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Background: The tourism industry and especially those that market destinations, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), face challenges to meet generation Y, with an uncertainty of how to do it. DMOs need to be adaptable to an everyday changing market in order to attract visitors to their destinations. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how destination marketing organizations can market their destinations to reach domestic tourists within the population of generation Y. Method: A literature review was made in order to explore previous research regarding DMOs’ marketing strategies and tourists’ information search behavior. The literature review has been used in order to make hypotheses and a research model which lay the foundation for the design of a survey to test the hypotheses. An interview guide, based on the literature review, was made to address potential tourists and get deepen understanding of the field. Contrast and compare have been made between potential tourists’ opinions and the theoretical part, in order to draw conclusions on the subject. Results and conclusions: Results of this study have shown that for the chosen population, generation Y, are search engines and DMOs’ websites seen as the best way to reach tourists. DMOs have high possibilities to be seen on the web (their website and social media sites) if they actively use search engine optimization. Social media sites are also important, but in a different way, and DMOs need to work harder and cleverer on these sites to market their destinations.

The aim of the thesis Collaboration of Stakeholders in a Tourism Destination is to evaluate the level and intensity of cooperation in tourism in the South Bohemian Region from the perspective of key stakeholders in the destination, including the management and development relationship of tourism in the destination. In the first part of the research, the information concerning the destination management and marketing, the stakeholders and their cooperation was obtained with the help of secondary data. For the collection of secondary data, printed literature and websites were mainly used in connection with the selected tourism destination - the South Bohemian Region. Based on the findings from the literature and other secondary sources, the collection of primary data was planned in the form of a questionnaire survey. It has become clear that the destination marketing organizations, which best meet the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency, are the key stakeholder. According to the research, it was found out that the cooperation between the public and private sectors is significantly inadequate. There are several major obstacles that prevent effective cooperation among the particular stakeholders. To improve the cooperation, it is necessary to streamline the communication between the organizations and other stakeholders and to plan a project within the tourism industry, which will help with the cooperation among as many stakeholders as possible.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Tourism is emerging as one of the most important socio-economic sectors for developing as well as developed countries. Tourism incorporates features of the information society such as globalisation, mobility, and information reach and richness. A national Tourist Office or as commonly referred to Destination Marketing Organization is the core tourism product of any nation. The new forms of ebusiness are offering major opportunities for all tourism destinations and suppliers, whether large or small, to improve their business and remodel such in a more cost-effective manner. The study discusses the impact and existing relationship between ICT and tourism as an emerging ecommerce sector in the Zambian tourism industry. It focuses on the tremendous changes in consumer expectations for the Zambia tourism sector caused by the impact ofInternet revolution. The World Wide Web through Information and Communication Technology (lCT) is the driving force that is changing the tourism landscape and affecting the production, distribution and consumption of its products. This symbiotic relationship existing between ICT and the tourism sector provides an opportunity for the Zambian tourism industry to create a competitive advantage for the 21st century. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Toerisme kom as een van die belangrikste sosio-ekonomiese sektore in beide ontwikkelende sowel as ontwikkelde lande voor. Kenmerke van die inligtings-gemeenskap soos globalisasie, mobiliteit, inligtings-toegang, -reikafstand en -rykheid word ook in toerisme aangetref. Die kern toerisme-produk van enige nasie is 'n nasionale Toeriste Buro of, soos algemeen verwys word, 'n Bestemming Bemarkings Organisasie (BBO). Toerisme bestemmings en verskaffers, klein of groot, word vele geleenthede aangebied om ten middele van nuwe vorme van e-handel hulle besighede op koste-geskikte manier te verbeter en te hervorm. Die studie bespreek die impak van en die bestaande verwantskap tussen Inligtings en Kommunikasie Teknologie (IKT) en die toerisme-bedryf in die Zambiese toerisme industrie as 'n ontwikkelende e-handel sektor. Daar word hoofsaaklik op die geweldige impak van die Internet-revolusie op verbruikersverwagtinge in die Zambiese toerisme bedryf gefokus. Deur middel van IKT word die Wereld-Wye Web (WWW) die dryfkrag wat die toerisme landskap verander en die produksie, verspreiding en verbruik van sy produkte beïnvloed. Die wedersydse verwantskap tussen IKT en die toerisme sektor verskaf 'n geleentheid vir die Zambiese toerisme industrie om 'n mededingende grondslag vir die 21ste eeu te skep.

Around the globe, sensitive nature destinations suffer from media-mediated mass tourism. Especially, the social media network Instagram is often made responsible for these events as its emphasis on visuals is claimed to foster people’s ambition to reproduce photographs of themselves in the epic sceneries they see online. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) face a particularly big challenge in using Instagram. While they aim at attracting enough tourists to satisfy the local tourism industry’s needs, they need to apply a careful promotion to avoid attracting more tourists than the natural environments can cope with. Focusing on Sweden as case study, this thesis aims at identifying and exploring how Swedish DMOs currently promote vulnerable nature destinations on Instagram and what significance these economically driven communication agencies thereby attribute the protection of the natural resources. Theoretical implications from sustainable destination management and environmental psychology are employed to develop different communication strategies that enhance the destination’s sustainable image as well as attempt to encourage pro-environmental behavior among tourists. A mixed method design is applied which is dominated by an extensive quantitative content analysis and complemented by a more limited qualitative semiotic analysis. The findings reveal that the implementation of sustainable communication strategies is of varying importance for the six Swedish DMOs considered in this study. In general, their effort of using communication tools to enhance sustainable nature-based tourism is still very low. Future research is advised to investigate in the production as well as audience site to gain further insights in how economic interests might hinder a more sustainable branding and to examine how effective the developed communication strategies actually are in influence people’s behavioral intentions.

Turismen organiseras av offentlig sektor, privata aktörer eller dessa två i samverkan och kan avgränsas på olika sätt, geografiskt eller politiskt. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka och jämföra destinationer i Sverige på lokal och regional nivå för att se hur de är organiserade, med fokus på hur offentliga och privata aktörer arbetar för destinationens utveckling. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med privata och offentliga aktörer på destinationerna Bohuslän och Stockholms skärgård har vi genomfört en komparativ studie. Studien diskuterar olika former av turismorganisationer och visar att Bohuslän och Stockholms skärgård liknar varandra i hur de är organiserade på lokal och regional nivå och att det på båda destinationerna finns samarbeten mellan offentliga och privata aktörer för att utveckla destinationerna. / The tourism in Sweden is organised by the public sector, the business world or these two in collaboration. The boundaries can be either geographical or political. This study aims at study and compare Swedish tourist destinations at local regional level to find how they are organized with focus at how public sector and the business world manage destination development. Through qualitative interviews with public sector and the business world at the destinations Bohuslän and Stockholms skärgård we have a comparative study. The study discusses different types of tourist organizations and shows that Bohuslän and Stockholms skärgård are similar in the way their tourism is organized at local and regional level. At both destinations there is collaboration between the public sector and the business world to develop the destination.