Tourism marketing is a tricky thing. At least in Sweden. Our tourism industry is based on about 7000 small tourism enterprises, still waiting to be discovered by the masses… Most of them are not even small, but micro-companies with one or a just few employees. There are of course a number of larger tourismrelated corporations, hotel chains, trains, cruiseships and airlines, but let´s leave them for a while.

Photo: Jessica Svensk

The question is why Sweden, as a brand name in general, our regions and most of our tourism attractions in particular, still are more or less unknown to most people abroad according to a number of market analyzes. I believe there are lot´s of possibilities for improvement of Swedish tourism marketing. But, unfortunately, problems are built into the system.

Tourism marketing doesn´t really fit in to traditional marketing models, for a number of reasons. One is that nobody “owns” the whole product – in this case a chain of services, consumed by the guest in the very same moment(s) it´s being produced by a lot of different people and companies providing ingredients for an outstanding travel-related experience.

Swedish micro tourism businesses cannot simply afford the costs required for effective marketing. So, except for some DMC´s and VisitSweden, tourism marketing has become an issue for the local tourism information centres. Who are employed by the local community. They don´t own the tourism attractions or enterprises they are supposed to market. They are also expected to make sure that everyone involved get a fair share of the marketing, as it´s paid by tax money.

Consequently, they can do market research, strategic plans and general marketing but are very limited when it comes to implementation of marketing strategies on an operational level. So they work primarily on the supply-side, putting together ads, brochures and tourism websites, PR and events. Expensive and long-term. Then there´s the political aspect. Tourist information centres are often seen by local politicians as a shopfront for attracting new businesses and citizens to their town, which is a complete different story.

What to do?
Well, considering the organizational circumstances it´s not easy to get the show on the road. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. The Swedish Institute, VisitSweden and other national bodies are doing an important job, but to get a leverage effect I believe we need the locals on board.

Where applicable, I´d suggest a market oriented perspective, based on market demand:

• Separate tourism business administration and the public economy. Be loyal to the market, not society.
• Forget about the equal fairness thoughts. Promote selected local “honey-pots” and allow them to grow by employing or incorporate suppliers.
• Educate or relocate incoming tour producers to your region.
• Use more of relationship marketing methods, including customer databases with in-depth client information and dialogue with guests.
• Use modern tourism statistics and communication tools. Not only traditional guestnights and passenger-figures from visitors. Measure those who thought about coming, but never showed up.
• Use internet better. Today, anyone can be a virtual tourist. Google Earth, Skype-cast, blogs, online movies, internet-TV and radio offers a range of possibilities for promoting a destination at low cost.

Next time I´ll let you in on some successful examples.