Scholarly record

KEY ISSUES IN TOURISM MARKETING STRATEGIES. A CASE STUDY ON ROMANIA

Liliana Popescu, A. Nita

Abstract

As the importance of tourism is increasing, ever more states from Europe and not only are using strategic branding and a variety of marketing means to attract a growing number of tourists. However, destinations are among the most difficult entities to market. Considering the importance of a clear marketing strategy and proper images and slogans used, the paper aims to identify the destination personality, see whether RomaniaВ’s official website can have an effect on the image of the country and if it complies with the brand positioning and target group. For this, the visual information on the official website, mainly photographic images, was analysed, using MorrisonВ’s website evaluation guideline. All the images from the web site were collected and categorized into 9 subcategories: nature, parks and protected areas, historic heritage, cultural events and facilities, entertainment and recreation, birdВ’s eye and scenic view, local cuisine, people and local residents, others. The results show that the images of the official web site depict Romania as a static and old country. While the branding campaign may target the right type of tourists, RomaniaВ’s official web site fails to set the country apart from the competition, being limited to presenting a collection of attractions in the area.

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