Tourism Marketing Issues - Essay Example

breaks have emerged as the fastest growing leisure sectors in Europe travel. break’s importance and value is being acknowledged by managers and administrators. The most widely used definition of a city break is ‘a short leisure trip to one city or town, with no overnight stay at any other destination during the trip’ (Trew & Cockerell, 2002 cited by Dunne, Buckley & Flanagan, 2006). It is different from a visit to a city as a part of the holiday. The most common characteristics of a city break is the short stay nature of the trips. Most city breaks last between one and three nights and these are not usually the main holiday of the family or the individual. These breaks supplement the main holiday. Athens too has become a city break destination because of the numerous attractions it offers. There are various reasons why city break tourism has been growing. There is increased holiday and leave entitlements apart from rising prosperity from double income families leading to higher disposable income (Dunne et al). The perception of travel has changed and besides low cost airlines has played a major role in promoting short city breaks. Motivations to travel is governed by the push and pull factors where the push factors refer to the desire to travel and the pull factors depend upon the choice of destination. The seven push motives were, escape from a perceived mundane environment, exploration and evaluation of self, relaxation, prestige, regression, enhancement of kinship relationships, and facilitation of social interaction while the two pull factors include education and novelty. As far as the push factors are concerned, the perceptions and preferences of people have changed. There is move away from mass consumption of standardized holidays and towards weekend and short break holidays. As far as the pull factors are concerned, Athens has many attractions to offer. Athens, the capital and the largest city in Greece is one of the world’s oldest cities. Athens can take the tourist back to the dawn of civilization. Known as the cradle of civilization and the seat of western philosophy, Athens brings together wisdom, art and culture in its attempt to meet the demands of the modern tourists. It is a city where democracy was born and most of the wise men of ancient times. The most important civilization of ancient world flourished in Athens. The city epitomizes epic beauty and is a magnificent classical testament to ancient grandeur (OT Beach, 2007). About half of Greece’s population lives in Athens. Athens dominates the economic, cultural and political life of modern Greece. The climate in Athens is one of the very best in Europe with mid winters and very hot summers. Athens enjoys a typical mediterranean climate with snowfall being an annual feature. All of these make Athens an ideal destination for a city break in any season. It has something for every tourist. For the nature lovers and those who would like to delve in the beauty of Athens, its locations itself is mesmerizing. Athens is a sprawling city located on the Attic Plain of southeastern Greece with mountains rising in a semicircle around the city (MSN, 1993). It has gardens and beaches, and the city holds a wealth of ancient buildings, monuments and artworks. Many historic areas are pedestrianized. The city has many imposing neoclassical buildings which are true ornaments of the city. Shopping plazas too suit all budgets are available and night life has transformed Athens from what it was. Amongst the infrastructure added, the new airport and the Metro have enhanced the appeal for the city. To market such a city as a destination for city break tourism would be fairly easy. In the services sector and specially the tourism and hospitality sector, the city has to be promoted by the tourism department. Success in marketing can be achieved by matching what the city ash to offer with the requirements of the tourists. This matching is based on market segmentation. Market segmentation is a proactive process which involves the application of analytic techniques (Hogg & Kalafatis, 2002). Market segmentation has been defined as the process of dividing the total market into a number of smaller, more homogeneous submarkets, termed market segments (Danneels, 1996). This segmentation is necessary to decide on the right marketing mix strategy. Segmentation helps to focus on the specific market and its needs. The goal of segmentation is not to have just any customer but to select a homogeneous group of customers and focus on servicing their needs. Once the segmentation has been made, the promotional activities would have to be considered which is the important element. The four major marketing communications mix according to Kotler are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations. Intensive selling is the most important marketing communications factor (Avlonitis & Papastathopoulou, 2000). Athens has a little bit of everything and to suit all categories of tourists hence intensive selling is considered necessary. The authorities should tie up the low cost carriers like Ryanair that fly into Athens. In alliance with the airlines, short break packages can be offered to the European tourists which would include the air passage, stay at the hotel, transfers and sightseeing. People prefer pre-arranged packages especially when they want a short break. Since hotels of all ranges are available, packages can offer choice of hotels. The city has many imposing neoclassical buildings which are true ornaments of the city. The Athens Academy is a mystifying blend of architectural styles from across the centuries. Few of the important sites include the Acropolis, the Syntagma Square and the National Museum and the National Library. The heritage of Athens has to be regularly maintained and if necessary a fee can be charged from the tourists. The role of ancient theatre as an attraction in Athens is evident from the Theatre of Dionysus. The packages that would be promoted could include the theatre as evening or day time entertainment. Marketing communication should reach a range of stakeholders and other players peripheral to the target market and which influence the business success (Clulow, 2006). This is necessary because service delivery requires different departments and functions. There has to be coordination in all functions. Travel agents and tour operators are equally important in promoting a destination. Hence regular communication channels have to be maintained with the European countries and the tour operators. The travel agents have to be offered incentives to promote the destination. To facilitate, a familiarization or FAM tour should be organized in association with the low cost carriers. While the airline would bear the cost of transporting the travel agents to Athens, the authorities in Athens can bear the cost of hospitality and local transport. Once the agents have seen and experienced the city, it becomes easier for them to promote it to the tourists. Direct selling or personal selling is an important marketing communications tool. Services are intangible, invariable, perishable and inseparable (Long & Schiffman, 2000). The hotels in Athens have to be geared towards promotion as well. Staff at hotels needs to be trained to international standards. Some hotels in each category should be ear-marked and with their support and sponsorship, packages can be devised. The government has to take initiatives in promoting the festivals. At least three months before the festival, brochures would have to be prepared and distributed. Sponsorship can be obtained from hotels airlines and the travel agents involved. Overseas distribution channel is important (Riege & Perry, 2000). Overseas Greece tourism offices would have to participate in presentation and promotion of Athens as a destination for a city break. To create awareness of what the city has to offer, Athens should also participate in the International tourism Fairs which are regularly held at different locations. Marketing communications perform three functions: to inform, to remind, and to persuade. The first two forms of marketing communications may be performed by the traditional model but the persuasion function for differentiating the brand is difficult through the traditional model. Marketing through the internet offers a departure from the traditional marketing environments (Hoffman, Novak & Chatterjee, 2000). The website of Athens tourism has to be interactive allowing the visitor to obtain all information and make bookings also online. This is essential in this age because tourists make spontaneous decisions and if something is readily available, they plan their holiday immediately. Thus Athens has to be promoted as a brand with the cooperation of the government authorities, the hotels, the travel agencies and the tour operators, the overseas agents, the transporters and the airlines. The hotels have to spruce their services while travel agents and tour operators have to be offered incentives to develop and promote packages. The internet should be able to give information on all the ways and means to reach Athens and who to contact. Athens has everything to suit all tastes for a short city break of 2-4 nights. Promoting Athens would be an experience in itself and it would definitely be a popular city break tourism destination. References: Avlonitis, G. 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G., (2000), Consumption values and relationships: segmenting the market for frequency programs, Journal of consumer Marketing, VOL. 17 NO. 3 2000, pp. 214-232 MSN (1993), Athens (Greece), 08 Feb 2008 Reige, A. M., & Perry, C., (2000), National marketing strategies in international travel and tourism, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 11/12, 2000 OT Beach (2007), City Breaks To Athens, 09 Feb 2008 Read More