ROLE OF DESTINATION MARKETING IN TOURISM: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Abstract

Given the importance of tourism to the world’s economy, diverse countries have often felt a need to market their
country to the global tourism market as an ideal tourism destination. The destination marketing occurs due to
the need of individual countries to promote their country or specific towns as competitive destinations compared
to places offering similar products and services. Destination marketing can also be used as a recovery strategy
for destinations that were previously doing well in terms of tourist arrivals as well as other performance metrics
but whose performance is on the decline. These declines could be attributed to events such as after terrorism
attacks, political violence, natural disasters among others. Destination marketing as a concept is therefore
increasingly gaining usage amongst tourism bodies and governments across the world. This paper examines
the concept of destination marketing, various practices embraced by various countries and challenges faced
citing the case of Kenya as a Tourist destination.