Destination and Tourism Marketing

Destination and tourism marketing has done a great job of building the tourism category.
However, they have not done so well when it comes to differentiating themselves within their
own competitive sets.

One of the main reasons for this is that most destination brands sell themselves by citing only
category benefits (i.e. table stakes). For example, most tropical destinations (i.e. Jamaica, The
Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Mexico and the Cayman Islands) laud their
clear blue water and white or pink or black sandy beaches.

They sell fun, excitement (or relaxation) or the various activities that their destination offers
with an added dose of local culture. The brand messaging in tourism marketing for the entire
tropical destination category can be defined by the following axis .

We call this destination, tourism, and travel brand model “inside-out” because it looks at the
destination/tourism category from the point of view of the destination. It’s what the
destinations are saying about themselves — to the customer.

Tropical Destinations and Tourism

Marketing
Tropical and Caribbean destination brands are positioned in this quadrant.
 There is little difference in the destination brand and tourism brand definitions and most
define the brand strategy by natural wonders, ethnic culture and amenities. The market is
crowded with these locations and few real differentiating brand values are to be found. (The
exception may be Cuba.) Everyone sells blue water, sandy beaches and colorful and friendly
locals. It does not matter if the latter is even true.
 Golf/Theme Parks

Theme parks (like Disney, Six Flags and Universal Studios), golf resorts (like Pinehurst) and
ski resorts (like Vail, Breckenridge, and Steamboat Springs), another type of destination
brand, are positioned in this quadrant. There is little difference in the destination brand
strategies and definitions. Most of the advertising looks similar.

Cruise Lines/Clubs

Cruise lines (like Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America) and “All
inclusive resorts (like Club-Med, Sandals and others) type resorts are positioned in this
destination brand quadrant below. The main differences in these destination and tourism
brand strategies are segmentations by age and marital status.
National Parks/Natural Wonders

National parks, cities, and states, as destination brands, are positioned in the quadrant below.
The main differences in these destination brands are in the specific natural wonders and
distance of travel.

Despite the crowded landscape and the lack of positioning opportunity, when creating a
destination brand strategy, this matrix only helps the customer pick a category. It is not how
they choose a destination brand or a tourism brand. And there are other parts of a very
complicated destination and tourism market space. The hospitality industry for example.
Let’s look at what a few individual hospitality brand segments say about themselves.

The Airline Industry

Airlines, while also part of the transportation category, fit into the destination and travel
brand segments as well. Airline brands have struggled for years to offer differentiated
positions. Only British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest Airlines have legitimate
brands.

The rest have businesses — but not brands. To better understand how to uncover a stealing
share opportunity, let’s take a closer look at the tropical destination brand segment. It is
imperative that we dig deeply into the customer’s minds. Brand strategy development is
much akin to anthropology. First we look at the decision tree. The decision tree is the linear
representation of the process of choosing a destination brand. Read the Airline Study here.

For this exercise we have broken the tourism marketing process down into 13 rudimentary
steps. In reality, the analysis of the brand decision process is more complicated and detailed.
The goal is to find the relationship between the internal (and sometimes external) dialogue
that race through our target audience’s mind as they decide on a travel destination or a
destination brand.

The question is asked and a series of unspoken values are explored. Time-off can be
recreation or relaxation or both. It may involve travel or simply staying at home.

Destination/Tourism Marketing Decision Tree

1. A trip represents a change of environment and carries with it the expectation of

newness or an out of the ordinary destination experience.
2. The duration of the trip, holiday or vacation is planned. Often the length available is
dictated by the expectations raised in question two. Other times it is dictated by
outside influences.
3. This is the second question that begins the narrowing process of options (duration is
the other).
4. This is the first time destination brand expectations are directly addressed. For a brief
moment, the considered set of destination brands becomes wider again as the
available universe (known destination brands) is reconsidered.
5. This question directly responds to the issues raised in number five, and the considered
set of destination brands that are generated at this point is difficult to adjust.
 6. Often, it is not the original destination brand that is re-ignited by this question but the
emotional rewards and memories that it created.
7. This is more than simply comparative shopping for a destination brand or a tourism
brand. The traveler is, at this moment, summarizing all the values considered in the
first seven questions. Many times, a category or destination is chosen at this time even
if it is not verbalized.
8. A simple question that springs directly out of question eight. If a destination brand is
already decided upon, the rest of the family may either be included or excluded. In
some instances, this is asked in conjunction with question two.
9. The destination brand is chosen (with the considerations of questions eleven and
twelve) and will remain the choice unless a physical or emotional force is applied.
10. A continuation of question ten. It helps define the field and opens the set to a few new
arrivals.
11. A continuation of questions eleven, but is used to narrow the field by adding criteria
to the decision process.

Considerations
While usually the last consideration in tourism marketing, it is often considered in questions
two, three and four. This decision can be an emotional decision or a practical one. These
questions are all about amenities and the destination brand itself. Some destination brands
believe these are the cornerstones of their hospitality brand promise, but they are in reality
descriptors for destination category benefits.

Destination and tourism brands traditionally battles for share of mind at these three junctures
(questions 10, 11 and 12). At this juncture, the target audiences is asking key questions about
themselves and their values, and are reflecting on their own vision of who they are (or would
like to be).

Inside-out. We considered all sorts of inside-out perspectives in tourism marketing, based on

the advertising, such as these. Tropical destination brands, for example, seem to define their
hospitality brands either by the amenities they offer or the culture that they represent, and
they enter the considered set because of distance. The problem with this inside-out view is
that this is not how the customer chooses. The outside-in perspective is from the point of
view of the customer.
The Tourism Marketing Opportunity
The best axis use values thatmean the most to customers are positioned against the
competition and are believable. This is an axis we believe gives the traveler a reason to
choose and unveils a destination brand development opportunity for a destination to claim –
and steal share.

The “Tropical — Temperate” axis is the category definer. It represents one of the four
quadrants we examined earlier and will change depending on the considered set. The “Tourist
— Traveler” axis is a direct reflection of question five on our brand decision tree — it
answers the question of “why am I going?” A tourist is a distant visitor and a word that
carries bad connotations.

A traveler, on the other hand, is invited into the local culture, leaves a part of himself behind
and carries a part of the experience with him. The power in this destination brand position is
that the visitor to the destination already identifies himself as a traveler yet no destination yet
claims it. The market opportunity is all on this side of the axis.