Thesis (doctoral)--Helsinki University of Technology, 2003. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan. 9, 2007). Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-256). Also issued in print.

ABSTRACT       Authors:                                 Nikki Lindgren and Claes Lindgren   Professor:                               Stig Sörling   Title:                                       Marketing’s Evolution as an Economic Development Strategy: A Washington County, Utah Case Study   Background:                          Economic development has been a priority of areas for some time. In the mid-1980s, economic policies and marketing practices joined forces. During this time, cities, regions, states and countries began a clear shift from narrow economic development views to a broader set of strategies to attract new and maintain old businesses, boost tourism, attract investors and expand overseas trade. Today, places have increased their use of highly sophisticated marketing strategies aimed at building competitive markets while targeting specific buyers and positioning the community’s resources to respond to specialized buyer needs and desires.   Aim and Purpose:                 The purpose of the study is twofold: first, to explore how place marketing fits into general marketing efforts and secondly, to provide insights into what factors influence the success of places. Three questions were developed to assist in the direction of the research and to assist in gaining practical and tactical insights obtainable through a case study analysis.   Methodology:                         Theoretical and empirical data is provided and analyzed using the actor’s approach. Primary data is collected via direct observations, email, phone interviews and open dialogues. Secondary data is collected via Internet, magazines and newspapers and meeting notes to provide further depth and to elaborate upon the theoretical findings.   Results:                                   We expect the study to highlight important phenomena that occur when viewing place marketing as a general marketing effort. We also expect to uncover practical “success factor” insights into place marketing from which civic and private entities can learn.

During last few years, place marketing becomes a major task of many mayors and county magistrates when they get their policies moving. The goal is to strengthen the policies statement, promote the whole image of locality, reputation and the power of competition in order to strive for the electors¡¦ support. However, each county is implementing different methods to reach their goal. Some of the counties give the priority to the tourism promotion, while some counties choose to attract the business investment instead. Pingtung County is the one of the counties which focuses on the tourism promotion to market places. Due to the promotion of the Pingtung Blue Fin Tuna Cultural Festival, the blue fin tuna is well-known in Taiwan now. Also Kenting Wind-bell Feast skillfully made good use of the winter tempest to blow the ding dong sound of the wind-bell which is famous to all areas over Taiwan now and bring thousands tourists to Kenting during the winter time. Pingtung County is the sample of this study and the researcher searched and collected information from the newspapers to know the frequency and contents of the report about the Pingtung Blue Fin Tuna Cultural Festival, Kenting Wind-bell Feast and Pingtung Peninsula Arts Festival. Also in this study, the undertaker of the festivals, local resident, shop owner, journalist and tourists were interviewed in order to understand their opinions about these three festivals. The purpose of this study is through all of these information were collected to analyze how these three festivals impacted the promotion of the Pingtung¡¦s reputation and place-marketing, also to discuss if the experiences of Pingtung County can be applied in other counties. And the result of this study shows: 1. The festival indeed to bring the tourists and push forward the local construct, promote the local reputation and image. It¡¦s a good way to bring the profits in economy and settle a sound foundation for place marketing. 2. The main reason for the success of the Pingtung County¡¦s festivals is all the festival activities design or the marketing strategies were very creative and considerate, not only considered the need of the tourists, sponsors but also the journalists. The festival organizations¡¦ strategies of forming an alliance with different businesses were also the key to the success. Another factor was the professional team work and experiences transition.

Globally tourism is one of the biggest industries and its role is considered key in economic development. In South Africa, tourism is one of the main economic drivers. Thus, tourism contributes to the gross domestic product, generates foreign exchange and provides sustainable employment opportunities. In order to facilitate local economic development (LED), local destination marketing organisations (DMOs) need to ensure that their operations are geared towards optimising the economic advantages related to tourism growth and development. As a result the DMOs must be strategic and well-managed. One way of achieving this is to ensure that the board of directors and specifically the non-executive directors (NEDs) practise good governance. In South Africa, three (3) types of DMOs are found, namely those that are funded by local government and incorporated into the municipality. The second type of DMOs is funded by the private sector. The third type of DMOs is those funded by both the local government and the private sector. In this case, the DMO has an agreement with the local government in terms of what their mandate is and what the agreed outcomes would be. A board of directors, comprising both executive directors (EDs) and nonexecutive directors (NEDs) is responsible for the governance of the local DMO. The main research problem of the study is the attributes and experience of the nonexecutive directors that serve on the boards of DMOs in accordance with developmental standards of best practices. In order to address the main problem, the following research objectives were formulated: To identify best practice by examining the literature as to how NEDs are prepared to serve on boards of both listed and non-listed organisations. To determine whether any policy frameworks provide guidance to NEDs serving on DMOs in South Africa. To examine whether any training or preparatory programmes exist specifically for NEDs in DMOs. To investigate whether NEDs should have specific attributes that would improve their governance of DMOs. To develop a set of recommendations that would assist NEDs to play a more effective role when executing their responsibilities. In order to address these research objectives, a quantitative research methodology was adopted sampling all the DMOs in South Africa that could be identified and were governed by a board of directors. For this purpose, a self-completed questionnaire was distributed to the board of directors of DMOs and specifically the non-executive directors. The results of the study indicated that no guidelines existed that DMOs could follow to better prepare the NEDs of local DMOs. Furthermore, no policy frameworks provide guidance to NEDs serving on local DMOs. The only guidelines that exist are generic guidelines of the King IV Report for NEDs of listed and non-listed organisations. In addition, Pike (2016:108) listed a number of characteristics of good governance. The study also revealed that no training or preparatory programmes exist for the NEDs of local DMOs. Finally, the study highlighted five (5) attributes that NEDs consider as critical in fulfilling their obligations. These include the empowerment of NEDs, the commitment of NEDs, communication with NEDs, job satisfaction of the NEDs and the need for NEDs to understand policy frameworks relevant to their tasks.

M. Tech. Tourism and Hospitality Management. / Travel is often used to reward those who achieved specific business goals and objectives. Although an incentive travel experience creates unforgettable memories, the process of deciding whether to revisit a destination again is in itself a complex process with many factors influencing the decision. This is even more so in case of an incentive destination, as the incentive traveler usually does not have a choice in selecting the incentive destination. The incentive destination is at the heart of any incentive travel program and constitutes an amalgam of products and service, as well as a series of experiences that the incentive traveler creates. Understanding the influence that the destination experience has on the incentive traveler is therefore of great importance to destination marketers, as many destination marketing organisations view repeat visitors as a stable source of revenue. The primary objective of this study is to gain insight and understanding into the influence of destination experiences on the decision-making process to revisit the incentive destination.

Traditionally, branding is all about differentiate the product from its competi-tors. When the brand is a place another level of complexity is added. A place has several different stakeholders that all have to communicate the same mes-sage in order to create a strong brand. Place marketing is a rather new theoreti-cal field and not many researchers have explored this phenomenon, therefore, there does not exist any common practice within this line of study. Compared to a product the stakeholders of a city often have quite different objectives, and therefore there is a risk that they communicate messages that contradict each other. Which features of a city is needed to create a strong brand? The purpose of this thesis was to expore how the stakeholders within the city of Jönköping can cooperate in order to build a strong city brand. The authors have chosen to focus on a qualitative method and personal inter-views as the primary source of information. The respondents that participated in this study were influential persons in leading positions within the main stakeholder groups in Jönköping, that is the public sector, the private sector and the university. Further the Managing Director of FMJ was interview. In order to determine, which of these stakeholders that were of interest the authours have used the snowball approach. To complement these findings secondary data, including three attitude surveys, have been analysed. The authors have concluded that Jönköping does possess a few quite strong brand associations, however, the problem that the city has is the lack of an suf-ficient product to sell. A couple of years ago Jönköping established FMJ to take care of the external marketing and since than it has been many improve-ments, nevertheless the authors believe that another form of cooperation is needed. The city would have to develop a new organization with the base within the municipality, but it should include all the important stakeholders. The main tasks of this cooperation would be to integrate these stakeholders and build a strong product, which should emphasis the most important fea-tures of the Jönköping.

Vätternrundan is an annual sporting event that takes place in the Swedish town Motala since 1966. It is one of the world largest recreational bicycle rides and attracts over 20 000 participants each year. This study focuses on event effects and how an event can be of value within the principles of place marketing. Within this study five representatives were interviewed with semi-structured interviews. The results show that the representatives describe Vätternrundan as a positive event which mostly generates positive effects for the city itself and for the people living and working there. The effects consist of the events ability to create awareness of the place, the possibility to extend the tourism season and several social effects like solidarity and interaction. The result also shows that Vätternrundan is a well-known brand and because of this it can be used as an advantage in place marketing. The event also provides the place with an activity and a reason to travel there. The combination of the long sporting history in Motala and the sporting event Vätternrundan also provide Motala with a chance to differentiate themselves in relation to other places where sport is a unique part of the city.

To enhance the living quality and tourism, Taiwan government encourages countries and cities to held more colorful activities of local festivals, which can draw a big crowd of foreign sightseers and prosper local economy. Taiwan is abundant in folk cultures; therefore, most local governments is actively promoting some place marketing programs rich in local characteristics, such as ¡§Love River Lantern Festival¡¨, ¡§Tungkong Tuna Cultural Festival¡¨, ¡§Machu Cultural Festival¡¨, ¡§The Yenshui Fireworks Festival¡¨, and ¡§Chamomile Blooming Season¡¨. The above cultural activities are well known not only islandwide but also worldwide. For the past few years, Kaohsiung City government has been deliberately shaping the city with ¡§water¡¨ and ¡§light¡¨. Love River is generally acknowledged as the most representative symbol of Kaohsiung. Nowadays, Kaohsiung has become one of the most beautiful cities in Taiwan and Love River should take most of the credits. Besides, this successful city marketing experience of Kaohsiung now is the legend in Taiwan. This study is based on two theories¡Ð¡§Place Marketing Theory¡¨ and ¡§City Image Theory¡¨. By reviewing lots of literature, summarize some factors, criteria, and alternatives that may be related to Love River environmental image. Then, through in-person expert interviews and questionnaire survey, apply AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) to sort out the priorities of the factors, the criteria, and the alternatives. The outcomes are as follows: 1.The priorities of the three factors on the second layer are¡Ð¡§Specific Architecture Clusters¡¨ goes first, ¡§Blue & Green Belt System¡¨ second, and ¡§ Traditional Cultural Festivals¡¨ last. 2.The priorities of the twelve criteria on the third layer are¡Ð ¡§River-Bank Facilities¡¨ goes first, ¡§Culture Heritage And Historic Sites¡¨ second, ¡§Riverfront Parks¡¨ third, ¡§River Channels¡¨ fourth, and ¡§Bridges¡¨ fifth. 3.The priorities of the three alternatives on the fourth layer are¡Ð ¡§The symbol of Kaohsiung Area¡¨ goes first, ¡§Promotion Of Local Tourism and Food & Drink Industry ¡¨ second, ¡§Love River Carnival¡¨ last.

<p>Traditionally, branding is all about differentiate the product from its competi-tors. When the brand is a place another level of complexity is added. A place has several different stakeholders that all have to communicate the same mes-sage in order to create a strong brand. Place marketing is a rather new theoreti-cal field and not many researchers have explored this phenomenon, therefore, there does not exist any common practice within this line of study. Compared to a product the stakeholders of a city often have quite different objectives, and therefore there is a risk that they communicate messages that contradict each other. Which features of a city is needed to create a strong brand?</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to expore how the stakeholders within the city of Jönköping can cooperate in order to build a strong city brand.</p><p>The authors have chosen to focus on a qualitative method and personal inter-views as the primary source of information. The respondents that participated in this study were influential persons in leading positions within the main stakeholder groups in Jönköping, that is the public sector, the private sector and the university. Further the Managing Director of FMJ was interview. In order to determine, which of these stakeholders that were of interest the authours have used the snowball approach. To complement these findings secondary data, including three attitude surveys, have been analysed.</p><p>The authors have concluded that Jönköping does possess a few quite strong brand associations, however, the problem that the city has is the lack of an suf-ficient product to sell. A couple of years ago Jönköping established FMJ to take care of the external marketing and since than it has been many improve-ments, nevertheless the authors believe that another form of cooperation is needed. The city would have to develop a new organization with the base within the municipality, but it should include all the important stakeholders. The main tasks of this cooperation would be to integrate these stakeholders and build a strong product, which should emphasis the most important fea-tures of the Jönköping.</p>

This thesis is an empirical and theoretical investigation into the changing trends in place marketing as it relates to urban tourism, particularly in the city of Toronto. It begins by exploring broader discourses to do with capitalism and creativity and their impacts on city space and people’s interactions with it and within it. These perspectives are then situated in the Toronto context, a city that currently embraces the notion of the Creative City, as promulgated by Richard Florida, which encourages the branding of the city for the purpose of stimulated economic growth and in which tourism plays an increasing role. Thirdly, it examines the theoretical implications of the prominent belief that tourism and place marketing are imperative for Toronto’s economic well-being. Official efforts at place marketing and place branding construct what John Urry terms the tourist gaze, and frame the city in particular ways to particular people. Fourthly, this thesis gives an empirical account of how the gaze comes to bear on the physical city space in terms of infrastructure and financing projects in the interest of creating a Tourist City. The penultimate chapter brings to light how the rise of new media has allowed for the greater possibility to puncture the traditionally linear narrative of the city with new voices, thus fracturing the monolithic gaze in some instances. The thesis concludes by questioning the implications of new media on the existing systems of city management and promotion, recognizing the ambivalence of new media and its potential to both challenge and reproduce current discourse. / Thesis (Master, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-29 16:22:22.467