Any person who has spent time in Athens, Ga. can tell you there are some things that occur "Only in Athens." In order to develop a campaign for the Classic City, Snowden Tatarski dug, sniffed and prodded until a strategic vein we struck a strategic vein. The result was not as much an execution but a philosophy of how to speak "Athens." The materials were utilized by the Athens Economic Development Foundation and received a best in show designation from the American Advertising Federation.
Tourism has become an economic engine throughout the country. A larger portion of our population is retiring with more money than group of retirees in the past, which could have significant implications for the tourism industry. Tourism is an interesting economic development technique in that it brings in money which is wholly from outside the local economy yet taxes the local infrastructure at a minimum. The growth of the industry is so explosive that tourism has begun to overtake agriculture as the number one industry in at least one Southern state.
Working within the tourism industry has been very enjoyable. Tourism is a pleasant product to sell because it relates to people being on vacation, relaxing and enjoying themselves. However, the relaxing nature of tourism should never delude one to become relaxed in the strategic marketing of a tourism asset. The typical work plan of the tourism asset seems to follow some sort of convoluted script that must have existed for many years, since much of today's tourism marketing looks like a slightly polished up version of tourism marketing from 20 years ago. All major destinations seem to follow a plumb line consistent with their geographic location. For example, beach marketing needs to show a young family all in white shirts and chinos walking down the beach at sunset. Such an image might be accompanied with a line such as “life's a beach.” So much of tourism marketing has ventured towards uniformity within the sector that consumers would have a hard time discerning a beach in Florida from a beach in Virginia.
Tourism marketing differs heavily from many other disciplines of marketing in that many who lead efforts in this industry are not from a traditional marketing background. Sports marketing is very similar. The seat of education for sports marketing is often the recreational sports or athletic department within a university, whereas the traditional marketing curriculum is taught through the business school. As the popularity of hospitality programs in schools swells, many of those who will be leading tourism and hospitality businesses in the future will have very little exposure to classic marketing maxims. It is in such maxims that tourism marketers have the chance to learn about how to determine their unique selling proposition within their own assets and then position themselves versus the competition. This is in no way a suggestion that a hospitality education is inferior or lacking. Rather, it is a suggestion that traditional marketing principles, when properly integrated in today's current hospitality marketing system, could produce astounding results.
I believe the biggest opportunities for the tourism industry will lie in correct positioning. When doing some work concerning our great state of Georgia, a struggle emerged between those who see Georgia though the eyes of Atlanta and those who see Georgia as a whole. In truth, the competitive position is both. Georgia is a state with vast and seemingly conflicting attributes. Big cities and small towns. Mountain air and sea breezes. High technology and high cotton. Georgia’s strength is in diversity of people, places and opportunities.
Those pitching destinations, be they for visit or relocation, should be thinking about the strategy, position and follow through. The opportunity to take a real position in the consumer mind is abound, but so is the opportunity to blend in.