Popular culture as a powerful destination marketing tool: an Australian study

This thesis is concerned with the marketing possibilities of popular culture tourism (PCT). There is promise in developing alternative forms of cultural communication and cultural representation in tourism. Specifically, PCT is explored as a way to enhance and reshape the current approach to destination promotion in Australia. Through the arrival of new and diversified cultural experiences, Australia can improve the existing tourism portfolio. Although there have been many studies which describe the marketing practice of using elements of popular culture in destination promotion, few, if any, effectively address the issue of usability of such methods in Australia. To understand the nature of the challenge, it is important to acknowledge the diversity inherent within popular culture, as well as the huge diversity of individual experiences and responses to such cultural practices. This work is concerned with the richness of individual experience, the multi-form qualities of interpersonal encounters with popular culture in Australia. This thesis uses pragmatism as the main interpretive framework, with its powerful ability to disambiguate and clarify the research questions. To study the phenomenon the researcher uses a combination of three research methods: survey research, descriptive study, and exploratory study. Each study contributes a unique perspective to the literature on popular culture tourism. To answer the research questions considerable data comprising 253 detailed questionnaires, 20 unstructured interviews, 648 blogs and social media posts, and marketing materials of over 50 DMOs were collected and analysed. The thesis has six chapters in total. The first chapter introduces the concept of PCT. It discusses how popular media and tourism, and thoughtful engagement of these forces, have created a phenomenon with great potential and strong commercial and popular impact. PCT is an umbrella term comprising several fields, such as film-induced, literary, and music tourism, as well as special events, and technology tourism, among others. The chapter argues that PCT can encourage youth tourism and help accommodate the needs of tourists coming from diverse households and families (multi-generational groups, singles, 'second' families). The chapter highlights the need to diversify the traditional tourism product by embracing specialty markets. The second chapter outlines the theoretical framework, rationale, and conceptual structure for the materials to follow. The third chapter introduces Study 1. The first study uses survey data to uncovers behaviour patterns and preferences of local popular culture tourists. It compares the events and locations in the context of PCT, and works with important cues (e.g., associations and preferences) and key features (e.g., consumption rates and travel intentions) by matching them with several hypotheses related to the consumption of popular culture. In Chapter 4, the scope of the investigation widens to include the international perspective. Study 2 is concerned with qualitative aspects of the cultural economy, namely the subjective experiences and expectation of past, existing and potential visitors. This study employs social listening and content analysis to observe and analyse online discussions related to popular culture events and locations in Australia. The captured experiences (impressions, feelings, thoughts, and observations) helped: (1) identify how Australia is being represented in popular culture discourse; (2) identify how the particular imagery of local popular culture commodities can influence the Australian tourism development strategy. The last study, Chapter 5, is concerned with practical applications. It offers a rigorous analysis of the marketing strategies that utilise popular culture in destination promotion. It discusses how these integrations are carried out by the DMOs in real-world practices. The chapter identifies seven advanced destination marketing tactics as efficient methods that can be used for tourism promotion in Australia. It offers recommendations and comments on the use of PCT in national tourism campaigns. Chapter 6 is devoted to the discussion of findings, implications, and limitations. The key findings contribute to the academic literature on cultural tourism. This thesis investigates the possibilities of using location-specific popular culture tools in 'narrative' marketing campaigns. The work identifies different PCT activities and their impacts on destination's image and tourists' experiences. The results and work also emerge as practical solutions for implementation of PCT tools in destination promotion for Australia

Hawker Centres: A Social Space Approach to Promoting Community Wellbeing

This article sets out to examine how the use of social spaces, namely hawker centres, has contributed to community wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using an extensive thematic analysis of online conversations, we have identified that the use of social spaces can have a positive influence on individual, relational and social wellbeing. Access to social spaces during stressful events contributes to the feeling of normalcy, supports routines and structured activities, encourages responsible behaviours, facilitates social connectedness, and helps maintain community resilience. We present a new framework for urban social space characterisation containing three dimensions: coaction, copresence, and colocation (the three Cs). Here, coaction is associated with better visibility of community practices, copresence enhances the sense of connectedness, and colocation is concerned with the use of spatial design factors for influencing movement and interactions. The framework is central to our understanding of social space and its impact on wellbeing. Underpinning the three Cs is the notion of the integration of policy, community wellbeing, and various urban agendas. The findings were considered in terms of their relevance for social space development in Singapore

Growing competition for screen tourists activates new destination marketing tactics

The study presented here is part of a research program on the popular culture phenomenon. It explores a variety of new marketing tools used by DMOs to attract screen tourists, with special attention paid to marketing tools that come with advanced media technologies. The focus is on the actions of the public organizations responsible for tourism development at the destination: what new strategies do they adopt and how do they balance the place identity with the destination image constructed by the popular media

Introduction to popular culture tourism in Australia: the role of events in destination promotion

This study seeks to encourage tourism organisations to explore new directions for tourism development. It argues that popular culture events can raise the value of cultural tourism in Australia. This study explores current trends in events tourism and explores tourists’ attitudes towards diverse popular culture activities available in Australia. There are very few studies that try to explore the many kinds of cultural experiences that can be obtained by popular culture tourists in Australia. This study fills in the gap in current literature by extracting new themes and factors that help build the cultural value of Australian events in the tourism context

When pop culture meets tourism

[Excerpt] Imagine that your unexpectedly found yourself standing on a busy street in the heart of a business district of an unknown city. You can see a KFC on the corner, right opposite the ZARA shooing centre where flashy posters show Diane Kruger wearing a new clothing line

Promoting cultural tourism in Australia: an urban perspective

This study is part of a broader research project on popular culture tourism (PCT) designed to explore new destination branding strategies that utilise cultural resources in strategy formation. This study promotes the role of urban cultural attractions as an additional significant resource category for destination development. Through the arrival of new and diversified cultural experiences, Australia can improve the existing tourism portfolio. The study is concerned with qualitative aspects of the cultural economy, namely the subjective experiences and expectation of past, existing and potential visitors. It offers recommendations and comments on the use of alternative cultural attractions in national tourism campaigns

Adding character: the role of destination mascots in tourism development

This study explores the use of destination mascots in tourism development. It steps away from the traditional investigation of yuru kyara by focusing on a wider range of anthropomorphic messengers. By mapping the historical trajectory of mascots, the researchers isolate a special subcategory of anthropomorphic characters: destination mascots. Destination mascots are introduced as a new tourism construct and a distinct type of marketing activity. This paper aims to develop and promote the term destination mascot in tourism literature. It describes the many facets of destination mascots and catalogues five distinct functions mascots can carry out for their destinations: mascots as place identity markers, cultural constructs, bonding tools, social engagement tools, and information carriers. Supplemented with multiple examples from past and present literature, this study deepens and broadens our understanding of mascot culture. It brings into view many avenues that invite further exploration

The influence of special dietary needs on tourist satisfaction and behavioral intention: satisfiers or dissatisfiers?

In a globalized world, incoming tourists bring with them a variety of expectations. As destinations are coming to accept the variability of consumer needs, destination managers seek to identify additional factors that can determine tourists' evaluations and intentions. This study promotes the ability to satisfy tourist dietary needs as an antecedent factor influencing the experience outcomes. It is among the first to demonstrate the links between diverse tourist dietary needs, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. We found that all three groups of dietary needs (religious, medical, lifestyle) have an effect on satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Our results confirm that the relationship between tourist dietary needs and destination evaluation and intentions is not symmetrical. The higher the perceived importance of tourists' dietary needs, the more likely they are to be satisfied with a destination that can cater to their needs. Satisfied tourists are more likely to revisit and recommend the destination to others. However, the effects of dietary needs on dissatisfaction are not significant. The destination’s inability to satisfy dietary needs does not necessarily reduce willingness to recommend or revisit. The results of this study support the notion that destination’s dietary preparedness is associated with better experience outcomes. The study concludes with important implications for destination managers