Presenting destinations: marketing host communities

Abstract

This chapter deals with both the contentious issues and the opportunities in the marketing of host communities for tourism. It commences with an overview of the diversity of this phenomenon, followed by a brief but broad view of the scope of contemporary marketing. Here, the emphasis is on viewing marketing as multifaceted, including but extending beyond promotional issues and embracing product, price, and distribution systems as a part of the necessary discussion. The core links between the marketing of communities for tourism and sustainable tourism issues are developed, and four case studies from Queensland (Australia), Mexico, Scotland (UK), and Java (Indonesia) are described. Together with the sustainable tourism perspectives, the cases provide a basis for reviewing the benefits and opportunities, as well as the conflicts and costs, likely to be associated with the marketing of destination communities. In a penultimate integrative section, one theoretical trend (i.e., social representation theory) running through the work is highlighted. The final section focuses on contemporary marketing for harnessing the strengths and avoiding the pitfalls in the process of presenting communities.