Abstract
New options for the design and marketing of tourist attractions are being examined in both the real world and the online sphere due to the fast adoption of technology, with the internet as its focal point. Destinations that want to improve their competitive position should prioritise creating powerful brands and facilitating enjoyable and memorable experiences. So, DMOs are looking at new kinds of technology and human engagement to provide tourists with more ways to get involved in cross-high-quality experiences at their destinations. This study aims to investigate the function of technology in the promotion and branding design of vacation spots, given that it aids in creating novel tourist experiences and helps travellers have a better time before, during, and after their trips.
Introduction
Destination marketing has emerged as a critical strategy for places hoping to thrive in today’s more globalised and competitive tourist industry. Four essential principles connected to international markets further emphasise the importance of published research on destination marketing, which constitutes a significant growth sector in the tourist industry and has matured into a different paradigm (Robinson & Schänzel, 2019). The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the social and management process by which people and organisations acquire what they need via the development and exchange of goods and services (Eckhardt et al., 2019). Consequently, this review focuses on studies that explore the core ideas included within this definition as they apply to DMOs and their users.
Within a highly competitive market, the emphasis on the leisure and tourist industries has shifted to creating favourable circumstances for the emergence of pleasant and memorable experiences. The complexity and variety of visitor encounters have grown in tandem with the extent and breadth of tourism as it has evolved alongside modern society (Sharpley, 2018). Given the plethora of destination options and the potential for e-commerce in today’s globalised and digitalised world, DMOs are under growing pressure to discover creative solutions to attract and retain visitors. As a result, building strong brands and providing memorable experiences are essential when planning a trip. Indeed, developments in technology, shifts in software and network infrastructures, and the emergence of human culture of participation in virtual settings have changed how people learn about and shop for travel products and how they interact with, talk about, and think about those settings.
The tourist sector has made quick adjustments with technology, with the internet playing a starring role, opening up exciting new possibilities for designing and online marketing. Therefore, researchers underline that one of the most significant problems for tourism promotion management is to turn the specified experience offers into tailored experiences that consider each customer’s requirements and preferences. The enormous societal changes brought on by the development of tech have resulted in novel consumer experiences that fuse the real and virtual worlds in novel ways, increasing consumers’ agency in buying and making goods. Because of the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices and the pervasiveness of the web 2.0 paradigm, people are no longer passive recipients of content but active contributors and disseminators of information (Zhongxuan, 2018). As a result, the web is valued for what it is: a place to share and discover knowledge and a medium for communication.
Therefore, the advent of internet technology and social networking sites has significantly impacted tourist advertising and layout practices (Zhongxuan, 2018). Thus destinations and leisure and tourism organisations are making use of the possibilities of new technology at various points in the journey to investigate the impact of multi-sensory stimuli. This concept contributes to the method of improving destination experiences, leading to more positive outcomes on the one hand and to the technique of creating and advertising innovative destination experiences on the other.
Technology has the potential to aid in marketing vacation experiences based on a variety of senses other than sight (Choi & Lee, 2021). Engaging the sensations is a powerful instrument for eliciting strong feelings and strengthening consumer loyalty to a brand. Reflex, creative communication events may result from collaborative marketing strategies employing cutting-edge technologies, such as designing multi-sensory itineraries catering to a wide range of tourist profiles or promoting interactive sensory experiences through regional cuisine. According to (Liechty, Santos & Park, 2020), new tourism research reveals that multi-sensory cues are significant markers for remembering and should be included in promoting compelling visitor experiences. This happens while promoting accessible tourism that is respectful of local resources and the needs of persons with disabilities (such as those with limited vision or hearing or who have difficulty moving about).
Mobile phones are an excellent example of location-aware technology since they are both inexpensive and ubiquitous. Customer content and mobile technologies are considered as having certain particularities that impact the kind of usage by travellers who use them to narrate their trip experiences throughout the anticipatory, re-collective, and in-location phases. Modern travel writing like this facilitates travellers’ cognitive and emotional bonding to companies and locations via enhancement, sharing, and meaning addition (Arica et al., 2022). These accounts of interactions with locals, other travellers, and unfamiliar environments are not limited to the visual sense; instead, they include the whole range of body perception.
Integrating technology like GIS and GPS with the web makes it simple to get accurate, up-to-date information tailored to each stage of a journey and each visitor’s individual goals and preferences (Benckendorff, Xiang & Sheldon, 2019). Activities of this kind may help improve the destination for everyone who visits or lives there. Research suggests that, in light of this understanding, it is essential to rethink how the advantages of places are communicated and that technology may help promote destination experiences based on senses other than sight. Engaging the perceptions is a powerful instrument for eliciting strong feelings and strengthening consumer loyalty to a brand.
The twentieth century saw the most significant technological change in human history. This tidal wave of technological advancements launched globalisation, raising the bar for commercial competition to unprecedented heights (Radetzki & Wårell, 2020). Adapting to these technological advances was a problem for businesses, but so was finding ways to enhance their goods to stand out from the crowd, gain a competitive edge, and ultimately increase sales. In this context, marketing emerged as the tool for maintaining clientele, raising the profile, and growing worth. For this reason, brands now use branding to distinguish themselves from the competition by clearly articulating their identity and conveying their core values to consumers. Branding is not only about how well-known a product is or how many ways it can be used; it also involves making an intangible yet meaningful connection with consumers. It will not be successful until an item or service communicates with its target audience (Srinivasan & Hanssens, 2018).
The latter half of the 20th century saw a boom in the tourism sector due to this massive change, with more people able to afford trips to the world’s premier vacation destinations (Holloway & Humphreys, 2019). As a result, marketing and branding became responsible for spreading the word about the location and increasing its appeal. Destinations have the issue of encouraging visitors to overcome their preconceptions about the place they want to visit and instead focus on the unique opportunities and adventures that may be found there. Due to the many internal and external players involved, the tourism destination is far more challenging to execute than product branding (Viglia & Dolnicar, 2020). It’s not only the DMO’s marketing team that has a hand in shaping a destination’s reputation; a place’s administration, policies, economics, and security all play a role. All of these components contribute significantly to a destination’s reputation.
In this way, marketing a location entails more than just trying to get more people to visit. Keeping in mind that the people already living there are the most excellent possible representatives of the area, it must also attract investors and talent and motivate them to work together towards a common future vision for the area. The Destination Administration Organization (DMO) is responsible for leading and coordinating the management of a destination and establishing its mission and vision (Foris et al., 2020). Professionals in the tourist business often band together to form DMOs, which oversee and coordinate the activities of all relevant parties. Other tiers may be established, including national, regional, territorial, and municipal. A destination’s “mix” (facilities, transportation, events, attractions, etc.) must be managed in a unified fashion.
These days, DMOs need to be more than just marketing frontrunners; they need to be strategic thinkers who shape the future of their destinations (Camilleri, 2018). As such, they will be responsible for leading and coordinating all destination management efforts following a comprehensive plan. Visitors’ expectations must be realised at the destination for them to promote it to other people and return there themselves. This can only be accomplished by effective promotion, which draws in the desired demographic. Some of the functions of the DMOs are further explained below. Management and coordination, a destination marketing organisation’s (DMO’s) job is to make sure that everyone involved in marketing the destination works together to accomplish the DMO’s stated objectives. The DMO’s role is to steer the local tourism industry and serve as a resource for tourists.
Planning and research include everything done to establish the DMO’s vision, purpose, and tourism-related objectives. To ensure everyone is on the same page about their role in the region’s progress, the DMO should include everyone in the planning process. Physical items (such as hotels, restaurants, amenities…), individuals (engagement of hosts and guests), packages (to be sold to visitors), and programming (events, festivals…) are all part of product development, which is concerned with the correct development of the destination product.
Marketing and promotion, establishing and branding the location and marketing it internationally, and reaching out to the most accessible markets are crucial (Bala & Verma, 2018). Establishing productive working relationships with entities from both the public and commercial sectors is essential to accomplishing any given task. DMOs may benefit from partnerships in many ways, including the provision of funding, the dissemination of information, the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, the expansion of the target audience, and the use of shared resources.
Relationship building alters the public’s perception of tourism for the better with the local populations and monitors the reaction it elicits (Xie et al., 2020). The economic benefits of tourism, the locals’ outlook, and the mitigation of any adverse effects on the area are all factors in fostering widespread public support for tourism. All DMOs should use these guidelines as a starting point for their strategic planning. That is to say, DMOs are tasked with facilitating and improving connections between residents and visitors, businesses and customers, and the economy and tourism as a whole.
The specific connotation of a place’s image as a tourist attraction is difficult to pin down. There are about as many meanings as there are images and the many efforts to conceptualise it that specialists in the field have made. Sure enough, there is increasing interest in the topic as there is a lack of a conceptual framework for researching destination images. Despite growing interest in a unifying theory, no one method has gained wide acceptance far. There are several different circumstances in which the phrase has been employed.
The “stereotype” of a location, as portrayed by travel marketers and sold to the public, public conception of a place, and the individual concepts people have of the places they want to visit individual. Crompton’s “destination picture” definition is the most often used one. The word “image” here refers to a symbolic representation of a more complex set of facts and memories associated with a specific location. While this definition focuses on the customer from a marketing perspective, understanding, central to this concept, is conscious that visuals may be used collectively by several individuals. Because of this knowledge, markets may be divided up, and it, therefore, helps develop effective marketing plans described in detail in the following sections of this paper that focus on Hong Kong and UAE.
Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates
The index provides a breakdown of the eleven types of connected devices, including smartphones, tablets, mobile computers, desktop computers, wearables, smart televisions, TV set-top boxes, video game consoles, e-readers, connected cars, and smart homes. In total, there are eleven different types of connected devices. The index can be found here. In addition, the index includes a list of the nations across the globe that have the most significant proportion of connected customers generally as a whole (Frosio, 2017). Since it is essential to remember this, paying attention to both aspects is critical.
The widespread adoption of these smartphones is the most notable trend in countries and territories experiencing significant economic expansion, such as Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. This is because countries and territories experiencing significant economic growth tend to be more technologically advanced than other places. This is because certain countries and territories have the highest probability of being among the first to gain from technological developments. This is also the very first piece of hardware that a user would employ in the vast majority of scenarios to connect to the internet and use other associated services to accomplish both of those goals. This is a result of the vast majority of individuals accessing the internet using their own personal computers. As a further point of interest, it is projected that this trend will go on throughout the subsequent two to three years as a direct consequence of cost savings.
When the authors talk about “developed countries,” they refer to Western Europe and North America. End users now have access to various new opportunities and benefits due to the spread of wearable technology and connected automobiles. This is because there is an excellent potential for equivalent potential in this particular area of the economy, which is why this is the case. This is even though this specific sector has a possibility for growth that is on par with other industries operating in the same area.
As a result of the characteristics of the circumstance, significant issues also manifest on the national level. Compared to the rest of the UAE, the regulatory climate for investments in Hong Kong is somewhat more favourable. The city’s high internet penetration also makes up for its economic deficit. In comparison to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the remainder of the UAE has a regulatory framework that is less friendly to investors. The rest of the United Arab Emirates, excluding Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has a regulatory climate that is less advantageous for investors. This is especially true in comparison to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. There is a chance that Hong Kong may be found in the United Arab Emirates. This is a distinct possibility (UAE). The sovereign status of the United Arab Emirates over the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong has been formally acknowledged in a statement released by that country (also known as Hong Kong SAR).
When it comes to technological industries that have already reached their degree of maturity, the influence that local nation drivers have on development is far more significant than global or regional trends’ influence. This is because local nation drivers can more directly respond to the needs of their specific populations. This might be primarily ascribed to the fact that consumers connect in more significant numbers and via a wider variety of channels than in the past. To phrase it another way, the customer base is shifting toward an increased emphasis on social orientation. In the 11 beginning, multinational hotel companies were the ones to pioneer the use of influencer marketing in the tourist business. Since then, it has gained popularity among destination management organisations (DMOs), seeking to generate benefits such as direct endorsement of the destination, increased awareness of the destination, and a larger target audience. These organisations are looking to develop these benefits to generate revenue. There is an increasing body of evidence demonstrating how influencer marketing can contribute to the fight against negative stereotypes of destinations, propel behavioural change, reroute tourism flows to less popular areas to cut down on over-tourism, and potentially play an essential part in tourism recovery efforts during a global crisis.
The growth of the MICE industry, which stands for “meetings, incentives, conferences, and events,” paves the way for the long-term expansion of the tourism market as a whole, enables the development of economic diversity, promotes the efficient use of cultural and natural-recreational resources, and facilitates the overall growth of the tourism market. It is generally known that the travel and tourism industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contributes significantly to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Cities Report, Dubai’s tourism industry is one of the biggest.
Regarding the total number of tourists who make the journey to various destinations in the country, it is anticipated that business travellers to Dubai would increase by 2% annually compared to the total number of people who travelled there for business in 2018. This forecast is based on the expectation that the number of persons visiting Dubai for 12 business reasons in 2019 would be greater than in 2018 (Colangelo et al., 2018). To put this in context, this translates to something in the vicinity of 2.3 million people. In 2019, Dubai Business Events was in charge of organising 301 different types of events, including meetings, conferences, and incentive programs.
These events were held at several locales throughout the world. By 2020, Dubai will have hosted 595 more events; some of these events have already been decided and scheduled, while others are now in the planning phases. The total number of people who attended an event at the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) in 2019 reached 3.57 million, representing an increase of up to 4% over the number of people who attended events at the DWTC in 2018. The significant astounding new high-water mark was attained in 2019, signalling the start of a new era. To make this development feasible, 349 business and MICE events were required, of which 97 were large-scale and attracted more than 2000 people. 86 of the 97 events occurred in North America, while 15 occurred in Europe. These large-scale events were probably well-organised if there were 349 of them, as this figure suggests their frequency. Since 2019, there has been a 15% increase in the number of people coming from other countries to participate in DWTC programs. One potential interpretation is that 1.2 million more people participated in the events overall (Chaffey & Ellis, 2019). This demonstrates the significant advantages that companies from across the world see in travelling to Dubai to network with other experts, share expertise, and drive the growth of their enterprises. In 2016, events connected to business tourism provided $3.57 billion to the entire economy, which equates to 3.3% of global GDP. Business travel is expected to continue its rapid rise in the coming years, further cementing the UAE’s image as one of the world’s top MICE destinations. One of the primary engines driving economic growth is the migration of people from one place to another to conduct business. This is referred to as “business travel.” On the other hand, the construction of quarantine was all necessary to make these preventative measures useless.
As a part of a campaign to promote cultural tourism in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has created many one-of-a-kind walking pathways across the city. Throughout their journeys, these known routes traverse a wide range of the city’s neighbourhoods and communities (Kiatkawsin et al., 2020). During these trips, you will see the walled hamlet of Fanling as well as the open-air marketplaces of Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok. Furthermore, to attract more people, the Hong Kong Tourism Board collaborates with many local businesses to widen the appeal of the city’s traditional Chinese festivals as well as its growing forms of event design. Events that fall under this category include the Tin Hau Festival parade in Yuen Long and Cha Kwo Ling, the Tam Kung Festival in Shaukeiwan, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, the Birthday of Lord Buddha celebrations at Po Lin Monastery, and the traditional fire dragon dance performed during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Over the last few years, the Hong Kong Tourism Commission (TC) has increasingly focused on ecologically responsible tourism throughout the whole area under Hong Kong’s government’s authority. In addition, the New Territories and Hong Kong Island are included in this scope.
Through the “Great Outdoors Hong Kong” campaign, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has been promoting the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, the natural landscape of several outlying islands, popular hiking pathways, and those that have the potential to appeal to visitors. The “Great Outdoors Hong Kong” campaign also includes the following elements: One of the other topics of the “Great Outdoors Hong Kong” campaign is the promotion of the beautiful natural beauty surroundings that can be found in several of Hong Kong’s outlying islands. More specifically, the Hong Kong Wetland Park is an outstanding centre for conserving natural ecosystems, academic study, and discovering these areas that would make good tourist attractions. Any of these activities will take place solely at this location. All these activities are possible while being confined inside the park (Reisinger, Michael, & Hayes, 2019).
In conclusion, the new possibilities for service and contact with one’s surroundings are made possible by the proliferation of ICTs in the tourist industry. Context-based marketing allows users to co-create experiences by optimising their external and internal circumstances by dynamically engaging users’ physical environments. Users may dynamically engage with their surroundings by aggregating information on their mobile devices, customising their profile via apps, and sharing that information across social networks, all thanks to analysing big data from various sources and sensors. Modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) may provide tourists with never-before-seen resources for interacting with and shaping their travel experiences. SoCoMo marketing, a novel idea based on social media, personalisation, context, and mobile devices, allows marketers to create value for all stakeholders at the destination via revolutionary market offerings and dynamic co-creation of goods and services.
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