Abstract

This research paper is a summary of the arguments and counterarguments about the scientific discussion on the issue of tourism marketing. The research aims at analysing tourism marketing in Armenia, find out the main gaps and suggest ways for raising its effectiveness. The analysis of the available literature sources and approaches for solving the problem indicates that the essence of tourism marketing is to understand and meet the needs of tourists. The importance of this scientific problem is that using marketing strategies is the primary mean to develop tourism. Also, destination branding is discussed, which may reflect the identity of a destination. Nowadays, the rise of the Internet gives various opportunities to present a country as an attractive tourism destination by using different marketing strategies and involve international tourists. Investigation of the topic of marketing and branding in the paper is carried out in the following rational arrangement. The essence and significance of tourism marketing and branding available in the literature are discussed, the main activities of tourism marketing in Armenia are analysed, and as a result, some suggestions are made for improving tourism marketing performance in Armenia. Besides, tourism brand of Armenia is processed, which reflects the history and culture of the country. Mainly qualitative methods were used in the research. The results of the empirical analysis are presented in the paper, which showed that having a good country brand strategy is a critical factor for achieving a high level of awareness among international tourists. The research analytically affirms that effective marketing and branding is the basis of tourism development. Armenian tourism stage in the tourism life cycle model is evaluated between involvement and development, so here marketing activities are necessary as well. The research results may be useful for state organs of the sphere for their marketing and branding strategic policies.

Keywords: tourism, marketing, branding, social media, destination, tourism area life cycle, strategy.

JEL Classification: L83, Z32, M31.

Cite as: Tovmasyan, G. (2020). Raising the Effectiveness of Tourism Marketing and Branding: Evidence from Armenia. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 1, 167-181. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2020.1-13

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References

1. Butler R. (Ed.). (2006) The tourism area life cycle, (Vol. 1). Channel View Publications. [Google Scholar]
2. Harutyunyan, B. (2010). Atlas, climate and natural therapeutic resources of Armenia, Yerevan: STPM (in Armenian), 124-133. [Google Scholar]
3. IRTEK Legal information center. Decision N 785-N of June 29, 2009 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia on «Creation of the Tourism Development Fund of Armenia, redistribution in the State Budget of 2017 of the Republic of Armenia, and making changes and additions in the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia N 1313 of December 29, 2016, as well as on allocating money to the State Tourism Committee of the Ministry of Development and Investment», Retrieved from http://www.irtek.am/views/act.aspx?aid=90629&sc=%20
4. IRTEK Legal information center. Decision N 785-N of June 29, 2017 of the Government of the RA on the «Charter of the Tourism Development Fund of Armenia’», Annex N 1, Retrieved from http://www.irtek.am/views/act.aspx?aid=90629&sc=%20
5. Konecnik, M., & Go, F. (2008), Tourism destination brand identity: The case of Slovenia. Journal of Brand Management, 15( 3), 177-189. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
6. Kotler, P., Bowen, J. T., Makens, J. C., & Baloglu, S., (2017) Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism (7th Edition). Pearson Education Limited 
7. Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia. (2019). Annex N 2 of the Order N 126-A dated February 27, 2019 of the Minister of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia, Implementation schedule of Tourism Development plan 2019.
8. Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia. (2019). Annex N 3 of the Order N 126-A dated February 27, 2019 of the Minister of Economic Development and Investments of the Republic of Armenia, Cost estimate of Tourism Development  plan 2019 
9. Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia. (2019). Order N 126-A of February 27, 2019 of the Minister of Economic Development and Investments on approval of Tourism Development plan 2019, Implementation schedule and cost estimate of Tourism Development plan 2019
10. Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia. (2020). Annex N 2 of the Order N 248-A of February 19, 2020 of the Minister of Economy on approval of “Tourism Development plan 2020, Implementation schedule and cost estimate of Tourism Development plan 2020
11. Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Armenia. (2018). The results of tourism in Armenia were summarized, Retrieved from https://www.mineconomy.am/news/1128#gallery-2
12. Official website of Amsterdam. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.iamsterdam.com/en
13. Official website of Madrid (2019). Retrieved from https://turismomadrid.es/es/
14. Official website of New York (2019). Retrieved from https://www.iloveny.com/
15. Official website of Canberra. (2019). Retrieved from https://canberra.com.au/
16. Official website of Paris (2019). Retrieved from https://booking.parisinfo.com/
17. Official website of Maldives (2019). Retrieved from https://visitmaldives.com/en
18. Official website of Spain (2019). Retrieved from https://www.spain.info/
19. Official website of France (2019). Retrieved from http://ee.france.fr/
20. Official website of Portugal (2019). Retrieved from https://www.visitportugal.com/en
21. Official website of Cyprus (2019). Retrieved from https://www.visitcyprus.com/index.php/en/
22. Official website of Netherlands (2019). Retrieved from https://www.holland.com/global/tourism.htm
23. Public and cultural diplomacy blog. (2012). Public diplomacy and nation branding, Retrieved from https://publicandculturaldiplomacy3.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/public-diplomacy-and-nation-branding-7/
24. Ray N., Das, K. D., & Kumar R., (2017), Tourism marketing, A Strategic Approach. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
25. Risitano M. (2006). The role of destination branding in the tourism stakeholders system. The Campi Flegrei case. Department of Business Management Faculty of Economics-University of Naples Federico II. Naples. [Google Scholar]
26. Roy A. C., Cathy H. C. H., & Lorraine L. T., (2018), Tourism: the business of hospitality and travel (6th Edition). Boston: Pearson.
27. Statistical Committee of the RA. (2019). Social-Economic Situation of the RA in January-December, Retrieved from https://www.armstat.am/file/article/sv_12_19a_421.pdf
28. Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia. (2019). Marzes and Yerevan city of the Republic of Armenia in figures, Retrieved from https://www.armstat.am/file/article/marzer_2019_22.pdf
29. Tert.am. (2017). Armenia’s national brand logo not in use despite considerable expenses. Retrieved from https://www.tert.am/en/news/2017/10/03/Armenia-brand/2500321
30. World Economic Forum. (2019). The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, Geneva. Retrieved from http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitiveness-report-2019/country-profiles/?fbclid=IwAR22gzypD-mq7h5HY7ioPJu4ZI1OXO6RO77oORJ6l9VNaLUgtWwF5SaO3u0#economy=ARM
31. Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner M. J., & Gremler D. D. (2018), Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm (7th Edition). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. [Google Scholar]