Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to think about marketing communications as more concerned with 'communicating with' rather
than 'promoting to' audiences.
However, this claim cannot be made of all tourism organizations. The high value, high
involvement end of the spectrum is just one type of tourism after all, in which customers need
a great deal of emphasis on personal interactions. The low-value, low-involvement business
models such as those adopted by low cost airlines often mean that communications is
more concerned with promotion, to the extent that it can be diffi cult to interact personally
with any member of the fi rm, either face to face in the context of service interaction or via
social media (Irish low cost airline Ryanair is perfect example - with no social media presence,
no customer service department, no means of contacting the organization presented through
the website).
The numbers of media channels are increasing at a rapid rate, not only via the Internet, but
also via traditional channels (i.e. the range of TV channels carrying advertising, the numbers of
print publications - although the numbers of regional and local newspapers may be falling)
leading to a highly fragmented and cluttered media environment. However, consumers'
engagement with marketing is also changing. Consumers switch TV channels, fast-forward
through TV ads (enabled via on demand services), use ad-blockers, spam-blockers and caller
ID to block unwanted messages, meaning that the old interruption marketing model has
suffered. This has led to a massive increase in the incidence of 'outdoor' as well as the adoption
of guerrilla marketing techniques, sponsorship and increasingly sophisticated ways in which to
involve customers in the communications process (including games and interactive marketing).
Sources of trust are also shifting (Smith and Zook 2011). User-generated travel information
posted on websites such as user reviews, video and photo-sharing sites, blogs etc. (Xiang
and Gretzel 2010) has gained wide acceptance by consumers such that the information is often
seen as more credible than 'authorized' sources of information (i.e. guide books and tourist
information publicity material), especially for travel due to the experiential nature of tourism
products (Yoo, Lee, Gretzel and Fesenmaier 2009).
As a result of all these changes, modern marketing strategies employ a diverse range of tools
and media. Yet marketing evaluation studies are often limited to a focus on one 'communication
option' that fails to recognize 'that an integrated marketing communication programme requires
that: 1) multiple types of communication options are employed and 2) communication options
are designed in a way to refl ect the existence and content of other communication options in
the program' (Keller 2001: 822). There are practically no studies which focus on the relative
effectiveness of a range of tools and media in infl uencing travel/tourism decisions within the
context of one campaign.
Within the fi eld of tourism, the proliferation and fragmentation of media forms and
channels has consequences for the nature of and aims for communications. Rather than being
directed towards persuasion, because of dramatic changes in the ways people access, share and
respond to information about brands, an organization needs to consider listening, informing
and reminding types of communications activities (Hughes and Fill 2007). These are just some
of the complexities associated with contemporary interpretations and usage of marketing
communications. The promotional mix might have provided the basis for fi rms to communicate
with their audiences, however due to the complex communications environment of today,
its relevance is questionable for the future, when consumers care little about the terms used to
describe the forms of communication.
Hughes and Fill argue that there are two keys developments in marketing which have changed
the emphasis away from the promotional mix to the 'Marketing communications mix' (MCM)
these being relational theory and the resource based view of the fi rm. Whilst promotional mix
