Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
not the DMO (destination marketing organization), or the fact that the industry increasingly
fi nds itself on the receiving end of negative or biased information generated by consumers and
posted on websites such as TripAdvisor, the role of consumer to consumer (C2C) generated
communications through social media and other online channels, often referred to as user
generated content (UGC), is radically reorienting the power balance in marketing com-
munications in favour of customers. The advent of digitally-accessed, large scale, anonymous
information on the Internet has created a new set of questions concerning Electronic Word-of-
Mouth (eWOM). The consequences for tourism marketers cannot be underestimated. In fact,
the purpose of marketing has recently come into question, prompting industry bodies such as
the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the Academy of Marketing (annual conference
2013) in the UK to address and highlight marketing's organizational relevance in the global
economic downturn.
This situation also begs a number of crucial questions about the role of marketing and the
position of tourism marketing research within the academy. Tourism marketing research can be
described as at best patchy, with little emphasis on many mainstream marketing topics, especially
concerning the fi eld of marketing communications. There has perhaps been too much focus on
measuring the effi ciency and effectiveness of tourism marketing - and not enough on the
consumer's contexts (situational factors, attitudes towards a range of media, prior knowledge,
processing goals, processing outcomes) or from the industry perspective on integrated marketing
communications strategies, drivers of channel strategy decisions, agency analyses and so on.
This chapter provides a review of research in the fi eld of tourism marketing communications.
The review demonstrates that the application of marketing communications concepts and
practices has received only partial coverage in the tourism marketing literature. The
chapter fi rst
defi nes and positions marketing communications, relating to tourism marketing concepts, issues
and research. The chapter then outlines issues relating to tourism marketing communications as
a basis to identify research avenues and gaps for future research. Five key areas for further research
are highlighted: inter and intra-sectoral comparative studies; information search processing;
gender and social demographics; WOM; and trust and credibility issues.
Defi ning marketing communications: contemporary issues
Marketing communications essentially concerns the aspects of marketing strategy dealing
with provision of information to the various publics of the organization. Although it can most
readily be associated with the micromarketing aspects of the promotional mix, marketing
communications essentially brings a strategic approach to
all
information originating from and
being received by the fi rm/organization, including: potential and actual customers, suppliers,
shareholders, wider publics, the media. It is more correctly associated by the integration
of advertising and public relations functions. Thinking about communications as a strategic
function allows fi rms to focus attention on the longer term and the role that branding plays in
representing the values and aims of the organization (McCabe 2009). Communications therefore
form a vital part of the marketing strategy of the organization.
In the contemporary environment, dominated by social media engagement and the increased
power of consumers as generators of information about destinations as well as other tourism
brands, marketing communications has become a focal strategic issue, encompassing not only
how the brand is presented to the target audience through advertising, but incorporating
reputation management and customer engagement. The speed of change brought about
by the infl uence of social media as a communications channel has meant that the fi eld of
marketing communications faces the most dramatic change (Keller 2001). It is now common
