Title:
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An evaluative criteria for partner selection in an international tourism country venue marketing collaboration
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Global tourism is one of the world's largest industries, employing some 238
million people, generating over 10% of the world GDP, an annual growth rate
of 4% and revenues expected to grow to $12 trillion by 2016. This important
industry is an intensely competitive marketplace and, most importantly,
characterised by an increasing difficulty in achieving differentiation. This, in
turn, exacerbates the level of competition and limits viable response
strategies. To cope with the increasing dynamism of the industry with
particular reference to competitive intensity, fragmentation and
differentiation, different augmentations of product/service bundles and
strategies have been proffered. Prominently, the utilisation of co-marketing in
parallel or in lieu of competition is increasingly prevalent, significant, and
successful in product marketing. More recently, and to a lesser extent, it has
been applied to domestic tourism marketing. Accordingly, this research is
focused on pan country national level tourism collaborations and most
specifically on developing a set of indicative selection criteria for country
partners which reflect both marketing and organisational considerations
and implications.
Using a methods triangulation approach and building on theoretic corpus
developed from marketing, organisational and behaviour literature, data
collection involved the use of both questionnaire and in-depth interview
methods. The questionnaire administration' was based on discretionary
sample, selected from premier tourism events such as the international
tourism trade exhibitions. Analyses of responses provided the basis for a
series of subsequent personal interviews with strategic decision makers for
national tourism such as tourism industry leaders and Ministers of Tourism
of selected countries.
On the basis of the intergrative findings from this research, a set of evaluative
criteria for collaborative partner selection was developed. This set of criteria
provides a template to evaluate potential collaborative partners reflecting
both a spectrum of marketing considerations and organisational and
behavioural perspectives .
The criteria facilitates the design and selection of a
co-marketing collaboration which provides a diverse, new and innovative
basis for successful differentiation. The research reveals that arguments
beyond purely rational decision making have a significant impact on
collaborative decisions. Most specifically, political and vestiges of heritage
based considerations were significant, prominent and prevalent. Similarly, the
perception of which countries are competitors was often based on parochial
perspectives. Thus, research substantiates the viability and efficacy of comarketing
with the correct partner and its ability to create unique
opportunities for marketing differentiations in an increasingly competitive
and homogenious market place. However, there are some important caveats.
While the benefits of collaboration are both established and significant,
ambivalence and constraints based on subjective considerations are prevalent.
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