THEME VI.

THE TOURISM
DESTINATION
Contents
6.1. The tourism destination - conceptual clarifications
6.2. Life-cycle of the tourism destination
6.3. The marketing planning for a tourism destination
6.1. The tourism destination - conceptual clarifications
• The “heart” of tourism;
• The geographical place where a visitor or a
tourist stops either for a night or for a longer
period
• The “terminus” point of the vacation
• It can be a country, region, town or tourism
resort
• Represents an attraction where tourists can
spend the majority of their time
 The tourism destination
• Is characterized by complexity – it might
comprise several tourism products;
• Based on its complexity and geographic
area, we may distinguish between:
- Microdestinations
- Macrodestinations – comprise relatively
large territories, even countries, and may
include several smaller detinations
(regions, cities, resorts)
 The tourism destination
Is simultaneously:
• a PHYSICAL ENTITY, with a specific geographic location
• an intangible SOCIAL and CULTURAL entity, represented
through its inhabitants and being characterized by specific
traditions, habits, life styles, social relations
•an IMAGE created in potential consumer’s mind about
the tourism product
 The IMAGE of a destination
• It is sometimes different from the real
destination, which often leads to a
failure of tourism activity;
• May be influenced by phenomena,
myths and events that take place inside
or outside the destination’s borders;
• The marketer’s task is to decrease or
even eliminate differences between the
image and the real destination.
6.2. Life-cycle of tourism destinations
Destination LIFE-CYCLE

Source : Butler (1980)

 Destination LIFE-CYCLE
• Stage 1: Exploration
-Represents the motivation and object of the marketing research
-Research is aimed at identifying as many potentially attractive places
as possible

•Stage 2: Involvement
-Development strategies are elaborated
-Financing sources are identified
-Risks are assessed
-Infrastructure is created
 Questions
• Provide 1-2 examples of tourism destinations which are, in your opinion, in
the stage of:
- Involvement
- Development
- Consolidation
- Stagnation
- Decline
- Revival
 Destination LIFE-CYCLE
•Stage 3: Development
-Number of tourist arrivals increases
-Quality of services improves
-The destination develops a favourable image

•Stage 4: Consolidation
-Constant improvement of services becomes mandatory
-The range of services must be extended
-An adequate price policy is necessary
 Destination LIFE-CYCLE
•Stage 5: Stagnation
-The growth of tourist arrivals comes to a halt
-No further investments in quality improvement

•Stage 6: Decline/Revival– a result of substantial changes in the:

-Destination’s image
-Competition
-Natural and cultural environment
-Legal framework
Tourism destinations have SPECIFIC FEATURES:
•Rigid supply:
-Tourism attractions and infrastructure are limited
-Tourism services can only be provided in the
tourism destination
•Services are subject to customization:
-Due to the diversity of the environment and the
involvement of the staff, tourism experiences vary
greatly
-Service standardization is limited
6.3. Marketing planning for a tourism
destination
 Tourism destination marketing planning
•Due to the specific features of the destination, planning is
also very specific
•Planning comprises the following steps:
1.Assessment of existing markets and forecasting of future
markets
2.Destination audit and analysis of the destination’s
attractiveness for the target markets
3.Establishing strategic objectives and marketing mix
4.Creating an entity for the implementation of the
established objectives
5.Assessing results
Tourism destination
PLANNING
 Step 1. Assessing existing markets and
forecasting future markets
•For the assessment of existing markets, marketers use
data regarding tourism flows:
Total number of tourists arrivals
Average lenght of stay
Number of overnights
Average expenditures per tourist
 Step 1. Assessing existing markets and
forecasting future markets
Forecasting future markets:
•estimating how demand will evolve over time
•involves the use of various methods:
exploratory forecasting – based on extrapolating the results obtained
in the past
speculative forecasting – based on the conclusions of various experts
regarding the evolution of key-factors that may influence total demand
normative forecasting – based on identifying the strategies necessary
to attain the estimated level of demand
integrative forecasting – uses a combination of methods
 Step 2. The marketing audit of the
destination
The marketing audit and the analysis of the
destination’s attractiveness is performed by
providing answers to the following questions:
•Which are the destination’s resources?
•What are the expectations regarding the
destination?
•How are the destination and its attractions
presented?
 Step 2. The marketing audit of the
destination
The marketer needs to know all the
resources the destination disposes of:
•physical attractions
•socio-cultural resources (history,
folklore, literature, mass media etc.)
•general infrastructure
•tourism facilities
•etc.
 Step 2. The marketing audit of the
destination
Also involves:
•Establishing the competitive advantages of the destination
•Performing the SWOT analysis
•Analyzing the destination’s image
•Assessing how the destination is represented
 Step 3. Establishing strategic objectives

• Based on the results of the

previous analysis (Step 2),
strategic objectives will be
established
• The elements of the
marketing mix will be
discussed and determined:
Step 4. Creation of the tourism organization
• if the destination is a large area or a country, the organization
needs to dispose of sufficient resources for the prospection of
internal and external markets;
• In some cases, the role of promoting a destination may be assumed
by public entities or by public-private partnerships
 Step 5. Evaluating the results
Involves a series of stages:
•Measuring the differences between the estimated demand and the
actual demand;
•Establishing corrective measures;
•Revising objectives and strategies;
•The process will continue until the desired results are achieved.
 Questions
•Could you provide examples of tourism enterprises or other types of
organizations that exert a significant influence on the development of
tourism destinations?
•Could you provide examples of tourist destinations in Romania
where public entities have played a major role in their promotion?