Importance of Public Relations in Travel and Tourism

This report discusses the importance of public relations in the travel and tourism industry, specifically in promoting a destination. It explores the analysis of diversity of audience and how public relations can help in building a positive image of the destination. The report also includes a public relations plan for promoting tourism in Falmouth, a seaside destination in the UK.

Public Relation and
Promotion in Travel
and Tourism

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task..................................................................................................................................................3
A) Importance of public relations as a promotional tool along with the analysis of diversity of
audience..................................................................................................................................3
B) Audit of the environment of chosen destination................................................................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
A) Range of media which can be used in public relations.....................................................7
Appropriateness of the selected media...................................................................................8
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
A) Effectiveness of PR campaign and strategy which can be implemented to execute the plan
................................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Travel and tourism industry is the fastest growing industries in the world with the increase in
globalisation and easy mobilisation of people across borders for various purposes like travel,
business, leisure, recreation etc. It is very important to build strong relations with people so that
that more people can be attracted to visit the destinations of a nation which helps in building
economy of the country and also give employment opportunities to people (Beaver, A., 2005). In
this report the importance of making public relations in travel and tourism will be discussed with
respect to VisitBritain which is a national tourism agency and mainly deals in marketing Britain
worldwide which helps in building Britain’s economy due to visitors. The company has a strong
digital presence in the world which helps it in building global footprint in about countries so that
British tourism can be marketed effectively. In this report public relations and its importance will
be discussed along with making a promotional campaign for a destination. Further in the report a
plan of public relations will be formed.
Task
A) Importance of public relations as a promotional tool along with the analysis of diversity of
audience
Public relations plays an important role in making good and long term relations with the
visitors in the travel and tourism industry which helps in creating a positive image of the
destinations of country in the minds of visitors. This helps in gaining repetitive tourism
opportunity for the destinations which generates employment and adds value to the
economy of the country (Bowen, S., 2014). The tourist destination that is selected is
Falmouth which is a town on the coast of Cornwall in Southwest England. The place is
known for its deep natural harbour on the Fal Estuary and beaches like Swanpool and
Gyllyngvase. Also the place has National Maritime Museum Cornwall which is famous for
its galleries and a flotilla of model boats. The place has been well known for its natural
beauty it has to offer to its visitors but in the recent years it is facing a decline in its tourism
as more cheap destinations are emerging where many recreational activities are offered
along with sight-seeing like Thailand, Singapore, Bhutan, Maldives etc.
The travel and tourism in the selected tourist destination can be revived by building
public relations with the visitors which helps in making a strong image of it so that

promotion of the destination for further visits can be ensured. Following are the roles of
public relations:
 It helps in creating a positive brand image of the place by telecasting it on the news
and giving it a good media coverage so that the attention of visitors can be seeked.
This can be done with the help of VisitBritain which has a strong base of digital
media and can reach up to 21 countries.
 It also will help in maintaining daily basis communication with the media so that a
wide coverage of destination can be reached to a lot of potential visitors.
 Building networking with clients and organisational staff in VisitBritain.
 It also helps in preparing regular updates so that the management of VisitBritain
can be timely informed about the client meetings and reports.
 Also the role of public relation is to research about the places of the destination
which are to be given a media coverage. It also includes preparing and managing a
team so that research activities can be efficiently done.
These roles of public relations help in maintaining good image of the tourist destination which
helps in boosting the visitors of the nation. Following are the importance of public relations:
 The activities of public relations in Falmouth can help in building a strong image of the
place in the minds of target population (Butterick, K., 2011).
 The brand image of the destination will improve in the minds of the people which will
improve the positioning of the place so that the places of sight-seeing can gain attention
at a large level.
 The targets of VisitBritain which is to manipulate the minds of the tourists so that the
tourism of a destination can be increased will be achieved in an efficient manner.
 Also the importance of Falmouth as the seaside tourist destination of UK will increase
and it can compete with other cheap tourist destinations in an efficient manner
(Henslowe, P., 2003).
The people that are visiting Falmouth includes people belonging to different ages, professions,
religions, countries etc. who travel from all over the world in order to get entertained and
acknowledged about the natural beauty and cultural heritage of the destination. The current
tourists visiting Falmouth are:

 Domestic tourists: These are the people coming from nearby places like Wales,
Edinburgh etc. who travel to Falmouth for its beaches and calm environment.
 Education tourists: These are the students, tutors etc. who travel from different parts of
the world for their research and development in environmental places.
 Business tourists: These are the people usually belonging to London, Bristol etc. who
have their meetings at the beautiful resorts of Falmouth along the beaches.
Apart from the current visitors there are also potential visitors who can be encouraged to travel to
Falmouth:
 International tourists: People from all across the world can be encouraged to travel to
Falmouth by promoting the tourism of this place so that its rich culture and seaside
beauty can be enjoyed which also helps in generating revenue for the place.
 Adventure tourists: Youth are more interested in adventurous activities which challenge
their abilities to do something extraordinary. This can be done by promoting tourism in
Falmouth by increasing water sports and other activities through building strong relations
with the help of Visitbritain.
B) Audit of the environment of chosen destination
For the formulation of a public relation plan it is important to determine the type f
environment of the destination so that the strengths can be profitably used while the
weaknesses can be reduced. Further it also help in acquiring potential opportunities while
also give the chance to deal efficiently with threats so that the existence of destination can
be made successful. Following is the SWOT analysis of Falmouth:
Strengths
 The place has a rich history, culture, traditions etc. which is the pride of the local
people of the place (Jefkins, F., 2007).
 The place is also famous for its beautiful beaches which help in attracting tourists
from all across the world.
Weaknesses
 The place has a poor infrastructure and lacks connectivity which creates
inconvenience to tourists.
 The place also lacks funding which means that less development is done with
time.

Threats
 Growing trend of travelling to the South Asian places for tourism.
 Fragmenting community of the place which also fragments the culture and
traditions.
Opportunities
 Promotion of tourism can help in capturing the town’s heritage which will also
help in increasing tourism of the destination.
 Increasing inclination towards water sports also gives the place an opportunity to
increase its tourism as it is located on the seaside.
A public relation plan helps in increasing the number of tourists at the destination which helps in
its economic growth by building strong and good relations with the visitors. These objectives can
be achieved by VisitiBritain in boosting up the brand image of Falmouth by finding the potential
visitors or target audience. After this comes use of promotional techniques so that the attention of
target audience can be captured which will help in converting prospect into actual customers so
that number of visitors can increase (Public Relations. Routledge).
For maintaining good relations with the public it is important to have PR skills so that
good relation can be made with the visitors. These skills include good communication skills and
proper knowledge about the destination that is to be promoted. These elements help in providing
the tourists with correct information about the place through various sources such as media and
digital platform which will help in creating a better image of the destination. Also the use of
technological tools can help in promoting tourism like water sports, recreational activities etc.
Following is a public relation plan which can be used by VisitBritain so as to promote tourism in
Falmouth:
 Determine the target audience: It is important to identify the target customers so that
the PR activities can be targeted on that segment.
 Developing the marketing strategy: It is important to develop a marketing strategy by
using various tools so that an appropriate strategy can be used to achieve the said
objectives.

 Implementation of plan: After deciding the marketing strategy the implementation of
the strategy is done so that the message can be sent to the target audience. Various media
can be used in order to reach the target audience like TV, radio, press, digital media etc.
 Evaluation of result: It is important to evaluate the results by taking feedbacks from
public after campaigns so that improvements can be made which will help in achieving
the goals of VisitBritain (Kumar, P., 2012).
Task 2
A) Range of media which can be used in public relations
Various media channels can be used by VisitBritain in order to increase tourism in
Falmouth through making good public relations. The media which can help in effectively
delivering the message to the target audience must be chosen so that the goals and
objectives of promoting PR can be efficiently achieved. Some of these methods are
discussed as follows:
 Face to face communication: It can be done by influencing people who are
searching for destinations to travel. Promotion of Falmouth can be done by using
the word of mouth and giving the place a unique identity in the list of other
destinations. This can help in more tourists getting influenced to travel to this
seaside destination so that travel and tourism can be increased.
 Use of digital communication method: Internet is the most effective way in which
target audience can be effectively reached. Use of internet has increased among
people which increases the chance of promotion of good public relations. Social
networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram can be used to promote
Falmouth.
 Other methods: The promotion of public relations can also be done by VisitBritain
through sponsoring of Events, promotional campaigns, TV ads etc. which can help
in spreading awareness about tourism in Falmouth (Borges, B. (2009)).
The PR and media are closely related which means that for the promotion of PR media is to be
extensively used which can help in spreading awareness about the tourist destinations to the
target audience. Also it helps in proving accurate and correct information to the visitors which
can help in building strong relations with the target audience. This helps in promoting tourism of

the destination by making the people aware about the places that can be visited which can help in
giving them adventurous and thrilling experience. This also increases the economic growth of the
place along with generating employment for the local people of the area. Falmouth is seaside
destination of UK which has many natural places that are worth sight seeing. These places needs
to be promoted so that a large number of visitors can come to visit the place. For this VisitBritain
can play an important role in making strong relation with public so that good image can be built
in the viewpoint of the visitors(Johnson, J, T. and et.al., 2015).
Media is also dependent on the business as they help in making new and interesting news
which helps in increasing their viewers so that their profits also get increased. Media coverage
can thus be beneficial both to the business and the destination which will help in building good
relations with the public. Other sources that can be used are journals, TV, internet, social media
etc. which will help in attracting a large number of tourists to the place.
Appropriateness of the selected media
Media is an important source which can help in building string relations with the target
audience so that they can be influenced and travel and tourism can be promoted in the
destination. Appropriateness of the media can be ascertained by the fact that how efficient
the media is to reach the target audience, how fast can it reach to the target audience, how
many people at a time can be influenced by the media and its relevance with time. These
questions must be fulfilled so that the public relations can be built in the manner which is
desired (Quintal, A, V. and Polczynski, A., 2010).
Digital media is the best way which can be used by VisitBritain in order to reach the
target audience and communicate the information about Falmouth so that tourism can be
promoted in the place by building strong public relations. Digital media is an appropriate
channel which can help in linking the people with destination and spreading awareness
about the place so that people on international level can be attracted to visit Falmouth.
Digital media is easy to use and is very engaging which means that it is the most effective
communication channel which can help in capturing the interests of people. Social media is
the best platform which can help in gaining the attention of people so that strong relations
can be maintained. This can be done by creating pages of the destination on various social
networking sites along with posting pictures, statuses etc. of the most beautiful places of

the destination which can help in capturing the interests of target audience which can be
converted into actual customers (Yuksel, U. and Voola, R., 2010).
Digital media is a convenient source which can help in reaching the target audience
which is located in different places and at the same time. Speed of digital media is also fast
which means that a large audience can be reached in lesser time than other mediums. PR
campaign thus can get a large attention by the use of social media channel which will help
in fulfilling the targets of visitBritain which is to revive the declining tourism in Falmouth.
This will help the economy of Falmouth to increase and will also help in the development
of all the tourist destinations.
Task 3
A) Effectiveness of PR campaign and strategy which can be implemented to execute the plan
PR campaign can help in building strong relations with the general public so that their
attention can be gained which can help in building strong relations with the public. These
relations are important as travel and tourism industry is mainly related to dealing with the
public which can only be influenced by building good relations with them. Public relations
help in satisfying customers so that their experience can be enhanced which can help in
increasing the tourism opportunity of the destination. This can also help in increasing the
scope of tourism which will ultimately increase the economic growth of the destination.
Falmouth can increase tourism by maintaining strong relations with the public which will
increase tourism opportunity and will also help in the growth and development of the
place. The campaign will be effective in gaining the attention of a large number of visitors
which can help in increasing the tourism of the destination (Huang, C, Y., Backman, J, S.
and Backman, F, K., 2012). VisitBritain can help in creating awareness about Falmouth by
promoting the tourist places in Falmouth through the digital media which can help in
increasing tourism at the destination. Digital media is an effective and most efficient
platform which can be used to reach to a large number of people at a time and providing
them with information related with the place.
The strategy that can be used to implement the public relation plan is through STP which
will help in effectively gaining the attention of visitors from all across the globe so that
tourism can be increased. The STP in relation to Falmouth is given below:

 Segmentation: At this stage the huge market is divided into smaller groups who
have similar interests in the tourist destinations or want to travel to places that have
similar conditions. This helps in selecting the target audience which is to be mainly
focused in order to attract them. VisitBritain can divide all the travellers and
tourists on the basis of their taste based on likeness of a seaside tourist destination.
 Targeting: After segmentation comes targeting in which out of the small segments
a suitable market is selected in which there is heavy targeting of audience is done.
This helps in focusing on the target markets so that they can be influenced to travel
to the destination (Smith, L, V. and Font. X., 2015).
 Positioning: This focuses on attracting the customers by focusing the key features
and benefits of the tourist destination so that the visitors can be attracted to travel to
the place. In this VisitBritain can attract the customers by focusing the marketing
strategies of Falmouth so that they can be attracted to its major locations.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that public relations play an important role in
maintaining strong relations with people which can help in increasing the tourism of the
destination. It also helps in the expansion of business by promoting of the service or product.
Travel and tourism can be efficiently increased by the use of PR which will also help in
increasing the market of the destination. Promotional campaigns are efficient tools which
can be used to reach to a large number of target audience which can help in increasing
tourism in the place.

References
Books and Journals
Beaver, A., 2005. A Dictionary of Travel and Tourism Terminology.CABI.
Bowen, S., 2014. An Overview of the Public Relations Function. Business Expert Press.
Butterick, K., 2011. Introducing Public Relations: Theory and Practice. SAGE.
Henslowe, P., 2003. Public Relations. Kogan Page Publishers.
Jefkins, F., 2007. Public Relations. Routledge.
Kumar, P., 2012. Public Relations Cases. Cengage Learning.
Borges, B. (2009). Marketing: Bridging the gap between seller and buyer through social
media marketing. Tucson, AZ: Wheat mark. P 9–11
Johnson, J, T. and et.al., 2015. Factors influencing medical travel into the United States.
International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing.
Yuksel, U. and Voola, R., 2010. Travel trade shows: exploratory study of exhibitors'
perceptions. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
Huang, C, Y., Backman, J, S. and Backman, F, K., 2012. Exploring the impacts of
involvement and flow experiences in Second Life on people's travel intentions. Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism Technology.
Smith, L, V. and Font. X., 2015. Marketing and communication of responsibility in volunteer
tourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Quintal, A, V. and Polczynski, A., 2010. "Factors influencing tourists' revisit intentions",
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.