INTERGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN PROMOTING DESTINATIONS:

A STUDY OF PUBLICITY PROGRAM USED BY NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATIONS

Florence H.M. Chan

A Project Submitted

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

Master of Arts in Communication

Supervisor: Dr. Chen Ni

School of Communication Hong Kong Baptist University

Hong Kong 17 July 2006

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author wishes to thank Dr. Chen Ni for her advice and support in the preparation of this project. All survey described in this project was my own original work and was carried out by myself under the supervision of Dr. Chen Ni.

________________________ Florence H.M. Chan

M.A. in Communication

School of Communication Hong Kong Baptist University

Date: 17 July 2006

TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGE ABSTRACT 1 - 2 PART I - INTRODUCTION 3 - 8 PART II - LITERATURE REVIEW 9 - 16 PART III - RESEARCH QUESTIONS 17 - 20

AND HYPOTHESES PART IV - METHODOLOGY 21 PART V - FINDINGS 22 - 35 PART VI - CONCLUSION 36 - 41 EXHIBITS - TABLES 42 - 51 REFERENCES 52 - 54

1

ABSTRACT

Promoting destination and location branding are hot topics throughout the world

nowadays, principally as a key driver for tourism, inward investment and / or export

revenue.

Promoting a destination presents many challenges. Critical to the creation of a durable

destination image is the identification of the image’s values, the translation of those

into a suitably emotionally appealing personality and the targeted and efficient

delivery of that message.

This paper points out the importance of evaluating the effectiveness of promoting a

destination and the importance of the role of each promotion tool in integrated

marketing communications is discussed. The process of image evaluation as a

self-analysis process leading towards building a strong destination attraction is

considered.

To date, research into the integrated marketing communications of destination

marketing organizations (DMOs) has typically focused on topics such as destination

image studies, marketing strategy, conversion studies and advertising research. A

promotional method that has been largely ignored in research conducted so far is the

use of publicity. While much publicity concerning a place (destination) is unplanned

and incidental, and occurs in the general course of 'news', the publicity programs

conducted by destinations are often quite deliberate, planned, methodical and

coordinated with a clear set of objectives. Indeed, some DMOs report receiving a

2

greater annual value (as measured in terms of equivalent commercial advertising

expenditure) from their publicity programs than from their entire annual budgets.

This paper reports on research undertaken to gather information on the extent, nature

and conduct of efforts by national tourism organizations (NTOs) to generate publicity

for the purpose of stimulating tourist demand, and to compare and contrast the

different approaches and outcomes.

3

PART I : INTRODUCTION

Travel and tourism have become a global industry and are widely considered to be

one of the fastest growing industries, if not the fastest growing industry in the world.1

It ranks as the largest industry in the world in terms of employment and ranks in the

top two or three industries in almost every country on nearly every measure.2 Thus the

travel and tourism industry has become a major contributor to the gross national

product of many nations, with marketing tourist destinations and its products

becoming a widely recognized practice for both public and private sector

organizations.

Today, all the leading destinations offer excellent accommodation and attraction,

service and facilities are no longer differentiators and every country claims unique

culture and heritage. As a result, the need for destinations to portray a unique identity

is more critical than ever. Indeed, it has become the basis for survival within a

globally competitive marketplace. Yet, despite this aggressive marketplace, the stock

in trade of too much destination advertising remain blue seas, cloudless skies and

endless golden beaches with a less than memorable tagline. Such ‘wallpaper’

advertising, selling the user benefit of relation and a golden tan, has the effect of

rendering all seaside destinations indistinguishable from one another. Yet in this

4

marketplace what persuades potential tourists to visit (and revisit) one place instead of

another is whether they have empathy with the destination and its values. The battle

for customers in tomorrow’s destination marketplace will be fought over hearts and

minds.

In a competitive global tourism market, the creation and maintenance of national and

regional images becomes crucial to the marketing process. As attraction visiting

becomes a central element of everyday life, the role of attractions in image formation

is also growing. Nothing, it seems, can escape the magnetic pull of branding.

Everything seems to aspire to brand status nowadays. Even the countries, regions and

cities in which people live are attempting to develop brand propositions to potential

‘buyer’.

What motivates the creation of location brands? The short answer is that in an

increasingly competitive environment, each location has recognized the economic

benefits in establishing a clear and compelling selling proposition. Such a proposition

makes it easier for potential purchasers to buy into the location, whether as a tourist

destination, a place in which to invest or a source of desirable products and services.

5

Destination market organizations (DMOs) focus mainly on marketing as the principal

management function. They may play some role in product development and

operations, but this is still rare and is normally left to the private sector to arrange,

with government providing a tourism policy and regulatory framework. Integrated

marketing communications, therefore, is the principal purview of DMOs. More

specifically, recognizing that integrated marketing communications entail much more

than just 'selling' or 'advertising', destination promotion is normally the DMOs’ major

activity and budget item.

Promotion may be undertaken in a variety of different ways, including advertising,

direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity and public relations.3

The area of publicity and public relations is normally seen to be of secondary

importance compared to these other elements of the promotional mix. For this reason,

research into the use and effectiveness of publicity as a promotional tool for

destinations is quite limited, as evidenced by the apparent lack of published research

in this area. In the context of tourist destinations, however, anecdotal evidence

suggests that publicity can produce significant results, potentially overshadowing the

effect of all other promotional efforts combined.

6

For example, the Hong Kong Tourism Board aggressively pursued the “2006

Discover Hong Kong Year” promotion campaign globally through image and brand

building thematic advertising, road shows, direct mail and tactical advertising with the

related sectors (such as retail).

The HKTB launched the “Discover Hong Kong Year” advertising campaign through

different media channels, including television, radio, print and internet in 16 key

source markets. It also collaborated with strategic partners on promotions, making use

of their partners on promotions, making use of their customer database and channels

for information dissemination. Furthermore, celebrities such as Jackie Chan will be

invited to participate in consumer promotional activities. The HKTB estimates that

the target audience coverage of these promotional activities will reach 44 million.

For publicity, locally, the HKTB co-operated with the media to enhance the

community’s awareness of the “Discover Hong Kong Year” campaign and foster

local hospitality culture. For overseas publicity, the HKTB targeted to invite 1,500

global media representatives to visit Hong Kong and produce special features and TV

broadcasts on “2006 Discover Hong Kong Year”.

7

DMOs in general, and National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) in particular, appear

to have recognized the potential value and effectiveness of publicity in destination

promotion, but again the lack of studies on this topic indicates that little is known in

general about how much use and emphasis is placed on this form of promotion.

Publicity campaigns can be used as part of any destination's normal promotional

strategy. They are also useful in targeting and developing new market segments.

DMOs also pursue publicity opportunities to capitalize on major events, such as the

2006 FIFA World Cup and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, to soften or reverse adverse

trends, such as the decline in Asian tourism following the economic crisis experienced

in 1997-1998 or the tourism impact of the recent outbreak of bird flu in China, or to

improve poor public relations, such as the unhappy experience of tourists visiting

Hong Kong Disneyland during Chinese New Year, and in response to the events of

11th September 2002 and outbreak of SARS in 2003.

With governments allocating increased funding to destination promotion, this study

seeks to examine the use, management and impact of publicity as one promotional

tool. In some cases DMOs report receiving greater annual value from publicity

programs than from their entire annual budgets. For example, the value of publicity

generated by one such program organized by Hong Kong Tourism Board, “Best of the

8

Best Culinary Awards 2004”, was reported to have HK$26 million worth of publicity

for the city.4 This exploratory research is aimed at providing a basis and stimulant for

additional study in this important area.

The survey objectives of the study were to establish the extent and role of publicity

programs in the context of NTO promotional strategy, and investigate the

management of publicity programs in terms of budget, operation, industry

participation, tracking and evaluation. The survey focused primarily on the

operational aspects of publicity programs (e.g. invitation and selection of journalists,

development of itineraries, coordination with industry, the means of evaluating the

program, etc., and the effectiveness and value of their outcome.

With the above information, we can find out the importance of publicity in promoting

a destination and better allocation of resources to obtain the greatest result.

9

PART II : LITERATURE REVIEW

Branding has been considered to be the marketer’s key tool for creating product

differentiation. Stemming from the literature on product to service branding,

destination branding is one of the newest research areas. To brand a destination

successfully and make it outstanding from other competitors highly depends on the

marketing strategies and a number of integrated marketing communications tools are

used to achieve this objective. These promotion tools including advertising, direct

marketing, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity and public relations. It is

obvious that this process have been occurring in many nations in the past, whereas

research studies on this topic are limited.

Promoting destinations has been recognized as a complex and important concept in

the destination-selection process. In the last three decades tourism researchers as well

as industry practitioners and destination marketers have been very interested in

measuring the effectiveness in promotion a destination. In addition, the proper

methodology for measuring a destination’s promotion effectiveness has been the

subject of many travel and tourism studies.

10

Promoting destinations may be analyzed from different perspectives, and composed

of a variety of individual perceptions relating to various attributes. Milman and

Pizam5 suggested that promoting a destination has three components: the product (i.e.

the quality and variety of attractions, price, and uniqueness); the behavior and attitude

of employees who come into direct contact with tourists; and the environment such as

the weather, the quality and type of accommodation, and physical safety. Ries and

Ries argued that among all the integrated marketing communications tools, effective

publicity can accomplish for more than advertising in building a destination’s identity.

What one says about a destination is eminently more powerful than what one what a

destination says about itself. Shane Corinne suggested that direct marketing allows

marketers to get the attention of the client’s prospect or customer. The media is

bypassed as the way to the audience, and the message instead travels directly to the

person the marketer wants to reach. If the mailing list is good and the message is

strong, the piece will be read by a certain proportion of the total list and there will be

enough queries resulting in strong leads to justify the campaign.

Much work has, however, been done in the area of analyzing the image of

destinations and tourism researchers has picked a number of destinations and focused

on the attractions of those destinations itself. Gunn6 referred to two levels of image –

11

organic and induced. Goodrich7 also identified two levels of image – the primary

destination image formed by a visit, and the secondary image formed by information

received from external sources. Furthermore, Phelps8 referred to the same two levels

of image (primary and secondary). Building on the theory, Fakeye and Crompton9

developed a model to describe the relationships between organic, induced and

complex images that incorporated experiences at the destinations.

Destination promotion can be conducted in a variety of ways, and most destinations

appear to make widespread use of most of the possible forms of promotion. Some

promotional tools, however, tend to attract more use and attention. Advertising, for

example, targeting either travel consumers or alternatively the travel trade, is the most

manifest form of promotion. Consumer advertising, particularly using print, television,

radio, outdoor and now Internet media, predominates. But trade advertising in travel

trade magazines and newspapers, for example, also plays an important role.

DMOs also undertake personal selling of destinations. This is executed mainly

through the travel trade for reasons of efficiency and effectiveness. Examples include

trade shows, exhibitions and events; specialist travel agency training programs; trade

familiarization tours; and meetings, conventions and incentives sales management.

12

But personal selling to consumers via telephone call centers and tourist information

kiosks run by DMOs is also common.

Direct marketing allows marketers to get the attention of the client's prospect or

customer. The media is bypassed as the way to the audience, and the message instead

travels directly to the person the marketer wants to reach. If the mailing list is good

and the message is strong, the piece will be read by a certain proportion of the total

list and there will be enough queries resulting in strong leads to justify the campaign.

Direct marketing is a highly effective vehicle for case history and testimonial material

in business-to-business public relations. Marketers should be alert for unsolicited

comments from customers that can be quoted in a letter, brochure, or newsletter, with

the permission of the customer. A sophisticated direct marketing operation will

produce a considerable amount of valuable demographic and psychographic

information. News releases that cite statistics can work very well for a client who is a

direct marketer in consumer goods and services.

Because DMOs are rarely operators of much of the tourism product, the use of sales

promotion techniques is limited to facilitating promotional partnerships and alliances

13

among member enterprises. Travel trade planner guides listing the products and

services of member firms are a commonly produced resource that serves to encourage

sales promotion possibilities. It appears the use of direct marketing methods has

increased as destinations have turned to the direct mail of destination brochures or

visitor guides / magazines, as well as the use of global distribution systems and

destination web pages to facilitate direct communication and bookings.

The last element of the promotional mix involves the use of publicity or public

relations techniques. Whereas publicity involves ‘information from an outside source

used by the news media based on its news value’,10 public relations is a much broader

concept as it involves in addition a broader range of planning activity for 'building

good relations with the company's various publics by obtaining favorable publicity,

building up a good "corporate image", and handling or heading off unfavorable

rumors, stories and events’.11 Seitel12 defines public relations as 'the management

function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an

individual or an organization with the public interest, and plans and executes a

program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance'.

14

Based on these definitions, one can say that publicity represents the tools by which

public relations objectives are carried out. Kotler13 identify these tools as consisting of

news, speeches, special events, written materials, audio-visual materials, corporate

identity materials and community service activities which communicate information

about the organization to its publics through the various news, information and

entertainment media.

Common misunderstandings and confusions in the terminology between advertising

and publicity should also be explained. Unlike placing an advertisement, public

relations is not a sure-thing.

The advertising advocates will emotionally defend their work on the basis of

enhancing the equity of the brand or building brand value or creating an emotional

bond with consumers or inspiring and motivating the sales force. The purpose of

advertising is not to build a brand, but to defend a brand once the brand has been built

by other means, primarily public relations or third-party endorsements. Ries and his

partner (and daughter) Laura argued that effective publicity can accomplish far more

than advertising in building brand identity and brand loyalty.

15

A recent study conducted by Procter & Gamble, the world's largest

consumer-products group, found a much higher return on investment from their public

relations expenditures than their advertisements. Public relations spending in America

is expected to grow at nearly double-digit rates in the coming years, far higher than

predicted growth rates for advertising and marketing. Establishing credibility, whether

for a product, a corporation, an issue or a destination, can translate into far more

reaching impact than can be summed up in a clippings report.

The ascendancy of public relations is related to a number of factors. Consumers in

today's market have access to more information streams than ever before, and at the

same time have a greater ability to filter out unwanted content.

This trend, being mirrored by the growth of commercial-free satellite radio, Internet

browsing pop-up advertisement blockers, and the like, puts an increased premium on

communicating outside of traditional marketing. As a shift occurs to public relations,

there is a realization that public relations work is valuable for another reason:

Information is more effective when the source is perceived as more impartial.

The main weaknesses of the previous studies stem from the fact that there have been

16

no great efforts to distinguish the effectiveness among the promotional tools in

building a destination image and to promote a destination.

17

PART III : RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

The majority of destination publicity is incidental; that is, it is not preplanned or

deliberate but merely occurs in the natural course of 'news' events being picked up

and transmitted by the various media and commonly having nothing to do directly

with tourism but nevertheless impacting on tourism. Tourism may have little or

nothing to do with these events. However, as long as the event says something about

'the place', the perception that such publicity creates accumulates to form, or influence

at least, the image that potential visitors may develop about what that place would be

like to visit. The SARS problem in 2003, noted above, is a good example of this.

Incidental publicity might arise from world events, movies, documentaries, celebrities

who originate from and therefore represent the place in some way and a wide variety

of other direct and indirect symbols and indicators.

Tourism authorities have moved to 'capture' or capitalize on this incidental publicity,

endeavoring to shape, influence, create or foster publicity that helps to promote the

place as a tourism destination. DMOs, for example, have been keen to sell movie

producers on the virtues of their 'location' for filming, to invite travel writers and other

journalists to visit for the purpose of featuring the destination in their work and to

leverage the tourism impact of major events such as Formula One Grand Prix. Of the

18

various publicity tools described above, those which appear to have the greatest

prevalence in destination marketing include movies, press kits and media

familiarization tours.

Movies

Movies are a form of audio-visual material. Cohen14 suggests 'Movies can

communicate a striking image', while Riley15 recognizes 'movies as powerful forces

when publicizing and promoting consumable items'. Busby and Klug16 note that

'Many countries ... have seen a dramatic increase in visitor numbers to locations that

have been featured in films or television programs.' There are numerous examples of

the purported impact of movies or television series on tourism. For example, the

Korean television series 大長今 broadcasted in TVB Jade last year has led to a

drastic increase in Hong Kong tourists to visit Korea in 2005. Movie and television

broadcasts provide access to large audiences and provide an additional form of

publicity for destinations.

Press kits

Press kits represent another technique employed to generate publicity for a destination

in the form of written material. In their study of travel writers, Gladwell and Wolff17

19

demonstrated that press kits were an effective way to inform travel writers about a

destination. Although press kits provide valuable information concerning a destination,

their study revealed that a personal visit was considered to be the most effective way

to inform travel writers about a destination. Press kits were used extensively by the

Hong Kong Tourism Board with success to inform the media and thereby promote the

2006 Discover Hong Kong Year and also promote Hong Kong.

Media familiarization, travel writer tours and visiting journalist programs

These activities or programs represent a form of special event designed to generate

news. They may be known by a variety of names including press tours, visiting

journalist programs and travel writer or media familiarization tours. They are all

designed, however, to attract a variety of journalists, writers, film crews, documentary

producers, etc, to a location to experience the tourism product and provide media

exposure for a particular destination.

As suggested by Gladwell and Wolff,18 personal visits or those described as media

familiarization tours are a routine part of destination marketing organizations

promotional activities. 'Hosting the international media provides many benefits to

individual tourism organizations and entire destinations', according to Mackellar and

20

Fenton.19 Although hosting international journalists is seen as a cost effective

promotional activity, some destination marketing organizations question the

qualitative and quantitative results of such a program.20 Problems in meeting

journalist expectations, the lack of control over the finished product and desired

image are just some of the negative elements associated with conducting a media tour

program.

Despite the challenges associated with conducting media familiarization tours, these

tours have become an essential part of the promotional activities of many DMOs. The

tours are designed to attract the international media to a destination with the sole

purpose of generating free publicity from the articles and stories written or

audio-visual material produced about the destination.

Although many DMOs conduct travel writer tours as part of their marketing and

promotional program mix, very little is known about the conduct and management of

these tours, nor of the level of free publicity that is generated from them. For this

reason there is considerable scope for theory development in this field, but before this,

a possible study is required which explores current practice as a basis for such work.

21

PART IV : METHODOLOGY

Although research has been undertaken on a variety of marketing and promotional

activities by destinations21, little research has yet been conducted on the publicity

programs of DMOs. This paper reports the results of a survey of practice by ten NTOs

(i.e. DMOs at the national level) in Hong Kong. Nineteen surveys were distributed to

NTOs with offices in Hong Kong. Response from ten NTOs were received (a

response rate of 53 per cent), which was satisfactory given the exploratory nature of

this study. The results were supplemented with information gathered from annual

reports, strategic plans and other material provided by each NTO. Because the

research addresses aspects of marketing strategy and some NTOs expressed concerns

regarding confidentiality, the results of the survey are reported, where necessary, in

the aggregate and the identity of the participating NTOs is not reported for this

reason.

22

PART V : FINDINGS

Publicity in the context of promotional budgets and impacts

Although an aim of the research was to undertake a comparative analysis of DMO

budgetary allocations against a range of marketing and promotional activities, with

particular emphasis on publicity programs, the inconsistent responses to certain

questions on the survey combined with differences in budget structure made this task

difficult. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) in their research on NTO

promotional budgets also expressed similar difficulties. They found that the structure

of the budgets varied from country to country, that promotional expenditure was often

assigned to differing budget items across countries, and that some ‘breakdowns by

cost category were based on total budgets, whilst other were based on promotional

budgets’. These structural differences in budgetary allocation therefore ‘hamper

comparative analysis of the data’ according to the WTO.22 Despite these difficulties,

however, the WTO research did indicate that ‘promotional budgets had grown at a

greater rate than total budgets, and that in general promotional budgets account for

between 60 and 80% of the total annual budget’, although the ‘general conclusion…

was that promotional budgets were small’.

23

Despite these apparent difficulties, the survey was able to uncover broadly a sense of

organizational funding and the allocation of funds across promotional activities in

general and to publicity programs in particular.

To understand the use of publicity in the overall marketing effort, some contextual

information on the DMOs is necessary. For example, a larger total marketing budget

enables greater use of a range of promotional techniques. The balance between public

and private interests might also influence the extent of the use of publicity programs

which tend to rely more for their success on industry participation. The survey asked

NTOs to indicate the level and source of total funding, and the proportions spent on

various forms of promotion, including publicity. The majority of NTOs surveyed

were funded through an appropriation in government budgets. The percentage of such

funding ranged between 50 and 100 per cent. One NTO received 50 per cent of its

funding from ‘dedicated taxes’. Another NTO recorded receiving 100 per cent of its

funding from ‘other government departmental’ sources. Only two NTOs indicated

receiving a percentage (2-15 per cent) of their funding from ‘membership fees from

the private sector’, ‘revenue from sales’ or ‘other sources’. Despite some governments

in recent years seeking to decrease the proportion of government funding of NTOs

24

relative to industry funding and revenue, it would appear that NTOs still rely heavily

on government financial support.

Although an attempt was made to elicit the actual budget allocation for 'all

promotional activities' and the 'total marketing budget' (all promotional activities plus

all other marketing costs), very few NTOs provided a consistent response to this

question, thus making it difficult to comment adequately on this aspect. It appeared

that many DMO’s were either reluctant to provide this information or had difficulty in

separating the promotional activities from other marketing expenses.

In order to place the extent and conduct of publicity programs in context, the survey

then sought to identify the various forms of promotional activity conducted by each

NTO, the percentage of the annual promotional budget allocated to each of these

activities and the perceived importance of each of these promotional activities to the

destination's overall promotional effort. For this purpose, the survey grouped

promotional activities into seven categories: consumer advertising, trade advertising,

personal selling to the trade, personal selling to consumers, sales promotion

partnerships, publicity and public relations and direct marketing.

25

Table 1 indicates the average distribution of promotional expenditure across each of

these seven classes of promotion. It is not surprising that total advertising (consumer

plus trade) represents the largest area of expenditure (47%). Personal selling to the

travel trade was the next largest component (23%). It is interesting to note that, at

17%, 'publicity and public relations' is the next most significant item of promotional

expenditure, with significantly smaller amounts spent on direct marketing, sales

promotion partnerships and personal selling to consumers.

Within the category of publicity and public relations, Table 2 indicates that, on

average, formal media familiarization tours (sometimes known as VJPs) consume the

largest share of funding on this element of the promotional mix. The cost of these

formal programs is examined later in this paper.

Although the largest proportion of promotional budgets is directed towards consumer

advertising and personal selling to the travel trade, these activities involve a 'payment

for a desired outcome'. Publicity and public relations normally involve no direct

payment or control of outcome but rather rely on an ability to generate a level of

'unpaid' or 'free' promotion for the destination. Given this distinguishing feature of

publicity and its implications for the cost-effectiveness of this form of destination

26

promotion, respondents were also asked to express the NTO’s perception of the

importance of each component of promotion (using a seven-point Likert scale with 7

representing ‘extremely important’).

The most notable finding in Table 3 is that respondents perceived that formal media

familiarization tours or VJPs were rated highest in terms of their promotional

importance across all promotion subcategories. This is clearly very significant and

supports anecdotal evidence regarding the impact and cost-effectiveness of these

classes of destination publicity program. This result should be regarded with some

caution, as it is possible that the survey instrument may have created an upward bias

in the rating responses to this form of promotion. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to

conclude that formal publicity generation programs today play a major role in the

strategies of many NTOs.

In recent years there has been a heightened interest in conversion studies or

accountability / program evaluation research designed to assess the impact or net

benefit derived from destination promotional (but mainly advertising) programs.23 In

light of the perceived importance of formal publicity programs and their implied

cost-effectiveness, similar research into the performance of this form of promotion is

27

overdue. The remainder of the exploratory survey sought to shed some light on the

administration and conduct of formal publicity programs and efforts to evaluate their

resulting outcomes and benefits.

Administration of publicity programs

All survey respondents indicated that they conducted some form of formal publicity

program designed to produce publicity for the destination as 'a deliberate, proactive

objective rather than an incidental, reactive outcome'. The survey asked respondents

to indicate the names of up to two such programs with a brief description of each.

They were described in a variety of ways, such as ‘guest programs’, ‘overseas media

visits’, ‘media summit’, ‘media familiarization’ or ‘media briefing programs’.

Additionally some NTOs described these as product- or event-specific activities such

as the ‘(destination) City Experience’, ‘Colors of (destination)’ or ‘Millennium

Extravaganza’.

In a number of instances, NTOs conducted more than a single publicity program.

These programs had varying objectives and levels of funding. All NTOs reported that

their publicity programs were operated on a continuous basis throughout the year. In

the majority of cases they were designed generally to:

28

1. target various forms of media and television crews to visit

2. increase awareness concerning the destination

3. generate positive images of the destination

4. motivate and increase the consumer's desire to holiday in a particular location

The survey found that most of the cash cost of the formal media tours was funded by

the NTO (varying from 60 to 100 per cent), with additional cash contributions from

other state, regional or city-based tourism organizations (10-20 per cent) as well as

from tourism industry enterprises (5-20 per cent). Airlines, tour operators and hotel

cooperatives were major industry participants. The opposite pattern was identified

with regard to ‘in-kind’ contributions. In-kind contributions included such things as

free air tickets or accommodation provided to journalists by airlines or hotels, certain

free meals in restaurants, free escorted tours, etc. Industry partners contributed the

majority of in-kind support (75-100 per cent), with lesser amounts contributed by the

NTO (0-20 per cent) and tourism organizations at other levels (i.e. sub national) (0-15

per cent). Table 4 summarizes the source and distribution of funding for these formal

publicity programs.

29

The survey asked respondents to indicate the number of journalists and other media

participants who took part in the program on the last occasion it was conducted (see

table 5). As all NTO publicity programs were operated on a continual basis

throughout the year, the numbers provided represent whole-year figures. The print

media is by far the largest group of participants. While many of these journalists are

travel writers for newspapers, magazines or travel guides, NTOs also invite other

types of journalists to participate, such as food writers for example. Television and

film is the next most significant group of participants. The growth of lifestyle

programming in general, and travel programs in particular, on network and cable

television has created increased opportunities for destination publicity via this form of

media in recent years. There has also been an increased tendency to take certain

television programs 'on location' for brief periods. For example, 'breakfast programs'

have done this frequently for a number of years. News anchors also leave their desks

on occasions to broadcast from locations to cover major news events. At times

television programs tie such on-site programming to events such as an Olympic

Games or other sport or site of news interest. Other factors involve competition

between sites as movie locations, discussed above, and the increased production of

documentaries.

30

In terms of the criteria used by NTOs to select media participants / journalists for

publicity programs, a broad number of criteria have been used (Table 6). There is a

considerable degree of uniformity in the average importance ratings of these criteria,

with 'previous participation on media tour', 'new market direction' and journalist

participation is subsidized' being the only criteria to rate below five on the seven-point

scale.

The survey demonstrated that DMOs endeavor to ensure that their formal publicity

programs run as smoothly and successfully as possible by handling most of the

organizational arrangements and leaving as little to chance as possible. It is evident

from Table 7 that, although industry participants in the program contribute

considerable in-kind support / costs, the NTO normally maintains firm control on the

overall management and operation of the program as the central point of control.

Further evidence of the detailed organization and management of the programs is

indicated in terms of the information and material provided to the participating media

(Table 8). Although the media / journalists are free to publish / produce material as

they see appropriate, a portion of DMOs hope to influence the 'stories' through the

31

provision of general information as well as information in the style of a story-line,

target market information and marketing guides.

Evaluation of publicity programs

Only one of the DMOs reported no attempt to assess the commercial value arising

from their publicity program. Of those which reported an estimated annual value,

estimates varied greatly between a little under HK$1m to over HK$200m. In addition

to estimating the overall commercial value of the resulting publicity, several other

performance measures were also reported, including qualitative analysis of individual

stories, conversion studies, number of responses / enquiries arising from the publicity,

compilation of print media clippings and film footage, feedback from in-kind

suppliers and operators of products featured in the program and follow-up by public

relations agencies or international offices in origin markets.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board VJP is reported in 2000 - 2001, to have resulted in a

total of 1,040 media visits (across all forms of media) generating approximately

HK$270m of publicity in terms of equivalent commercial value. In fact, the number

of media visits and the level of publicity generated from these visits have increased

exponentially for the Hong Kong Tourism Board. In 2002 the Hong Kong Tourism

32

Board hosted approximately 1,200 media visits compared to less than 500 in 1992.

The publicity generated from these visits in 2002 was reported to be worth

approximately HK$500m compared to less thanHK$50,000 in 1992.24

Besides, in 2003, to create extra publicity splash in the middle of the “Hong Kong

Welcomes You!” period, the Hong Kong Tourism Board designed Sunday 17 August

2003 as a special “Welcome Day”. Over 3,000 visitors and VIP guests attended the

premiere of Strato-Fantasia, the first of the campaign’s Mega Event series and a

Welcome Banquet. The above initiative has created over HK$113.7m publicity value.

The range of performance evaluation methods used to assess the publicity programs is

summarized in Table 9. Estimation of the extent of the audience reached by the

program is the most widespread evaluation method used, closely followed by the

calculation of the equivalent 'column-inch' cost of printed material, the number of

forms of media represented and the rather blunt method of measuring international

arrivals and attributing changes to the publicity program. One NTO reported

undertaking a 'qualitative analysis of individual stories -- writing style, depth of

subject, applicability of theme to the market'.

33

Although many of the reported methods provide crude performance measures, it is

evident that performance measurement is considered important. Indeed, given the

cash and in-kind cost of the publicity programs, NTOs recognize that they need to

demonstrate the value of the programs to industry partners if they are going to be able

to continue to count on industry support and participation in subsequent years. On this

point, Table 10, which indicates the type and target of program outcome reports,

illustrates the extent to which NTOs recognize the need to report program results to

industry. Hence, performance in terms of both process and outcome or impact is

important to the success of these programs.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board provides a feedback form for journalists to complete

following their participation. The form gathers information on the target market, tour

type, information about the publication, its frequency and circulation audience and an

estimation of the publicity value in Hong Kong dollars, and a copy of the article

produced.

As noted above, most of the performance evaluation methods used are very limited in

their accuracy and reliability. Depending on the circumstances, the effect of publicity

may occur over a lengthy period of time and be dependent upon space availability;

34

motivation to travel may depend upon a number of factors; overseas arrival figures

are not necessarily linked to a particular publicity campaign; and the number of

enquiries, interviews and kits may be linked to other marketing activities or events.

None of the methods gives a true picture of the incremental change in visitation

resulting from a publicity program and some performance measures are probably

quite misleading for this reason, resulting in a likely overestimation of the program's

benefits. Nevertheless, when considering both the costs and benefits of the publicity

programs compared to other forms of promotion such as advertising, it is clear that

destination publicity programs can be extremely cost-efficient and effective.

Problems and improvements

The survey concluded by asking, in an open-question format, about problems

encountered and corrective actions or improvements required. The problems

encountered during the conduct of the programs fell within five categories: budget,

industry support, resources, expectations and quality. Specifically, points noted were

limited funds, lack of selected industry support, short notice of arrival of journalists,

quality control of material published, and results did not meet expectations, program

did not meet journalists' interests and lack of staff resources.

35

Suggested measures to correct these problems or to introduce other improvements

included allocate a larger budget to program, set minimum timeframes for each visit,

obtain sponsorship, establish and maintain good public relations, improve

communication, conduct regular meetings, provide better staff training, target media

more specifically, undertake themed media tours to target different market segments

and decrease support for visits in high season and increase support in shoulder / low

seasons.

36

PART VI : CONCLUSION

This exploratory study has found that the publicity programs conducted by NTOs

have become critically important elements of their destination promotional strategies.

While publicity programs run third behind advertising and personal selling in terms of

expenditure by NTOs, they are rated first in terms of promotional importance due to

their much greater perceived cost-effectiveness.

Formally organized and conducted media familiarization tours, VJPs and the like have

become the core publicity activity for NTOs. It is clear from this exploratory study

that, although publicity results in unpaid promotion of the destination, these programs

are not cost free. Indeed, in order to formalize and operationalize these programs, a

considerable effort is required to design, organize and manage their execution so that

they run smoothly and attract the interest and participation of industry enterprises

which contribute only modestly to the monetary cost of the programs (about 5-20 per

cent) but which provide the greatest proportion of in-kind support (75-100 per cent)

without which these publicity programs could not function.

This exploratory survey has demonstrated that NTOs regards formal publicity

generation programs as a vital promotional tool, and essential in any destination

37

marketing strategy. Promoting a national destination in a number of targeted origin

markets faces considerable costs. NTOs have found that carefully designed and

managed publicity programs present an opportunity to gain extensive promotion of

the destination at a relatively low cost.

Although publicity avoids the need to pay for 'column inches' or 'on-air time', it does

yield control of the promotional content. Hence, as content can not be controlled,

NTOs do their best to facilitate favorable coverage of the destination by investing

resources into the smooth management and operation of programs designed to host

visiting journalists and media, thereby increasing the likelihood of favorable stories.

In addition, as the NTO and industry participants pay for much or all of the costs

associated with hosting the media, it is reasonable to conclude that at least some of the

members of the media participating in these publicity programs are unlikely to 'bite

the hand that feeds them'. Interestingly, in some cases, certain publishers have policies

prohibiting participation in such programs, preferring to maintain their editorial

independence. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this trend may be continuing.

38

A successful formal publicity program is therefore not cost free, but the costs can be

orders of magnitude lower than they would be if the same column inches or on-air

time were acquired commercially.

What others say about your destination is so much more powerful than what you can

say about it yourself. That's why publicity in general is more powerful than

advertising. And why publicity has eclipsed advertising as the most powerful force in

promoting destination.

Yet for years publicity has been treated as a secondary function to advertising. Public

Relations people even used to measure their successes in terms of advertising space.

Publicity stories were converted into equivalent advertising expenditures.

Even worse, marketing strategies were usually formulated first into advertising

slogans. Then the public relations people were asked to reinforce the advertising by

creating public relations programs to communicate the slogans.

Not anymore. Today destinations are built with publicity and maintained with

advertising. The cart is now driving the horse.

39

Most companies develop their branding strategies as if advertising were their primary

communications vehicle. They're wrong. Strategy should be developed first from a

publicity point of view.

In summary, the managerial implications for NTOs arising from this exploratory

study are as follows:

1. The anecdotal and survey evidence suggests that NTO publicity programs are

very cost-effective and have become critical elements for any NTO promotional

strategy.

2. To maximize their effectiveness and ensure that the resulting destination

publicity is as favorable as possible, publicity programs need to be highly

organized and coordinated.

3. As governments are today coping with increased demands on budgets (such as

health, education, defense, etc), NTOs must ensure that they maximize their

promotional effectiveness, and publicity programs appear to offer substantial

advantages in this regard.

4. Although they result in unpaid promotion, publicity programs are not cost free

and do require considerable time and effort to design, organize and evaluate.

40

5. The value of publicity programs in terms of equivalent paid advertising has been

reported to range up to hundreds of millions of Hong

Kong dollars. However, it is clear that the measurement of the dollar impact is

fraught with difficulty. Improved methods for measuring their promotional

effectiveness and impact are greatly needed.

6. At a time when destinations are adjusting to an increasingly competitive

international tourism environment, promotional budgets are under strain and

world events and news (such as terrorism) can dramatically shape the fortunes of

tourism destinations, NTOs need to become increasingly more adept at public

relations and publicity management.

The apparent success of destination publicity programs is likely to see further growth

in the application of this form of destination promotion. There is therefore a need and

increasing scope for further research in this important area. A number of research

avenues are evident, as follows:

1. develop improved evaluation techniques

2. survey industry involvement, benefits and support, and how that might be

enhanced

41

3. survey journalist or media perceptions and experiences

4. survey the involvement of other DMO levels (particularly by state/provincial

organizations and city convention and visitor bureau

5. investigate the efficacy of publicity in different contexts (for example, to

compare the usefulness of publicity as a method of dealing with unfavorable

events,25 such as the aftermath of a hurricane or a perceived rise in crime, with

favorable events such as the hosting of a major sports event)

6. examine the impact of publicity in terms of its interdependence with the other

forms of promotion and messages, such as hybrid messages involving

advertising and publicity26

7. measure the impact of publicity in terms of the duration or lag of its effects, its

qualitative superiority over paid-for advertising, etc

8. study various consumer behavior issues, such as its effect on destination image

and choice, and its impact on visitation to individual enterprises participating in

the program

The results of this exploratory study provide an insight into the operationalization of

publicity programs by NTOs, and therefore a step towards these further research

opportunities.

42

EXHIBITS - TABLES

Table 1: Average promotional budget allocations Type of promotional activity Average Allocation (%) Consumer advertising 38 Personal selling to the trade 23 Publicity and public relations 14 Trade advertising 12 Direct marketing 6 Sales promotion partnerships 5 Personal selling to consumers 2

43

Table 2: Publicity and public relations budget allocation range Form of publicity and public relations Range of budget allocation (%) VJPs / media familiarization tours 2 - 12 Newsletters and magazines 2 - 5 Video and photograph libraries 2 - 2.5 News releases 0.5 - 5 Trade relations and databases 0.5 - 1 Information kits 0.5 - 5 Others 0 - 3

44

Table 3: Perceived importance of promotional activities Type of promotion Category Subcategory Importance

rating* Consumer advertising Television

Radio Outdoor Internet Print

5.0 2.8 3.9 4.3 3.9

Trade advertising Trade magazines and newspapers 4.7 Personal selling to the trade

Trade shows, exhibitions and events Specialist travel agency programs Trade familiarization tours Meetings, conventions and incentive sales management Other

5.8 4.8 5.4 4.5

3.5

Personal selling to consumers

Telephone call centers Tourist information kiosks

3.3 3.1

Sales promotion partnerships

Travel trade planner guides Promotional partnerships and alliances

5.3 2.8

Publicity and public relations

VJPs or media familiarization tours Newsletter and magazines Video and photograph libraries News releases Trade relations and databases Information kits Other

6.4 4.3 5.2 5.0 4.5 4.0 4.2

Direct marketing Telemarketing Direct mail Electronic commerce Other

1.4 4.2 1.6 0.4

* Average importance using a seven-point scale with 7 representing ‘extremely important’

45

Table 4: Funding structure of formal publicity programs Funding by NTO

% Funding by other state, regional or city tourism organizations %

Funding by industry participants %

Total funding %

NTO* Cash In kind Cash In kind Cash In kind

Cash In kind

1 75 10 20 15 5 75 67 33 2 100 - - - - 100 90 10 3 80 N/A 10 N/A 10 N/A N/A N/A 4 60 - 20 - 20 100 N/A N/A 5 100 - - - - 100 33 67 7 100 - - - - 100 50 50 8 80 - 20 - - 100 67 33 10 85 20 - - 15 80 50 50

* NTOs 6 and 9 did not provide figures for the structure of funding

46

Table 5: Type and number of participating journalists NTO* Media type 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 10 TV and film 80 94 5 20 133 6 20 300Print media 350 938 25 130 368 - 260 700Radio 10 34 1 10 - - 15 80 Electronic media

- 50 - - - - 5 -

Other - 83 - 10 - - - - * NTOs 6 and 9 did not provide figures

47

Table 6: Selection criteria for media participants Criteria Average importance

rating* Type of media represented 5.3 Country of origin 5.6 Audience distribution of media represented 5.2 Previous participation on media tour 4.5 New market direction 4.9 Journalist is recommended 5.1 Journalist participation is subsidized 3.7 Past performance of journalist 5.3 Number of articles published / produced 5.2 Period of publicity received 5.2 Foreign offices provide list of journalists 5.7

* Based on a seven-point Likert scale with 7 representing ‘extremely important’

48

Table 7: Arrangement handled by NTO *Percentage of NTOs indication that they handled this element of the arrangements

49

Table 8: Information and material provided to participating media Information and material Provided (%)* Letter of invitation 92 Programme guidelines 90 Media kit 85 Promotional brochures 82 Maps 100 Photographs 75 Transparencies 68 Videos 71 Story-line material 55 Itinerary 100 Press releases 82 Annual report 100 Target market information 55 Special event information 84 Marketing guide 38 General information on the country 100

*Percentage of NTOs providing such material

50

Table 9: Performance evaluation methods used Performance evaluation method Utilization (%)* Measurement of the number of participating journalists 67 Determination of the number of different forms of media represented

78

Estimate of the audience for each form of media 89 Determination of the period of publicity coverage 44 Calculation of the equivalent column cost of printed material 78 Estimate of the number of trade enquiries 22 Estimate of the number of consumer enquiries through travel agents

44

Monitoring of international arrivals 78 Undertaking visitor surveys on arrival 33 Determining the number of press kits distributed 22 Measuring enquiries by country following publicity 44 Monitoring the number of media interviews conducted 33 Monitoring the number of media enquiries 44 Measuring the number of product brochures distributed 56 Monitoring the number of films or special promotions conducted

56

Other 33 *Percentage of NTOs indicating use of the performance evaluation method

51

Table 10: Reporting of outcome of publicity programs Report to* Report form Government (%) Industry (%) Post-trip report 33 56 Copy of journalist’s publicity 22 100 Copy of overseas publications 22 78 Media reports 33 67 Statistical reports 33 44 Industry reports 22 33 Annual reports 67 67 Additional program publicity 33 33 Summary to tourism organizations 11 44 Feedback mailouts - 22

*Percentage of NTOs reporting

52

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AUTHORIZATION This is to authorize the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University to place my project titled “Integrated Marketing Communications in Promoting Destinations: A Study of Publicity Program used by National Tourism Organizations” in the HKBU library for general public reference and inspection. Name: Florence H.M. Chan Student ID: 04405285 Signature: Date: 17 July 2006

PLAGIARISM DECLARATION FORM Student Name: Florence H.M. Chan Student Number: 04405285 Name of Project: Integrated Marketing Communications in Promoting Destinations:

A Study of Publicity Program used by National Tourism Organizations

Submission Date: 17 July 2006 Declaration: I have read the relevant sections on Plagiarism provided in the Handbook for Graduation Project and observed the standards of conduct. I am fully aware of the consequences in the event of plagiarism. I declare that, to the best of my knowledge, this project represents my own work and all sources have been properly acknowledged, and the Project contains no elements of plagiarism. I further declare that the Project has not been previously included in a thesis, dissertation or report submitted to this University or to any other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualification. Student’s Signature: _______________________________________ Date: 17 July 2006