1 DESTINATION MARKETING Introduction: Destination marketing particularly deals with promoting a specific destination that is a city, town or region aiming to increase the number of footfalls or visitors in that specific destination. Destination marketing can also be considered as tourism advertising which aims to promote any specific location (Pike, 2015). While product marketing aims to deliver the best product or services to the intended customers in destination marketing the travelers are promised to enjoy the best travel experience in the destination they chose to visit. Destination marketing has received so much popularity in the recent years primarily because it seems to serve beneficial both for the business purpose as well as for the customers who receive an over all aid from planning to the execution of their whole travel experience. With the changing lifestyle patterns, travelling is considered no more a luxury but a necessity to live a healthy life. Thus while choosing among the most exotic tourist destination, one cannot afford to miss out Rome. Rome unarguably retains its position to be ranked as one of the top cultural destination of Italy attracting 15.2 million tourists and 36.6 million overnight stays particularly in the year 2018 (Holden, 2016). According to the report presented by Assoturismo Confesercenti the number of tourist increased by a figure of 60,000 within a single year’s duration. Rome with its magnificent architecture, artistic appeal and romance in its air and mouthwatering delicacies has always been a prime attraction among tourists. World famous architectural sites like The Colosseum, The Vatican Museums altogether make Rome a paradise for the tourist who carve to breathe an air of art and cultural richness. Moreover Rome has an added advantage of the location as it is very well connected with other places of major tourist attraction like Florence, Pompeii, Ostia, Antica, Tivoli, many wineries, and varied other
2 DESTINATION MARKETING medieval hill towns. While the magnificent architecture and fountains will mesmerize the tourists the city is also very apt in terms of its size that is it can be easily walked and covered within a day. Therefore the tourists can plan accordingly so that they do not miss out on anything. In addition to the above mentioned points the pretty mild climate of the Rome makes it another major tourist attraction destination. Rome is also a heaven for the shoppers as it is considered as the world’s 4thmost important center for fashion in the world (Zukin, Kasinitz. and Chen, 2015). Most exclusive Italian luxury brands are found around the historic Spanish Steps shopping area. Moreover there are also various goods available which are quite cheap as well as medium priced shops and the variety is hug ranging from shoes to leather belts to bags, gloves, scarves for men women and kids as well. All in all these attributes make Rome on of the most attractive place of tourist destination and indeed makes Rome on of the top priorities for the tourism industry who intend to engage in a successful destination marketing venture.
3 DESTINATION MARKETING References: Holden, A., 2016. Environment and tourism. Routledge. Pike, S., 2015. Destination marketing: essentials. Routledge. Zukin, S., Kasinitz, P. and Chen, X., 2015. Spaces of everyday diversity: The patchwork ecosystem of local shopping streets. In Global Cities, Local Streets (pp.1-28). Routledge