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Future

research directions in tourism marketing


Rodoula Tsiotsou, Vanessa Ratten (2010)
Future research directions compared with the marketing development of the Alps - paper written by Lisa
Hammertinger based on the article mentioned above.


Tsiotsou and Ratten mention in the article that consumer behaviour, branding, e-marketing
and strategic marketing are important future research topics in the tourism industry. To
further discuss these issues in relation with tourism marketing in the Alps, some figures,
facts and specialities about the Alps need to be clarified. First of all, the region reaches 6
different countries, namely Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia.
Altogether there are 5814 villages situated in the Alps. (Leitner, 2013) This fact makes it
particularly difficult to identify who exactly is responsible for tourism marketing in the Alps.
The first 'promoters' of tourism in the Alps were various clubs like the "Austrian Alpine Club"
in 1862 or the "German Alpine Club" in 1869. (Leitner, 2013) This fact shows that tourism in
this region started developing a very long time ago and consumer's behaviour most certainly
changed a lot over the decades. In the 50's and 60's, there were no big cultural differences
to face in tourism, and also the whole industry was more a supplier's market. There was no
big competition to face and the travellers weren't very experienced either. The situation
changed a bit in the 70's and 80's, when the first tourist boards were developed. Air
transport also was something unaffordable for most people before, but at that time charter
flights developed and flights got cheaper. The seller's market became a buyer's market in the
90's and with that, the service quality got more important. Marketing got a very serious
topic at that time due to various facts. Firs of all, tourists then already demanded a service
chain that was coherent and harmonious, global competition arose and new destinations
emerged. Branding also started to be an issue. In every decade, tourism businesses invested
in different new infrastructure, like in the 80's there was a golf-course and congress boom
and in the 90's many alpine hotels constructed costly wellness & spa areas. Nowadays, the
Alps, after the Mediterranean coast, are the second largest tourist destination worldwide.
(Leitner, 2013) The visitors of the alps not only got as mentioned above more challenging in
terms of service chains and their growing experience, also, as Tsiotsou and Ratten (2010)
mention, the population in general is getting older, middle class grows globally and cross-
cultural competencies are getting more and more important. In Tirol for example, the main
visitor markets are Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Noticeable is, that

the overnights from German visitors decreased in the last 10 years, whereas overnights from
guests coming from further away regions like China increased. (www.tirolwerbung.at)
Consumer behaviour not only changes because of the different cultures that the tourism
industry in the Alps is confronted with. Also more and more people put greater emphasis on
sustainability issues. (Tsiotsou, Ratten 2010) This issue is something that most certainly not
only tourists are concerned about, but also the players of the regions as well. The Alpine
Convention published a new report in 2013 (Sustainable Tourism in the Alps) that should
inform the industry about the current state of the art concerning sustainability issues in the
Alps and also suggests guidelines and actions for members to preserve the region. The alpine
regions' tourism websites mention the sustainability issue frequently and seem to be aware
of the fact that it is from growing importance to their target group. Also mentionable is, that
many of the advertisements of the Alps are focussing on recreation, the purity of the nature
and empathize the regional products that are offered. These factors are often also part of
the brands that were developed in the different regions of the Alps. There is not really one
big brand marketed, probably because there isn't one tourism organisation for the whole
region. The Alps are, according to Pechlaner, Raich and Zehrer (2011) a very good example
for umbrella branding, which is typical in tourism nowadays and that gives the region the
possibility to differentiate itself from competitors. According to Leitner (2013) one of the
challenges of the Alps is their lack of clear positioning and their lack of differentiation.
Another issue that affects the whole alpine tourism industry is the development of the
Internet. Not only the whole distribution process changed and online travel agencies
boomed, but also online review platforms got more and more important. The electronic
word of mouth confronted hoteliers with a completely new challenge as consumers' decision
making process is influenced by it. (Teufel, 2010) The alpine region is dominated by small
businesses, mainly family run, and new technologies, apps and social networks are still a
challenge for many of the companies. In Tirol for example, only 43% of the tourism
businesses provide a website. (www.ttr.tirol.at) Still tourism boards like the Tirol Werbung
want to keep up with the latest trends in tourism and introduce various apps like the "Tirol
Travel Guide App", which is available in three different languages. (www.tyrol.com). Another
important step for future research directions in tourism marketing mentioned by Tsiotsou
and Ratten (2010) is strategic marketing. In the Alps, introducing a common and consistent
marketing strategy for all the different regions is surely very difficult as the area is managed

by many different tourism boards situated in many different areas and even countries. Still,
tourism boards have the possibility to individually implement strategies to improve the
touristic performances of the regions. Tourism management and marketing for a destination
like the Alps can be a quite unique matter that requires profound and current knowledge.
For that reason, leading alpine tourism regions pool together once a year since 2010 to gain
and exchange expertise, inform themselves about current trends, do business with each
other, work together and also promote sustainable, value intense tourism in the Alps.
(www.the-alps.eu)




References

Alpine Convention (2013):
http://www.alpconv.org/en/AlpineKnowledge/RSA/tourism/Documents/RSA4%20en%20WE
B.pdf

Leitner, T. (2013): Introduction to Alpine Tourism, Lecture WS2013, Marketing Management,
Entrepreneurship & Tourism, Management Center Innsbruck, 2013


Pechlaner, H./Raich, R./Zehrer, A. (2011): The Alps: Challenges and Potentials of a Brand
Management. Tourism Analysis 12 (5-6), pp. 359-369

Teufel, M. (2010): Social Media im Tourismus - Erfolgspotenziale von
Hotelbewertungsportalen. Diplomarbeit 2010, FH Wien der WKW, Institut fr
Tourismusmanagment

theALPS Secretariat (2014): http://www.the-alps.eu/page.cfm?vpath=mission

Tirol Werbung (2013): http://www.tirolwerbung.at/media/12795/Tiroler%20Tourismus%20-
%20Daten%20und%20Fakten%202013.pdf

Tourism Research Tirol (2014): http://www.ttr.tirol.at/content/wmp-studie-zum-
onlineauftritt-von-unterkunftsbetrieben

Tsiotsou, R./Ratten, V. (2010): Future research directions in tourism marketing. Marketing
Intelligence & Planning 28(4), pp. 533-544

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