MARKETING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
5.10 PARTNERSHIP
Cooperative marketing and communication efforts can foster sustainability through the entire tourism value chain. Enthusiasm and commitment for all partners is essential so that none performs activities for unsustainable eco- nomic gains. Partnership hence goes beyond, just the “Participants” and looks at coordinated action “ from the Government; the corporate entity as well as the individual level” (Bohdanowicz et al., 2011).
Hall (2000) suggests that public participation is vital to tourism planning process and at all stages, “sustainability has to be treated seriously.” Literature also highlights the criticality of partnering and it is believed that “Inter-depen- dence and interrelationship among stakeholders” makes the tourism planning process complex however “it is this change, complexity and uncertainty that form the backdrop against which planning for tourism is developed, tested and implemented” (McCool, 2009).
5.10.1 ILLUSTRATIVE CASE 10: DAYLESFORD AND HEPBURN SPRINGS
Daylesford and Hepburn Springs is located in Victoria, an hour’s drive from Melbourne. This region has been defined as a “Level-one destination” mean- ing that it attracts a varied mixes of national (intrastate and interstate tourists) as well as international tourists and also has a strong appeal internationally.
The natural beauty of the region along with its “historic architecture, innova- tive and quality tourism enterprises, dynamic creative industries and diverse communities,” make it a coveted tourism destination (Wary, 2011).
To promote sustainable tourism in the region various steps were executed in a phased manner and these were made possible by partnering with eminent entities. A description of each stage, along with the description of the partners in presented in Table 4.
TABLE 4 Partners and their role at the daylesford and hepburn springs.
Stage Partners and Their Role
“Destination Steering Com-
mittee (SC)” was appointed PARTNERS: 12 members in the committee—From Lo- cal Tourism and Business operators and Local Commu- nity Association.
Executive Team of the SC: President of local tourism as- sociation, General manager of Hepburn Shrine Council and similar experienced people.
Independent Chairperson: Led the Team. Had a back- ground in community leadership and exhibited high man- agement skills.
ROLE: With representation from various stakeholder groups, including Government; Business and Commu- nity, the committee aimed at discussing the progress of the strategic planning process and also providing advice to the tourism planners.
Developing and Communi- cating a strategic planning approach
PARTNERS: Consultants, researchers were engaged Bureaucrats and politicians were engaged
ROLE: Conducting situation analysis to examine sta- tistics of visitation, accommodation auditing, examining attraction and support facilities. This was documented as a report and was presented to the SC and Government officials by the consultants.
Regional expert panel PARTNERS Members with expertise in the regional tourism planning and execution process.
Chair, Australian Regional Tourism Marketing; Tour- ism Victoria’s Regional Tourism Development Manager, Tourism Noosa’s Marketing manager, Tourism New South Wales’ Strategic Planner, Professional from Cul- tural tourism and a Professor of Repute.
ROLE: Advised on the planning process and also of- fered feedback to the initial plan.
Stage Partners and Their Role
Stakeholder engagement PARTNERS: Eight Stakeholder Groups-Tourism Orga- nizations and Tour Operators; Council; Environmental Groups; Business Groups; Cultural groups; Event/Fes- tival Organizers; Community groups and Departments from the Government.
Consultants and the SC were the change initiators.
Local Citizens were also Involved ROLE:
Consultants conducted workshops with all partners to emphasize ways of “adopting a collaborative and sustain- able approach to tourism planning.”
All partners created a vision statement after identifying values related to sustainable tourism management.
All Partners engaged in intense discussions on key chal- lenges and issues being faced by Daylesford and Hep- burn Springs.
Engagement of residents was planned through “Dedicat- ed Planning Websites,” along with media articles, public- ity and PR initiatives.
Citizen jury was created through a scientific and rigor- ous selection process. All jury members were informed in detail, about sustainable tourism, Government role in the same, and issues around regional tourism planning. The jury then deliberated on the offered information, offered recommendations and highlighted relevant issues from the community perspective as well.
All the meetings and workshops led to the identifica- tion of 20 principal issues for Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, under the themes of destination management, destination development as well as marketing.
To foster a collaborative relationship with all stakeholder groups, the report on principal issues was shared, for de- liberation, with all stakeholders and feedback was again, requested.
The Final action plan—“Destination Daylesford Strate- gic Tourism Plan” was released for public consumption and scrutiny, by the Council and was eventually accept- ed, even though it was radical and affirmed that authentic stakeholder engagement process can lead to the develop- ment of positive changes.
TABLE 4 (Continued)
Globally, following sustainable processes is becoming desirable. While screening and recruiting employees, ITC Group of Hotels, puts an empha- sis on the sensitivity the candidate has, towards green issues. Once hired, the management takes an initiative to consistently involve the employees in environment-friendly practices.
With the above arguments and illustrations, it can be established that it is critical to explore elements of marketing tourism sustainability to consumers.
This concept entails not just an exhaustive description of the Marketing Mix for Sustainable tourism but would also elaborate on means to garner customer as well as value chain partners’ buy-in.