Search

This section presents basic definitions, concepts, themes, issues, methods, perspectives and institutions related to tourism. Database marketing is an interactive approach and process. It uses a computerized system and addressable communications media. A decision support system is the set of problem-solving technology containing people, knowledge, software and hardware successfully wired into the management process to facilitate improved decision making by marketing managers. Democratization is the process whereby the opportunity to participate in tourism, which until 1850s was a socially selective activity, has become available to the majority of the people in the developed societies who wish to do so. Denotation is the process by which the attention of an observer is drawn to the meaning of terms. Diet is a generic term encompassing the range of variety of food which an individual consumes over a period of time, determined by a number of factors. Differentiation occurs under modernity when activities performed within some functional realm split up as industrial society becomes increasingly specialized and heterogeneous. Direct marketing is a measurable marketing technique that involves communicating with pre-identified audience, using one or more media in order to achieve a specific market response within a defined time frame.

This chapter presents a case study that is aimed to examine the link between the products or experiences provided for tourists, the expectations created in brochures and the markets currently buying day trip tours to the Great Barrier Reef. An audit of marine tourism promotional material was undertaken by conducting a content analysis of brochures available from both within and outside the Far North Queensland region. Marine environments feature in almost 45 percent of the regional covers, while reef-specific locations account for 22 percent of the images presented on the front pages of regional brochures. The first step in the analysis of the visitors survey data was to examine the actual experience of reef visitors. The results showed that the majority of respondents travelled as couples. Travel parties ranged in size from single travellers to parties of 53 with 83 percent of respondents travelling in groups of 5 or fewer. Responses to the question about enjoyment indicated that only five people did not enjoy their trip at all, while 39 percent rated their enjoyment as 10 out of 10 and 87 percent of respondents ranked their level of enjoyment as an 8 or higher. The mean level of enjoyment was 8.8 indicating a high level of satisfaction.