Successful Long-Term Destination Development and Marketing - Essay Example

? Tourism: Two Questions Supervisor] Question Critically analyze the role that marketing can play in successful long term destination development. The role of marketing in the business world is vital. Marketing is the only source which helps producers or service providers to reach out to their potential customers. Marketing is something which, if not done with proper knowledge and skills can decrease the number of sales. Destination Managements also market the services which are being offered by a particular place. Marketing & Destination Places Without marketing there’s no customer or sales, basically marketing is the soul of the any business, especially those businesses which deal directly with customers. For them Marketing is the only source through which they can reach to their potential customers. Likewise Destinations as we know have been a business for decades but since the means of transportation are way too fast and easily accessible. Going on a tour to a different country is no more a big deal. With that said, how do people know about places which are worth visiting? Again the only source is through marketing. Therefore, for marketing of this particular industry the role of DMOs is vital. DMO is the abbreviation of Destination Marketing Organization. What these Organizations do is to promote services of places which are worth visiting. Say countries, cities, towns and so on an so forth. DMOs help this industry with increasing the number of visitors. These organizations generate over billions of dollars for the tourist destinations. DMOs are known by different names such as, travel bureaux, visitors bureaux, or convention bureaux, but the main job of all of these is to market the tourist destination. (Biel, 1997) Factors of a Successful Destination There are many things that make a successful tourist destination, certain features of a place which are unique, and attractive, provide comfort and luxury can make the destination really a worth visiting place. However a country or city, or where ever the destination is should consider the following points which every best visiting place has accross the globe. First of all, a place should be full of natural beauty, as nature attracts human being, natural beauty can really improve a visiting place. Natural beauty includes animals, plants, seas, rivers, caverns, landscapes, lakes, and waterfalls. Another feature a desirable tourist destination should have is artistic and architecture. It is yet another feature that is appreciated by many. This can include art museums, monuments, and galleries. Some other features that really help a tourist destination grow are, festivals and competitions, distinctive local features, ancient ruins, historical prominence, sports facilities, relaxation facilities, shopping facilities, and more importantly tourist facilities. (Hall, 2002) The characteristics of a good destination discussed above have significant value in making the brand of a company successful. People appreciate things that they can relate to. One thing that should be paid attention to is that not everything is liked by everybody. Let’s say natural beauty might be appreciated by some but some might be attracted to art musuems. So the best visiting place would that can facilitate every type of customer. therefore some of the charactristics for some might no be as appealing as some others, or vice-versa. Assessing the stages of development The visits that tourists pay to such destinations are meant to generate profit for the place being visited, basically It has become an industry itself known as tourism industry. Therefore the officials of such destinations need to have a plan and the knowledge of marketing their destination and for the further development. Basically such steps to develop and market their destination, can help boost the economy of the country, state, city and so on. In order to assess the stages of development, the study of TALC(Tourism Area Life Cycle) Butler’s lifecycle can help. Butler in one of his articles of 1980s, introduced the model of a tourist destination lifecycle which was accepted accross the globe. A destination is basically not famous initially, and people with lack of knowledge, or lack of facilities, find it hard to go to such places, which results in only a small number of people’s visit to that place. This becomes the reason of low profit. Butlers calls such a situation as Exploration in his TALC lifecycle which is illustrated in figure 1 below. People like visiting places, as this gives them some refreshment and and a mood swing. Many people accross the globe pay visits to unique places. As more people come to know about the increased and improved facilities, comfort and convenience of a destination which is called as Development in the figure 1, and when the number of visitors grow the profit also increases, this situation is mentioned as Stagnation in the figure 1. Basically first time customers are the future marketers of a brand, as they market the product and service to their friends and family members. The rise from exploration to the point of development happens very rapidly.the trajectories in the figure 1, A and B show that the destination has improved over time, and is heading towards Rejunvention, the same way the points C and D show that the development has taken place but is not sustainable, E is thepoint where the destination is going through tough times, meaning its development is not the way it should have been at this particular point in time. (Destination Recovery Services, 2007) This concept is not only given by Butler but there are other researchers as well who have given idea regarding this issue. UNWTO UNWTO is one of the agencies operated by United Nations. The responsibility of this particular agency is to promote the responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. The roles of destination management according to UNWTO are described using a figure 2 below. Marketing is the supporting factor of the elements of the destination. Marketing helps in getting more people to visit, without marketing it will not be possible to attract new customers. These activities help in creating a suitable environment. Creating a suitable environment is the most important role of destination management. Now marketing on its own cannot help bring more customers, rather maintaining what the claim being made is the responsibility of destination management. Furthermore to ensure the happiness, and comfort of the visitors is also of at most importance. Marketing should be done with proper planning and understanding considering the need of the visitor. (Schaar, 2013) Conclusion Having discussed all the above mentioned points, it can be concluded that marketing plays a vital role in increasing the sales and gaining more customers. People do appreciate good and the best thing. If an organization provides what it is claiming to, and then there’s no way marketing won’t help in boosting the sales. Question 2 Critically evaluate the role of branding in national destination markets and the factors which may influence its effectiveness. Use case studies to illustrate your answer. Destination Branding Destination branding is basically different from product branding. In product branding the focus is basically on the logo and the product itself whereas the focus of destination branding has to be primarily on the, competitiveness of the destination. A destination brand cannot be just made like any product out there; it relates to the people, culture, and geographical location of a place and so on, these are the thing that help a destination brand become successful. For a branding a destination, DMOs has to promote the services of these destinations and let the potential visitor know of the things that a particular place is offering (Crouch, 2007). Branding needs a strategy A country needs to maintain its beauty of places that are worth visiting, as they become the source of generating economic benefits, visitors of a good place may decrease over time if there’s no development taking place. And this can only be done with a plan and strategy. Tourists consider the better services and better performances as important. So those who provide better services and they provide better facilities to the visitors are building a brand through these acts. Having discussed about branding, let’s now see why this branding is important. (Anholt, 2004) Basically branding is the identity of a company or organization. A company is known by its brand either in a positive way or in a negative way. It means that branding has both sides attached to it like any other thing out there. Companies spend a huge amount of money in marketing. The reason why companies do this is because they need to brand their product, and to be known by people that it is the only product which is the best of all. How can companies be known as a brand without marketing their product? At the same time branding becomes important for companies because there’s no other way which can help their business to grew without branding it. And for branding, a company has got to come up with a good marketing plan. In tourism what happens is that tourists needs to find the sense of security, so if a destination is famous for not providing a secure atmosphere that can be a very negative impact for that place. Now branding a destination requires a lot care, and a full commitment from the place. The success of any business is dependent upon the claims it makes during the marketing. Because if the customer does not get what he is told, he might market the product or the services in a negative way. Likewise branding a destination requires the same consideration. Branding is very much associated to the quality of the product or the quality of the services, especially in destination branding the quality of services being offered plays a vital role boosting the name of the destination. (Anholt, 2004) Let’s now see how famous people especially those who belong to entertainment business can be the cause behind the success of a brand. Bob Marley, who is one of the famous singers of the world, has made songs that captured the attention of many business owners. Many of his songs have been used for branding particular products such soda, iced coffee and tea. They used Marley Bob’s songs to brand their drinking products, the songs they chose are “One Drop” and “Mellow Mood” one of the global marketing director has explained how a brand can be successful, he said, “We view ourselves as not just a beverage company, but an entertainment company.” And further added that, “If you are going to market a brand, you need to live the brand. We live the brand.” So according to him the success of their brand is that what they claim is what they are offering no contradictions between the two. This point should never be neglected; promises have to be fulfilled to have a successful brand. (Otto, 1996) Destination branding carries the same perspective but with a different style. As discussed above product branding is different from destination branding. In destination branding the services, environment, comfort and different types of the products that are offered, have got to be more than just satisfactory for the visitor, which will require a highly skilled and a proper team with relevant education. People’s role in the success of a brand is very much tangible. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg are a good example of this. As discussed above Brand’s success is entirely dependent upon the fulfillment of the promises. These services should not only be for the time being rather they have got to long lasting of the same quality, rather better every year, this actually is very important for long term branding. In order for a brand to be a long lasting that has to be improved on daily basis. Because the competition is tough in every type of market, which makes it compulsory for the destination managements to make sure that their services are better than before. This is what a customer requires. As long as the customer is happy the brand is successful. (Woodside, 1982) In conclusion it can be said that the role of branding in destination market is of at most important. Branding requires efforts, attention and commitment, fulfilling the promises being made and a highly skilled team of educated people with the sense of branding & marketing. Furthermore, in branding, marketing has got a significant role since it is only through marketing that a brand can be successful. List of References Anholt, S. (2004). Place Branding (Vol. 1). Henry Stewart Publications. Beirne, M. (1999). Guest Services. Brandweek. Benes, R. (2013, August 2013). Success of Bob Marley brand excites Mellow Mood. Retrieved January 2, 2014, from http://www.crainsdetroit.com: http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20130830/NEWS/309019988/success-of-bob-marley-brand-excites-mellow-mood Biel, A. L. (1997). Discovering Brand Magic: The hardness of the softer side of branding . 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