What Is the Difference Between Tourism Marketing and Hospitality Marketing?
What Is the Difference Between Tourism Marketing and Hospitality Marketing?

Attracting your target audience is a challenge in today’s busy world. The travel industry is more crowded than ever, and newer developments like online bookings have made travel feel more accessible to people all over the world.

But in order to capture attention in a competitive marketplace, it helps to first think about the intention behind your outreach. If you’re looking to attract travelers, it’s important to consider what the driving force of your marketing efforts should be: tourism or hospitality. Let’s take a closer look at the differences between tourism marketing and hospitality marketing to provide more insight into these two niche categories.

What Is Tourism Marketing?

Tourism is all about the journey that someone goes on when they travel. Although this term can be applied for any type of trip, most people associate tourism more with leisure travel as opposed to business travel.

Most tourism marketing focuses on activities. How will a customer arrive at their destination? What can they do there? What are the important things to see or experience? Some examples of businesses which use tourism marketing to connect with their target audience include:

 

The target audience for tourism marketing is, unsurprisingly, “tourists” — someone who travels to a specific destination to enjoy certain activities. Travel agencies once played a major role in tourism marketing, helping to suggest places to visit to potential visitors. But with many people planning their own travel online these days, businesses need to take on a more proactive role in their tourism marketing.

What Is Hospitality Marketing?

Hospitality focuses on the guest/host relationship. This is equally applicable to both business travel and leisure travel. Instead of focusing on modes of transportation or activities like with tourism marketing, hospitality marketing is more about the overall experience of someone’s stay at their destination. In this type of marketing, there’s a much stronger emphasis on fostering strong and meaningful customer relationships.

Hospitality marketing is used for the following types of businesses:

 

With hospitality marketing, the target audience is a prospective guest. In many cases, this guest has already decided on a destination. So while hospitality marketing campaigns can certainly incorporate some of the attractions in the local area, the main focus should be on the experience at the business itself. For example, guests might choose one hotel over the other based on specific amenities or an overall atmosphere (such as family-friendly vs. romantic getaway).

Considerations for Tourism and Hospitality Marketing

Keep in mind that the tourism and hospitality industries are closely intertwined. These businesses are better able to thrive when they support each other, so forming partnerships can be mutually beneficial in terms of increasing sales/bookings and building brand loyalty.

For example, if you own a luxury hotel, you may want to partner with local cultural institutions and fine dining restaurants to offer exclusive tickets and bookings for your guests. Theme parks might be able to work with family-friendly resorts in the area to set up promo codes for discounted stays. Creating these types of partnerships can help to attract customers to your destination. At the same time, it can better connect with your target audience by tapping in to what they want — like luxurious experiences or travel savings.

Whether your business is in need of tourism marketing or hospitality marketing, it’s important to develop a marketing strategy with your specific goals in mind. For many businesses, that requires partnering with a tourism or hospitality marketing agency.

Need expert hospitality marketing services for your business? Contact Quaintise Hospitality to learn more about how we can help you reach your target audience.