platform contributes in helping the tourists make registration of hotel rooms and also seat in different transport systems (Prideaux, Moscardo & Laws 2006). Research Aim and Objectives The research activity is conducted to understand the use of social media networking platforms and also online marketing by the Tourism Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) to help in attracting potential tourists in the different tourism destinations. It thus aims in reflecting the use of online and social media marketing activities to help in fulfilling the objectives of the DMOs in terms of generating enhanced awareness of the tourism destinations and also in attracting larger number of tourists and visitors. The objectives of the research activity can be effectively underlined as follows. To understand the concept of Destination Marketing and its relevance in tourism. To understand the objectives of the marketing and promotional activities conducted by the DMOs.’ To reflect on the use of social media networks and online marketing by the DMOs relating to marketing and promotional functions. To evaluate the impacts of such online and social media marketing and promotional functions in generating needed awareness of the tourism destination and in attracting greater number of tourists. Research Methodology Research Approach The incorporation of secondary research is also made relating to the research paper in that the same contributes in gaining authentic and peer reviewed information pertaining to the issue. Use of secondary research also contributes in the generation of large scale information from a large number of literary and non-literary available in the internet. The above fact contributes in the gaining of a large quantity of potential information in a lesser time period and also in a cost effective fashion. On a specific level, the use of Case Study based approach is recommended for the paper (Smith 2008). Use of case study based approach contributes in analysing the research issue from different angles. Case Study based research like secondary research contributes in gaining access to potential inferences related to the research issue in a shorter span of time and also in a cost effective fashion. Moreover the use of Case Study based research also helps in narrowing down the research focus to contribute in the generation of specific information. It thus effectively contributes in addressing of the research query and objectives (Yin 2012). Relating to the current research issue the case studies relating to two Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) like UKinbound and VistBritain would be incorporated. Use of the above case studies would effectively contribute in understanding the marketing and promotional programs conducted by the DMOs to help in attracting potential tourists to the regions. The use of qualitative research activity is made relating to the gaining of needful inferences to the Case Studies incorporated. Unstructured interview based questions would be formulated related to the conducting of qualitative based research. These questions would be used for gaining of in-depth understanding of the different types of promotional and marketing events undertaken by the two companies like UKinbound and VisitBritain relating to Tourism Destination Marketing (Grant 2012). Further the interviews would also contribute in reflecting the use of social media networking and other online marketing activities by the companies to promote and market the tourism destination to the target consumers. The interviews would also focus on evaluating the impacts of incorporating social media and online marketing on attracting potential tourists to United Kingdom. The interviews would be subjected to understand the manner in which the promotional and marketing contents would be developed related to the different types of social networking and online mediums (Klenke 2008). Sampling A focused group of respondents would be constituted from the managerial population relating to the two DMOs like UKinbound and VisitBritain. A set of 20 respondents would be chosen from the two companies as effective research participants to the interview process. The sampling activity would be conducted relating to the use of Purposive or Judgemental Sampling method. Use of the above method contributes in designing the sampling population to help in meeting the purposes or objectives of the research. Use of the Purposive Sampling method is carried out relating to the understanding and evaluation of the researcher of the research scenario and objectives and thereby in constituting a sample based on identifying a target population (Babbie 2012). Data Collection The data collection instruments relating to the interview would consist of development of transcripts recording the versions of the different participants. Further the use of recording instruments is also preferred which would help in the recording of the inferences relating to the different respondents (Lichtman 2012). Data Analysis The Data Collected based on interviewing the managers and the CEOs of the two companies would be analysed based on the categorising and unitizing the inferences along relevant sections. The types of marketing and promotional activities conducted by the Tourism Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and also the views relating to the relevancy of the right type of social media network would be evaluated in terms of the interview analysis. The ideology and reflections of the two companies relating to the development of online marketing activities would also be evaluated in terms of the interview analysis (Boeije 2009). Research Rationale and Significance The research activity is carried out to evaluate the use of online marketing and social media networking by the Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to help in attracting tourists to the different tourism destinations. The research earns significance in terms of understanding the change in the type marketing and promotional activities conducted over the online and social networking medium from the earlier traditional marketing activities. It would also reflect on the manner the development of promotional and social media networking activities by the DMOs tend to generate positive impacts in tourism. The rational of the research activity stems out from the understanding of the growth in the flow of tourists and also needed consumer awareness generated of the tourism destinations thorough the use of social media networking and online marketing activities. It reflects on the manner the social media networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace and also the development of blogs and forums gain relevance relating to the event of tourism marketing. References Babbie, E 2012, The Practice of Social Research, Cengage Learning, United States. Boeije, HR 2009, Analysis in Qualitative Research, SAGE, United Kingdom. Butler, R 2006, The Tourism Area Life Cycle, Volume 1, Channel View Publications, United Kingdom. Grant, KA 2012, Case Studies in Knowledge Management Research for Researchers, Teachers and Students, Volume 1, Academic Conferences Limited, United States. Klenke, K 2008, Qualitative Research in the Study of Leadership, Emerald Group Publishing, United Kingdom. Lichtman, M 2012, Qualitative Research in Education: A Users Guide: A Users Guide, SAGE, United Kingdom. Morrison, AM 2013, Marketing and Managing Tourism Destinations, Routledge, New York. Pike, S 2007, Steven , Routledge, New York. 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