Sustainable tourism marketing – The medium is the message

Vision Special offer: 5th annual sustainable tourism marketing guide out next week get it for half price NOW

This year global tourism will reach a total carrying of a billion tourists and create an economy with a trillion dollars of revenue.

That’s massive growth from just 50 million tourists just 60 years ago, but can this growth be sustainable (ie can it carry on!)? … And how can forms of sustainable tourism be marketed to bring economic, cultural, social and environmental benefits to all concerned?

Firstly, by and large the sort of tourism that will make up that billion figure is much the same old, same old – high density, low margin, commodity tourism.

Secondly the systems are set for this system to carry on – Global Distribution Systems which process most of the bookings in their impersonal way, can only handle commodities and then differentiate on the basis of category and price.

Great for the client who is looking for a cheap deal and for the GDS who offers it, but for the other players in the game, the financial pressure is too great to offer really fulfilling holiday experiences.

Moreover, with the onset of ever increasing energy prices and the possibility of carbon charges, it looks like the low-cost travel arrangement, the product that launched and sustains this massive industry, will simply get more and more commoditized to ensure its success.

Where then for truly sustainable tourism – the sort that offers those redeeming economic gains to local communities added to cultural, social and environmental benefits to set against the carbon emissions of the travel?

The tourism industry stakeholder who has the most interest in sustainability is, of course the tourism destination, made up of communities, tourism entrepreneurs, inbound tour operators and tourist attractions, restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels, suppliers such as farmers and other interested parties.

From an established destination’s point of view, the critical issue is to keep on being a destination, and given that their market of tourists almost always has a number of alternatives and that price is the key issue – this is somewhat more difficult than it seems.

Especially with more and more new destinations piling into the market whose critical issue is simply to become a destination.

Secondly, of the whole tourism value chain, the destination has by far the most to lose, and potentially the most to gain from tourism.

If the destination gets its offer right, and the right sort and number of tourists come, tourism revenue can build businesses, provide employment, develop local infrastructure, drive social and cultural benefits and contribute to the local environment.

If the destination gets it wrong, tourism can have a negative effect on all of the above – delivering low grade employment, leeching off any social, cultural benefits, badly affecting local environment and creating an industry which, after all that, could disappear as quickly as it appeared.

The key to any destination’s success is thoughtful, targeted marketing and although there is certainly a place for well-managed commodity tourism to fill excess space and provide some extra exposure – destination marketing needs to be developed to access and manage healthy tourism flows – sustainably (in every sense of that word!)

The 4th annual sustainable tourism marketing guide has therefore been created with the destination in mind as the key tourism partner – and to deliver opportunities for sustainable tourism growth for every member of the tourism value chain.

Within this all-new guide, travel agents, tour operators, accommodation providers, destination management companies, transportation providers and tourism attractions all will find a range of proven marketing methods to sustainably generate tourism.

In particular each member of the destination tourism community will find methods that offer a holistic approach to marketing, utilizing all their innate, benefits to identify and engage with new markets to attract tourists that value authenticity, relish real, natural experiences – and are prepared to pay for them.

One of the keys to sustainable marketing is to use as many of one’s marketing assets – from better interpretation of tourism attractions, creation of beneficial tourism initiatives, more focus on food and drink and culture through to focus on tourists not only as markets but as potential committed and evangelical destination ambassadors.

Thus creating efficient, effective, low or no cost personalized, not commoditized marketing that is much more powerful and sustainable in depth than any bulk-bought impersonal media can be.

This guide proposes a new paradigm for marketing sustainable tourism – not the channels used for the challenged mass tourism industry… a new tourism marketing language, new tourism product initiatives, new marketing processes, new marketing partnerships, new marketing collaterals and new marketing methods.

In other words, the Sustainable Tourism Marketing Guide proposes a sustainable approach to tourism marketing whereby the medium becomes, and adds its power to the message.
In the 2012 Sustainable Tourism Marketing Guide you will find, amongst much, much more:

• 11 Easy-to-read insightful articles to make you re-assess your tourism offer
• 25 Case-study examples of successful sustainable tourism marketing
• 99 Methods to market for sustainable tourism success
•  Hundreds of opportunities to make sustainable tourism work for you

The 4th annual Sustainable Tourism Marketing Guide will be published on 10 October 2012.
The 60 page guide will cost just £100.

A limited number of review copies will be available and can be purchased pre-publication only (ie before 10 October) for a 50% discount – £50.

Request yours now. HERE