Destination Marketing

This document discusses the concept of destination marketing and its importance in promoting a specific location. It covers the principles of marketing planning, key elements of destination advertising campaigns, and the use of digital marketing tools. The document also highlights the role and services of destination marketing organizations and the challenges they face. The case study focuses on London as a popular tourist destination.

Destination Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Marketing Planning Principles .............................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2. Key elements of destination marketing campaigns..............................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P3. Digital Marketing Tools .......................................................................................................7
TASK4.............................................................................................................................................8
P4. Role and Services of DMO...................................................................................................8
P5. Challenges faced by DMO..................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12
........................................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Destination Marketing can be defined as a kind of promotional activity that helps in
generating awareness about a destination such as city, town, region, or a country. This is
conducted for the purpose for increasing the number of visitors. It is utilised for promotion of a
community and helps in enhancing its public image as a dynamic place to work, visit and to live.
This report covers evaluation of market planning principles in supporting promotion of a
particular destination. This report highlights the beautiful destination London and elaborates
various places that acts as an attraction point which helps this destination to enhance number of
tourists in this place. It is one of the to most visited cities and it has something for each person to
visit such as its culture and history that focus upon food and good times. It also covers basic
elements of destination advertising campaign range in order to analyse how the objectives of
campaigns are achieved (Tung, Lee and Hudson, 2019). It also covers different tools of digital
promotion that are used to promote and advertise a particular destination. It also identifies the
services and role of DMOs for promoting a specific destination. At the end, this report covers
assessment of challenges faced by Destination advertisement Organisation by using various
range of examples.
TASK 1
P1. Marketing Planning Principles
Scenario- Reve Tourism Marketing is a destination advertsing consultancy firm that
helps in providing guidance and support to visitors regarding various places to visit. This
organisation is based on London and it informs visitors all over the world about different
locations. This report is based upon a seminar that is being conducted on the importance and
significance of digital promotional measures.
Market Plan- It referred to a business document that outlines the business tactics and
strategies and focus on a particular time period. It includes all the details like actions, steps,
goals, etc. in order to achieve specific objectives of an organisation. This plan helps the business
in formulating a specific strategy in an effective and appropriate manner and it is usually
conducted for enhancing sales and profitability of a business (Önder, Gunter and Gindl, 2019).

There are various principles of this planning that plays a major role in supporting
destination advertisement which are elaborated as follows-
Marketing mix- This is determined as the mixture of factors that can be controlled by an
organisation for creating an influence over customers in order to purchase its services and
products. There are 7 P's of marketing mix such as product, promotion, place, price, physical
evidence, process and people. It is very important for an organisation to utilise these functions in
an appropriate manner. London tourism has utilised marketing mix appropriately and placed,
promote and develop its services in order to attract large number of customers. Its tourism
services, its cultural people, its beautiful and attractive place is enough to attract thousands of
people.
Budgetary Allocations- These are determined as an integral component which is a part of
annul financial planning, or a budget of all the enterprises. It helps in indicating the resources
level which an enterprise is committing towards a program or department. Without allocating the
limits, expenditures cam exceed the result and revenues in financial shortfalls. For effectively
maintaining the overall budgetary activities, it is important for London Tourism to allocate the
budget and prepare it to manage the overall cost of London.
Resource Analysation- It is determined as ways by which an organisation understands
the competences of a firm and the value of its resources. While considering the resources, it has
become essential for an enterprise to take important steps for growth and success of a business. It
also helps the business to bridge gap which is in between valuable resources and them utilising
them appropriately and thoughtfully. It is very significant for London Tourism properly identify
its resources which it will need to promote its tourism activities such as financial, physical,
human and intellectual.
To understand Customers- The basic principle upon which it works on is to understand
its customers as the basic goal of an organisation is to satisfy its customers. Earning profit is the
basic goal of an organisation and this goal can only be achieved when company offers such
goods and services that meets customers expectations. London tourism can be taken as an
example in this context as this city has perfectly positioned its image in customer's mind as a
world's leading leisure destination. For example other destinations of UK such as tower of
London, Big Ben, Coca Cola London Eye, understands its customers to a large extent and it

promotes it accordingly. These places are usually promoted in order to attract tourists of other
countries.
To understand the market- Another factor on which this planning principles are
dependent is to understand the concept of market. For making an effective plan, it is very
important for an organisation to analyse the market by indulging in market research. This helps
in supporting the promotion of a specific destination. For example, London tourism support its
tourism by doing market research and understanding its competitors (Hudson and et. al., 2019).
Destinations such as Kerala, situated in India attract large number of tourists by understanding
the market in which people people prefer peace and calmness.
To understand the external environment- Another principle of market planning is to
understand the impact of external environment upon business functions and operations. Tourist
places such as London has analysed its external environment by using pestle analysis and make
sure that these external factors such as political, social, economic, environmental, technological
and environmental factors do not has any negative impact over it. Maldives in South Asia is one
of the most favourite place among couples for spending quality time. This place has positive
impact of external environment upon its operations and functioning.
Understanding the internal environment- For an effective marketing plan, it is very
important for an organisation to understand the internal environment. This can be done by using
SWOT analysis in order to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a specific
destination. Many tourists do not prefer leisure travelling as it costs them high amount of money
and this can be considered as a weakness for this organisation. London tourism has identified this
weakness and they are planning to provide low rate packages to tourists so that they can travel
with affordable price. Bangkok is the favourite place for youngsters to spend their holidays and
this place is using low pricing strategy for its customers which are easily affordable by them.
Helps in knowing long term goals- An effective planning will help in understanding the
long term goals of an organisation and its scope at the same time. It also helps in evaluating how
these goals can be achieved by applying various strategies such as different promotional tools
and techniques. For instance London Tourism uses both online and offline promotions measures
in order to promote its destination at global level (Litvin and Romo, 2019). Tourists are attracted
towards culture and traditions of India which makes this country one of the top rated tourist

place. This place understands its long term goals by creating various advertising and promotional
campaigns to enhance more tourism.
Critical Evaluation
The planning principles of destination marketing helps to identify the budgetary
resources and funds which an enterprise requires to formulate activities in an appropriate way.
When a proper market plan is prepared, than it provides basis for overall activities of promotion
and distribution. It helps in analysing the resources which are requires for different tourism
activities, and also helps in understanding the internal and external environment. It also helps in
understanding the market as well as customers and offers services in accordance to the current
market position and customer behaviour.
TASK 2
P2. Key elements of destination advertising campaigns
These campaigns are conducted to promote a product or services through using different
type of media such as television, radio, print and other online platforms. The key elements of any
campaign include the target audience, content of campaign or destination, extra features or offer
and all other promotional and distribution activities. The main objective of destination
advertisement campaign is to attract maximum numbers of customers A range of promotional
campaigns for different destinations are described below (Jovicic , 2019).
Range of promotional campaign examples for different destination
Adventure destinations- These destinations or trips are full of excitement and new
experience but are at same time they are too dangerous and demands a great physical strength. It
includes a range of thrill and exciting vacations on mountains and oceans. The advertising
campaign for adventure destination are mainly faced on thrill and excitement one get from that.
For e.g. “Fill your heart” is a campaign lunched by Tourism Ireland which is the first ever
global advertisement campaign which has made use of heart rate data to measure the level of
excitement of customers. They had made use of custom made technology during holiday in
Ireland that tracked or measures physiological response of various experience and used that data
to make a footage which is used for promotion and advertising. This campaign is quite successful
as it makes a heart-warming effect on customers through combining story telling with
technology (Seven of the best travel and tourism marketing campaigns from 2018, 2019).

Pilgrimage destination- These destinations are mainly a trip or journey for moral or
spiritual significance. The main objective of pilgrimage is to get inner peace and spiritual
awakening which provide a moral experience and expansion in knowledge about self, others,
natures and other immortal aspects of life. Marketing campaign for this type of destination is
made through interactive website providing content about spiritual powers and shrines or temples
that encouraged devotee for visit for their own spiritual benefits. IRCTC has launched a
Buddhist Circuit Tourist train which provides an 8 day journey and an enriching experience to
customers. This is a part of market campaign as in this train has solved the problem of travelling
and provide a comfortable trip covering all important places related with life of Buddha in both
India and Nepal thus, it attract a large number of visitors who wants to gain more calm,
Optimistic and understanding of humanity and nature thus, this marketing champaign is
successful in meeting its objective (Pilgrimage Destinations for Buddhist Tourist, 2019).
Family destination- These destination trips are for family person who wants to spend
their vacation and free rime with family to develop better bonding and love. It includes places
like national parks, resorts, Disney world, etc. The campaign for family destination includes such
key points which focus on needs of all members of a family which include children, youngsters
and aged people also. For e.g. “Healthy ever after” campaign was started by Disney to inspire
families and children to eat healthily and exercise more regularly. These campaign of Disney
includes hooking up with mums and dads into films and advertisement to promote its beautiful
destination with a strong message for kids to live healthy (10 examples of great Disney
marketing campaigns, 2019).
The similarity between all the campaign is that all are focused towards attracting more
customers and highlights the main features the destinations. Use of technology and creativity is
also common in all campaign like use of custom technology is made to measure hearts beats and
many creative technology are used in Buddhist Circuit Tourist train to provide comfortable
journey (San Martín, Herrero and García de los Salmones, 2019).
Contrast of key elements of advertising campaign
Basis Adventure destinations Pilgrimage destination Family destination
Target audience For adventure
destinations target
audience of marketing
Target audience for
pilgrimage market
campaign are mainly
Marketing campaign of
family destination focus
on complete families

campaign are mainly
youngsters who are more
energetic for having
thrill.
aged people who are
searching for peace and
wants to get relaxation.
thus, it include needs
and demands of all age
group.
Content The content of this
marketing campaign
mainly includes
information about
thrilling and adventures
places and experience.
Marketing campaign of
this type of destination
mainly includes
knowledge about birth
and death place of saints
and information about
beautiful temples and
monuments.
Content of family
destination mainly
includes cartoon
character to attract kids
and also provide some
morale information to
attract mothers and dads
of kids (Ben Youssef,
Leicht and Marongiu,
2019).
Digital marketing tools plays an important role in promoting a campaign of a destination .
Social media and online website are used for these campaign of Pilgrimage destination as they
provide a wide channel for promotion of spiritual information. These digital media can be used
for advertising of beautiful and attractive monuments and temples.
TASK 3
P3. Digital Marketing Tools
Digital marketing tools are the techniques of promotions and advertising of certain
products and services particularly by using internet technologies. Most of the organisations uses
digital promotions in order to promote its goods and services as it the fastest mode of promotion
and covers large number of customers. In destination advertising, this mode of advertising plays
an important role as it makes customers all over the world aware about a particular location. For
promoting and advertising London, following tools are used-
Social Media Marketing- This form includes the usage of social media platforms for
promoting products or services. This can be considered as the most popular form of promotions
and advertising. Destination advertising uses this form by connecting with audience for building

up brand which results in enhancing sales. For instance, Buffer can be considered as a social
media tool which helps in achieving success to a large extent. London has created a page on
social media applications such as twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and so on in order to promote its
destination all over the world (Kozak, 2019).
Google Analytics- It can be defined as a web analytics that is offered by Google which
helps in tracking and reporting website traffic. It can be considered as a significant tool for
promotion in a digital way, webmasters and SEO analyst. For understanding the effectiveness of
digital promotional campaign, for reviewing performance of SEO, and in finding out the level of
interaction of users with company's new website, google analytics tool is utilised. This tool is
used for promoting and advertising London as a luxurious tourism place.
E-mail Marketing- It can be defined as an act of sending a message that is commercial
that is particularly for a people by utilising email. In this sense, each email that is sent to a
current and potential customer can be determined as an email advertising . It is one of the
commonly used digital promotional tool as it establishes a healthy and direct relationship
between marketer and customer. A marketer need to form an appropriate email that must attract
its customers and it helps in capturing the attention of audience to a large extent (Bigne, Ruiz and
Curras-Perez, 2019).
Content Marketing- This is one of the popular digital promoting tool that helps in
promoting and advertising a particular good or service. It focuses upon to create, publish and
distribute content for target audience online. There are various content promoting tools for
advertising and promoting a specific destination such as destination guides, vacation planner,
local magazines, airline publications, worldwide travel publications, hotel publications, stories
for hotel, and so on.
The way in which these tools helps in promoting tourism in London
Tourism organisations of London uses in-depth audience research and insight and digital
engagement for its destination advertisement. London is considered as one of the leading leisure
destination and thus it uses these digital advertising tools in order to promote it as follows-
 It has an official website named visitlondon.com that enables it to build up various
communities all over the world. In 2017, a mobile friendly application named Visit
London App is launched for guiding and supervising all over the city (Pestana, Parreira
and Moutinho, 2019).

 It also optimises its commerce by generating and using social media platforms for
making promotional efforts which is accessible, engaged and covers large number of
audience.
 With using social media techniques, it will be easy for people to understand and
determine changes properly. There is complete and specific information with youngsters
about new place of travelling. Apart from this there will information about London to
consumers and change in their demand as well.
 e- mail marketing is one of the important factor because this communicates personally
with consumers and provide information about discounts and offers to consumers. This
makes long term relations with consumers and provide appropriate information about
London promotion.
TASK4
P4. Role and Services of DMO
A destination marketing organisations are such companies that are responsible to promote
a community as an attractive travelling destination which enhances its public image as an
appropriate place to visit, work or live. It plays an important role for long term development of a
specific destination by formulating an effective and appropriate tourism and travelling strategy.
They help in overseeing, creating and implementing these campaigns and doing
promotion in order to inspire visitors for visiting their destination (Stalmirska, Whalley and
Fallon, 2019). It also helps in advocating increase investment for enhancing the experience of
travellers. There are various roles that are played by destination advertising organisations which
are explained in detail as follows-
Creating a Tourism Marketing plan- The basic role played by destination marketing
organisation is to create an effective and proper tourism market plan for promoting a particular
destination and for attracting large number of tourists. Without an effective planning, the goals of
an organisation cannot be achieved. It will help in mapping out step to step procedure towards
success and generate strategies in accordance. For a destination like London, there are various
DMO that helps in developing an effective plan to promote this destination. With creating plan,
it will be easy for travel operator to understand and determine what has to be done and activities

will be performed in sequential manner. There is complete and specific information with team
mates regrading completion of task.
Building a platform on social media sites- Another role played by DMO is to build
platform on social media sites that helps in promoting a specific location by attracting large
number of audience. It requires an effective digital promotional team that can use social media
application to promote and develop various products and services. This will not only cover
national audience but it also helps in covering international audience. This will increase the
number of visitors in that particular destination (Hanna and Rowley, 2019). Social media sites is
used by majority of people in current market, hence it is not possible for people to understand
and communicating with them to understand and provide complete information. With use of
social media, there will ease in determining and understanding best ways to understand properly.
Promotion and advertising- The basic role and service which is played by DMO is to
promote and advertise a particular destination and location among various people. There is an
official website named visitlondon.com and a mobile application named visit London that helps
in making visitors aware about the culture and heritage of London It uses various promotional
activities to promote this destination among visitors such as online promotion and by developing
various promotional campaigns. It has also used various social media applications such as
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and so on in order to promote this destination among tourists.
Promotion and advertisement is also important for management of activities as it makes easy to
communicate with other people about changes which are taking place. There is requirement of
change in activities as well because this is the best way through which operations are
communicated which is easy through DMO.
Indulge in Market Research- Another key role played by DMO is to do market research
and analysis of a specific destination. Than it uses the information received from this market
research in formulating advertising plans and strategies for promoting a specific destination. This
market research helps this organisation in knowing what are the needs, wants and preferences of
customers. London is a luxurious place to visit and it requires high amount of expense which is
not easily affordable by international visitor. For this purpose, these DMO can form some
affordable and budget friendly trips to these people (Saraniemi and Komppula, 2019). Marketing
research is also possible with DMO because this is the way through which operations are

performed as per current market requirement. There is change in activities which activities are
not as per current market.
P5. Challenges faced by DMO
DMO are the companies that are responsible in order to promote and advertise specific
destination and locations among customers. It helps in enhancing the public image of a particular
location and destination. But at the same time, there are certain challenges which are faced by
DMO which includes-
Adopting to Technical changes- The basic challenge which can be faced by DMO
organisations is the challenge of adapting to technical changes prevailing in an environment. It
became difficult for an organisation to adapt to these changes which makes it difficult for them
to promote a specific destination in market. For e.g. Reve Tourism Marketing is facing it
difficult to adopt random technical change but efforts are made to keep a balance between
technical change and revenue required for meting those change (Kumar and Nayak, 2019). DMO
can not accept changes which are taking place in current technology due to which operations are
not in lieu of determining and evaluating properly.
Competitors- Another challenge that is faced by this organisation in destination
promotions is large number of competitor. Number of organisation are continuously increasing
in destination market thus, this sector is becoming extremely competitive in worldwide. Reve
Tourism Marketing is facing tough competition from tour and travels of UK. For facing this high
level of competition this enterprise is making use of several technique and strategies to
differentiate their services from other. Advertisement and promotional strategies of Reve
Tourism are focused on keeping a balance between strategic objective of all stakeholders as well
as also focused on sustainable use of resource for creating better social image in minds of
customers, which makes it better and superior than other competitors.
Threat of Terrorism- Destination marketings is facing biggest threats from terrorism as
safety and protection of customers is the responsibility of a destination advertising orientation.
Increasing in terrorist attacks creates a fear in customers which will ultimately reduce number
customers for an organisation. Reve Tourism try their best to select a safe destination for its
customers and also providing training to its staff to meet situation of crises and danger.
Terrorism is one of the important and significant issue which society is facing, in order to dela

with it, destination marketing arises issues associated with it. This is the threat which is affecting
social and cultural growth and development.
Risk of natural calamity- Natural disasters are also creating a threat for DMO as it also
creates a risk on life of customers. Clients like to enjoy their holidays in natural environment but
at such place risk of floods, earthquake, landslide, etc., is much higher and no one have control
on such events. Reve Tourism is conducting timely research to know about chances of natural
calamity and timely preventive actions are also taken to safeguard customers from such threats
(Al-Ansi and Han, 2019). In case of natural calamity, performance of DM will not be specific
and easy. This is the issue which can not be predicted and does not give any intimations, hence
operations is not possible properly.
CONCLUSION
From this assignment it can be concluded that, destination marketing plays an important
role in promotion of a destination like any city other historical or beautiful place. There are many
principles of market planning which used to meet the objectives of destination advertising
through providing better understanding customers and market. Different types of marketing
campaign are used for different type of destination like adventure, family, etc. having some
similar objectives but different key elements. There is different digital promotional tool like
social media, e-mails, google activity which are used for better promotion of destination. DMO
plays a important role in creating tourism and promotion of destination to attract more
customers. Many challenges are also faced by DMO like large number of competitors, threat of
terrorism, etc.

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