NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... Tourists Perceive Malaysia's Image Destination and Attributes as Brand Every tourist destination in the world has a "brand image, " whether this particular image has been carefully developed or has just emerged and had grown with the popularity of the destination, it will always stand as a symbol, an icon of which the place can be identified. Brand is defined by the American Marketing Association as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors (Kotler, 1997). Kotler together with Gertner, had also postulated that brands not only differentiate products and represent a promise of value but they also incite beliefs, evoke emotions and prompt behaviors (2002: 249). Developed carefully, the brand serves to differentiate a particular destination from competing destinations.
In tourism, factors such as cost of travel, convenience, and quality of facilities are important, but it is always the image which is the strongest motivator of all. People will only come to a place if its image is appealing and good. Image creates an emotional appeal, which enhances that particular destination's chances of being chosen over others. A destinations image and how it is perceived by the tourists puts it on the consumer's "shopping list." Being recognized and patronized as a destination is not the end of the marketing challenge; in fact, it is just the beginning of everything. The tourism industry leaders have the tough and difficult job of maintaining a positive image in the minds of visitors.
The task does not end after tourists have visited the marketed site; on has to continually find the methods and means to satisfy, fascinate and persist on drawing the visitors attention and interests thus holding on to the position in the lucrative tourism industry. One must also undertake and make sure that those people will either come back for successive visits or at least have a good and encouraging word-of-mouth comment about the place. DMOs should always be up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in the industry especially since competitors are always on their feet with alternative and competing destinations always pushing the limits of market competition to maintain or capture a significant portion of the visitor market (Uysal, Chen and Williams, 2000). Even though Malaysia has more or less captured the tourism industry in Asia, the successive changes of images promoted by the DMOs can be both bane and joy that either enhances its image (s) or creates confusion and conflicting ideas for the tourist market. Without a clear brand strategy, and with supporting inconsistent advertising campaigns, a destination brand will create a confused image to prospective customers. As most tourists travel within a short period with specific interests and things to do, and added to that is the regular tourists state of mind -- - relaxed and care-free; in quest of tranquility and untroubled, cheery existence -- - presenting them with a mixture of images can be perplexing.
Previous studies showed that Malaysia's tourism image abroad was rather unclear compared to its neighbors especially Thailand and Indonesia (Badaruddin, 1994). Even with the confusing images presented by the Malaysian tourism industry, consumers were still able to see Malaysia as multicultural with many beaches, an image which definitely conveys the strength that differentiate Malaysia's destination brand from other tourist attractions. A strong brand anchored on positive destination image has several intense advantages when compared to others; aside from the fact that it has an attractive appeal to consumers. Advantage and Disadvantages of the Malaysia's Image The Tourism Malaysia's move to constantly change the countrys image with the various promotional campaigns throughout the years has probably given the Malaysian tourism industry both benefits and drawbacks (Badaruddin, 1994). The decision to shift from one image to another has certainly given the global consumers the ideas and impressions that the countrys tourism managers and the DMOs are not so sure of the features and attributes of the destination they are marketing. For a tourist, it will seem foolhardy and profligate to be going to a place which is claimed to be one kind at one time and a different kind in another.
A thoroughly expensive tourist destination is a lot more preferable to a place which claims to be a value-for-money destination yet it has a very fuzzy image. This certainly paints a picture of inefficiency, disorganization and ineptitude. The successive shifting from one image to another, on the other hand, might also be at an advantage. This particular move clearly brought to light the fact that Malaysia can actually be marketed as a multi-faceted gem of a holiday destination which can cater to a lot of people of diverse ages and with varying interests. The constant requirement to jump from one image to another was in itself a weak marketing strategy yet because of it, the Malaysian tourism industry was able to open and recognize all the potentials that their country can offer to the global tourism market. If an image is unfocused or not clear, the destination will have difficulty competing with images created by competing countries (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Beer & Martin, 2004).
As presented in Badaruddin research (2002), one can see that even with a very strong support from the government with regards to advertising and promotion of the country as a tourist destination if the image is convoluted and unclear, as in the case of Malaysia, tourists will not be lured to come and visit the place. They will almost always go to that place where they feel secure. According to Ryan (1993, p. 173) crime can impede tourism by wielding a significant blow to the fragile nature of a destination's safe image. If a destination image is vague or indistinguishable, tourist will always assume that it is also chancy and so therefore, unsafe and unreliable. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Despite the growing importance of tourism industry in terms of social and economic development and growth of a community, research on the various aspects that contribute to the success of the trade has been given insufficient attention to date. Being exploratory in nature and with very little data on the current status of Malaysian Tourism Industry, this study has only attempted to scratch the surface of the whole tourism industry's issue.
Developing a strong image for any brand requires a carefully planned brand strategy which will bring about a well-defined and unique brand personality that is in consonance with the destination image / images ; a consistent and above all appropriate advertising and promotional campaigns; plus, a careful brand guardianship which will ensure that the consumers perception f the destination image is positively supported by it. The destination image must be something that is reliable and constant so that it will not be difficult to built around it a marketing strategy that will boost the destination and its attributes and features as the destination brand. With the difficulty of identifying one symbol, one particular image for a specific destination, it is but understandable that the tourism industry will have a hard time developing one (Task and Kozak, 2005). But the challenge is to build a strong and consistent bridging method which will support and augment whatever positive notions people have about the tourist destination and on the one hand, create a solution and fix strategy that will troubleshoot and work out any trouble brought about by the lack of well-planned and commonly-known brands for the tourist destinations. All difficulties and challenges with regards to imaging can be strengthened by thoroughly planning the design of the advertising, PR and promotion so that it will complement any informal information obtained through word of mouth and personal recommendations (Uysal, Chen and Williams, 2000). Efficient planning should either build upon any good and complimentary reference or fix and remedy negative perceptions that may have been incorrectly interpreted.
Reference List F. M. Andrews, and S. B. With 1976, Social Indicators of Well Being. New York: Plenum Press.
M. Badaruddin, L. L. Meng & N. Adha 2002, Malaysia's International Tourism Promotion and Image Positioning: Perceptions of the International Tourists, Proceedings of the 8 th Annual Conference Asia Pacific Tourism Association. July 10 - 13, 2002.
Dalian, China. p. 10 - 18. S. Baloglu and K. McCleary A model of destination image formation. Annals of Tourism Research, 1999, 26 (4), 868 - 897.
C. K-S. Chon and M. D.
Olsen Applying Strategic Management Process in Tourism Organizations, Tourism Management, September 1990, 206 - 213. P. Weaver-Chon and Y. K. Chol Marketing Your Community: Image Analysis of Norfolk, The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, February 1990, 31 (4), 31 - 37. C.
B. Claiborne, and M. J. Sirgy Self Image Congruence As A Model of Consumer Attitude Formation and Behavior: A Conceptual Review and Guide for Future Research, in B.
J. Dunlap (ed. ) Developments in Marketing Science, Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science Annual Conference, 1990, Volume 8, 3 - 7. M. Dass 2005, June 3.
Rebranding Malaysia. The Sun. Retrieved November 11, 2007 from web C. M. Echtner and J.
R. B. Ritche The measurement of destination image: An empirical assessment, Journal of Travel Research, 1993, 31 (4), 3 - 13. C. M.
Echtner and J. R. B. Ritche The measurement of destination image: An empirical assessment, Journal of Travel Research, 1991, 31, 3 - 13.
F. F. Engel and R. D. Blackwell 1982, Consumer Behavior, 4 th edition, New York: Dryden Press. M.
Gallarza, I. Sure and H. C. Garcia Destination image towards a conceptual framework, Annals of Tourism Research, 2002, 29 (1), 56 - 78. W.
Gartner Tourism image: Attribute measurement of state tourism products using multidimensional scaling technique, Journal of Travel Research, 1989, 28 (2), 16 - 20. R. Govers and F. Go Deconstructing destination image in the information age, Information Technology and Tourism, 2003, 6 (1), 13 - 29.
R. Govers and F. Go Projected destination online: Website content analysis of picture and text, Information Technology and Tourism, 2005 7 (2), 1 - 18. J.
A. Howard and J. N. Seth 1969, The Theory of Buyer Behavior, New York: John Wiley and Sons.
J. D. Hunt Images as a factor in tourism development, Journal of Travel Research, 1975, 13, Winter, 1 - 7. H. K. Hunt 1977, CS/D: Overview and Future Research Directions, in H.
K. Hunt (ed. ) Conceptualization and Measurement of Consumer Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Marketing Science Institute. P. Kotler 1997, Marketing Management Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control (9 th edn). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. P.
Kotler and D. Gertner Country as Brand, Product, and Beyond: A Place Marketing and Brand Management Perspective, Journal of Brand Management, 2002, 9 (4 / 5): 24961. P. Kotler, D.
H. Haider, and I. Rein 1993, Marketing Places, New York: The Free Press. R. C. Mill and M.
A. Morrison 1985, The Tourism System: An Introductory Text, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. A. A. Lew A Framework of tourist attraction research, Annals of Tourism Research, 1988, 15 (3), 553 - 575. R.
C. Lewis and R. Chambers, 1989 Marketing Leadership in Hospitality, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. J.
C. Lingoes and M. Pfaff, 1972 The Index of Consumer Satisfaction: Methodology, Proceedings, Association for Consumer Research, 689 - 712. R. N. Maddox Measuring Satisfaction with Tourism, Journal of Travel Research, 1985, 24 (Winter), 2 - 5.
Malaysia among top three in tourist arrival. (2005, November 27). The Star, p. 2. Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. (2001 - 2005). The Eighth Malaysian Plan: Tourism. Retrieved November 10, 2007 from web development% 20 plan/RM 8 /c 15 cont. pdf S.
Pike Destination image analysis A review of 142 papers from 1973 to 2000, Tourism Management, 2002, 23 (5), 541 - 549. A. Pizza, N. Yoram, and A. Reichel Dimensions of Tourist Satisfaction with a Destination Area, Annals of Tourism Research, 1978, 5 (3), 314 - 322. A.
Pizarro and Y. Mansfeld 1996, Tourism, Crime and International Security Issues, John Wiley & Sons, New York. S. P.
Robbins and D. A. DeC enzo 2004, Fundamentals of management: essential concepts and applications, 4 th edn, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. C.
Ryan Crime, violence, terrorism and tourism: An accidental or intrinsic relationship? Tourism Management, 1993, 14, 173 - 183. M. J. Sirgy, 1983 Social Cognition and Consumer Behavior, New York: Praeger Publishers. Sirgy, 1984 Marketing As a Social Behavior: A General Systems Theory, New York: Praeger Publishers.
Sirgy, Self-Image/Product Image Congruity and Consumer Decision Making, International Journal of Marketing, 1985, 2 (4), 49 - 63. W. F. Van Radio and D. A.
France Vacation Decisions, Activities, and Satisfaction, Annals of Tourism Research, 1984, 11, 101 - 112. M. Uysal, J. S. Chen and D. R.
Williams Increasing State Market Share Through a Regional Positioning, Tourism Management, 2000, 21. p 89 - 96.
Free research essays on topics related to: prentice hall, praeger publishers, tourism industry, upper saddle river nj, tourist destination
Research essay sample on Upper Saddle River Nj Praeger Publishers
