TOURISM MARKETING

The course resumes the basic principles of marketing, their evolution and key concepts, proposing their declination in the field of tourism production and consumption. The educational objective of the course, in fact, is to provide students with knowledge of marketing and market-oriented management to be applied to the tourism system and its industry, from destinations to the single elements of the overall visitors’ experience. Integrating the traditional concepts of marketing with the updated emerging ones will prepare the students to independently face the challenges of marketers and the current trends in tourism. The course will also delve into cross-cutting topics of particular significance such as data-driven marketing, customer journey, reputation management and sustainability.

Students will acquire knowledge of the fundamental foundations of strategic and operational marketing as well as its application in the field of tourism, also in relation to the new challenges emerging in the latest developments of this sector. Students will be given the opportunity to achieve an ability to analyze and understand the internal and external environment, i.e. the stakeholders and their relationships, to make the best choices to apply the appropriate marketing tools according to the stated objectives. Open discussion in the classroom will encourage students to enhance their critical judgment skills, through the formulation of alternative hypotheses, also contributing to strengthen their communication skills. They will be allowed to develop research skills of studies, reports, and official/alternative data to support their arguments as well as to improve evaluation skills on the reliability and applicability of the selected sources.

Knowledge of the basics of marketing is desirable, obtained by studying the propaedeutic readings (see section Referral texts). Students will be also provided with guidance to help those who have not acquired management and marketing notions during their previous studies. Moreover, the fundamental concepts will be resumed and explained in the first lessons of the course.

The program of the course is provided here by its main topics:

1. Basic principles, concepts and tools of marketing
2. The marketing process for tourism production and consumption
3. The data-driven approach to support market-oriented management
4. Satisfaction, reputation, customer journey for tourist experiences
5. E-tourism and digital marketing
6. Smart & Sustainable Tourism Destinations

Lambin, J.J., Market-driven management. Marketing strategico e operativo, McGraw-Hill Italia

De Marchi, D.; Reputazione Mon Amour. Available online: https://www.officinaturistica.com/2020/09/reputazione-mon-amour/

De Marchi, D.; L’esame di maturità del turismo italiano. Available online: https://www.officinaturistica.com/2022/06/esame-maturita-turismo-italiano/

De Marchi, D.; Becarelli, R.; Di Sarli, L. Tourism Sustainability Index: Measuring Tourism Sustainability Based on the ETIS Toolkit, by Exploring Tourist Satisfaction via Sentiment Analysis. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8049.

Kotler, P.; Reconceptualizing Marketing: An Interview with Philip Kotler. European Management Journal, 12, 353-361.

Sugathan, P., & Ranjan, K. R. (2019). Co-creating the tourism experience. Journal of Business Research, 100, 207-217.

The target groups (personas) of Slovenian tourism. Disponibile online: https://www.slovenia.info/uploads/poslovno/raziskave_analize/persone_anglesko/segmentation_-_personas.pdf

Moreover, these propaedeutic readings are required:

1) Casarin F., Il Marketing dei prodotti turistici, Specificità e varietà, Giappichelli Editore, Torino, 2007:
- Cap. 2 Il concetto di prodotto turistico; in particolare pp. 45-62.
- Cap. 3 Il comportamento d'acquisto e consumo del turista; in particolare pp. 73-89, pp. 125-140.
- Cap. 4 La segmentazione della domanda turistica; in particolare pp. 165-187.
- Cap. 5 Il posizionamento del prodotto turistico; in particolare pp. 199-200.

2) Costa P., Manente M., Economia del Turismo, Touring University Press, Milano , 2000:
- Cap. 1 Turismo, sistema turistico e industria turistica; in particolare pp. 8-26.

Slides and additional readings will be indicated during the lessons and made available to students, to be prepared for the written exam.

To the students willing to explore more on market-oriented tourism, I recommend:

Kotler, P. and Keller, K.; Marketing Management. Prentice Hall, Saddle River.
MinTur, Il piano strategico del turismo 2023-2027. Disponibile online: https://www.senato.it/service/PDF/PDFServer/BGT/1374710.pdf
Almeida-Santana, A.; Moreno-Gil, S. New trends in information search and their influence on destination loyalty: Digital destinations and relationship marketing. J. Destin. Mark. Manag. 2017, 6, 150–161.
Yachin, J. M. (2018). The ‘customer journey’: Learning from customers in tourism experience encounters. Tourism management perspectives, 28, 201-210.
Gretzel, U., Yoo, K. H., & Purifoy, M. (2007). Online travel review study: The role and impact of online travel reviews. College Station, Texas: Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in Tourism.
EU Publications. Study on mastering data for tourism by EU destinations. Disponibile online: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9df86541-fba5-11ec-b94a-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

The final exam is a written exam composed of open-ended questions with a pre-assigned maximum grade. The exams covers the whole program carried out during the course: the referral texts, the propaedeutic readings and the other materials provided. During the written exam, the use of books, notes and electronic media or devices is not permitted.

The course takes place in frontal lessons, and there will be moments of interaction and discussion. Case studies may be presented by tourism professionals, related to the topics of the course.

Italian

The course promotes the sustainable development, in line with the 17 SDGs - Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, adopted by world leaders at the United Nations. Insights on sustainable tourism and the role of marketing are included in the course program.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development