Evaluating Destination Marketing: Campaigns, Tools, and DMO Challenges

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of destination marketing, focusing on the application of marketing planning principles to attract visitors to destinations like London. It evaluates the effectiveness of various marketing strategies, including the use of digital marketing tools and the key elements of destination marketing campaigns, such as family and adventure destinations. The report examines the roles and services of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and assesses the challenges they face in promoting destinations, offering recommendations for improvement. The analysis includes case studies and examples from companies like Only Travel Marketing, highlighting the importance of digital marketing, social media, and target market identification in achieving strategic objectives and increasing profitability within the competitive tourism market. The report concludes with insights into how DMOs can overcome challenges to enhance destination appeal and drive tourism.

UNIT 26
DESTINATION
MARKETING
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Table of Contents
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Evaluate principals of marketing planning supports marketing of destination.....................3
1.1.1 Critically evaluate effectiveness of applying principals of marketing planning to market
a destination................................................................................................................................4
1.1.2 Critically evaluate importance of applying principle of marketing planning process to
gain strategic objectives..............................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Key element range of destination marketing campaign........................................................5
2.1.1 Compare and contrast key elements of range of destination marketing............................6
2.1.2 Critical evaluate marketing campaign for specific destination and use of digital
marketing tools............................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Review different digital marketing tools used for promotion...............................................7
3.1.1 Critically evaluate effectiveness of digital marketing tools...............................................9
3.1.2 Valid recommendation for improving digital marketing.................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Examine role and services of DMOs..................................................................................10
4.2 Assess challenges faced by DMOs in marketing destinations............................................11
4.1.1 Critically analyse challenges faced by DMOs.................................................................12
4.1.2 Provide recommendations and solutions to overcome challenges...................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
Destination marketing refers to that in which companies can promote and advertise the
destination to attract the potential customers for enhancing the number of visitors that can
effectively admire to travel the different location and enjoy their life. It is a range of public and
private enterprises that can offer the leisure, special tourism and international representation to
their customers so that high profit margin is to be gain. It is based London based destination
marketing consultancy that conducts a seminar in which several destinations marketing
companies are to be invited. It includes Only Travel Marketing that is a leading destination
marketing company in London along with its operations in around 40 countries. This report
considered London as a destination because it is one of the best places where number of people
wants to visit and spend their leisure time. This study includes the principle of marketing
planning, various promotional campaign through the digital media etc. are to be considered.
Further it explains the roles and services of DMO and also the challenges that they can face in
marketing destinations (Marasco and et. al., 2018).
TASK 1
1.1 Evaluate principals of marketing planning supports marketing of destination
It includes the several factors that an organisation can focus that the time of advertising
their services and products related to destination. Several destinations marketing companies can
adopt the use of principle of marketing plan process that includes the 4 Ps for promoting their
destination places. For examine destination marketing effectively, this report chosen United
Kingdom and so on that demonstrate below:
Principle of marketing planning process
 Setting the marketing budget- It is very essential principle of marketing planning which
reflects the marketing budget of services from which customers can buy it. In this
commission, cost related to old customers and the children etc. are to be included. In this
destination marketing consultancy can highly focus on the Online Travel Marketing and
their policies related to booking and cancellation policies so that customers cannot face
any issues. In this travel beat can highly focus on their rival company’s price so that they
can set effectively the price of the services that can attracts the number of visitors. This is
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very effective for the company to attract the number of customers with their place so that
they can enjoy the large number of profits and revenues for a longer period of time. It is
very essential for the destination marketing companies to find the effective place where
they can easily analyse the customers taste and requirements related to travel. For
instance- Only Travel Marketing adopts social media tool to attract number of customers
and offering information regarding different places of London along with services
available with their price(Kozak and Buhalis, 2019).
 Service provided by DMO to customers within specific destination -In organisation,
product is an essential part that reflects as a integration of goods and services which helps
the customers within tourism to get effectively experience. It includes facilities and
standards that can offer the quality of services to the customers. For instance- Only
Travel Marketing focus on offering leisure accommodation facilities, foods and drinks in
all over the UK, London and most of the related UK area. Along with providing guidance
to visitors where they travel in London. It is highly essential to advertise importance
information to people related to services and products. The company can set the unique
proposition in selling that can helpful in gaining competitors. It is significant for service
industry to fulfil the customer demand(Bastiaansen and et. al., 2018).
 Identifying the target market- It is another marketing planning process that helps the
company to gain the large base of customer attraction so that high profits can be enjoyed.
For instance- Online Travel marketing can adopts the use of social media, public relation,
personal selling etc. to promote UK destinations mainly London that also helps in
creating awareness and gains the visitors attention effectively and efficiently. To target
the market is crucial principle for promoting the services to customer.
By using the above marketing planning process Online Travel Marketing can appropriately
make their plans so that more and more customers are to be attracted and firm will gain their
profit margins.
1.1.1 Critically evaluate effectiveness of applying principals of marketing planning to market a
destination
From above analysis it is reflected that there are several factors and in this organisation
can highly emphasis fulfils their marketing plan appropriately. A principle of marketing planning
is an effective framework if it is implemented properly. It helps company to marketing a specific
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destination in people within society. For example- LONDON is one of a leading destination that
attracts people attention in the entire world. Companies who promote specific destination focus
on implementing marketing principles strategies so that large base of people is attracted to visit
the place. For Instance- For Online Travel marketing it is very essential to follow all the rules
and principles effectively so that high profitable results can be enjoyed. In this firm can examine
the competitors so that principles of marketing planning process can be applied successfully.
This would help in easily segmenting, targeting and positioning the business enterprise within
marketplace. In this they can develop the strategy related to multichannel and for this develops
the budget so that marketing process can effectively applied. In this firm will appropriately
review the plan and measuring their candidate’s performance so that control and corrective
actions can be taken accordingly and due to this goals can be attained proficiently.
1.1.2 Critically evaluate importance of applying principle of marketing planning process to gain
strategic objectives
From above analysis it is to be critical analysed that the principle of marketing planning
is very important for the destination marketing company because without it organisation cannot
survive within the marketplace and also gain the higher profits and revenues. Those businesses
focus on promoting destinations to people also got an opportunity to build strong relation with
market people who visit places in LONDON that also helps in enhances economy of LONDON
in positive manner.
TASK 2
2.1 Key element range of destination marketing campaign
Destination marketing campaign refers to a prominent term that is very significant to
provide the several advices to the marketers related to managing the company profits and
revenues so that it would be developed effectively. It includes the key elements of the
destination marketing campaign that helps in gaining the customers attraction and due to
this firms will enjoy the success and large market size(Önder, Gunter and Gindl, 2020). It
can be shown below:
 Family destination- It represents the family tour packages to the visitors who want to
spend their leisure time with family members, friends and relative. This terms includes
the destinations such as resorts, Disney world, amusement park, national heritage and
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many more that can helpful to attracts the family visitors. All these places help the
customers to spend their quality time with their family and develop their personal relation
effectively. In case of Online Travel marketing, they can focus on offering the family trip
to their customers on amusement park, national park, resorts and in this they gain higher
profits and it also helps in smoothness in satisfying customer’s demands effectively.
(Okumus and Cetin, 2018).
 Adventure destination- It reflects to those destinations which are only suitable for
friends group, a single person as it is dangerous in nature but also very amazing and
attractive where a person can experience the thrilling experience and develops the high
memory which is not forgettable. In this destination companies can take proper
precautions related to the visitor’s life. The destination is mainly Dark palace like Bart's
Pathology Museum, mountain climbing, risky hilly area etc. For example- Ireland
Tourism campaign was filled with filled your heart that is very amazing to attract the
large number of customers. In this they can assure that visitors cannot face any issue
related to the adventure place. Due to this it is become a popular event within the world
(Ben Youssef, Leicht and Marongiu, 2019).
2.1.1 Compare and contrast key elements of range of destination marketing
Basis Family destination Adventure destination
Content The content of this destination
marketing campaign includes
the data and information
related to classic, enjoying and
family based locations in
which they includes the
knowledge related to exploit
locations etc.
In this content is based on the
adventure and thrilling with
the use of animation
characters which is not for
children.
Potential customer This campaign can attracts the
family personand focus on
fulfils their demands and
needs to the all age group
peoples(Zhang, Cheung and
This type of campaign mainly
targets the single person that
represents chilling adventure,
lot of fun, adventure when
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Law, 2018). they visit some destinations.
From above research it is analysed that there are several destinations which is different as
pr their function, design and story for every people. Focusing on destinations at the time of
thinking travelling to the person because the destination marketing campaigns helps the visitors
to take their choices and it will reflect the contrasting situation because it can represent the both
the offers for a person that can satisfy their needs as per their needs.
2.1.2 Critical evaluate marketing campaign for specific destination and use of digital marketing
tools
It is analysed that the marketing campaign is very prominent for gaining customers
attention. For example- Ireland Tourism and Online Travel marketing can highly focus on
offering the adventure destination to their customers that are Dark forest within London which is
highly adventurous for the people and in this company can focus on attracting the single or
friends groups that are young. In this social media play a major role to attract the large base of
customers within small period of time. For Instance- LONDON is one of a destination where
number of visitors is visit to enjoy their leisure time. In this company focus on marketing
campaign by using Google analytics and social media tool as per targeted audience so that they
would attracted towards it.
For attracting family destination marketing
companies focus on using social media tool
and several other marketing campaigns to
attracts number of families. It also helps in
contributes in GDP of the LONDON.
To attracts adventure destination in LONDON,
companies focused on adopting virtual reality
and Google analytics tool so that number of
group of people are attracted towards it that
helps in achieving high profit marketing to
companies.
TASK 3
3.1 Review different digital marketing tools used for promotion
In today’s business environment digital marketing is very prominent tool to promote and
attracts the customers, spreading awareness related to products and services by the
company to gain the high amount of profits and revenues. Digital marketing tool is playing
a significant role in advertising the destination on international market. To promote the
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several destinations within London destination companies can adopts the several tools that
can provide the profitable results and gaining the high base of visitors. Some digital
marketing tools can be shown below:
 Social media tool-It is one of the significant methods to promote the sales of the
company and also develops the relations with the customers. It also helps in
offering the direct contact with the customers that will increase the companies’
morale. For example- Social media is enhancing rapidly and it will majorly help the
destination marketing companies like Travel beat where they can helps in
promoting the Buckingham Palace so that they can develop their customer base and
get high research related to customer’s preferences. Many organisations can use
this tool to get high profits(Jin and Cheng, 2020).
 Google analytics-It reflects as a web analytics services that is offered by the
Google for tracking and report the website traffic. This helps the visitors to get high
details related to companies and their services. For instance- In this Travel Beat,
London can adopts this tool to attracts the customers and creating awareness related
to Buckingham Palace so that visitors can develops their insights to visit and enjoy
their travel in that place.
 E-mail marketing-This method includes the sending mails to the potential and
targeted customers for promoting the destinations within marketplace. For instance-
Online Travel marketing can focus on delivering mails that helps the customers to
get several knowledge regarding the destination i.e. Buckingham Palace and enjoy
their leisure time. This will helps in gaining high profits and large customer base to
organisation (Avila-Robinson and Wakabayashi, 2018).
Destination marketing plays a variety of role in promoting the destination like London that are
presented below:
 Information transfer- It is one of the best role of digital marketing in tourism industry
because it helps in transferring the information related to destination to the people who
are highly effective for attracting large base of customers.
 Time- It is another role that digital marketing plays. Using this technique helps
destination agency and customer in terms of saving time. With the help of digital
marketing in which several tools are to be used such as social media, Google analytic
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etc.customer cannot travel the hotel or destination to examine. With the help of digital
marketing tools they eventually examined the destination. For instance- Only travel
marketing company provides destination tour to customer in London to examine the
London location effectively customer use social media tool, Google analytic etc,
In destination marketing people attraction is highly important and it can be analysed by using a
social proof theory of digital marketing tool. This theory is used by Online travel marketing for
promoting their services to particular destination i.e. LONDON to their customers. This theory
can present below:
Social proof theory:
User generated content- In this people who visit the LONDON in their vacation upload
photos, content, videos on social media that indirectly promote the destination and helps in
attracting number of people towards it. This helps Online Travel marketing to gain profits by
attracting number of customers.
Sharing buttons and sharing counter- In this people and Destination Company can
share the content, pictures, graphics related to places in LONDON. If any person visit the blog
they see and share it with their family and friend and develop plan to visit LONDON for enjoy
leisure time. This helps Online Travel marketing to gain more customers base who visit
LONDON and this helps in generating high profits.
3.1.1 Critically evaluate effectiveness of digital marketing tools
It is critically evaluated that the destination marketing companies are highly engaged in
promoting their services with the help of several promotional tools that are shown above to get
the high image and earn high profits and revenues. This helps in enhancing the brand image of
destination marketing companies within London, LONDON and due to this high profits can be
enjoyed by organisation. These digital tools also helps in saving the cost and time of the
companies due to which they can effectively focus on the several other decision making related
to products and services that a company can offers to their customers. At the same time using
these digital tools can also enhance the competitors of the firms due to which organisations can
face major issues in earning higher profits.It is also difficult to small size destination marketing
companies to compete in digital world with larger enterprises.
Social media- face book E-mail marketing
It is critically evaluated that many destination It is evaluated that e-mail marketing is another effective
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companies like one travel marketing use the digital tool
such as social media where people spend much of their
time to search, talk to each other. It helps DMO to
attract number of customers towards specific
destination. In terms of online travel marketing manager
adopts this marketing tool so that number of people gets
their services and firm enjoyed more profits. For
instance- now a day’s people show their personal life on
social media by using Face book where they upload
their pictures of vacations, destination etc. That helps in
attracting number of people towards particular location.
In recent time most people are visited LONDON that
helps online travel marketing to attract customers for
LONDON destination. And earn high amount of
profitable result.
This tool is performing the role of attracting customers
towards London because with the help of social media
customers easily analyse the London location.
digital marketing tool that is adopted by destination
companies. This tool helps companies to target the customers
who visit places to explore and enjoy their life. In case of
online travel marketing company adopt this digital marketing
tool to promote the LONDON destination to their targeted
customers so that high amount of profits is attained.
This digital marketing tool is useful to provide information
about the London to customers by Only Travel marketing.
This helps in attracting large number of customers towards
particular destination in UK.
Hence it is proved that digital marketing tools are very attractive for travel companies who offer
service on destination to number of customers.
3.1.2 Valid recommendation for improving digital marketing
From the above analysis it is to be recommended the several solutions for improving the
digital marketing within destination marketing organisation. In this firm will highly focus on
researching the market where they can develop the high knowledge regarding the digital
technology available within marketplace. Provide proper training to their employees so that they
can effectively use the digital marketing tools can enhance the base of consumers. To improve
digital marketing DMOs mainly concentrate on the technology updating so that high profitability
results are attained by tourist organisation in their long term survival.
TASK 4
4.1 Examine role and services of DMOs
Destination marketing companies are those who offers the varieties of services to the
people of society to visit the several places and enjoy the vacations and leisure with their
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loved one effectively. This will helps in gaining the high profits and revenues. It reflects
the roles and services of the DMOs that can be shown below:
 Develops tourism marketing plan- It is the major role that a destination
marketing companies can play. In this they can prepare a marketing plan that is
highly based on attracting the large customer base and enhancing the high profit
margin. For instance- Within London, LONDON there are several companies such
as Travel Beat, Online Travel Marketing etc. who prepare the marketing plan so
that they can effectively advertise the destination within the customer mind(Pike,
Kotsi and Tossan, 2018).
 Advertising and promotion- For offering the services to customers DMOs can
adopts the use of advertising and promotion. For creating awareness within the
marketplace destination marketing companies can focus on adopting the several
promotional tools for creating the awareness related to specify destination so that
more and more customers are to be attracted towards it. Within London company
called Visitlondon.com can helps the visitors to gain the high knowledge regarding
the goods and services so that customers can enjoy their trip. This website can
helpful to promote the culture within London via the use of social media tools that
are Facebook, Instagram etc. This type of services is to be offered by the DMOs.
 Satisfying the demands of customers-Another role and services that a destination
marketing organisations can perform is to offers the services to their consumers
according to their perceptions and desires. This will helps in gaining high returns.
In this market research is very effective tool for this firm will hire a experience
holder to effectively understand the customer taste and mood related to destination
so that offering that destination palace for spending their leisure time with full of
memories. For instance- LONDON is a destination hub that attracts number of
visitors to visit for this companies need to focus on campaigning their food,
services and many more where visitors visit. This is also beneficial for the
organisation to gain higher profits and revenues(Eletxigerra, Barrutia and
Echebarria, 2018).
 Developing platforms on social media websites- Another role and service that a
DMOs can play is to manage the companies by enhancing the education and
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awareness in the people related to the destinations. In this Social media play a
major role related to destination and to develops the customer base firm will highly
focus on developing their social media profile. In this they can includes the several
information spreading the destination place, environment and their culture so that
customers can take buying decision on the basis of it.
4.2 Assess challenges faced by DMOs in marketing destinations
Destination marketing companies can promote the several locations to target the large
number of audience and gain high amount of profits and revenues by providing the high class
services to their visitors so that they would retain with the firm(Tung, Lee and Hudson, 2019). In
this firms are also working for developing the high customer relations and enhancing the brand
image of a specific destination within market and in customer mind as in amazing manner.
promoting the several services related to destination marketing, companies can face major
challenges that can be reflected below:
 Technology advancement- In today’s environment technology is changing very fastly
and it is very difficult for the DMOs to make the use of this technology in their services
frequently at reasonable price because it will involve high cost and time in taking into
consideration. Now days an individual is highly attractive for innovative things that helps
in attracting the large number of visitors. For example- Online Travel Marketing can face
the issue of adopting the advanced technology because in this they need high financial
resources that will negatively affect the profit margin and operating cost of the
company(Woyo and Slabbert, 2019).
 Natural climate- It leads a major challenge for DMOs at the time of marketing a specific
destination to people. Due to natural calamities visitors cannot visit destination. These
calamities includes tsunami, earthquake etc. That de-motivates people to visit that
particular place. It creates difficulty to Destination Company to promote destination in
LONDON. For example- If there is natural calamity occur in destination place like –
flood, fires etc. than organisations are not able to promote the destination and it also
impact negative on profits because people cannot visit that place(Chen, King and Lee,
2018).
 Competitors –In every business industry competitors play a major role and due to this
firm can loose their profit margin. In destination marketing, organisations can face the
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