Introduction
Tourism industry has become increasingly competitive as different players struggle to attract tourists from all over the world. The emerging technologies, especially in the field of transport and communication have turned the world into a global village (Goeldner & Ritchie 2009, p. 75).
Although technology has been the biggest boost to this industry, it has brought massive competition among the players that many of them are forced to look for ways of survival in order to continue operating in this industry. Attracting global tourists goes beyond having beautiful parks and the best natural sceneries.
According to Baker and Cameron (2008, p. 80), tourism has ascended to a level where success of a given tourists’ destination is determine by the marketing strategies that are put in place by the management.
For this reason, destination management organisations have a serious task of ensuring that they make their destination attractive to the world market by not only creating awareness about it, but convincing the global market of its uniqueness (Keller, Sternthal & Tybou 2002, p. 78). It is only through this that a tourist from the United States will consider travelling to the United Kingdom and not China or India (Bramwell 2004, p. 78).
Using of the modern technologies can be helpful to destination management organisation in developing superior strategies that would help convince the global customers that this is the best tourist destination. In this research, the focus will be to critically evaluate New Forest’s online marketing strategy as one of the leading destination management organisations, and how this strategy can be improved.
The Role of Destination Management Organisation in Marketing the Destination
Tourism industry has become very competitive as players look for better ways of attracting global customers. As Briassoulis and Straaten (2000, p. 56) say, the period when tourist would flow to Africa or Asia to see rare animal species and different cultural practices are long gone. Tourists are now focused on destinations that would offer more that what nature presents.
They want comfort, convenience, security, and the beautiful nature itself. In a world where information has become a very powerful tool, most of the tourists would seek for as much information about the places they want to visit as would be possible.
In the past, they would visit embassies of the countries they wanted to visit in order to get some basic information on what they should expect (Buhalis & Schertler 1999, p. 89). However, this is no longer the case. Information is freely available through interactive media and the mass media. It means that they can easily get the information they need at any time.
Destination management organisations have a major role to play in ensuring that global tourists will have positive information about the country that can be convincing enough to attract them locally. They have the responsibility of making the destination meet the international standards to avoid dissatisfactions when tourists arrive (Kelley 2001, p. 45).
The organisation must also ensure that there is enough security for the visiting tourists and that the infrastructures they will use are within their expectations.
Some of the key stakeholders in this industry include the government through the ministry of tourism, the hoteliers, tour operators, travel agencies, wildlife conservation agencies, financial institutions, and individuals who are directly or indirectly involved in this industry (Kusluvan 2003, p. 79). When forming the organisation, members from all of the above mentioned sectors must be fully represented.
Complexities and challenges in marketing the destination
It is important to note that these organisations may face some complexities and challenges when addressing these issues (Laudon 2004, p. 67). One of the biggest challenges that these organisations face is limited of cooperation from of one of the stakeholders such as the government. There are some core issues in the tourism industry that can only be addressed by the government.
One such issue is the security in the country and specifically on the areas frequented by the tourists (Mills & Rob 2005, p. 87). It is the responsibility of the national government and the society to ensure that there is safety for the tourists and all the stakeholders in this industry.
Language barrier has also been an issue that many of these organisations face when trying to attract global customers. For example, in the United Kingdom, it is easy to find people who can translate English to Mandarin so that Chinese tourist can be aware of the uniqueness of the country as a tourist destination point (Pike 2008, p. 59).
However, when they come to the country in large numbers, there is always a problem of finding enough tour guides who understand Mandarin to help guide them through various places they wish to visit. It would mean that what is offered to the tourists is not what they were promised in their advertisements (Reisinger 2009, p. 34).
When visiting, they were made to believe that there are people who understand their language, and communication would not be an issue. When this is not delivered, they get dissatisfied, and this reduces chances that they may visit the country again. Reaching customers all over the world has been an issue to some of these organisations because the mass media is limited by geographic coverage.
Use of technologies to address the challenges
Some of these challenges can be addressed using some of the emerging technologies. The social media such as Facebook, Tweeter, and YouTube are not geographically limited. It means that these organisations can address the problem of limited geographical coverage of the mass media by using the social media. Technology can also be used to enhance security in specific regions where tourists may be susceptible to attacks.
The cars they use while on tour should be fitted with tracking devices that they can use to call for help and to trace their locations whenever they feel that they could be in danger. Technology also boosts the ability of the stakeholders to offer improved services to their customers.
For instance, some large hotels have video-conferencing facilities and strong internet that can enable their visitors conduct business activities while in their rooms. It means that some of these visitors may not be interrupted to stop their visit because of the urgent need to report to work. They can work as they enjoy their holiday.
Online Destination Marketing and the Marketing Concepts Involved
Online destination marketing has gained massive popularity in the recent past as destination organisations struggle to attract customers to their market. According to Buhalis (2003, p. 89), these organisations have come to realise that traditional marketing strategies are almost obsolete. Tourists go to the internet when they want to travel.
For this reason, the organisations must always be online to ensure that they attract these online customers. As mentioned above, social media marketing is one of the most attractive global media strategies that firms are currently using.
The number of people who regularly visit Facebook is estimated to be slightly over 1.3 billion people according to the recent statistics (Rosellina, Amna & Matherly 2013, p. 447). This is to say that about one-third of the world’s population visit this site regularly.
It means that it offers the best online platform for tourist destination management organisations when looking for means of reaching the customers. Tweeter has a following of over 700 million people and YouTube is frequented by over 800 million people regularly (Roedy & Fisher 2011, p. 85). These sites offer attractive means of marketing in the global society.
The website of these companies can also be used to pass sensitive information to the customers. In fact, Norzalita and Norjaya (2010, p. 45) say that the information on the social media should direct the customers to the websites where visitors can access all the information they need about the destination. It would be necessary to understand some of the marketing concepts involved at this stage.
Segmentation
Market segmentation is one of the most important tasks that a marketing unit should do before targeting it with the promotional campaigns (Buhalis & Jafari 1998, p. 75). It involves classification of the customers based on various demographical factors.
Segmentation in tourism management will help identify the most attractive regions to target. It will not only help in reducing the cost of advertising, but also help in developing effective campaign programs that target the desired segment.
Positioning
When the target market is identified, positioning is always necessary, especially when promoting a brand (Rust, Zeithaml & Lemon 2004, p. 9). Developing a strong brand in the tourism industry may be a complex task, but the positioning strategy taken by a firm will define success in this process. With proper positioning, a brand can gain a competitive edge over other market rivals.
Customer focus and customer-centric marketing
When operating in a highly competitive industry, it is always necessary to ensure that the marketing approach used is customer-centric (Sharpley & Telfer 2002, p. 78). It means that destination management organisations will need a strategy that would focus on the customers’ needs in the market. They must understand what tourists are looking for when they set to tour the world.
The digital footprint can be used to support this process. The firms can determine the sites visited by these tourists or searches they make when they want to travel in order to determine what they are looking for in the market. According to Burns and Novelli (2008, p. 54), people will always search for things they find appealing. It will help the organisation to determine their tastes and preferences.
With this information, it may be easy to redesign the products in order to make them be able to offer what the market needs. Digital footprint can also be useful in determining the frequency of customers on the site, and the amount of time they take on that site (Trott 2005, p. 67). This would help the marketing team to know the popularity of the website among the customers.
New Forest
The New Forest is one of the destination management organisations in Southern England. It is important to note that the region is also home to the New Forest National Park. The park is one of the major tourists’ attraction centres in this country. The organisation has been actively involved in marketing the New Forest as the best destination for tourists where all their touring needs are met.
The organisation has a clearly defined target segment. Although its recent campaigns have shown that it is moving towards attractive people of different demographic factors, the firm had initially been keen on attracting domestic families interested in interacting with nature.
However, it realised that it could not restrict itself to the domestic market (Cooper 2008, p. 65). For this reason, it has started targeting international customers from various regions in the world. Some of the key objectives include popularising this region, especially the New Forest National Park, as the best destination point for both the local and international tourists.
It has two main website, one of the New Forest, and the other for the New Forest National Park to help it reach out to the international tourists. It has also been working with relevant authorities in this region to ensure that the infrastructures used by the tourists are in the right condition.
The organisation has also been working closely with the government to ensure that there is maximum security for the locals and tourists who come to visit the region (Fennell 2006, p. 56). Members of this authority are the stakeholders in different sectors that are directly or indirectly related to the tourism industry. They include hoteliers, tour operators, travel agencies, wildlife services, and the government.
These stakeholders work closely to ensure that they achieve their goals. Sometimes coordinating all these stakeholders may be challenging, but the management of this organisation has been able to address this challenge.
Evaluation of New Forest Footprint
New Forest can analyze the footprint of those who visit their site to determine how effective its marketing strategy is in the global market. The organisation can use a special software to enable it determine the location of the website visitor, duration they take in the website, and the information they access (Upadhyay 2009, p. 85).
The firm can also make use of HubSport reports on this industry to determine the changing trends in this market, and how it can re-evaluate its strategies to ensure that it remains relevant in this competitive market.
The management must realise that the outcome of its marketing strategy will be determined by its actions in the market as defined in the Institutional Theory of marketing (Von 2003, p. 45). It must be careful of its actions to avoid any negative consequences that may be associated with its strategies.
Findings
The New Forest has been very successful in creating awareness of this destination in the local market. When collecting the data, the researcher got interested in finding some of the strategies that the management of the organisation has been using locally (Kärcher 1997, p. 87). The researcher contacted one of the mid-managers in this organisation through e-mail.
He accepted to respond to the questions which were then sent through the e-mail. Based on the information received from the respondent, the New Forest has taken a bold step towards using the digital media to attract customers.
However, this has come with great challenges. Increasing the focus on the international market means that there will be a reduced attention on the local market which is very valuable to the organisation (Frew 2004, p. 78).
The management has been trying a delicate balance where the global market is given enough focus while still ensuring that the local market is not ignored. The management knows that the only way of achieving sustainability is to attract both local and international customers.
Discussion
Destination management organisations have found themselves in a competitive environment that has shifted from using traditional marketing strategies to using digital marketing technologies (Inkpen 1998, p. 83).
The New Forest in Southern England is one of those organisations that have been faced with a competitive environment where players are forced to use sophisticated marketing strategies in order to attract domestic and international tourists (Buhalis & Darcy 2011, p. 56). The organisation has realised that having beautiful flora and fauna alone may not offer a competitive edge over other market rivals.
Customers need information and it is the responsibility of this organisation to avail this information about the firm and its product offerings. It must convince the market that it is the best destination for tourists around the world (Sinha 1998, p. 74). The social media can be very helpful in reaching the international customers, while mass media can be used to reach the domestic market.
Conclusion
Destination management organisations have the responsibility of popularising their products to the local and global market in order to attract customers to the region. All the stakeholders must embrace the need to come together and work as a unit in coming up with appropriate strategies that can help reach the customers. The digital media offers the best opportunity for this body to reach both local and global customers.
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