Destination Marketing - Gold Coast - Case Study Example

Destination marketing organization’s Gold Coast Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Executive Summary Destination marketing is an important aspect in the tourism industry. Through destination marketing a destiny can be opened up to the global tourism industry, hence reaching out many tourists. This report discussed the main concepts of destination marketing in relation to Gold Coast. The report discussed the location of the destination which makes it appropriate for tourism activities; the report also discussed the main market segmentation in the destination and the discussion on Destination marketing Organisation and the strategies it employees to market the destination. Finally, the report discussed the tourism trend in the destination in the last five years which indicated that the destination is growing at a higher rate in terms of economy and tourism industry. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Discussion about Gold Coast, its location products and experiences of the destination 4 Types of tourists 5 Discussion regarding Destination Marketing Organization’s website (Gold Coast) 6 An analysis of the recent marketing campaigns undertaken by DMO 7 Analysis of trends in tourism visitation to Gold Coast 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Destination marketing is an important aspect as it helps to open up a destination to the world. In the tourism industry globally, competition has intensified and this implies it is important to market a destination globally with the aim of attracting and retaining global tourism (Weaver & Lawton 2010). Gold Coast Queensland is a city which is located southeastern Queensland. It is recognized as the sixth city which is most popular in the country. The destination is well known for the tourism activities and experiences which are enjoyed by the tourists. However, there is still need to market the destination to improve the performance of the destination in the global tourism industry. In this way, destination marketing helps to improve the performance if the destination by influencing the experience of the tourists (Fayall et al 2013). This report therefore discusses the discussion of the destiny, the types of tourists in terms of market segmentation and discussion of the Destination marketing organisation as well as the recent market campaigns which are implemented by DMO. Discussion about Gold Coast, its location products and experiences of the destination Gold Coast is a city which is located in the Southeastern Queensland. The city is located about 57 kilometers along the coast and it has a number of beaches which helps to attract the tourists to the destination like Palm Beach and Currumbin beach. The city experiences a humid subtropical climate which implies that it has an effective climate for the tourists. The city is considered as one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. The gross regional products rose from A$9.7 billion in the year 2001, to A$15.6 billion in the year 2008. The destination is estimated to receive about 10 million visitors every year. The economy of the destination is influenced by the industries which are located in the city (Gold Coast 2013). The main industries in the city include the retail industry, construction and tourism. These industries contributed greatly to the economy of the Gold Coast. As a result of these features, the destination has attracted many tourists improving the trading activities and development of other industries like hospitality industry which offer accommodation services to the visitors visiting the destination. It is estimated that the location of the city is effective in the tourism activities and this has attracted about 10 million tourists every year. Tourism is the biggest industry in the location and it contributes more than $4.4 billion into the economy of the city. There is the Gold Coast Airport which provides easy transportation to the tourists. The existence of the features contributes to the attraction of the tourists. Moreover, the culture of the destination provides unique features which cannot be found in other destinations and in this way the tourists have improved their experience with the destination (Gold Coast 2013). For instance, the music which is played by bands like Operator please in the destination attracts tourists. On the other hand, the arts work done in the destination has also attracted the global tourists. There is the arts center gold coast which is specialized in providing various arts which attracts customers. In this regard therefore, the Gold Coast city is growing steadily due to experiences and services provided to improve the experience of the visitors. Types of tourists There are various factors which have attracted the tourists to the destination. The demand push factors which have attracted the tourists to the destination include economic, social, geographical location and the accessibility of the destination. These factors have led to the attraction of various visitors to the destination and this has made it possible to segment the tourists effectively (Strauss et al 2009). In this regard, the first market segment is the gender related market segmentation. This implies that the destination receives both male and female tourists from the global context. There are various tourist activities which are provided by the Gold Coast destination and this helps to meet the different needs of the customers (Strauss et al 2009). For instance, there are beaches and various music arts which meet the different needs of the visitors. In this way, the destination has been able to meet the different needs of the visitors by providing various tourist activities leading to improve their experience. On the other hand, there are domestic and global tourist segment. The destination receives local tourists as well as the international tourists. The local tourists come from within the country while the international tourists come from international economies. In meeting the needs of the visitors, the destination provides various accommodation services and transportation to ensure the global visitors can reach the destination effectively (Strauss et al 2009). In meeting the needs of the local visitors, the destination offers services like music arts which represent the culture of the people hence meeting the needs of the visitors. Discussion regarding Destination Marketing Organization’s website (Gold Coast) Destination Marketing Organization is the oldest organisation which helps to promote destinations to help in attracting and retaining global tourists. The main aim of the Destination Marketing Organization is to promote destinations by marketing it effectively. In promoting the destination, the website of the company should be influencing to ensure that the visitors are influenced by the website. In the first place, the website of the company has effective pictures and images which are so attractive to the eyes of the tourists (Casteller et al 2007). When the visitors Google about the destination, they can come across the features which are attractive and this helps to attract global visitors. For instance, the beaches in the city are shown in the website as well as the arts and this helps to attract the global customers the moment they access the website and the attractive features which are shown there. Moreover, the website is designed with attractive letters which are brown to match it with the destination environment. The attractiveness of any website depends on the ability to design the letters attractively to entice the customers to read the page. The website of the company is therefore attractive in terms of writing thus attracting the customers (Casteller et al 2007). On the other hand, the website of the company is effective since it provides the options of the social sites like Twitter where the visitors of the website can respond to the website through the social sites. This improves the experience of the visitors in accessing the website and this helps to promote the destination. The website further provides necessary information regarding the destination and this helps to provide adequate information to the visitors so that they can make their decisions. The success of any website depends on the ability to provide information which is convincing and effective to the appropriate visitors. For instance, this website provides information regarding accommodation, communication and transportation network which helps to influence the customers in their decision making (Casteller et al 2007). Since the website provides this information, it is effective in promoting the destination because the customers are made aware of the available facilities like tours and accommodation. In addition, Destination Marketing Organization has a website which has all information which is compressed so that it does not consume much of the customers’ time. In this way, the customers are able to access the required information without spending a lot of time. The website is prepared in summary form, hence the customers can comprehend the information effectively (Casteller et al 2007). The customers are provided with the opportunity to respond or inquire something about the destination. In this way, the communication with the visitors is enhanced hence promoting the destination. An analysis of the recent marketing campaigns undertaken by DMO There are many campaigns which have been undertaken by a Destination Marketing Organization to promote the destination Gold Coast. The first campaign is online marketing campaign. The online campaigns which are undertaken by the DMO are effective since they help to promote the destination to the outside world. The online campaigns are undertaken using the social media sites like Facebook and Twitter where the information regarding the destination can be accessed (Williams & Lemckert 2006). Since the online campaigns which are conducted by the Destination Marketing Organization are effective to the various visitors from the global context, the company has managed to build a strong brand name of the destination thus attracting and retaining customers. In addition, another recent marketing campaign which is conducted by the Destination Marketing Organization is integrated marketing campaigns. This is whereby Destination Marketing Organization offers a variety of sources where the contents of the destination can be reached. For instance, the Destination Marketing Organization provides books and films where the visitors can access the content being passed across. In this way, the right message will be communicated in the right manner and at the right time (Williams & Lemckert 2006). Moreover, the customers on the other hand can communicate with the company at any time and make enquiries they want to make through the company website. In this way, these campaigns have helped to improve the reputation of the destiny thus improving its tourism visitors since the tourists perceive the destiny as one of the best places to visit. There is also B2B destination marketing campaign. This is one of the major campaigns which have been conducted by Destination Marketing Organization to promote the destination. The travel trade workshops have been applied to promote the destination to the global tourism context (Williams & Lemckert 2006). Through the international workshops, Destination Marketing Organization has managed to build a strong brand of the destiny. This has led to attracting more tourists from the global market context. Analysis of trends in tourism visitation to Gold Coast The tourism industry at Gold coast has been increasing steadily. In the year 2013, the number of tourists who visited the destination was 6million visitors. In the same year, the number of international visitors who visited the destination was 811,000 and this figure represents 8.9% increase in the number of visitors as compared to the year 2012. The average stay of the visitors also increased to 9.2 days. Most of these visitors were from China and Singapore (Gold Coast 2014). The average spending per visitor in Gold Coast was $99.7 and this represents an increase in the earning by 8.9% from the previous year. The statistics also indicated that the number of visitors who visited Gold Coast in the year 2013 had an average income of $ 78,000 and $103,999 per year. This implies that the numbers of visitors who visit the destination are financial stable. From these statistics, it can be indicated that the destination is growing very fast especially in the tourism industry. The growth of the destination is associated with effective marketing of the destination which is done. The Destination Marketing Organisation has conducted effective marketing leading to improve brand and reputation of the destination thus attracting many tourists from the global marketing (Harrison 2008). Moreover, the success of the destination is associated with the variety of services and tourist attraction features which are located along the coastal region like the beaches hence the success of the destination has been influenced by the effective marketing which has been conducted. Conclusion Destination marketing is an important aspect in the success of any tourism destination. This is because through effective marketing, the global tourists will be attracted to the destination once they understand the features of the tourist attraction which are found in that destination. In this case, the Gold Coast has been successful in increasing the number of tourists who visit the place due to effective marketing which has been conducted. The destination also provides variety of tourism activities like sports such as rugby where the visitors can enjoy playing during their free time. Other tourist features in the destination include the beaches and the cultural activities such as arts and music which are unique from other cultures globally. References Casteller, B. Turner, L. Ruessinks G & Tomlinson, B. (2007). Impact of storms on beach erosion: Broadbeach( Gold Coast Australia) Journal of coastal research, Vol. 1, No. 50, p. 534-539. Fayall, A. Garrod, B & Wang, Y. (2013). Destination marketing, Researching destination experiences, Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 23-105. Gold Coast. (2013). About Us, retrieved on 6th October 6, 2014 from http://www.visitgoldcoast.com/places-to-see/ Gold Coast. (2014).Tourism increase spending on the Gold Coast 2013, retrieved on 6th October 6, 2014 from http://www.gchr.com.au/gold-coast/tourists-increase-spending-on-the-gold-coast/ Harrison, D. (2008). ‘Pro-poor Tourism: a critique’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 851-868 Strauss, D. Tomilinson, R & Hunt, S. (2009). Profile response and dispersion of beach nourishment: Golf Coast, Australia. Journal of Coastal Research, Vol. 1, No. 56, pp. 1-5 Weaver, D. & Lawton, L. (2010). Tourism management (4th ed.). Milton, Queensland: John Wiley & Sons Australia Williams, P & Lemckert, C. (2006). Beach carrying capacity: Has it been exceeded on the Gold Coast? Journal of coastal research, Vol. 1, No. 50, p. 21-24. Read More