Understanding destination marketing and the strategies used by DMOs for promoting Mauritius as a tourism destination

Abstract

In the tourism industry, marketing destination is becoming more and more competitive.

This study put emphasis on the different destination concepts and strategies used by

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) to manage a destination. The study looks

also into partnership relation of DMOs with different stakeholders. In this competitive

time, it is important for destinations to be visible, increase their competitiveness while

reducing their costs in order to sustain future survival.

2

ContentsList of figures......................................................4List of tables.......................................................4

Chapter1. Introduction..............................................51.1 Problem statement..............................................5

1.2 Aim and objectives..............................................61.3 .Outline of the study...........................................6

Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................72.1 Marketing.......................................................7

2.2 Destinations....................................................92.3 Destination Marketing..........................................10

2.4 Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs).....................112.5 Promotional Strategies.........................................12

Chapter 3: Overview of the Tourism sector in Mauritius..............153.1 Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority - DMO for Mauritius......18

3.2 Strategies used by DMO to promote Mauritius....................20Tourism Trade Fair...............................................20

Official Web Site: (http://www.tourism-mauritius.mu).............20Road shows.......................................................20

Workshops........................................................20TV Program: The Rose wedding Show................................21

Celebrity Marketing..............................................21Discounts-Mauritius Shopping Fiesta..............................21

Chapter 4: Research methodology.....................................224.1 Introduction...................................................22

4.2 Research Design................................................224.3 Sampling frame.................................................22

4.4 Questionnaire design...........................................23

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4.5 Pilot study....................................................234.6 Ethical issues.................................................23

4.7 Data collection................................................234.8 Data Analysis..................................................24

4.9 Limitations of study...........................................24Chapter 5: Results and discussions..................................25

Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations..........................29REFERENCES..........................................................33

List of figuresFigure 1............................................................10

List of tablesTable 1.............................................................12Table 2.............................................................13

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Chapter1. Introduction

The implementation of effective destination marketing strategies

has become a challenge for Destination Marketing Organizations

(Augustyn and Knowles 2000). Many critics have been carried out

with regards to Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) due to

their incapacity of readapting to those new challenges

(Goymen2000). Technological progress, changes in market

structures, world economic crisis, wars, terrorists attack,

5

climate changes, natural disasters as well as diseases problems

such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], bird flu,

are all kinds of difficulties faced by DMOs.

1.1 Problem statement

Destination is an amalgamation of tourism products. A destination

is a geographical area such as a region, a country or a place.

Depending on the interpretation of the customer, a destination

may have different meaning. Destinations are very often divided

geographically and politically. When choosing a destination,

customers need to consider those specific issues so that they can

legally reach their destination.

According to Gartrell (1994) DMOs are the main pioneer in the

field of destination marketing.

The role of DMOs is to generate tourists’ visitation to a certain

area and lead the Tourism Industry. Due to increase in

competition in the Tourism Industry and especially in

destinations, DMOs are having an important role as facilitator

and organizer of Tourism marketing.

Marketing is all about knowing the customers, developing products

or services at a price customers are ready to pay and promoting

the goods or services by different means so that purchases can

take place. Therefore marketing a destination is a very complex

6

issue especially at a time where the environment of destination

marketing is very competitive.

Since Tourism is a fragmented industry, it is important to look

into the strategies used for marketing a destination as this will

have an impact on other associated sectors.

Therefore DMOs role is very crucial as it is a question of the

country’s future.

1.2 Aim and objectives

The aim of this study is to explore the different marketing

strategies used for promoting Mauritius so as to reach the

following objectives

To understand the marketing mix in destination.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing mix in

tourism destination

To analyze the most appropriate marketing strategies used to

promote Mauritius as a tourism destination

This study may help the DMOs to strengthen their positive

marketing strategies while better understanding their weaknesses.

1.3 Outline of the study

7

The present study helps to understand the marketing in the field

of destination. All through the study, emphasis is put on the

importance of marketing when dealing with destination, role of

Destination Marketing Organization and the strategies used for

promoting a destination. There is also an effort to look into the

strengths and weaknesses of each promotional strategy. The keep

words for this study are marketing, destination, destination

marketing, destination marketing organization and marketing

strategies.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Marketing

Kotler and Armstrong 2010 defines marketing “as the social

process by which individuals and organizations obtain what they

need and want through creating and exchanging value with others”.

The Tourism Marketing concept may be achieved in different ways

(Popadopolous 2004; Calantone and Mazanec (1991). In 1964 Mc8

Carthy proposes the 4P’s of marketing which are the product, the

place, the price and the promotion. In order to carry out a good

marketing, those four elements need to be considered. The four

elements are mostly known as the “marketing mix” which is

elements that marketers take into consideration while working on

their configuring which will suit customers (Shankar and Chin,

2011). Kotler and Armstrong (2006) defined marketing mix as 4P`s

namely the product, price, promotion and place and they designed

to influence consumer decision-making and lead to profitable

exchanges. Each element of the marketing mix can affect consumers

in many ways (Peter & Donnelly, 2007) as cited in Mohammad et al,

(2012).Marketing mix is a theory which has influenced many

researchers in the development of both marketing theory and

practice (Möller, 2006).

Product may be defined as anything that can be offered on the

market in order to satisfy customers’ needs and wants. The

product or service may comprise of different elements namely

appearance, name, quality which may affect the customer behavior.

According to Ferrell (2005), the product is the core of the

marketing mix strategy in which retailers can offer consumers

symbolic and experiential attributes to differentiate products

from competitors.

Price has been defined by Kotler as the cost of producing,

delivering and promoting the product or service. The price set

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for the product or service plays a large role in its

marketability. Pricing for products or services that are more

commonly available in the market is more elastic, meaning that

unit sales will go up or down more responsively in response to

price changes (Jones, 2007).

Jones, (2007) defined place as any way that the customer can

obtain a product or receive a service. Bowersox and Closs (1996)

gave distribution as another name for place. Place could be

categorized into open market, merchant houses, institutional

houses and direct delivery.

Promotion is concerned with any vehicle you employ for getting

people to know more about your product or service. Advertising,

public relations, point-of-sale displays, and word-of-mouth

promotion are all traditional ways for promoting a product.

Promotion can be seen as a way of closing the information gap

between would-be sellers and would-be buyers (Jones, 2007).

Zeithaml et al. (1995) described promotion as part of specific

effort to encourage customers to tell others about their

services. Kotler, (2007) discovered that Promotions have become a

critical factor in the product marketing mix which consists of

the specific blend of advertising, personal selling, sales

promotion, public relations and direct marketing tools that the

company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objective.

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Besides the 4Ps another component can be considered for

destination marketing. For this study four more P’s are added.

They are the person, partnership, program and package.

Person or people are very important in marketing mix as there is

no tourism without the people. They are the main components of a

destination. The people make the tourism industry to live as well

as the destination.

Partnership between DMOs and private sector is very important for

destination marketing. DMOs normally sell the destination as a

whole, yet most of tourism enterprises are private owned. The

partnership between those two are important as this help the

destination to progress.

Program put forward by DMOs are crucial in destination marketing.

When visiting a destination, one needs to know what the

activities that are being proposed are. The program for customers

may be set by the respective tourism organization or the DMO.

The last but not least would be the package. Normally when a

tourist comes to a destination, he buys a package. It is

important to see what kind of packages that are proposed. At the

same time, the price comes into play.

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2.2 Destinations

According to Leiper (1995) destinations are places towards which

people travel and where they choose to stay for a while in order

to experience certain features or characteristics-a perceived

attraction of some sort. Cooper et al (1998) define destinations

as the focus of facilities and services designed to meet the

needs of the tourists. Most destinations comprise a core of the

following components, which can be characterized as the six A’s

namely; attractions, accessibility, amenities, available

packages, activities and ancillary services.

Attractions may be natural, man-made and artificial or purpose

built. Accessibility concerns the means of transportation the

tourists may reach their destination; that is by routes, air or

sea. Amenities represent any accommodation, catering facilities

retailing and other tourists’ services.

Available packages may be pre-arranged packages by tour operators

or travel agents. Activities are all enjoyment facilities that

are available to tourists during their stay. Ancillary services

are services used by tourists during their stay; for example

banks, hospitals, post office, etc.

Therefore, a destination can be regarded as a combination (or

even as a brand) of all products, services and ultimately

experiences provided locally. It also enables one to assess the

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impact of tourism regionally, as well as manage demand and supply

in order to maximize benefits for all stakeholders.

Destinations are some of the most difficult entities to manage

and market, due to the complexity of the relationships of local

stakeholders (Sautter and Leisen, 1999). Managing and marketing

destinations is also challenging because of the variety of

stakeholders involved in the development and production of

tourism products. The destination experience is essentially

comprised of regions, resources and amalgams of tourism

facilities and services, which often do not belong to

individuals. Hence, strategies and actions should take into

account the wishes of all stakeholders, namely indigenous people,

businesses and investors, tourists, tour operators and

intermediaries, and interest groups.

2.3 Destination Marketing

In order to achieve a common goal, destination marketing requires

a harmonious collective effort of various stakeholders (Grangsjo

2003; Vernon et al. 2005). Various researchers have acknowledged

the advantages of the partnership of private and public

enterprises for the promotion of tourist destination (Buhalis and

Cooper 1998; Fyall and Garrod 2004; Henderson 2001; Palmer and

Bejou 1995; Prideaux and Cooper 2002; Saxena 2005). Yet due to

13

the different objectives of each stakeholder concerned in

promoting a destination, there have been barriers to recognize,

accept and the adoption of a collective work ( Ladkin, and

Fletcher 2005; Bramwell and Alletorp 2001). Due to the

fragmentation of Tourism destination, it is very difficult for a

single organization to give a rich combination of Tourism product

and service portfolio at a destination (Bramwell and Lane 2000;

Prideaux and Cooper 2002). In many destinations the task of

marketing destinations resides in the power of Destination

Marketing Organizations (DMOs) which acts as a collective

marketing vehicle to the tourists and the locals (Fesenmaier,

Pena, and O’Leary 1992; Gartrell 1988).

Tourism destination marketing is very important as it the means

that is used to attract tourists to a destination and maintaining

stays within a destination. DMOs have the crucial role to be the

“official” ambassadors of a destination (Pike 2004). During the

recent years, the money spent by DMOs for marketing destinations,

has been subject to different debate (Fyall, Fletcher, and

Spyriadis 2007). On the other hand there has been a shift from

transactional to relational marketing models (Xiang and Petrick

2008). With increase in technology where consumers are more of

online services, the role of DMOs seems to adopt a mediating role

between consumers and service providers. It is important that

DMOs evaluate their marketing strategies at a given time so that

they can understand their strengths and limit their weaknesses.

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Promoting a destination helps also to differentiate the

destination and its offering from competing destinations

especially in a time where there is not too much difference

between destinations. It helps also to build and maintain the

overall image and reputation of the destination. Promotional

strategies help to build awareness and interest in the

destination and the attractions or products.

2.4 Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs)

A destination is one of the most important part in Travel and

Tourism Industry and this is specially due to the various

stakeholders, organizational institutions and individuals who

work together to deliver the destination “product” ( Fyall et al .,

2006 ). The role of DMOs is to ensure that visitors are offered

at a minimum, visitation experiences which are highly

satisfactory and memorable while enhancing the wellbeing of the

locals. In doing so, they ensure the provision of an effective

destination. Traditionally DMOs use promotional and advertising

campaigns, publishing and distributing visitors’ guides, online

marketing, training and research and product development as

services. Due to threat in the external environment such as the

increased use of technology, changes in the industry‘s structure

and market changes, DMOs are facing new challenges. On the other

hands customers are becoming more and more knowledgeable about

different destination; therefore they are spoilt in choosing a

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destination place. DMOs need to be engaged in an innovation

process which is a critical issue (Hjalager, 2010). They cannot

limit themselves to the traditional role of attract new and

retain past destination visitors (Gunn, 2002). The development of

innovations, for destination visitors, local tourism businesses

and also the optimization of DMO processes are central for the

development of a competitive tourism destination (Volo, 2005;

Weiermair, 2005).

In order to increase collaboration with partners, DMOs need to

review their management practices so as to be able to cater for

better destination visitors (Zach and Fesenmaier, 2008). They can

utilize their stakeholders to share risks (Kumar and Nti, 1998),

get resources (Powell, 1990) and overcome inefficiencies (Das &

Teng, 1998). External changes are not under the control of DMOs

and innovation to those factors requires the collaboration of

different partners in the Tourism Industry (Stuart (2000).

DMOs tend to be part of the local, regional or national

government and have political and legislative power as well as

the financial means to manage resources rationally and to ensure

that all stakeholders can benefit in the long term. Destination

management and marketing should act as tools and facilitators to

achieve a complex range of strategic objectives, which will

ultimately need to satisfy the needs and wants of stakeholders.

DMO may be regarded as managers in the tourism activity. As

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managers their role is to plan, organize, lead and control. The

decisions taken by them are crucial for a destination. Planning

may be in the forms of setting goals and ways to attain them.

Leading may be in the way they present the destination,

encouraging thus customers to come for vacation. Organizing and

controlling are the ways tourists’ visits are being organized.

2.5 Promotional Strategies

Promoting a destination or a place is the primary role of DMOs.

In other words DMOs attract visitors to a certain place or

destination. Promotion is one of the means used by DMOs to

promote a destination. Promotion is the creation and

dissimulation of information to customers who are making their

choice of a destination. Promotional strategy is a controlled

integrated program of communication methods and materials

designed to present an organization and its products to

prospective customers. The development of effective promotional

strategies demands more than just being aware of the tools of

promotion. Before deciding on the promotional strategies,

objectives should be first established. A knowledge of the VICE

(visitor, industry, communities and environment) Model is

necessary (Tourism Recreation research and Education Centre,

2004) for a comprehensive articulation of the destination

promotion objectives. The destination communication is usually

aim at achieving the following stakeholders’ objectives: Visitor

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(welcome, involve and satisfy visitors), Industry (achieve a

profitable and prosperous industry), Communities (engage and

benefit host communities), Environment (protect and enhance the

locals).

Once objectives have been set, then the promotional strategies

are set. Very often, a brand is created to attract the visitor’s

attention. For example “Incredible India”, “Unique Singapore” is

examples of branding used to attract customers. Promotional tools

are devised to convey the desired message to the market in order

to achieve any desired promotion objectives. Advertising, public

relations, publicity, sales promotions and personal selling are

five traditional promotional tools used to market a destination.

Advertising is very important to tourism business. Advertising

informs, persuades, educates, and reminds prospective or actual

tourists about attraction and destination. TV, radio, newspaper,

cinema advertising, consumer magazine, trade magazine, outdoor

advertising, tourist board brochures and guides, commercial

consumer guides, directive and yellow pages, exhibitions, in home

magazines, direct mail, and door –to- door distribution are

different means to advertise a tourism destination.

Public Relations (PR) are deliberate planned and sustained effort

to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an

organization and the public. PR techniques include press release,

press launches, receptions, personality appearances and staged

events, facility tour and participation in community activities.

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Belch & Belch (2001:21) define sales promotion as ―those

marketing activities that provide extra value or incentives to

the sales force, distributors, or the ultimate consumer and can

stimulate short-term sales. Advertising and PR take place away

from the point of sales, while sales promotion takes place at the

point of sales. Sales promotion techniques used by tourism

marketing include: price cuts/sales offers, coupons, extra

product, additional services, gift, passport schemes, extra

commission, prize draws, parties/reception, and business and

travel incentives, cetera, The marketing objectives attainable by

sales promotion are: leveling of demand, reward regular

customers, Increase market share, secure dealer support and

recommendation, achieve brochure display, improve dealer

awareness of products, improve volume of sales through

incentives, and improve display in distribution outlets.

Personal selling refers to person-to-person communication in

which a seller attempts to assist and/or persuade prospective

buyers to purchase the company‘s product, service or idea (Belch

& Belch, 2001). Selling of tourism products and services falls

into three types: (a) external point of sales (retail travel

agency, ticket/booking desks), (b) internal- in –house point of

sales (reception desk in the hotel and attraction sites) and (c)

Reservation system via customer‘s home (booking and responding

via direct mail, TV, radio and telephone calls).

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Publicity refers to non-personal communications regarding an

organization, product, service, or idea not directly paid for or

run under identified sponsorship for making a sales (Belch &

Belch, 2001). It is in the form of a news story, editorial,

announcement about the organization and/or its product and

services. The special techniques used for publicity include news

release, feature articles, photographs, films, and videotapes.

With the development of information technology, interactive and

internet marketing has greatly influenced ways for promoting a

destination. Interactive media enable buyers and sellers to

interact (Crevens and Piercy, 2006). A mix of tools is prescribe

because of the synergy derive from the combination. Each

promotional tool has its strengths and weaknesses. A combination

of tools will provide a trade-off thereby leading to increase

effectiveness and impact on overall destination objectives. The

promotional tool used for a destination must impact on both the

generating country as well as the host community.

Branding has been defined by Cai Liping (2002) as a selection of

element mix, used to identify and distinguish positive

destination image. One of the challenges of destination marketing

is to become a recognizable destination (Kotler, Bowen, and

Makens 2006). Clarke (2000) states some benefits of branding

related to destination. Firstly branding giving a positive image

reduces tourists’ choice. It’s like a branded product. The brand

creates trust. Branding reduces the risk factor to decision

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making about holidays and creates certain segmentation. It has

been proved that a destination image and purchase decisions’ are

positively linked (Ritchie and Couch 2003).

Waddis (2001) advises that brands should be touch consumers’

heart and stimulating their mind when it comes to destination.

All through the literature review it has been observed

observation is based mainly on the marketing strategies used for

the promotion of a destination. Yet there been no real model

which has been used to really see the outcome of those marketing

strategies. In their study Ritchie (2000) and Crouch (2003)

argue that a destination’s success need to be analyzed through

what has been used as strategies which are considered as the

input and also by the result of these strategies ;for example the

number of visitation. Through this study, we shall try to look

into ways to measure the success of marketing strategies.

Chapter 3: Overview of the Tourism sector in Mauritius

The growth of the tourism industry in Mauritius resides in the

fact that there has been an increased investment in

infrastructure, liberalization of air transport, the development

21

of domestic market, growing interregional cooperation and

aggressive marketing and promotions. The main markets are from

France, South Africa, UK, Italy and Germany (countries which

suffered the financial crisis).

The figure 3.1 below shows the amount of tourist visiting

Mauritius from different continents. Europe has the greatest

share of tourist arrivals with approximately 79%, followed by

Africa 11 %, and Asia 7% (source: Ministry of Tourism and

Leisure, HVS Analysis)

%touristEuropeAfricaAsiaAmericaOceaniaOthers

Figure 3.1

Table 1: - Tourist Arrivals by Country of Residence, January - June

of 2011 and 2012

Country of residence1st

semester 2011

2012 1 % ChangeJan-Jun2011 toJan-Jun2012

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

1st

semeste

r EUROPE 297,432 59,038 59,195 53,43 50,050 33,382 24,54 279,643 -6.0

22

6 2 Austria 4,904 1,142 1,238 793 516 495 253 4,437 -9.5 Belgium 5,285 886 710 902 966 575 637 4,676 -11.5

France 149,97330,692 32,330

26,60

424,740 14,331 8,715 137,412 -8.4

Germany 26,565 4,465 4,755 5,298 4,274 4,420 2,432 25,644 -3.5 Italy 27,856 6,242 4,498 3,566 2,919 1,840 1,853 20,918 -24.9 Netherlands 2,161 316 263 252 273 340 276 1,720 -20.4 Spain 3,774 375 709 1,270 581 566 729 4,230 12.1Sweden 2,099 586 477 285 265 64 137 1,814 -13.6 Switzerland 10,671 2,287 2,319 1,695 3,425 1,096 768 11,590 8.6 United Kingdom 39,779 5,206 5,757 7,012 7,141 6,721 6,072 37,909 -4.7 CIS 2 7,974 3,631 2,148 2,747 2,591 1,570 974 13,661 71.3 of which:

Russian Federation 6,263 3,037 1,870 2,430 2,264 1,354 799 11,754 87.7

Other European 16,391 3,210 3,991 3,012 2,359 1,364 1,696 15,632 -4.6

AFRICA 108,251 29,436 10,15520,36

419,203 24,955

15,23

6119,349 10.3

Comoros 483 51 65 88 67 107 81 459 -5.0 Kenya 808 121 127 146 396 231 233 1,254 55.2 Malagasy Rep. 5,042 908 885 1,088 1,221 876 1,002 5,980 18.6

Reunion 55,59419,861 4,155

10,21

37,197 15,865 5,470 62,761 12.9

Seychelles 3,876 567 403 505 615 548 626 3,264 -15.8 S. Africa, Rep. of 38,347 7,205 4,053 7,653 8,212 5,944 6,777 39,844 3.9 Zimbabwe 638 94 57 142 241 126 84 744 16.6 Other African 3,463 629 410 529 1,254 1,258 963 5,043 45.6

ASIA 44,021 7,254 7,732 6,991 7,105 10,31811,95

351,353 16.7

Hong Kong SAR 3 278 85 57 45 150 79 151 567 104.0 India 28,622 3,035 4,800 3,689 3,499 6,955 7,393 29,371 2.6 Japan 628 116 111 147 152 79 125 730 16.2 Malaysia 745 74 147 88 141 151 195 796 6.8 P. Rep. of China 6,067 2,735 1,407 1,431 1,342 1,303 1,415 9,633 58.8 Singapore 1,247 123 90 119 152 145 324 953 -23.6 United Arab Emirates 1,256 203 164 185 589 325 556 2,022 61.0 Other Asian 5,178 883 956 1,287 1,080 1,281 1,794 7,281 40.6 OCEANIA 7,296 1,166 880 1,080 1,758 1,501 1,640 8,025 10.0 Australia 6,859 1,118 790 1,028 1,669 1,451 1,561 7,617 11.1 Other Oceanian 437 48 90 52 89 50 79 408 -6.6 AMERICA 7,083 1,883 1,333 1,878 957 1,201 1,223 8,475 19.7

23

USA 3,376 618 559 1,122 322 396 546 3,563 5.5 Canada 1,927 377 335 400 304 358 370 2,144 11.3 Other American 1,780 888 439 356 331 447 307 2,768 55.5 OTHER & N.STATED 521 60 36 78 64 39 31 308 -40.9

All Countries 464,604 98,837 79,33183,82

779,137 71,396

54,62

5467,153 0.5

Table 1 above (from Central Statistics) gives a clearer view of

the Tourist arrivals by countries of Residence from January to

June of 2011-2012.It clearly shows the decline of 6% of our

tourists from Europe.

As we can see the Tourism sector depends a lot on the European

countries but with the financial economic crisis, the sector is

at risk if it continues to rely solely on European people for

visit.

Table 2 below shows the amount of receipts we generate from the

tourism sector; giving an indication how much our economy depends

on this sector

Table 2: Tourists arrival, nights and receipts 2009-2012.

YearTourist arrivals

(Number)

Tourist nights

(000)

Tourism

receipts 1

(Rs million)2009 871,356 8,639 35,6932010 934,827 9,495 39,456

2011964,642 9,730

42,717 3

2009 1st Qr. 232,908 2,250 10,2652nd Qr. 180,596 1,791 7,984

1st Semester 413,504 4,041 18,2493rd Qr. 195,381 2,280 7,4364th Qr. 262,471 2,318 10,008

24

2nd Semester 457,852 4,598 17,4442010 1st Qr. 249,971 2,943 11,021

2nd Qr. 189,179 1,855 8,7881st Semester 439,150 4,798 19,809

3rd Qr. 207,506 2,275 8,3584th Qr. 288,171 2,422 11,289

2nd Semester 495,677 4,697 19,6472011 1st Qr. 262,626 2,960 11,949

2nd Qr. 201,978 1,975 9,3551st Semester 464,604 4,935 21,304

3rd Qr. 209,779 2,325 8,845

4th Qr. 290,259 2,470

12,568 3

2nd Semester 500,038 4,795

21,413 3

20122

1st Qr. 261,995 2,950

13,768 3

2nd Qr. 205,158 2,010 9,780

1st Semester 467,153 4,960 23,548

3.1 Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority - DMO for Mauritius

The Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) was set in 1996

under the MTPA Act. Earlier it was named MGTO (Mauritius

Government Tourism Organization). It operates under the Ministry

of Tourism and Leisure and is administered by a board of

directors .The main functions of the MTPA are listed below:

To promote Mauritius abroad as a tourist destination by:

(i) Conducting advertising campaigns and participating in tourism

fairs;

25

2

(ii) Organizing, in collaboration with the local tourism

industry, promotional campaigns and activities in Mauritius and

abroad:

To provide information to tourists on facilities,

infrastructures and services available to them in Mauritius.

To conduct research into market trends and market

opportunities and disseminate such information and other

relevant statistical data on Mauritius

Their core values are:

Quality: Committed at all levels to provide quality services to

our customers

Facilitator: Act as a facilitator in organizing tourism trade

fairs and road shows with a view to increasing awareness and

visibility

Excellence: Aim at promoting the destination on a value that

combines safety, high quality of services and on the friendliness

of the people

Collaboration: Encourage joint participation with the private

sector in major activities, which are conducted

Consensus: Discussed and approved by consensus the overall

marketing and promotional plans with our main trade partners.

During the past few years, the organization was awarded different

recognitions and international awards:

26

YEAR AWARDS

201

1World’s Leading Island Destination – World Travel Award

201

0

Indian Ocean's Leading Beach Destination – World Travel

Award

201

0Indian Ocean's Leading Destination – World Travel Award

201

0Best Stand – FITUR

200

9

Most Supportive NTO for Africa, Middle East & Indian

Ocean – Emirates Holidays

200

9Third Prize for Best Promotional Film, 'The Dream' – ITB

200

9Platinum Award for the Best Stand – Indaba

200

9World's Leading Island Destination – World Travel Award

200

9Best Stand – Leisure Luxury Fair Moscow

27

200

8

Golf Destination of the Year, Africa, the Indian Ocean &

the Gulf States – IAGTO

200

8Second Best Website of the Year – Easy Voyage (France)

200

6

Indian Ocean's Leading Tourist & Convention Bureau –

World Travel Award

200

5Indian Ocean Ports & Logistics & Shipping

200

4Indian Ocean's Leading Destination – World Travel Award

200

4

Voted by Travel Agents as Best UK Based Tourist Office

Promotional in Indian Ocean & Indian Sub-Continent

The MTPA has two offices abroad which are based in UK and France,

for public relation representatives in Germany, Italy,

Switzerland and India respectively and for advertising agents in

France UK, Italy and Germany.

3.2 Strategies used by DMO to promote Mauritius

Tourism Trade FairThe Mauritian representative for destination marketing is very

present in different International Fair such as International

28

France Travel Market –Top Resa, Borsa Internazionale del Turismo

(BIT)-Milan, South Asia’s leading travel & tourism event (SATTE)

in South East Asia. The reason of participating in those fairs is

to ensure and confirm the presence of Mauritius on the French

market and be closer to its French partners, promote products

such as hiking, spa, shopping, water sports, golf, inland and

beach activities and the segment MICE (Meetings, conferences and

Events) and finally to establish lines of action, strategies and

business alliances to energize and consolidate the tourism

business.

Official Web Site: (http://www.tourism-mauritius.mu)As part of an e-business strategy, the new website has been

developed in seven languages (English, French, German, Spanish,

Russian, Brazilian Portuguese and Italian). There is a photo

gallery which helps tourist who requests for information. The

newsletter and sectorial brochures on golf, ecotourism and diving

in electronic format can be downloaded from the website.

Road shows Carried out particularly in Germany, UK and Switzerland recently,

those Road Shows were to present to all travel agency partners

the variety of hotels on Mauritius and the national carrier, Air

Mauritius.

Workshops Held in St Petersburg the objective of this working session is to

increase the visibility of Mauritius on the Czech market

29

TV Program: The Rose wedding ShowThe Rose Wedding is an annual TV program which involves the

wedding of around 50 couples in an approved and accredited

tourism destination. Each year one destination is chosen.

Rose Wedding is a large-scale theme wedding ceremony of Shanghai

Tourism Festival, established by The Shanghai Municipality

Tourism Bureau and The Luwan District People’s government

Shanghai Municipality.

Celebrity MarketingVarious Miss World (France, England, and Ukraine) have been

invited in Mauritius so that in return they promote Mauritius in

their respective countries.

Discounts-Mauritius Shopping FiestaThe aim of the “shopping fiesta” is to promote Mauritius as a

shopping destination and also to attract greater amount of

tourist during low season, which is July and August.

30

Chapter 4: Research methodology

4.1 Introduction

In research two main strategies are used, namely quantitative and

qualitative. For this study qualitative strategy is being used as

it is a better approach between literature review and real world.

According to us, this strategy will better help to respond to the

objectives set. Qualitative strategy gives to our research

findings high reality and viability.

4.2 Research Design

According to Bryman and Bell (2007) there are five different

types of research designs which are social survey design,

experimental design, comparative design, longitudinal design and

case study design. For this study, the social survey design is

31

used where interviews has been carried out on the basis of

involvement of different stakeholders in the tourism industry.

Those concerns are mainly hotels, guesthouses, tour operators and

destination marketing organization.

4.3 Sampling frame

This study has been carried out with hotels representative,

owners of guesthouses, tour operators and destination marketing

organization officer. There are around one hundred and forty tour

operators in Mauritius, one hundred and twenty five hotels of

different standards and approximately one hundred guesthouses in

Mauritius. One organization has been selected from each group of

representatives according to the chain or group they represent.

This has brought to 50 respondents who have been interviewed with

a structured closed interview so as to focus on our objectives.

4.4 Questionnaire design

The design of the questionnaire has not been an easy task.

According to our objectives, we had to look into the appropriate

question to be set so that our results and findings. Two set of

32

questions were prepared. One set of questions for DMO and the

second for the stakeholders. The first questionnaire try to

understand what have been done by DMO so as to promote Mauritius

as an island destination. The second questionnaire concerns the

expectations of the stakeholders.

4.5 Pilot study

A pilot test has been carried out to preview the understanding of

respondents with regards to the questions set. A random of five

respondents was selected according to our connections. The

respondents requested some clearer questions as some words were

too technical. The words perception was not really understood,

though those persons have been in the tourism industry since

long. The questions were reframed and put into a simpler manner.

Pilot test for DMO cannot be carried out as only one person was

concerned by the interview.

4.6 Ethical issues

For ethical issues, the identities of respondents are

confidential and their opinions have been expressed as they have

been received. No modifications were carried out even though by

times they are not in line with the literature review of the

research.

4.7 Data collection

33

The questionnaire designed has been given personally or sent by

mail to different respondents where necessary. Since respondents

are quite busy in their work, it has been a bit difficult to make

them understand the importance of the study since as long as

their business is working they find no interest in investing in

the work of DMOs. After some difficult time, data has been

finally collected through the same way as they had been given.

For DMO, the interview was carried out at the place of the CEO

(Chief Executive Officer)

4.8 Data Analysis

For analysis of the data, we use secondary data from Statistical

office, so as to compare the amount of tourist arrival from

different destinations, especially in those countries where much

marketing strategies have been carried out. With the different

interviews done, their answers were used to compare how efficient

those strategies are for concerned hotels, guesthouses and tour

operators. In another words, the perceptions of stakeholders have

been analyzed through their answers.

4.9 Limitations of study

This study has some limitations. Firstly, due to time

constraints, this study has been carried out with a limited

number of respondents which make the result quite limited.

34

Secondly there is no guarantee that respondents replied to the

questions with much attention as it has been said earlier, they

had to be chased to fill in the questionnaire. The importance of

the study is more significant than the limitations as it will

help to better understand marketing strategies in a global

situation.

Chapter 5: Results and discussions

In trying to analyze the results of this research, it is very

important to note that some important elements are missing in

what has been said by the CEO of respective DMO. According to

the principles of tourism, it is important to understand the

tourism demand when marketing a destination. It is known that

35

there are three elements in tourism demand. The effective or

actual demand represents the number of people who travels. It is

measured by tourism statistics which are taken from departures

from countries and arrivals at destination. Secondly there is the

suppressed demand which is represented by number of persons who

are unable to travel due to certain circumstances. Suppressed

demand is also regarded as potential demand as those persons

might be able to travel in the future.

When marketing a destination DMO should consider all those

demands. Yet when replying the question number 1: how does DMO

knows where to carry their marketing for the destination; the CEO

was quite elusive in his answers. He gave the impression that

marketing is carried out in traditional countries where people

are used to travel. It seems that there is no real strategy of

knowing where the different demands are really. Statistics give

indications of where tourists mostly come from. Therefore more

are done in those regions. It is not true to say that Asian

people do not travel as do the European. Mauritius didn’t get

many tourists from Asia, simply because marketing was not really

done in that part of the globe. Yet since DMO has started to

intensify marketing in Asia since 2012, statistics showed that

there has been a net increase of 16.7% in tourist arrival from

this region.

36

The literature review relates the importance of accessibility in

destination marketing. With arrangement between DMO and national

carrier, more flights are now operational between Mauritius and

Asian countries. Transport is a critical element in promotion of

a destination as it links the tourist from the origin area and

the destination area. Transportation starts the chain in a

destination. Once at the destination, transportation helps also

the tourist within the destination. Tourists on holidays in

Mauritius are not enclave at their accommodation; they can visit

the island and enjoy all the facilities that are offered.

Attractions can operate as they are accessible.

On replying the question number 2 which was: what is the most

important marketing mix in destination, stakeholders unanimously

reply the place. According to them people are interested to know

about Mauritius, so the destination. They said that most

tourists come due to the beauty of the island. They want to

experience the three S which are the Sea, sand and sun. This

general answer brings us to the question number 3 asked to the

CEO: Why so much emphasis on the 3S. According to CEO, most

tourists come to Mauritius for holidays and mostly to relax.

Therefore it is important to show this tropical side of

Mauritius.

On the other hand it is important to note that climatically the

world is changing. Does Mauritius really have beautiful beaches

37

as before? Is the sun really present all year round? Can the sand

be compared to those like Seychelles, Maldives or even Bali? It

is quite dangerous to continue promoting Mauritius with the 3S.

When having a look at the famous Trip Advisor, beaches of

Mauritius are not ranked at the top 10 in the world. Therefore it

might be important to see whether tourists who come to Mauritius

for holidays due to the Sea, Sand and Sun are really getting back

to their countries satisfied and not deceived. There is no

statistics which gives appreciation of Mauritius after tourists

have visited the island. Normally there are guests’ comments

cards conning their appreciation of the hotel they have stayed

but not on the destination as a whole.

In trying to get statistics on number of repeated tourists, this

information was not available. In different hotels they have a

list of repeated customers. It should be important that DMO

understand whether the amount of tourists who continue to visit

Mauritius are repeated customers are new comers. If the number of

repeated customers is greater than new comers, then DMO should

look in the different attractions that are offered to them during

their stay. Otherwise at a certain time, those tourists will not

be attracted by the destination if they had to see the same

things all the time. On the other hand if new comers exceed

repeated customers, there should be a planning of how to make

them come back again and remain loyal to the destination.

38

When analyzing the different marketing strategies used to promote

Mauritius, it is noticed that much emphasis is put on parts of

culture of Mauritius. When speaking of culture for Mauritius, one

tends to limit himself to the typical “sega” dance and different

religions forming the population. Yet culture is more than that.

People who travel nowadays are more educated. Culture and tourism

are the two main industries which have known an important growth

during the 20th century. Photographing, painting, drawing are all

considered as culture. Ironically these activities are carried

out during spare times of a human being. Due to competitiveness,

spare times have largely decreased in the world. Therefore

tourists would like to use their holiday time to experience such

cultures. Yet opportunity of promoting Mauritius culturally is

not a priority according to the CEO’s reply to question number 2.

In answering question number 1 of why is there so much marketing

carried out in France; the CEO reminds the history link between

Mauritius and France. He stated how much has been done by the

French colony during their stay on the Island. Therefore it seems

to be normal than France remains the main market segment.

The literature review relates the importance of partnership

between DMO and private sector. The CEO on answering the

questions 3 and 4 gave the impression that they work with the

private sectors who are mainly hotels owners, but that their role

as DMO is not to promote any hotels but the destination as a

39

whole. This is why some main hotels chain is invited in

different fairs, leaving aside smaller ones.

On their side, smaller tourism industries reply that they do not

really depend on DMO for marketing in reply for question numbers

1, 3 and 4. They have their own travel agents who sell the

destination and place for them. There is no real worry about what

the DMO is doing or not for marketing.

Bigger hotel chain showed more interest in the work done by DMO.

They try their best to be present in fairs organized by DMO

abroad. They say it’s an opportunity to seize as fairs are

visited by potential customers. It is also time for them to know

more travel agents and tour operators. They are satisfied with

the work carried out by DMO but yet admit that they also do their

own marketing for their hotel as they are aware that DMO’s role

is to promote the destination but not individual places.

As reply to questions 5 and 6, all stakeholders seem quite

septic. They are not convinced that DMO are making sufficient

effort to attract new tourists. They believe that DMO is just

trying to follow the trend of other countries. For examples

according to statistics most tourists who visit Maldives comes

from Asian countries; so DMO now tries to market this part of the

globe without having done much preparations to welcome those kind

of tourists. Stakeholders seem not to trust the marketing

strategies of DMOs.

40

In the analysis it also observed that there no indication about

market segmentation. Are the tourist who visits Mauritius tends

to be more young persons, married, divorced couples, old, etc.?

It is observed that segmentation is done more specifically

according to countries they come from and not demographically.

41

Chapter 6: Conclusions and recommendations

To conclude this study, it would be essential to look back at the

marketing mix in destination. In the literature review, the 8P’s

of marketing has been discussed. Each of the components has got

its importance. A destination as said earlier is an amalgam of

different elements. The place , price , product, promotion ,

people , partnership ,program and package has all to be

considered when marketing a destination though according to

stakeholders the place may be considered as the most important

one as with no place there is no destination. On the other hand

as said earlier, no people no destination. Therefore each element

cannot be dissociated with each other.

The literature review reveals that most DMO are government

bodies. It is also true that most tourism industries are private

owned. It would be most appropriate to consider that DMO are

equally managed by both government and private bodies. It would

be like working in a win-win situation. Large sum of money spent

in marketing a destination would be more efficient. Private

sectors would have more interest knowing that tourist visiting

the island may also stay at their place.

Destination marketing is not an easy task due to the complexity

of the tourism industry. Very often DMO spent lots of times on

42

the development of the destination without paying attention to

the elements that sustain the destination. DMOs need to study

the destination life cycle which may be the same as the tourism

life cycle. At the stagnation stage they need to see how to

regenerate the tourists so that the destination does not die.

It is recommended that DMOs work according to a well-defined

plan. The very first step in destination marketing would be a

market research which will identify the main attributes with the

different market segments. Secondly design the attributes that

are required for the destination. Thirdly it is important to

develop and evaluate the destination image. Market segmentation

is very important also so that seasonality in tourist arrival is

decreased. In Mauritius there is what is called the low season

and the peak season. The tendency shows that peak season are less

than low season. Seasonality is important to look after for when

there are many tourists at a time is not good for the

environment. At the same time when the attractions areas are s

under-utilized, this also may represent a loss. There need to be

a balance in the tourists’ arrivals all year round.

Opening new markets and reducing dependency on existing ones

should be the priorities of DMOs. Market segment has

concentrated too much on Europe for too long. The world is

becoming a global village. Means of transportation are more and

more accessible and faster. Long ago it took days to travel by

43

ships to destinations. Nowadays within hours one can move from a

country to another.

Another important matter that DMO should consider is the

suppressed demand. It is important to see why people cannot

afford to come to Mauritius. Very often price is the reason

behind. Mauritius is considered as being a long haul destination

and expensive at the same time. Visiting Mauritius is sometimes

regarded as dream for tourists. Very often tourists have worked a

long to be able to have a holiday in Mauritius. It would be wise

to see whether what is offered are value for money. Sometimes

when seeing the price set for the room in certain hotels, one can

ask oneself what are so special in those rooms to have the price

so high.

Promoting Mauritius through its culture should also be

considered. As said in the analysis, culture does not concern

only the “sega” dance or religions. Promoting Mauritius through

photographing of site views can also be considered. Chinese

people are being targeted and it is known that Chinese people

love to take photos when on holidays. Photographing the

different sites of Mauritius could be an element for marketing.

In his interview the CEO talks about the history that link

Mauritius to France; yet there is no museum that shows this

history. This history side of Mauritius could have been exploited

so as to help tourists better know the country’s past.

44

Mauritius has a rich history which are not enough exploited so as

to better know our culture. Lots of the historical sites of

Mauritius are unknown. Tombeau Malartic, Pointe D’Esny , the

different French names of roads found in Port Louis ,etc. have

never been explained. The history of Mauritius represents a

potential element for promotion. More effort needs to be put on

cultural tourism.

Big hotels chains are the main stakeholders of DMOs. Guesthouses,

Tables d’hôtes and small hotels businesses do contribute to the

tourism industry of Mauritius. It is important to see what are

those small enterprises are offering to the tourists as may be in

the long run we will no longer depend on five star hotels to

attract tourists to the destination. Due to economic crisis

tourists want to travel but no longer want to spend much money on

accommodation.

Last but not least the image of a destination is very important

and very often image is created through branding. The branding of

‘Mauritius it’s a pleasure’ does not seem to get the popularity

within all the stakeholders. A brand normally resumes the whole

destination. In this case the word pleasure is subjective. About

what kind of pleasure is the branding really referring? It would

be recommended to review the branding for Mauritius.

When dealing with tourist destination, emphasis should both be

put on DMOs who are responsible for marketing the destination and

45

also customers without whom the destination will not exist. The

marketing success of a destination depends both on the demand and

supply market. The demand market is being represented by the

customers and the supply market by DMOs and private sectors.

When looking at the different attractions sites of Mauritius, one

finds a great difference by the ones managed by government bodies

to those privately managed. It is common to see that there is a

great disparity between those two. For examples the Sir

Seewoosagar Ramgoolam Botanical Garden, the Naval Museum which

are both governed by public bodies, are in a quite bad state. Yet

Blue Penny Museum which is privately managed seems to be in a

better state.

For promotional marketing to be practiced in the target market

needs to be identified and understood so as to effectively

satisfy the needs, values and wants of both present and

prospective customers. In addition, if international marketing is

addressed to the services industries, this entails a stronger

marketing orientation paying more attention to the satisfaction

of customers (Lovelock, 1999). The response to how DMO carries

out its international promotion activities may be answered as

follows: a global marketing are undertaken by the marketing

offices in UK and France, four public relation representatives in

Germany, Italy, Switzerland and India respectively and four

advertising agents in France UK, Italy and Germany. Additionally,

the foreign marketing is performed by the international

46

representatives of DMO who create specific promotional activities

for different countries. The role of the international representatives is considered

essential for the promotion of DMO abroad. They not only inform

about the characteristics of a specific target market, like the

tourist offices do, but they are also in charge of creating their

own promotional activities in order to be successful in these

markets. The marketing department of DMO manages every brochure

in which Mauritius appears and the corporate sales promotions

department does the same for the brochures that are distributed

in all countries. In addition, this department participates in

the public relations established either by the representatives or

by the network.

Despite the activities of the representatives in the

international market, it is necessary to point out that the

single most important promoter of the Mauritian destination is

the client himself, through the word-of-mouth information.

47

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Annex: 1

Questions to CEO

1. How does DMO knows where to carry their marketing for the

destination?

2. France is our main market segment, is there a special reason?

3. Why so much emphasis on the 3S?

4. Are you helped in worked by different hotels?

5. Who are your main stakeholders?

54

6. What are the difficulties you are facing?

Annex 2:

Questions to stakeholders

1. How are you working in collaboration with DMO for the promotion of your hotel?

2. what is the most important marketing mix in destination?

3. How are you benefitting from the DMO?

55

4. What is the most recent promotion/activity done in collaboration with DMO?

5. Do you think DMO will do new promotion to attract new customers on the market?

6. Are you going to help the DMO in promoting Mauritius as a destination to Asian countries? How?

7. How do you think you will be able to maintain a good relationship with DMO?

56