Positioning the Destination Product-Can Regional Tourist Boards Learn from Private Sector Practice?

This article examines the role of positioning in the marketing of a tourism destination. The study focuses on the current positioning strategies pursued by the Regional Tourist Boards (RTBs) in England. A recent nationwide consumer research study into short holiday destination choice in the UK revealed that consumers were confused by the regional product message. The evidence suggests that current RTB positioning strategies are failing to keep pace with the constantly evolving needs of the consumer. This article explores the reasons for clearly positioning the destination product and suggests that, although RTBs could learn from marketing strategies employed in other sectors of the tourism industry, there are likely to be organisational and cultural barriers inhibiting this learning curve

Allocating a promotional budget

Describes a preliminary model for assisting national tourism organizations (NTOs) in the allocation of promotional budgets to international travel markets so as to optimize their marketing objectives. The model (TOUREX) is a knowledge-based system. Discusses findings (that allow enhancement and refining of the model) from in-depth interviews conducted with 12 European NTOs as part of a wider study both to improve the model and expand the knowledge base