This paper is concerned with traditional
mass-market resorts and the marketing con
straints that are imposed upon them by their
innate characteristics and the influence of the
distribution channel. As a result of these
resorts' reliance upon intermediaries, inclusive
tour (IT) clientele forms the core market of
many of the resorts as exempliffied by the
patronage of the main Spanish resorts by
clients of Northern European tour operators.
This has led to the commodification of the
resort product by intermediaries and the need
for resorts to differentiate their offering in a
highly competitive market.
In recognition of these issues and the
changing tourism marketplace, many resorts
are currently setting new objectives for their
marketing, and revising their strategies to take
into account the wish to seek new ways to
target and serve their preferred clients.1 How
ever, inclusive holidays are a key element of
business for these resorts, and the inclusive
holiday industry is characterised by a high
degree of differential power, where the initia
tive is often vested in the major tour operators.
This suggests that many mass-market resorts
are unable to put into effect the strategic mar
keting and planning approaches that theory
often suggests as solutions to the problems
faced by resorts in this stage of development.
In addition, resorts are often debilitated in
their attempts to implement marketing by stakeholder interests and the nature of public
sector organisation. It is the aim of this paper
to provide a framework for the understanding
of the constraints upon the implementation of
marketing that are experienced by mass-
market resorts.
Cooper, C.P. (1990) 'Resorts in Decline. The Management Response', Tourism Management, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 63-67.
2.
Nedo (1992) ' Marketing The UK Holiday in the UKO', NEDO/ Tourism Society, London; Mathieson, A. and Wall, G. (1982) ' Tourism. Economic, Physical and Social Impacts', Longman , Harlow.
3.
Inskeep, E. and Kallenberger, M. (1992) 'An Integrated Approach to Resort Development', WTO, Madrid .
4.
Gunn, C.A. (1988a) 'Tourism Planning', Taylor and Francis, New York.
5.
Ashwood, G. and Voogd, H. (1994) 'Marketing of Tourism Places: What Arc We Doing ?', in M. Uysal (ed), 'Global Tourist Behaviour', Haworth Press, New York, pp. 5-19.
6.
Poon, A. (1993) 'Tourism, Technology and Competitive Strategies ', CAB, Wallingford, p. 326.
7.
Butler, R. (1980) 'The Concept of a Tourist Area Life Cycle: Implications for Management of Resources', Canadian Geographer, Vol. 24, pp. 5-12.
8.
Wanhill, S.R.C. (1993) 'Intermediaries', in C. Cooper, J. Fletcher, D. Gilbert and S. R. C. Wanhill (eds), 'Tourism Principles and Practice', Pit-man, London.
9.
Gummensson, E. (1995) 'Making Relationship Marketing Operational', International Journal of Service Industry Management , Vol. 5, No. 5, pp. 5-20.
10.
McKenna, R. (1991) 'Relationship Marketing, Successful Strategies for the Age of the Customer', Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, p. 28.
11.
Laws, E. (1997) 'Managing Packaged Tourism, Relationships, Responsibility and Service Quality', in 'The Inclusive Holiday Industry', International Thomson Business Press, London.
12.
Brown, D. and Uysal, M. (1997) `The Effects of Channel Power, Destination Attractiveness and Political Risk on Channel Firms' Performance: The Case of Tourism Destinations in Africa', Proceedings of the TTRA Conference, 'The Evolution of Tourism: Adapting to Change', Nor-folk , Virginia, pp. 579-591.
13.
Greenwood, J. (1992) 'Producer Interest Groups in Tourist Policy: Case Studies from Britain and the European Community', American Behavioural Scientist, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 236-256.
14.
Butler, ref. 7 above.
15.
Cooper, C.P. (1995) 'Strategic Planning for Sustainable Tourism: The Case of the Offshore Islands of the UK', Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 1-19.
16.
Bote-Gomez, V. and Sinclair, T. (1996) 'Tourism Demand and Supply ', in M. Barke, J. Towner and M. T. Newton (eds), 'Tourism in Spain, Critical Issues', CAB, Oxford, p. 85.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Ibid.; Pearce, D.G. (1996) 'Tourist Organisations in Catalonia: Regional and Local Structures and Issues', Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 2, Nos. 3, 4, pp. 307-320.
19.
Haider, D.H., Kotler, P. and Rein, I. (1993) 'Marketing Places', Free Press , New York; Ashworth, G. and Goodall, B. (1990) 'Marketing Tourism _Places', Routledge, London; Heath, E. and Wall, G. (1992) 'Marketing Tourism Resorts' , Wiley, New York.
20.
Laws, E. (1995) 'Tourist Destination Management Issues, Analysis and Policies', Routledge, London .
21.
Cooper, ref. 15 above.
22.
Heath and Wall, ref. 19 above.
23.
Ibid.
24.
Morrison, A. (1989) 'Hospitality and Travel Marketing', Delmar, New York.
25.
Bonham, C. and Mak, J. (1996) 'Private Versus Public Financing of State Resort Promotion', Journal of Travel Research , Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 3-10.
26.
Brownlie, D.T. (1994) 'Strategy Planning and Management ', in S. F. Witt and L. Moutinho (eds), 'Tourism Marketing and Management Handbook', 2nd edn, Prentice Hall, New York; Witt, S.F., Brooke, M.Z. and Buckley, P.J. (1991) 'The Management of International Tourism', Unwin Hyman, London.
27.
Jain, S.C. (1985) 'Marketing Planning and Strategy', South Western, Cincinnati.
28.
Pearce, ref 18 above.
29.
Brownlie, ref. 26 above.
30.
Argenti, J. (1997) 'Stakeholders: The Case Against', Long Range Planning, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 442-445.
31.
Haywood, K.M. (1990) 'Revising and Implementing the Marketing Concept as It Applies to Tourism', Tourism Management , Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 195-205.
32.
Pigram, J.J. (1992) 'Alternative Tourism and Sustainable Development ', in V. L. Smith and W. R. Eadington (cds), 'Tourism Alternatives ', University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 76-87.
33.
Farrell, B. (1992) 'Tourism as an Element in Sustainable Development: Hana, Maui', in V. L. Smith and W. R. Eadington (eds), 'Tourism Alternatives', University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 115-132; Jamal, T.B. and Getz, D. (1996) ' Does Strategic Planning Pay? Lessons from the Corporate Planning Experience ', Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 59-78.
34.
Athiyaman, A. (1995) 'The Interface of Tourism and Strategy Research: An Analysis', Tourism Management, Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 447-453.
35.
Cohen, J.B. (1986) 'Involvement, Separating the State from its Causes and Effects', quoted in W. L. Wilkie, 'Consumer Behaviour', Wiley, Chichester.
36.
Asseal, H. (1987) 'Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action', Kent Publishers, Boston.
37.
Goodall, B. and Bergsma, J. (1990) 'Destinations as Marketed in Tour Operator's Brochures ', in Ashworth, G. and Goodall, B. (Eds) 'Marketing Tourism Places ', Routledge, London, pp. 170-192.
38.
Moscardo, G., Morrison, A., Pearce, P.L., Cheng-Te Lang and O'Leary, J.T. (1996) 'Understanding Vacation Destination Choice through Travel Motivation and Activities', Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 109-122.
39.
Laws, ref. 11 above.
40.
Shaw, G. and Williams, A. (1994) 'Critical Issues in Tourism. A Geographical Perspective ', Blackwell, Oxford.
41.
Williams, A. and Shaw, G. (1992) 'Tourism Research, a Perspective ', American Behavioural Scientist, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 133-143.
42.
Britton, S. (1991) 'Tourism, Capital and Place: Towards a Critical Geography of Tourism', Environment and Planning, D: Society and Space, Vol. 9, pp.451-478.
43.
MacCannell, D. (1976) 'The Tourist. A New Theory of the Leisure Class', Shocken/Macmillan, London.
44.
Meethan, K. (1996) 'Consuming (in) in the Civilised City', Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 322-340.
45.
Vickers, A. (1989) 'Bali, A Paradise Created', Periplus, Berkeley, CA.
46.
Shaw and Williams, ref 40 above.
47.
Ashworth and Goodall, ref. 19 above.
48.
Vellas, F. and Becherel, L. (1995) 'International Tourism', Macmillan , Basingstoke, p. 185.
49.
Hodgson, P. (1993) 'Tour Operator Brochure Design Revisited', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 50-52.
50.
Gilbert, D. and Houghton, P. (1991) 'An Exploratory Investigation of Format, Design and Use of UK Tour Operators' Brochures, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 20-25.
51.
Goodall and Bergsma, ref. 37 above, p. 188.
52.
Selwyn, T. (1992) 'Peter Pan in South East Asia: Views from the Brochure ', in M. J. Hitchcock, V. T. King and M. Parnwell (eds), 'Tourism in South East Asia', Routledge, London.
53.
Baloglu, S. (1997) 'The Relationship Between Destination Images and Socio-demographic and Trip Characteristics of International Travellers', Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 3, No.3,pp.221-233.
54.
Middleton, V.T.C. (1988) 'Marketing in Travel and Tourism', Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
55.
Levitt, T. (1969) 'The Marketing Model', McGraw-Hill , New York.
