69821 - Destination Marketing and Management

Academic Year 2021/2022

Learning outcomes

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the course the student: knows the relevance of the destination management for the tourism sector; is able to identify and critically evaluate the marketing tools available for tourism destinations; knows how to interpret and evaluate the organizational models of coordination, control and marketing implemented by the destination authorities to effectively manage the tourism activities.

Course contents

It is often argued that tourism destinations are increasingly competing within an international challenging scenario. Similarly, the economic growth of many individual countries is being understood in relation to the success of different types of destinations in national and domestic tourist markets. Marketing and branding have rapidly emerged over the last decades as widely adopted business philosophies at disposal of destination managers willing to raise the profile of the tourist places they are developing.

The application of commercial marketing and branding to the spatial realm of tourist places, however, brings with it questions and problems that regard the applicability of marketing principles and the specific ‘translation’ required. The course aims at illustrating the challenges and the opportunities disclosed by a sustainable adoption of marketing and branding within cities, regions and nations. Furthermore, the course intends to enable participants to critically relate the principles of marketing and branding to empirical examples of successful (and unsuccessful) destinations in Italy, Europe and from around the globe.

The course will cover the following subject areas:

· The objectives and benefits of destination marketing

· The structure and main characteristics of a DMO

· Developing the destination marketing mix

· The role of branding in destination marketing

· Participatory approaches to destination branding and marketing and the role of citizens

· Traditional marketing communications and promotions in destination marketing

· The use of the Internet and social media in destination marketing

· Contemporary issues in destination marketing and management

· Research in destination marketing

· Developing strategic marketing plans for destinations

Readings/Bibliography

Prescribed readings include:

Ashworth, G and Kavaratzis, M (eds) Towards Effective Place Brand Management. Branding European Cities and Regions. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 89-116.

Charters, S., & Spielmann, N. (2014). Characteristics of strong territorial brands: The case of champagne. Journal of Business Research, 67(7), 1461-1467.

Cohen, S. A., Prayag, G., & Moital, M. (2014). Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(10), 872-909.

Giovanardi, M. Lichrou, M & Kavaratzis, M. (2018). Critical Perspectives on Place Marketing. In Tadajewski, M., Higgins, M., Denegri-Knott, J, & Varman, R (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Critical Marketing, Routledge, forthcoming

Goulart Sztejnberg, R., & Giovanardi, M. (2017). The ambiguity of place branding consultancy: working with stakeholders in Rio de Janeiro. Journal of Marketing Management, 1-25. DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2017.1319404

Hassen, I., & Giovanardi, M. (2017). The difference of ‘being diverse’: City branding and multiculturalism in the ‘Leicester Model’. Cities. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.06.019

Hudson, S. (2008). Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A global perspective. Sage Publications.

Medway, D., Warnaby, G. and Dharni, S. (2011) Demarketing places: Rationales and strategies, Journal of Marketing Management, 27(1–2), pp. 124–142.

Rabbiosi, C., & Giovanardi, M. (2017). Rediscovering the “Urban” in Two Italian Tourist Coastal Cities. In Pasquinelli, C & Bellini, N. Tourism in the City (pp. 247-258). Springer International Publishing.

Y. Wang Abraham Pizam (2011) Destination Marketing and Management Theories and Applications, CABI International, available for free on ResearchGate at https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Y.+Wang+Abraham+Pizam+%282011%29+Destination+Marketing+and+Management+Theories+and+Applications&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab&gfe_rd=cr&dcr=0&ei=fsvXWbC9D6jc8Aeo56S4BQ

Please note that additional reading materials will also be prescribed for lectures and seminars. The list will be provided when required.

Teaching methods

To enable participants to achieve the above objectives, a combination of traditional lectures and more participatory/interactive sessions will be used for this course. The language of instruction for all teaching and learning activities is English.

Lectures

Topics will be introduced during lectures and readings suggested. Students are expected to do some of the prescribed readings before lectures, as the lecturing method for this course is a two-way interactive presentation, including students’ verbal participation in terms of their views/opinions of the information being presented.

Interactive sessions

Interactive sessions provide a means for students to verify their understanding and mastery of information presented in the preceding lecture. To that end, interactive sessions will be conducted in the form of group/class discussions, case study, question and answer sessions, and whenever possible a short project group presentation for classroom evaluation so as to engage all attendees. This will enable the tutor to diagnose students’ challenges and help to focus participants’ efforts on critical ideas and techniques to assimilate lecture content.

Assessment methods

Further updates on the assessment tasks for this curse will be provided based on the evolution of the coronavirus outbreak in the upcoming months.

Teaching tools

Additional teaching tools: Padlet; Participoll.

Office hours

See the website of Massimo Giovanardi

SDGs

Sustainable cities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.