••••• Destination Marketing National Theme WWW URL Tourism Office Kiribati No slogan www.tcsp.com/destinations/kiribati/ index.shtml Kuwait No slogan www.kuwaittourism.com Kyrgyzstan No website Laos Sabbai dee and welcome! http://visit-laos.com/ Latvia Latvia – the land that sings www.latviatourism.lv Lebanon No slogan www.lebanon-tourism.gov.lb Lesotho Welcome to the mountain www.lesotho.gov.ls/lstourism.htm Kingdom Liberia No website Libya No website Liechtenstein Liechtenstein – princely moments www.tourismus.li/ Lithuania No slogan www.tourism.lt/ Luxemburg Grand Duchy of Luxemburg www.ont.lu/ Macau More than ever Macau is a festival www.macautourism.gov.mo Macedonia No slogan www.economy.gov.mk Madagascar No slogan www.madagascar-contacts.com Malawi Malawi – the land of smiles and www.tourismmalawi.com/ laughter Malaysia Malaysia – truly Asia http://tourism.gov.my/ Maldives Maldives – the sunny side of life www.visitmaldives.com.mv/ Mali No slogan www.tourisme.gov.ml Malta Malta – welcome to the heart of www.visitmalta.com the Mediterranean Marshall Islands No website Martinique Martinique – the French www.martinique.org Caribbean Haven Mauritania (No slogan) www.mauritania.mr Mauritius Mauritius – an invitation to www.mauritius.net/ paradise Mexico The timeless experience – Mexico www.visitmexico.com Micronesia Dive into the heart of exotic www.visit-fsm.org/ Micronesia Moldova No slogan www.turism.md Monaco Monaco – an exceptional www.monaco-tourisme.com destination Mongolia No slogan www.mongoliatourism.gov.mn 242 ••••• Market positioning National Theme WWW URL Tourism Office Montenegro Montenegro – art of nature www.visit-montenegro.com Monteserrat Monsteserrat – one hundred www.visitmontserrat.com thousand welcomes Morocco No slogan www.tourism-in-morocco.com Mozambique Mozambique – new for you www.mozambique.mz/ Myanmar No slogan www.myanmar.com/Ministry/Hotel_ Tour/usefullink.htm Namibia Namibia – Africa’s gem www.met.gov.na/ Nepal No slogan www.welcomenepal.com Netherlands No slogan www.holland.com/global/ Netherlands No website Artilles New Caledonia Discover Caledonia – France’s www.new-caledonia-tourism.nc/ best kept secret New Zealand 100% pure NZ www.purenz.com Nicaragua Nicaragua – a water paradise www.intur.gob.ni/ Niger No website Nigeria Nigeria – beauty in diversity www.nigeriatourism.net/ Norfolk Island Norfolk Island – paradise www.norfolkisland.com discovered Northern Ireland Discover Northern Ireland www.discovernorthernireland.com Northern My Marianas www.mymarianas.com/ Marianas North Korea No slogan www.dprknta.com Norway Norway – a pure escape http://www.visitnorway.com/foreign_ offices/great_britain/ Nuie Nuie – rock of Polynesia www.niueisland.com/ Oman No website Pakistan No slogan www.tourism.gov.pk/ Palestine Palestine – the Holy land www.visit-palestine.com/ Palau Experience the wonders of Palau www.visit-palau.com Panama Panama – the path less travelled www.visitpanama.com Papua New No website Guinea Paraguay No slogan www.senatur.gov.py Peru Pack your six senses – come to www.peru.org.pe/perueng.asp Peru Philippines Philippines – more than the usual www.tourism.gov.ph/ 243 ••••• Destination Marketing National Theme WWW URL Tourism Office Pitcairn Islands No slogan www.government.pn Poland No slogan www.travelpoland.com/ Portugal Puerto Rico Go to Puerto Rico www.gotopuertorico.com Qatar No website Reunion No website Romania Romania – come as a tourist, www.romaniatourism.com/ leave as a friend Russia No slogan www.russia-tourism.ru/ Rwanda No website Saba Saba – the unspoiled queen…in www.sabatourism.com the Dutch Caribbean Samoa Samoa – the treasured islands of www.visitsamoa.us the South Pacific San Marino No slogan www.visitsanmarino.com/ Sao Tome and Sao Tome & Principe – paradise www.saotome.st/ Principe on Earth Sark No slogan www.sark.info Saudi Arabia No slogan www.sct.gov.sa/ Scotland Live it – visit Scotland www.visitscotland.com/ Senegal No slogan www.dakarville.sn/tourisme Serbia Serbia – three times love www.serbia-tourism.org/ Seychelles Seychelles – as pure as it gets www.aspureasitgets.com Sierra Leone No website Singapore Singapore roars www.visitsingapore.com Slovakia Slovakia – your choice www.slovakiatourism.sk/ Slovenia Slovenia – the green place of www.slovenia-tourism.si/ Europe Solomon Islands Solomon Islands – the treasured www.tcsp.com/destinations/solomons/ islands of Melanesia index.shtml Somalia No website South Africa Discover South Africa www.southafrica.net/ South Korea No slogan www.tour2korea.com Spain No slogan www.spain.info/Portal/EN Sri Lanka Sri Lanka – a land like no other www.lanka.net/ctb/ St Barthelemy No slogan www.st-barths.com/homeeng.html 244 ••••• Market positioning National Theme WWW URL Tourism Office St Helena Discover St Helena – emerald isle www.sthelenatourism.com of the South Atlantic Ocean St Kitts and St Kitts and Nevis – two islands, www.interknowledge.com/stkitts- Nevis one paradise nevis/ St Lucia St Lucia – simply beautiful www.stlucia.org/ St Maarten St Maarten – a little European, a www.st-maarten.com/ lot of Caribbean! St Martin St Martin – French Caribbean www.st-martin.org/ St Vincent and St Vincent and the Grenadines – www.svgtourism.com the Grenadines jewels of the Caribbean Sudan No website Surinam Surinam – the drum beat of the www.surinam.net Amazon Swaziland Swaziland – the royal experience www.mintour.gov.sz/ Sweden No slogan www.visit-sweden.com Switzerland Switzerland – get natural www.myswitzerland.com/ Sudan No website Syria No slogan www.syriatourism.org Tahiti Tahiti – islands beyond the www.tahiti-tourisme.com/ ordinary Taiwan Taiwan – touch your heart www.taiwan.net.tw/index.jsp Tajikistan Adventure on the roof of the world www.traveltajikistan.com Tanzania No slogan www.tanzania-web.com Thailand No slogan www.tourismthailand.org/ Togo No website Tokelau Islands No website Tonga The ancient Kingdom of Tonga www.tongaholiday.com/ Trinidad & No slogan www.visittnt.com/ Tobago Tunisia No slogan www.tourismtunisia.com Turkey Go with the rhythm…enjoy Turkey www.turizm.gov.tr/ Turkish Republic No slogan www.trncwashdc.org/c000.html of Northern Cyprus Turkmenistan No website Turks & Caicos Turks & Caicos Islands – get lost www.turksandcaicostourism.com/ Islands 245 ••••• Destination Marketing National Theme WWW URL Tourism Office Tuvalu Tuvalu – timeless! www.tcsp.com/destinations/tuvalu/ index.shtml Uganda Uganda – the pearl of Africa www.visituganda.com/ Ukraine No slogan www.tourism.gov.ua/ United Arab No slogan www.uae.org.ae/tourist/index.htm Emirates United Kingdom No slogan www.visitbritain.com Uruguay Uruguay – natural www.turismo.gub.uy/ United States of No slogan www.tinet.ita.doc.gov America US Virgin US Virgin Islands – America’s www.usvitourism.vi/en Islands Caribbean Uzbekistan No slogan www.uzbektourism.uz/ Vatican City No slogan www.vatican.va Vanuatu Vanuatu – another time, another www.vanuatutourism.com place Venezuela No slogan www.turismoparatodos.org.ve Vietnam Vietnam – a destination for the www.vietnamtourism.com/ new millennium Wales Be inspired by Wales www.visitwales.com Wallis and No slogan www.wallis.co.nc/adsupwf/ Futuna West Sahara No website Yemen Yemen – be ready to be http://yementourism.com/index.htm astounded Zambia Zambia – the real Africa www.zambiatourism.com/ Zimbabwe (No slogan) www.zimbabwetourism.co.zw 246 • • • • CHAPTER 13 Target markets Positioning usually implies a segmentation commitment. Positioning usually means that an overt decision is being made to concentrate only on certain segments. Such an approach requires commitment and discipline because it’s not easy to turn your back on potential buyers. Aaker & Shansby (1982, p. 61) Aims The aims of this chapter are to enhance understanding of: • the need to prioritise target markets • segmentation approaches • the challenge of market positioning in multiple target markets ••••• Destination Marketing Perspective Positioning has its roots in segmentation theory. The first task in developing profitable customer relationships is the identification of target markets. The DMO marketing approach differs to the gener- ally accepted definition of the marketing orientation as presented in general marketing theory in at least one significant way. A marketing orientation was defined in Chapter 1 as a philosophy that recognises the achievement of organisational goals that requires an understand- ing of the needs and wants of the target market, and then delivering satisfaction more effectively than rivals. With such an orientation, all marketing decisions are made with the customer in mind. Most DMOs have no control over the tourism services they represent, and devote relatively few resources to new product development tailored to meet identified consumer needs. Therefore, the marketing process is not one of designing products to meet market needs, but of attempting to find markets that are likely to be interested in the destination’s current products and then communicating an attractive proposition. Identify- ing market segments that may have an interest in the destination’s product range is a critical task for DMOs. Identifying target markets On the demand side of destination marketing, the global market of consumer-travellers is not homogenous in terms of needs (Wahab et al., 1976). Travellers from different geographic areas, socio-demographic groups, and lifestyle clusters will respond to different offers at different times, for a complex array of reasons, including the purpose of travel, indi- vidual motivation(s), time available, the time of year, and availability of other discretionary spending opportunities. Consumers will engage in dif- ferent types of travel at different times of the year and their lifetime. Thou- sands of DMOs now compete for the attention of busy consumers through communication channels cluttered with noise from rival and substitute offerings. The greatest challenge facing DMOs is to effectively differentiate their offering at decision time. A market orientation dictates outward-inward market-organisation thinking (Duncan, 2002). In tourism this means first anticipating travellers’ needs and then developing products and services to meet these. Histori- cally, DMOs have generally used inward-outward thinking by attempting to find markets that will be interested in a destination’s existing products. While targeting products to the perceived needs of specific segments is a marketing axiom, DMOs have a broad mandate and therefore operate in mass markets with millions of consumers. Tourism demand does not rep- resent a homogenous group of people with identical motivations (Wahab et al., 1976), and as already discussed the market interests of a destina- tion’s tourism businesses can be divergent. However, the need to focus 248 ••••• Target markets resources then leads on to the central operational decision of tourism mar- keters to prioritise target markets. Positioning has its roots in segmentation theory (Haahti, 1986), and the two concepts have become inseparable in the marketing process. Market aggregation represents an undifferentiated approach, where all consumers are treated as one, and is criticised as being a shotgun approach. At the opposite end of the continuum is total market disaggregating, where every consumer is treated individually as a separate segment. There are obvious limits as to how far this can be taken by DMOs. However, impor- tant trade customers such as inbound tour operators are an example of marketing to the needs of an identifiable individual client. A destination’s image may differ between regional markets (Hunt, 1975), between different segments (Fakeye & Crompton, 1991; Phelps, 1986), and in different travel contexts. However, DMOs seldom research the differ- ences in the images held by different markets (Ahmed, 1996) and different travel contexts. Pechlaner and Abfalter (2002) criticised many NTOs in Europe for paying insufficient attention to the differences between markets, suggesting they were limited to using undifferentiated but cost-effective marketing, which targeted common interests and needs of all travellers. However, undertaking needs analyses on a segment-by-segment basis pro- vides marketers with opportunities to understand the needs of target seg- ments better than competitors (Lovelock, 1991). Research Snapshot 13.1 provides an example of this. Research snapshot 13.1 Do you want to feel the spirit? It has been suggested that of all the features New Zealand has to offer international visitors there is only one that is truly unique and that is the indigenous Maori people and their culture. This represents a key source of differentiation for the district of Rotorua, which has long been regarded as the country’s centre of Maori culture. One-third of the local population is Maori and the district has a proud history of providing cultural experiences to travellers. Not surprisingly, the brand positioning theme launched in 1996 reflects this … Feel the spirit Manaakitanga. That the theme was designed for use in all markets assumes that all markets will have an interest in Maori culture. Research into how Rotorua was positioned in the important domestic short-break market suggested strongly that Maori culture was not regarded as either a salient or determinant attribute. Rotorua has a strong position in the domestic market, but one that is based on other attributes such as ‘lots do do’, ‘good accommodation’, ‘good cafes’ etc. The research indicated that Rotorua should therefore consider using a different positioning theme in the domestic short-break market, to reinforce positively held perceptions. Source: Pike, S. & Ryan, C. (2004). Dimensions of short-break destination attractiveness – a comparison of cognitive, affective and conative perceptions. Journal of Travel Research, 42(4), 333–342. Positioning is based on communicating one or a few key benefits desired by the target segment. Since destinations operate in mass markets containing individuals with differing needs, can one positioning theme be adapted for use in all markets, or do the different characteristics of each market 249 ••••• Destination Marketing dictate a mix of distinct tailored themes as in the think global, act local mantra? In theory, the latter would enable separate advertising briefs to be developed that cater to the needs of different segments. However, from a practical perspective, when considering the range of segments that will be of interest to a DMO’s stakeholders, both a multi-market assessment and a differentiated promotion approach appear daunting. As observed by Hooley and Saunders (1993, p. 154), an organisation taking the multiple segment approach ‘may face a diseconomy in managing, supplying and promoting in a different way to each of these segments it has chosen’. Woodside (1982) also presented a warning in this regard, suggesting that it is more effective to offer one set of benefits to one significant segment. Segmentation Segmentation can be undertaken either by a priori means, where the cri- terion variable for dividing the market is already known, or by posteriori means, where no such prior knowledge exists (Calantone & Mazanec, 1991). For practical reasons many smaller DMOs will use an a priori approach to segmenting the global market. This is undertaken using cri- teria relating to easily obtainable information on geographic and demo- graphic characteristics. For example, destinations in Central America and the Caribbean place a heavy reliance on visitors from cities in North America, while 15% of all USA arrivals are from Latin American countries (TIA, 2004, in www.restaurantnewsresource.com, 29/304). In Queensland, Australia, the largest source of visitors for each of the state’s RTOs is the state capital, Brisbane. Case Study 13.1 provides a practical example of one small destination’s development of a new strategy to appeal to the growing ‘silver’ market. Case study 13.1 Pimp my Nordic walking stick Ilja Castermans-Godfried, Zuyd University, Centre of Research for Cultural Tourism, Sittard, The Netherlands Destination marketers in the province of Limburg, which is located in the south of The Netherlands, have set two key tourism development goals. The first is to become the number two province for tourists in the Netherlands, and the second is to attract 25% more silver tourists (age 50+). In doing so, the strategy recognises the need to stimulate small and medium enterprises to be better equipped to satisfy the needs and wants of this growing target group. These experienced holidaymakers expect high quality and seek new surprising products and services from the tourism industry. Key questions asked by Limburg tourism stakeholders in the development of the strategy included: How can local hotel entrepreneurs better satisfy this demanding target segment? What innovative concepts can be developed to attract more silvers to the region? One organisation that has responded to the DMO strategy is The Heuvelland Hotel Group (www.heuvellandhotels.nl). The group comprises 13 family hotels in South-Limburg (near 250 ••••• Target markets Maastricht), which started to cooperate six years ago. It was felt that the timing of the new strategy presented an ideal opportunity to further develop the alliance by introducing innovative concepts that would attract more tourists to the region and to the hotels. As part of the preparation to this project, and to obtain insight into the market in general, an analysis of the major problems that the entrepreneurs encounter in the external environment was conducted. Following this external analysis, each hotel was submitted to a hospitality audit consisting of surveys among guests in the target segment, and anonymous visits by mystery silver guests. The most important outcome of this research was that guest satisfaction was very high. In the next stage students of the Maastricht Hotel Management School carried out a benchmark study in order to review innovative concepts within and outside the hospitality business, and to select the most appropriate concepts for the hotels. The outcomes of this project were the fuel for the final and most important part of the strategy, which was the implementation of innovative concepts by the entrepreneurs. Four promising innovative concepts were selected for implementation. The philosophy guiding selection of each was that they: (1) are new for the Heuvelland Hotels, (2) will further enhance the cooperation between the Heuvelland Hotels and other hospitality and leisure entrepreneurs, and (3) have the potential to attract more tourists to the region. At the time of writing, the concepts under development included: • Pimp my Nordic Walking Stick. Artists who live in South-Limburg will be asked to pimp Nordic walking sticks in all 13 hotels. The first design, shown below, quickly attracted media publicity. • Heuvelland passport. A passport distributed in conjunction with leisure enterprises in the region. The passport enables guests to obtain discounts and special activities. • Holiday planner. On the portal site of the Heuvelland Hotel Group a holiday planner will be integrated. Discussion question What other innovative concepts would stimulate the cooperation between entrepreneurs in the hospitality and leisure sectors, and attract more silver tourists to the region? 251 [...]... ( 17% ), trade advertising (12%), direct marketing (7% ), sales promotion partnerships (5%), and personal selling to consumers (1%) IMC does not use any different marcom (marketing com­ munication) tools Ideally, the five key promotional tools of advertising, public relations, direct marketing, sales promotions, and personal selling should be integrated to provide a consistency of message 2 67 • • • Destination. .. over the same time period 2001; an increase of 242% • 1,539, 573 unique visits to tourismvancouver.com compared to 976 ,390 over the same time period 2001; an increase of 58% • 79 66 qualified names collected by permission data capture for future e -marketing efforts Key points 1 The need to prioritise target markets On the demand side of destination marketing, the global market of consumer-travellers is not... between online and offline strategies • Internet marketing strategies should be based on personalisation, expe­ rience, involvement, and permission • • • 272 Marketing communications In practice In 20 07, Tourism Australia relaunched its Australia.com website as part of a strategy that places digital at the heart of the DMO’s global push (see Livesly, 20 07) The new site, which took over a year to develop,... topics contained in the conference proceedings see Pike 2005, 20 07, 20 07) Key points 1 Integrated marketing communication (IMC) A market orientation is an outward-inward market-organisation approach, dictating marketing decisions that are concerned with designing products to meet the unmet needs of target consumers However, most destination marketing has been limited to an inward-outward approach DMOs... developing a cooperative destination marketing approach has been a greater awareness that the traveller’s experience of a destination can be marred by one bad service encounter So, it makes little long-term sense for a small group of large visitor attractions to work on marketing and quality issues independently, if the mass of remaining small businesses become the weak link in the visitor’s destination experience... recently in the marketing literature The first IMC texts appeared in the early 1990s (see Schultz, Tannenbaum & Lauterborn, 1993) A 20 07 survey of the US Asso­ ciation of National Advertisers identified IMC as the highest-ranking issue for the next year (see www.ana.net) However, the topic has received little academic research attention to date in the destination marketing field, even • • • 262 Marketing communications... council funders the direct financial contribution of the private sector towards destination marketing As was discussed in Chapter 2, generating such financial contributions is otherwise prob­ lematic, particularly for generic destination image advertising This was not without political ramifications however, as one of the private sector destination guides went out of business as a result The guide was produced... travellers visited destination sites • most popular sites used were accommodation brands and travel brands such as Travelocity and Expedia 271 • • • Destination Marketing The research concluded that DMOs had not established a role for their websites DMO sites were not regarded by travellers as being either the official source or sufficiently comprehen­ sive Recommended success factors for destination sites... strategy that would aim for 6 million active database records by 2006 (Marketing, 7/ 11/02) In practice In highlighting the limited degree of destination relationship marketing in practice, Fyall et al (2003) reported two case studies The first, Project Stockholm, is an example of an introductory attempt to engen­ der more loyalty towards a destination, albeit without loyalty-building tools The project is... logical starting point for potential travellers seeking infor­ mation about a destination, pointing to a claim by www.lee-online.com that 65% of all users type the URL into their browser, either by guess­ work or memory Minister of Tourism Mark Burton argued the move 273 • • • Destination Marketing Table 14.1 Non-travel-related destination domains www.canada.com Canwest Global Communications Corporation . markets. The DMO marketing approach differs to the gener- ally accepted definition of the marketing orientation as presented in general marketing theory in at least one significant way. A marketing. one gay travel writer. 2 57 ••••• Destination Marketing Visiting friends and relatives Travel to visit friends and relatives (VFR) generates repeat visitors to a destination (see Gitelson. 1,539, 573 unique visits to tourismvancouver.com compared to 976 ,390 over the same time period 2001; an increase of 58%. • 79 66 qualified names collected by permission data capture for future e-marketing