- Email: [email protected]
Destination marketing and management
RESEARCH NOTES AND REPORTS
227
from the industry and its organizations in an effort to stimulate bridging activities between them and academia. Approximately one half of the 140 participants were non-researchers and useful contacts were created. The program of the symposium as well as abstracts of most of the presentations (half in English) may be accessed through the Internet at until the end of 2001. Organized by Arvid Viken , the next symposium will be held in Norway at Finnmark College in Alta (north of the Arctic Circle), November 19±21, 1999.& Tommy D. Andersson: European Institute of Tourism Research, Etour, 831 25, Ostersund, Sweden. Email < [email protected] >. Submitted 12 February 1999. Accepted 30 April 1999.
PII: S0160-7383(99)00055-9
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 227±229, 2000 # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/99/$20.00+0.00
Destination Marketing and Management Graham M.S. Dann University of Luton, UK This bilingual conference (in Italian and English) was organized by the International Center of Studies on the Tourist Economy of the University of Ca' Foscari of Venice, Italy, and held in that city from March 15 to 16, 1999. Over 150 persons from 10 countries were in attendance, the majority, including several Masters students, being from the host country. After words of welcome from the Rector, representatives of the municipality and province, and other sponsors, the colloquium carried out its deliberations in seven stages. The ®rst session was devoted to understanding destination management, and papers were delivered by Harold Pechlaner (University of Innsbruck, Austria), Mara Manente (University of Venice), Peter Keller (International Association of Scienti®c Experts in Tourism and University of Laussanne) and (in absentia) Martin Brackenbury (International Federation of Tour Operators). Under the theme ``what do we need to know?'' a number of problems were highlighted, not least of which was the necessity to underpin best practice by research. It was thus not surprising in the discussion which followed to ®nd that theory and method were stressed, particularly as they related to the promotion of difference by destinations with similar attributes. The second session turned to the issue of management as a process by examining the positioning of destinations in the minds of consumers. While the ®rst two presentations by Ylva French (Ylva French Communications, UK) and Albert Levy in association with Lucia
228
RESEARCH NOTES AND REPORTS
Siliprandi (both of Go-Up Planner, Italy), respectively focused on the marketing of mature French and UK destinations. The third by Massimo Tochetti (AIGO, Italy) dealt with the various challenges in persuading Italians to visit the relatively new ones of Australia. Common to all three papers was the notion of changing tastes and market volatility, especially as regards age, income, and motivation. In these respects, an interesting example was that of the UK and the transference from politics to tourism of the ``Cool Britannia'' brand image. The third session continued the theme of process management by looking at the role of partnerships in organizing a destination. Under this heading there were contributions from Klaus Weiermair (LeopoldFranzens-Universitat, Austria) and Pietro Leoni (Azienda Speciale Rimini Turismo, Italy), who examined the ways that competitive advantages could be maximized by small enterprises through mergers and the sharing of goals. At the same time, it was shown how local companies could survive in the face of the rivalry posed by more experienced transnational corporations if the former pursued niche growth and diverse market entry strategies. The ®rst day concluded with a session focusing on the use of information technology to create intelligent destinations with presentations by Anne Pollock (The Pembridge Group, UK) and Arno Ebner (TIS Corporation, Austria). On this occasion the message was clearly to target the customer through a variety of media, in such a manner that information technology (IT) could also stand for intelligent tourism. It was demonstrated that small ®rms could withstand and bypass competition provided they supplied the very latest, comprehensive information to a growing clientele accessing the Internet. On the second day attention was directed to learning from experience, with two sessions concentrating on a number of illustrative case studies. One included detailed analyses of Switzerland (Christian Lasser, University of St Gallen, Switzerland), Mallorca (Javier Bustamente, Ajuntament of Calvia, Spain), and the Costa del Sol (Antonio de la Morena, Spanish Tourist Board, UK). Whereas for the Swiss authorities it seemed to be more a question of speci®cally creating marketable destinations, for the Spanish the issues were rather those of diversi®cation and rejuvenation. This last point was made most dramatically by video footage revealing the dynamiting of a number of not so ancient Balearic hotels, hopefully those with zero occupancy which had reached the end of the resort cycle. The other comprised the example of Cancun (Sandro Cresto, Spain) and an overview of the methodology surrounding destination management (Valeria Minghetti, University of Venice). As far as the promotion of sun, sand, and sea in Mexico was concerned, the presentation focused on an advertising campaign which deliberately targeted the emotions of potential mass tourists in preference to the unique qualities of the locale. It was at this juncture that the conference began to explore the language of tourism and its related techniques of communication, topics of considerable interest to this observer. Particularly fascinating were also the various ways that a destination attempted to employ a discourse of differentiation while lapsing occasionally into verbal and iconographical cliche whenever it utilized the rhetoric of its competitors. Finally, there was a round table on the future challenges for destinations, featuring several local speakers: Armando Peres (Touring Club Italiano), Paulo Costa (University Ca'Foscari), Raffaele La Monica (Bologna Airport), Stefano Landi (Department of Tourism, Rome), Ilaria
RESEARCH NOTES AND REPORTS
229
Nagliati (Secretariat of Ferrara Incoming), Ingeniere Testa (Telecom Italia), Romano Toppan (Administrative Promotion of the Basilicata Region), and Ettore Zampiccoli (Tourism Promotion of Madonna di Campiglio). Although all these offerings were in Italian, simultaneous translation, here as elsewhere, ensured that they were readily understood by Anglophone participants. Copies of the papers presented in the other six sessions were also provided to delegates, thereby allowing speakers to depart from the text and add individual emphases where appropriate. Further information about speci®c contributions or the conference in general can be obtained from Dottoressa Valeria Minghetti of CISET on [email protected].& Graham M.S. Dann: Department of Tourism & Leisure, University of Luton, Luton Business School, Park Square, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3JU, UK. Email < [email protected] >. Submitted 24 March 1999. Accepted 30 April 1999.
PII: S0160-7383(99)00057-2
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 229±231, 2000 # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/99/$20.00+0.00
Urban Tourism Dimitrios Buhalis Robert Maitland
University of Westminster, London, NW1 5LS, UK Lourenc° o Viveiros
Municipality of Funchal Madeira, Portugal
The Municipality of Funchal, Portugal, in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, University of Westminster, United Kingdom, organized the ®rst European tourism conference in Madeira (February 4± 5, 1999). Entitled ``Urban Tourism: Issues-Challenges and Perspectives'', the program was chaired by Dimitrios Buhalis and Robert Maitland (both from University of Westminster, UK). The conference aimed to bring together tourism researchers and practitioners to discuss the signi®cance and particular needs of urban tourism. An examination of the literature would suggest that only little attention has been paid to this important research and development theme. This situation is now changing as the signi®cance of urban tourism has become more widely accepted. Its growth is driven by tourist demands, as an increasingly urbanized population seeks to visit other such centers on both leisure and business trips, and by destinations' initiatives, as tourism has been widely accepted as having a key role in recon®guring urban areas during a period of rapid economic change. With urban tourism becoming more pervasive, some standard policy approaches have begun to emerge.
227
from the industry and its organizations in an effort to stimulate bridging activities between them and academia. Approximately one half of the 140 participants were non-researchers and useful contacts were created. The program of the symposium as well as abstracts of most of the presentations (half in English) may be accessed through the Internet at
PII: S0160-7383(99)00055-9
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 227±229, 2000 # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/99/$20.00+0.00
Destination Marketing and Management Graham M.S. Dann University of Luton, UK This bilingual conference (in Italian and English) was organized by the International Center of Studies on the Tourist Economy of the University of Ca' Foscari of Venice, Italy, and held in that city from March 15 to 16, 1999. Over 150 persons from 10 countries were in attendance, the majority, including several Masters students, being from the host country. After words of welcome from the Rector, representatives of the municipality and province, and other sponsors, the colloquium carried out its deliberations in seven stages. The ®rst session was devoted to understanding destination management, and papers were delivered by Harold Pechlaner (University of Innsbruck, Austria), Mara Manente (University of Venice), Peter Keller (International Association of Scienti®c Experts in Tourism and University of Laussanne) and (in absentia) Martin Brackenbury (International Federation of Tour Operators). Under the theme ``what do we need to know?'' a number of problems were highlighted, not least of which was the necessity to underpin best practice by research. It was thus not surprising in the discussion which followed to ®nd that theory and method were stressed, particularly as they related to the promotion of difference by destinations with similar attributes. The second session turned to the issue of management as a process by examining the positioning of destinations in the minds of consumers. While the ®rst two presentations by Ylva French (Ylva French Communications, UK) and Albert Levy in association with Lucia
228
RESEARCH NOTES AND REPORTS
Siliprandi (both of Go-Up Planner, Italy), respectively focused on the marketing of mature French and UK destinations. The third by Massimo Tochetti (AIGO, Italy) dealt with the various challenges in persuading Italians to visit the relatively new ones of Australia. Common to all three papers was the notion of changing tastes and market volatility, especially as regards age, income, and motivation. In these respects, an interesting example was that of the UK and the transference from politics to tourism of the ``Cool Britannia'' brand image. The third session continued the theme of process management by looking at the role of partnerships in organizing a destination. Under this heading there were contributions from Klaus Weiermair (LeopoldFranzens-Universitat, Austria) and Pietro Leoni (Azienda Speciale Rimini Turismo, Italy), who examined the ways that competitive advantages could be maximized by small enterprises through mergers and the sharing of goals. At the same time, it was shown how local companies could survive in the face of the rivalry posed by more experienced transnational corporations if the former pursued niche growth and diverse market entry strategies. The ®rst day concluded with a session focusing on the use of information technology to create intelligent destinations with presentations by Anne Pollock (The Pembridge Group, UK) and Arno Ebner (TIS Corporation, Austria). On this occasion the message was clearly to target the customer through a variety of media, in such a manner that information technology (IT) could also stand for intelligent tourism. It was demonstrated that small ®rms could withstand and bypass competition provided they supplied the very latest, comprehensive information to a growing clientele accessing the Internet. On the second day attention was directed to learning from experience, with two sessions concentrating on a number of illustrative case studies. One included detailed analyses of Switzerland (Christian Lasser, University of St Gallen, Switzerland), Mallorca (Javier Bustamente, Ajuntament of Calvia, Spain), and the Costa del Sol (Antonio de la Morena, Spanish Tourist Board, UK). Whereas for the Swiss authorities it seemed to be more a question of speci®cally creating marketable destinations, for the Spanish the issues were rather those of diversi®cation and rejuvenation. This last point was made most dramatically by video footage revealing the dynamiting of a number of not so ancient Balearic hotels, hopefully those with zero occupancy which had reached the end of the resort cycle. The other comprised the example of Cancun (Sandro Cresto, Spain) and an overview of the methodology surrounding destination management (Valeria Minghetti, University of Venice). As far as the promotion of sun, sand, and sea in Mexico was concerned, the presentation focused on an advertising campaign which deliberately targeted the emotions of potential mass tourists in preference to the unique qualities of the locale. It was at this juncture that the conference began to explore the language of tourism and its related techniques of communication, topics of considerable interest to this observer. Particularly fascinating were also the various ways that a destination attempted to employ a discourse of differentiation while lapsing occasionally into verbal and iconographical cliche whenever it utilized the rhetoric of its competitors. Finally, there was a round table on the future challenges for destinations, featuring several local speakers: Armando Peres (Touring Club Italiano), Paulo Costa (University Ca'Foscari), Raffaele La Monica (Bologna Airport), Stefano Landi (Department of Tourism, Rome), Ilaria
RESEARCH NOTES AND REPORTS
229
Nagliati (Secretariat of Ferrara Incoming), Ingeniere Testa (Telecom Italia), Romano Toppan (Administrative Promotion of the Basilicata Region), and Ettore Zampiccoli (Tourism Promotion of Madonna di Campiglio). Although all these offerings were in Italian, simultaneous translation, here as elsewhere, ensured that they were readily understood by Anglophone participants. Copies of the papers presented in the other six sessions were also provided to delegates, thereby allowing speakers to depart from the text and add individual emphases where appropriate. Further information about speci®c contributions or the conference in general can be obtained from Dottoressa Valeria Minghetti of CISET on [email protected].& Graham M.S. Dann: Department of Tourism & Leisure, University of Luton, Luton Business School, Park Square, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 3JU, UK. Email < [email protected] >. Submitted 24 March 1999. Accepted 30 April 1999.
PII: S0160-7383(99)00057-2
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 229±231, 2000 # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0160-7383/99/$20.00+0.00
Urban Tourism Dimitrios Buhalis Robert Maitland
University of Westminster, London, NW1 5LS, UK Lourenc° o Viveiros
Municipality of Funchal Madeira, Portugal
The Municipality of Funchal, Portugal, in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, University of Westminster, United Kingdom, organized the ®rst European tourism conference in Madeira (February 4± 5, 1999). Entitled ``Urban Tourism: Issues-Challenges and Perspectives'', the program was chaired by Dimitrios Buhalis and Robert Maitland (both from University of Westminster, UK). The conference aimed to bring together tourism researchers and practitioners to discuss the signi®cance and particular needs of urban tourism. An examination of the literature would suggest that only little attention has been paid to this important research and development theme. This situation is now changing as the signi®cance of urban tourism has become more widely accepted. Its growth is driven by tourist demands, as an increasingly urbanized population seeks to visit other such centers on both leisure and business trips, and by destinations' initiatives, as tourism has been widely accepted as having a key role in recon®guring urban areas during a period of rapid economic change. With urban tourism becoming more pervasive, some standard policy approaches have begun to emerge.