Destinationsmarknadsföring : en studie av turism ur ett producentperspektiv

Sammanfattning: The analysis of the marketing of a tourist destination brings into question quite different issues than those that apply to a single company. The marketing of a tourist destination demands the participation of many stakeholders, because of the complexity of the tourist product and the fact that the production and the consumption of the product both take place at the destination. It has often proved difficult to engage the various entrepreneurs in the co-operative marketing of the destination. Entrepreneurs differ with regard to how they see the importance of their company to the way a tourist experiences the destination as a unified tourist product. The inter-organisational processes are therefore of great significance in the organisation of co-operative marketing strategies. It is often difficult to achieve a balance between co-operation and competition between the companies involved, as the tourist destination comprises a geographically limited area and a number of stakeholders, each with their own individual aims, goals and motives. This study examines companies that interact in the production and marketing of tourist products at a tourist destination.The aim of this thesis is to describe how actors operating in spatial fixity work with marketing a destination, and to interpret the motives behind their behaviour. The research aims to generate new theoretical perspectives. It will examine and develop a new understanding of marketing in the field of tourism and its organisation, from the perspective of the supplier. The focus of the study is principally on the inter-organisational relations between the companies at the destination and the relationship between the individual companies and the local co-operative organisation. The thesis is based on inductive methodology and uses a social contructionist approach to analyse the processes involved in the marketing of a tourist destination. The destination studied is Åre, one of the largest winter sports destinations in northern Europe. The theoretical framework has been constructed from the results of empirical research, which include a number of quantitative and qualitative studies of companies and the local co-operative organisation. The results of the research have been interpreted in terms of base, concepts and discourse, using a multi-dimensional model to clarify the important role that norms play in determining the behaviour of the various actors involved in marketing the destination. The two norms that can be identified as dominant within the destination are "the company serves the destination's interests" and "the destination serves the company's interests". One of the conclusions of the thesis is that, in order for individual entrepreneurs to feel involved in the co-operative marketing of the destination, a dialectic relationship between these two norms is essential.