Chapter 1: introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 Introduction This chapter includes a review of the existing literature relevant to tourism issues regarding Corfu as a destination, an introduction to[.]

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This chapter includes a review of the existing literature relevant to tourism issuesregarding Corfu as a destination, an introduction to tourism as a phenomenon and theimpacts (positive and negative) of it, a highlight of the key areas of Corfu as adestination – including history, geography, cultural and natural heritage, and anintroduction to the case which enables the reader to understand why this study wasimportant to be conducted and its contribution to the body of knowledge

1.2 Research Background

The researcher selected this topic for his dissertation driven by the fact that there hasbeen a steady decline in sales (see tables 1.2 and 1.3) during the last few years, andthe DMO received great criticism for that as it is the responsible body for the island’stourism promotion and branding Furthermore, the researcher had worked for theDMO in the past and during his occupation he identified certain weaknesses in itsoperation and a lack of a professional operational framework Through therecommendations included herein, he wishes to suggest new policies and promotiontechniques that can lead to better results and increase the overall effectiveness of theDMO operation regarding the destination promotion

1.3 Introduction to the island of Corfu

Corfu is located in the North-Western part of Greece and is considered to be an islandwith a strategic position in Greece and with a different cultural identity from the rest

of Greece Therefore, an analysis of its geographical position, its historical andcultural background, the climate, the transports and the development of the tourismindustry in Corfu will be presented in the following sections of this chapter

1.3.1 Geographical Position

Figure 1.1 –Map of Greece Figure 1.2- Satellite Image of Corfu Source: http://el.wikipedia.org Source : http://maps.google.com

Corfu Prefecture includes the island of Corfu, the Diapontia Islands (Othoni,Erikoussa and Mathraki ) and Paxi and Antipaxi islands It has sea borders withAlbania and Italy and it is close to the other Greek Prefectures of Lefkada, Ioannina,Thesprotia and Preveza It occupies 592.877 square kms (about 229,000 squaremiles), and with the addition of the smaller islands of the Prefecture it reaches a totalsize of 641.000 square kms with a relatively large coastline of 217 kms (about 135miles)

It is the capital of the Region of the Ionian Islands and the second largest island of theIonian Islands Complex after Cephalonia, with a population of about 112,000residents (G.N.S.S., 2001), with about 40,000 of them living in the town centre

It is the northernmost Ionian Island and a crossroad between East and West; it standsbetween the Greek west coast and the southern tip of Italy The north-eastern part ofthe island faces Albania and three seas: the Ionian Sea in the east, the Adriatic Sea inthe north and the Mediterranean Sea in the west

It is about 27 km (17 miles) wide and 60 km (37 miles) long and has a unique shapelike a scythe, which gave the island one of its ancient names, “Drepani”

In the North, Corfu is mostly mountainous and the highest point is the Pantokratormountain with an altitude of 911 meters The beaches offer a variety of choices to the

locals and the tourists as there are gentle and sandy beaches but also rocky and steepones, and this creates a unique natural landscape for the traveller to see and enjoy

In the south, there are many tourist areas with Kavos being the most known to theBritish market; in the eastern and western parts of the island, there are many beachesboth sandy and rocky for the travellers to chose from

1.3.2 Historical and Cultural profile

In Corfu there are elements of life since the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Era inmany areas “Faiakes” (=Phaecians) was the name for the residents of the islandduring the Homeric times, which were of a Phoenician origin The first Greekresidents of the Island came from Corinth and after the Greek period, Corfu becamepart of the Roman and then the Byzantine Empire During the Medieval times and theRenaissance, there were many conquerors: Goths and Normans, Venetians, French,Russians and British The Venetians had a great influence on the local population asthey stayed for more than four centuries on the island Despite the fact of being acolony of many strong empires, Corfu never lost its Greek identity However, thisendowed the island with a unique identity and culture that made it a world-wideknown tourism resort for thousands of tourists

Corfu, due to its historical course, adopted a different direction in the arts and culturegave birth to great musicians, composers and artists, in general

Its unique cultural characteristics are the products of the architectural and socialinfluences that the occupying civilizations left on Corfu and all these elements created

a harmonic mixture The Old Town has been figuring on the list of the UNESCOworld heritage sites since 2007 and is one of the most lively medieval cities in theworld, indeed very well preserved

In Corfu, there is also the largest and most beautiful square in Greece and in the wholeBalkans, the “Spianada” or “Esplanade” while the Liston arcade is a replica of the

“Rue de Rivoli” in Paris The houses in the Old Town are mostly influenced in terms

of architecture by the Venetians, the French and some of them by the British

1.3.3 Climate

Considering the weather conditions, the climate in Corfu can be characterized asMediterranean and mild with moderate fluctuations of the temperature During winter,the temperatures are moderate (no less than 0 Celsius degrees) and do not go veryhigh during the summer (no more than 35 Celsius degrees) However, in someextremely hot days, the temperature can exceed 40 degrees Celsius and cause thermalstress situations, as Matzarakis (2006) states

Corfu has the highest ratio of rainfalls in Greece (1,153 ml) and high levels ofhumidity throughout the year (Tsoumanis, 2007)

In the summer months, there are more hours of sunshine and this is why so manytourists visit Corfu during July and August, when there are more than 350 hours ofsunshine Then, the island is full of life due to both the locals and the tourists and due

to the ideal climate conditions

Table 1.1 : Climatic Data for the Prefecture of Corfu

Average Rate Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecAir Temp

1.3.4 Transports

In Corfu, the largest port is the one near to the town centre It connects the islandwith the Greek mainland with several daily routes to the port of Igoumenitsa It alsoconnects Corfu with Albania, major Italian ports (Bari, Ancona, Brindisi and Venice)and the important trade port of Patras (Central Western Greece) In the Prefecture,there are three smaller ports, two in the north (Kassiopi and St Stefanos of Avliotes )that connect Corfu with the Diapontia Islands complex and one in the south(Lefkimmi) that connects Corfu with Igoumenitsa There is also a large marina inGouvia, just outside Corfu town, another one in Benitses on the south-eastern coast ofCorfu while there are more than 10 small ports with facilities for small ships andboats

As for the air transports, the Corfu International Airport “Ioannis Kapodistrias”connects the island with Athens (capital of the Greek State) and Thessaloniki (secondlargest city of the country) and with the other Ionian islands It also has dailyconnections with the major European airports during the tourism season (early May tomid October) with around 400 flights on a weekly basis, either with scheduled or withcharter flights

1.3.5 Development of Tourism in Corfu

Corfu became a tourism destination for the Europeans in the 1950’s and it was one ofthe first massive tourism destinations This was attributed to its attractive naturalenvironment and the local culture and architecture The first Club-Med village opened

in Corfu in the early 50’s and resulted in massive tourism flows from France.(Forlough, 1993) Until the 1970’s, Corfu received both high and medium incometourists , but in the 80’s and 90’s it became a massive tourism destination and attractedmostly low income tourists due to the appearance of “packaged” vacations thatpresented a higher demand This resulted to a series of environmental, financial andsocial impacts In Corfu, there are 415 hotels with 22,951 rooms and 43,291 bedsaccording to S.E.T.E (2005), but they have to improve the quality of the offeredservices

Tourism is nowadays the number one sector of the local economy, but at the end ofthe 90’s there was a decline in sales because the tourist product of Corfu wasdowngraded Recently, there were efforts by all the involved stakeholders to reverse

the situation, however with no impressive results for the moment In north-east Corfuthere are many villas constructed by British tourists and this is the kind of tourismdevelopment that should be followed from now on

As a conclusion, it is assumed that Corfu depends on tourism , as about 82% of thelocals are involved in the tertiary sector of the economy (Services) and it is vital forthe local economy, for the development of the island and for the employment of thelocal population to have a healthy and growing tourism sector that will satisfy thevisitors of the island

1.3.6 DMO of Corfu

The DMO of Corfu is a public organization funded by the Ministry of Tourismthrough the G.N.T.O Being a public body makes the DMO slightly ineffective in itsoperations as it follows the public sector framework and it is staffed with peoplewhose studies are not directly related to the tourism industry The legal entity of theDMO currently is that of a “Prefectural Committee for Tourism Promotion”

The case is extremely interesting as a research case study since by analysing differentstakeholders’ views and opinions about the DMO’s effectiveness and the issue ofbranding, the results will lead to proposals that can reverse the decline in sales (seetables 1.2 and 1.3) and improve Corfu’s brand name, if of course they are taken intoconsideration by the DMO executives

Table 1.2: Diachronical Development of Arrivals in Corfu Airport

Source: Civil Aviation Authority of Corfu

Note: More updated available info until 2004

Table 3: Diachronical Development of Arrivals from Italy at the Port of Corfu

Source: Central Port Authority of Corfu

Note: More updated available info until 2004

1.4 Previous Research on Tourism in Corfu

In the past, there have been some studies about tourism in Corfu island, but notrelevant to DMOs or branding The tourism scientific references - (studies or others) –include the following sectors of interest: local tourist small and mediumaccommodation providers and their perceptions about tour operators’ power (Bastakis,Buhalis and Butler, 2004) referring to Corfu as an area of interest, Sustainability anddiversification in coastal Regions (Bramwell, 2004) , socio-economic impacts oftourism (Tsartas, 1992), Socio-cultural changes and policy issues related to coastaland insular areas in Greece that occur as a result of the tourist development (Tsartas,2003), The lack of tourism flows to Corfu during winter due to the fact that touroperators don’t send tourists, in relation to golf tourism (Panagiotakopoulos, 2007) ,Casino development (Moussas, 1994), The loss of appeal as a lifestyle destination incombination with the appearance of “all-inclusive” packages (Zografos, 2007) andThe consideration of policies to restructure the declining seaside resorts(Paraskevopoulos and Stamou, 2006) There is another reference to Corfu as a sunnyplace, ideal for retirement migration ( Lazaridis et al., 1999)

The previously stated studies show that there is a gap in literature as regards thetourism marketing of Corfu and more specifically through the use of brandingtechniques We also observe a lack of body of knowledge related to Corfu’s DMO, itsstructure, promotion tools and activities

In the University of Surrey, there have been some dissertations in the past, related totourism in Corfu or in combination with other competitive tourism destinations inGreece, but these involved other areas, such as hotel animation (Bodouroglou, 2000),competitive advantage of Rhodes in contrast to Corfu and Crete (Diakosavva, 2001),

marine tourism and the environmental impacts on the Corfu Gouvia marina (Giannou,2001), customer loyalty in chain hotels in Corfu (Prifti, 2000), impact of satisfaction

on the tourists’ behaviour in Corfu (Stouki, 2002) and the influence of tour operatorsover small and medium sized accommodation providers in Corfu (Voulgaris, 2004)

Besides all these, there are literary references to Corfu in poems, in Homer’s Odyssey,

in novels and in travellers’ books, such as Lawrence Durrell’s “Prospero’s Cell”(1945), Gerald Durrell’s “My family and other animals”, James Chatto’s “The Greekfor love : A memoire of Corfu”(2007) which was a best seller in England and Canadaand the book “A cuisine in Corfu” (1997) by the same author and his wife WendyMartin

1.5 Research Aims and Objectives

There are some reasons that made the researcher choose the subject of DMOs &Branding and examine the case of Corfu First of all, it is the increasing importance ofthe brand name and image in the tourism industry (Richardson and Cohen, 1993) inthe recent decade, as there are many competitive “sea and sun” destinations TheDMO, as described earlier, operates under the umbrella of the Prefecture of Corfu andfollows the public sector procedures and methods Therefore, the researcher tries toinvestigate the views of the tourism stakeholders about the DMO given the fact thatthe DMOs nowadays play an important role in branding and promoting a destination.(Sotiriades and Avgeli, 2007)

On the other hand, the researcher observed a lack of literature about both DMOs andthe concept of branding in case studies or previous dissertations related to Corfu These facts motivated him to conduct the current study with the following keyquestion:

“Does the local DMO play an effective role in branding and promoting the island

of Corfu?”

Based on that question, the researcher will examine the overall effectiveness of theDMO by interviewing key stakeholders of the local tourism industry and providingaccurate findings This will cover a gap in the literature and provide a ground forfurther research

The objectives of this study, as also described in page 30 were:

 To examine the effectiveness of the Prefecture of Corfu DMO operationsregarding destination image and branding, destination marketing and othertourism-related issues by interviewing different stakeholders,

 To examine whether it is possible for Corfu to target new markets and rebrand,

 To come to conclusions on a more effective operation of the DMO andalternative/new branding and promotion techniques and new policies,

 And to outline the ideal DMO of Corfu, its optimum operation and the roles itshould have

1.6 Organization of the dissertation

This dissertation consists of four more chapters, besides the introductory one TheSecond Chapter includes an extended literature review on DMOs and destinationbranding and marketing issues with key highlighted areas that have a significantinfluence on the DMOs operational effectiveness The Third Chapter concerns theMethodology and the selected research methods that match the research objectiveswhich provided the researcher with useful and accurate results The Fourth Chapterincludes the data Analysis and a detailed description of the answers with asummarization of the common answers to each question and, in some cases, anexplanation of the contrasting opinions The Fifth and final Chapter will providecertain recommendations and proposals to be followed by the DMO and futureresearch guidelines

Chapter 2: Literature review

2.1 Introduction

Tourism nowadays is one of the largest industries worldwide, employing about 210million people in all continents and having a high contribution in the GDP of many

countries, especially those depending on tourism (Holden, 2005) Mediterraneancoastal and island destinations depend on the tourism industry (Igoumenakis, 1997)and such a case is Corfu (the case examined in this dissertation) It is essential tocreate and handle a strong brand name effectively and, by considering destinationbranding and the competitive environment the destination marketing organizations(DMOs) operate in, it is understood that by this procedure (branding) the desirablebenefits will emerge because, through Destination branding, an identity and a positiveimage is built and a specific destination may be distinguished and identified by means

of various brand elements (Prebensen, 2007) In this chapter a literature review will

be provided in relation to the DMOs and their roles regarding destination marketingand management and to the broad topic of destination branding and the existence ofinterconnections between DMOs and destination branding will be examined

2.2 Destination Marketing & Management – DMOs and their roles

Historically, in DMOs the “M” stands for Marketing while recently there has been a discussion in literature about the swift from Destination Marketing to Destination Management Organizations

2.2.1 Organizational Structure and legal entity:

DMOs have different names and forms They can be National Tourism Organizations(NTO), Regional Tourism Organizations (RTO) or Local Tourism authorities (LTA).(Pike, 2008) According to the same author, there are lots of different names forDMOs A short list includes: agencies, authorities (British Tourism Authority), boards(Corfu Tourism Promotion Board), bureaus, centres, coalitions, companies,commissions, councils, corporations, destinations (Destination Northland),directorates (Crete Tourism Directorate), developments (North East EnglandDevelopment Agency), institutes, ministries (Greek Ministry of TourismDevelopment) , offices, organizations (Cyprus Tourism Organization) and Regions During the ΄90s, new types of names such as “Τravel”, “Τourism” and “Visit” (VisitCambridge ) were “introduced”

The organizational structures of a DMO can vary depending on the destination’s

“quality” of offered products and services, the funding levels (Gartrell, 1994) and the

type or character of the destination.(Morrison et al, 1998) Some represent a single

town, others a group of cities or towns such as county boards, and others a wholeregion or country Gretzel et al (2006) refer to the DMOs as legal entities that are nonlucrative organizations whose goal is to generate more tourist arrivals in the region oftheir responsibility

However, in North America, as Morrison et al state, there can be different forms ofDMOs legal entity, such as non lucrative, public , private or co operations between theprivate and public sector Galbraith and Lawler (1993) stated that in the future theorganizational structure of a DMO will be a determinant factor for gaining acompetitive advantage and becoming a successful one in its actions and promotionactivities, and it will be able to implement new strategies when the circumstancesdemand so

There is an argument on the structure case by Treacy and Wiersema (1995), though, asthey state that all three components, i.e organizational structure, processes and cultureshould be designed according to the continuous improvement of the promotionstrategy

2.2.2 DMO Governance- Management:

As Pike (2008) states, politics may be influential in the DMOs governance and inmost cases unavoidable Elliot (1997) describes politics in tourism as “the striving forpower” that involves the influence of politics and administration in the tourismindustry Furthermore, he states that the tourism industry is formed by severaldifferent stakeholders with a diverse range of relationships between them and theirown interests, and it is the responsibility of the DMO manager to keep this in mindand work within this system in order to achieve the organization’s objectives.However, according to Pike (2008), there is little research regarding the influence ofspecial interest groups on DMOs

A study of Morrison et al (1998) showed that the managerial and leadership skills

that DMO executives should possess in order to achieve effective management andhave the best possible outcome for the organization, are: good knowledge of thetourism industry and the product, tourism marketing, financial management, humanresource management, leadership skills; they must also be good in planning andpublic relations This list of attributes shows what is needed when considering staffing

a DMO, because of the highly competitive environment and the need for quickresponse to up-to-date challenges (Achrol , 1991) There are also other internalissues that need to be arranged when the board of directors of a DMO is “established”.

The stakeholders’ satisfaction is one of the most crucial steps (Neely et al ,2002)

when trying to manage a medium sized DMO There are issues such as thestakeholders’ exclusion from DMO boards, as in the case study of Lathrop (2005)about Townsville in the USA

This study provided the following conclusions about the DMOs management, throughthe examination of a group of dissatisfied stakeholders:

• A set of codes of conduct and determination of the responsibilities and theroles of both the employees and the directors should be “established”

• Exclusion of key community stakeholders must not be acceptable, despitepossible different opinions or other cases

• Boards should have a relatively limited size in order to be effectivelymanaged

• Introduction of new board members in order to refresh it keeping, however,the experienced members in the nucleus of board, and focused orientation inachieving the organization’s objectives in such a way that would not lead toproblems

• Adoption of board governance in order to achieve effective management andleadership

In most cases, the DMOs undertake some of the following responsibilities:

• To establish governing principles (Formica, 2000) and define its purposes

• To provide consultation to the local businessmen and accept the overall

strategy (Getz et al , 1998)

• To control and approve the DMO’s annual budget and to audit its finances

• To direct the operations of the organization and supervise them.(Sönmez et al.

, 1999)

• It is responsible for the representation of the DMO in external audiences (such

as in international tourism exhibitions) and protects its interests regarding allthe tourism and destination management related issues (Hankinson, 2007)

In DMO’s governance, when considering globally competitive destinations, there arefour crucial factors that lead to success (Poetschke, 1995):

o The government (public) control on tourism promotion expenditure,

o “A dedicated revenue stream” that will not be under annual public audit,

o an agreement that will combine all the needed functions that are important inthe process of developing a strong tourism industry and brand, such aseducation, marketing, infrastructure development and research,

o and a wide understanding of the public sector objectives because, through this,

a balance can be achieved between product development and marketing

2.2.3 DMO Funding

One of the most important and significant factors of success for the DMOs issufficient funding.(Pike, 2008) The main source of funding in DMOs that aregovernment bodies is the central government through the National annual expensebudget for the Ministry of Tourism in the countries where there is one (Göymen,2000)

Most DMOs have no direct financial interest as they are non lucrative organizationswith a limited budget National DMOs are mainly funded by the governments whileregional and communal DMOs are funded by the city council and the localbusinesses However, this source of funding is not sufficient as governments and citycouncils have to fund many others activities as well, such as the development ofinfrastructure and educational and welfare institutions

The challenge here is to allocate additional funding sources so that they can carry outtheir mission effectively and expand their capabilities (Gretzel et al, 2006; Anderson,2009) Pike (2008) argues that when the contribution of the government or the citycouncil is high, then the DMOs’ independency is decreased In these cases,

governments and city councils have great influence over the DMOs activities anddecisions

In order to avoid this negative impact and in order to increase their budget, the DMOsshould create partnerships with the private sector and raise money from it assupplementary funding (increased room taxes and fee-based services, like ads on theDMOs) (Pike, 2008)

Funding, though, from a critical point of view may not lead to the expected revenues

and return on investment A study of Akehurst et al (1993) in relation to the

government policies concerning tourism promotion expenditure and international percapita receipts basis showed a relatively small level of correlation between those twovariables In his example, Greece, even with the highest per capita expenditure, is inthe lowest end of international tourism receipts per capita

According to Pike (2008), the funding decision process depends on the local situationbased on the following factors: Community acceptance of tourism, Product(Destination) Life Cycle and Product Maturity, DMO history and current structure,economic importance of tourism in contrast with other industries, and the influence oflocal politics He (Pike) also argues that there are several comparison tools betweenDMO budgets from different areas, combining measures such as : international anddomestic visitors, host population, number of commercial accommodation (beds orrooms) and a ratio of average visitors’ expenditure

2.2.4 DMO Roles:

The DMOs focus on fulfilling their mission, goals and objectives set by their Board ofdirectors and the local tourism industry According to Getz et al (1998), the DMOs’main areas of interest are destination marketing and sales Some studies wereconducted regarding the similarities between the roles of the Regional TourismBoards (RTB) in UK (Pattinson, 1990) and the Convention and Visitor Bureaus(CVB) in North America (Morrison et al., 1998)

The key aspects that were highlighted by both studies were:

• the coordination between different stakeholders (many times with contraryinterests),

• the formulation , introduction and successful implementation of strategy,

• the stakeholders’ participation and satisfaction,

• financial management (of budget and promotion expenses),

• marketing ( research and promotional activities),

• the benefit of the interests of the host community, the provision of information

to the visitors,

• the protection of the natural and built environment of the destination,

• and the encouragement of the further development of tourist facilities andamenities in order to meet the present and future needs of the tourist market.(Pike, 2008)

Heath and Wall (1992) suggest that DMOs have also non-marketing roles, includingdevelopment, enhancement and maintenance of a competitive destination image

Morrison et al (1998) point out five primary roles of the DMOs:

 an “economic driver” which produces new income, supports employment, andgenerates taxes thus leading to the diversification of the local economy;

 a “community marketer” , promoting a destination image which seems to bethe most attractive and appealing, as well as attractions and facilities toselected visitor markets;

 an “industry coordinator” which targets on a clear focus and encourages lessindustry fragmentation so as to share in the growing benefits of tourism;

 a “quasi-public representative” which constitutes the industry legitimate andprotects individual and group visitors; and

 a “builder of community pride” who supports the improvement of the quality

of life and becomes the chief “flag carrier” for both residents and visitors

As a first summarization, the literature seems to suggest that at present there is avariety of DMOs roles, but their primary fields are marketing and destination image.Some authors though, such as Dore & Crouch (2003), state that there might beadditional roles for the DMOs, such as their participation in the process of productdevelopment and operations

Further tasks besides marketing include areas such as:

Management of the physical product (e.g venues, hotels, attractions), Consultancy

to the local businesses, Workforce development, Management of the Region,Establishment of partnerships across the destination, Sustainable TourismDevelopment, New Investments Attraction and Organization of Events (Presenza et

al., 2005)

Presenza et al (2005) suggest DMO roles in two new major different segments:

External Destination Marketing (EDM) and Internal Destination Development (IDD)

EDM involves the operational marketing activities included in tourism literature andused after the destination image formulation and definition, branding of thedestination (which is examined more in details later in this chapter) and destinationmarket positioning have been completed Those include different marketingtechniques, both above and below the line

Above the line communications include radio and television advertising, and otherpress media of promotion such as posters and banners Those can have a relativelyhigh cost but can assist to the creation of a strong destination brand name andinfluence a high number of potential travellers towards the promoted destination,providing it with long term benefits (Bonham and Mak, 1996) Advertisements useslogans that change from time to time, in order to meet the up-to-date trends of thetourism industry and improve the destination’s image (Buhalis, 2000)

Below the line communications are also a part of the promotional mix of most DMOs.They participate in International (World Travel Market-London) , National(Philoxenia-Greece) or Regional travel fairs and they have the opportunity to meetwith the industry people, exchange opinions and views and in a way influence theindustry people favorably towards their destination

They also produce brochures, a tool that creates an attractive image by implyingpictures of local attractions, people, traditions, customs and activities, and they alsoinclude information about the local suppliers, such as accommodation facilities,restaurants and entertainment options (clubbing, shopping etc.)

In their stands during fairs, the DMOs also provide a variety of gifts and souvenirslike pencils and badges (Wicks & Schuett, 1991,1993) They should also use the newmarketing tools such as web marketing (Hamidah, 2007), cooperative programmes

(O’Neill, 1998) and the always effective familiarisation trips (Ali-Knight and Wild,1999)

IDD is the second segment It includes all the not marketing activities of a DMO andinternal elements of the destination in order to develop and maintain tourism Themost important activity of the IDD scheme is the coordination between tourismstakeholders, which is of great importance to achieve a successful destinationmanagement (Sheehan and Ritchie, 1997) because most DMOs consist of a widevariety of stakeholders, giving a high level of cooperation potentials but also maythreaten the “ability of the DMO” to meet its objectives

It is one of the tasks with high levels of difficulty and competency, but only in thecase the stakeholders can influence the achievement of the destination marketing and

management activities that DMO performs (Presenza et al., 2005) There are other

supporting pillars in IDD such as research about the quality of the visitors’experience, information research about visitors in order to assist the DMO executiveswhen making decisions concerning both demand (tourists) and supply (local industry)sides, and others such as human resources development so that the services offeredare of the highest possible quality

Pearce et al (1998) add that through DMOs a higher level of professionalism intourism is being developed through proper, specialized training and education.Middleton, though, has another perspective about two different – alternative strategiesregarding destination marketing

The first or promotional strategy is concentrating in the classic marketinginterpretation, combining promotional and mainly advertising campaigns, by whichawareness and interest are created, but the drawback in this strategy is the relativelyhigh requirements of resources (financial, human and time) to provide a successfuloutcome

The contrasting or facilitation strategy “requires close cooperation between the DMOand individual tourism operators joining resources” by which the common objectives

of destination marketing can be achieved Because of the requirement of lessresources, the main areas of focus of the DMO in this case, are coordination andinitiation (Middleton, 1994 and Blumberg, 2005)

2.2.5 Destination Marketing and Destination Management

Pike (2008) and Gretzel et al (2006) state that traditionally DMOs are interested inmarketing and promotion of the destination but they argue that they have to evolve toDestination Management Organizations considering the environmental, social andcultural dimensions of the destination and have a proactive interest in the protection

of the destination’s natural resources By that statement it is understood that nowadaysDMOs have more responsibilities and tasks, combining two areas of interest, bothDestination Marketing and Management and their importance for the local tourismindustry is raised, such as the expectations of the tourism industry people they have tosatisfy As stated earlier, one of the managerial tasks of the DMOs is to coordinate thelocal, national or regional stakeholders of both the private and the public sector thathave an interest in tourism

Destination Management

A study of Dwyer et al (2003) showed that some of the main management attributes

that DMOs should incorporate are : DMO and destination reputation, workforcetraining programs, formation of sustainable tourism policies and effort to be acceptedand followed by the private and the public sector, provision of a regional “vision” that

is related to the organization objectives and it is feasible too, “Packaging” travellersexperience; they also have to be responsible towards tour operators about the tourists’experience and its improvement of it, introduce social tourism policies, support theresidential development, cooperate with the government and assure that their visionreflects the social values The management task, therefore, can be seen as moredifficult opposed to the marketing one, being more complex and because of a widervariety of stakeholders (Weaver, 2000)

The main management responsibility of the developed DMOs will be to ensure that

the offered product is pleasant for the consumer and of a high quality (Gretzel et al.,

2006) and they should also do the management and planning for the destination’s

future by representing the stakeholders’ interests, though (Wang, 2008;Getz et al,

1998)

The DMOs should also act as an economic driver for the region with their efforts forimprovement of the local tourism industry, community pride enhancement (Morrison

et al., 1998), tourism industry guiding body and supporter (Gartrell, 1992) and being a

product developer through cooperation with the industry stakeholders (Bramwell andRawding, 1994)

DMOs, through their management operational framework, can also establishsustainable tourism policies in order to protect the destination while contributing tothe local economic development and their management responsibilities include thefollowing areas that can increase the competitiveness of the destination on the longterm: environmental (coastal and marine) management, destination planning anddevelopment, marketing operations management and organizing and human resourcedevelopment (Dwyer and Kim, 2003)

Destination Marketing

This is an easier task, which involves the traditional roles of DMOs (Mistilis andDaniele, 2005) like direct sales, destination image development and projection(Palmer and Bejou, 1995; Dore and Crouch, 2003) There are also other techniquessuch as Destination branding, participation in international fairs (Laslo and Judd,2004) and, in general, promotion of the destination by every possible and effectivemeans of external and processed information, such as press articles, Radio & TVcommercials (Sönmez and Sirakaya, 2002)

Public relations are another useful tool of tourism marketing, relatively cheap and costeffective that assess the construction of an appealing image and DMOs across theglobe use them for promotion campaigns (Bennett, 1999)

Destination marketing, though, should follow a certain holistic destination marketingstrategy plan that will involve the techniques stated earlier but also some innovativemarketing strategies, visitor satisfaction management, target marketing andmanagement of demand (Dwyer and Kim, 2003) It should match with the needs ofthe DMO and would be compatible with its financial (and other) capacities, in order

to assess the efforts of the DMO to reach its goals and objectives

The multi-dimensional nature of the destinations, however, makes destinationmarketing a difficult task despite being easier than destination management Theprojected image of the product is often a blending of an “eclectic range” of people,attractions, festivities and events, facilities and amenities that, if projected effectively,could attract the interest of the targeted markets, as Pike (2008) states and King(2002) supports

Destination marketing managers should focus on destination image formation, brandawareness creation and brand positioning as these are significant factors that influence

in a large extent the destination decision-making procedure nowadays (Uysal et al., 2000; Kotler et al., 1993).

Other responsibilities of modern and more functional DMOs related to destinationmarketing involve (internal and global) market research, surveys with tourists’participation and familiarization trips for tour operators and leading journalists (Reid

et al., 2008)

2.2.6 Marketing and Management Challenges faced by DMOs:

Destination management organizations are non lucrative organizations whichundertake the overall marketing of a destination and the coordination of the publicand private tourism sector within this destination More particularly, they mustdevelop a unique image of the destination, build a brand for the destination, undertakethe appropriate marketing research for the destination, evaluate their performance and

be the leaders of the tourism industry within the destination (Prideaux and Cooper,2002; Pike, 2008) However, due to the complexity of the tourism industry, the multi-dimensional nature of the destination product and the changes in the political,economical, social and technological environment (economic slowdown/ recession,technological advances etc.), the DMOs face multiple challenges in their effort toimplement effective management and marketing strategies (Pike, 2008, Augustyn andKnowles, 2000; Gretzel, et al, 2006)

In their role, the DMOs have to face certain challenges, the most important of whichinvolves the large number of stakeholders who wish to have a word and berepresented by the DMO which should thus formulate a suitable strategy (Buhalis,2000) Hence, the city council, the local authorities, the government, the local tourismsector (hotels, restaurants, retailers etc.), the residents, the tourists, the suppliers andother citizens groups (e.g environmental groups) are actually those who determinethe role and the development of the destination However, at the same time, they havedifferent and, in many cases, contradictive interests which the DMO must bringtogether to support the promised brand, experience or projected image of thedestination (Pike, 2008; King et al, 2000) We could cite two distinctive examples :

the case of Venice where the residents are not fond of visitors considering them tobring negative impacts on their every-day life (congestion, increased prices, pollution)while, on the other hand, the tourism sector desires the attraction of more visitors(Rusell, 2005) A second example is that in Cambridge where the colleges are notinterested in attracting visitors who may be a distraction to their students and becausethey do not think of them as an important source of income; on the other hand, thetourism business seeks to attract greater numbers of tourists However, this is a verydifficult task since the DMOs, by no means, have any direct control over thedestination’s product, which is the combination of attractions, people, activities,services, scenery, and amenities (Pike, 2008)

Consequently, DMOs must shift their strategies from being pure marketing-oriented(promotion and sales) to management-oriented The delivery of a competitive and

sustainable product should definitely be a part of the strategy (Pike, 2008; Gretzel et

al, 2006) More specifically, the DMO should be responsible for: 1) managing

consensus among all stakeholders about the strategy objectives, 2) giving directions

to all the constituencies within the destination, 3) leading the efforts for thedestination’s product development (improvement of attractions, events, services andintroduction of new services), 4) representing all stakeholders (Vanhove 2002, Gretzel2006)

Post- modern tourists have higher and diverse expectations and needs which DMOsmust satisfy They seek personalized and emotion-based experiences while they askfor messages that match their individual needs/characteristics/attributes (Windhamand Orton, 2000) Furthermore, nowadays consumers are provided with a huge range

of choices and they are very experienced in interpreting the marketing communicationmessages because they are constantly exposed to uncountable advertisements (Pike,2008; Pickton and Broderick, 2005) Additionally, the competition for a market share

is fierce and the challenge for the DMOs is to promote the destination in a way that

would differentiate it from all the other competitive destinations (Gretzel et al., 2006)

In order to achieve that, the DMOs have to develop a unique image for the destinationwhich is also appealing to a wide range of tourists This should be done byappropriate marketing research, effective branding and well designed promotion.According to Beeton (2005), the concept of image is of paramount importance for the

destinations as it can become the most powerful tool for the promotion of a place.

Brezovec et al (2004) add that the destinations image has a direct influence over the

tourist’s decision of which destination to visit In order to formulate this uniqueimage, DMOs must undertake marketing research to find out the needs of their targetgroups and brand the destination attributes in such a way that suits these needs

Many authors suggest that the DMOs must incorporate the most up-to-datetechnology advances in order to succeed in their objectives (Pike, 2008; Wang, 2008;

Gretzel et al, 2006) Hence, technology provides new ways and media to promote and

represent the destinations (Hannam, 2004) since it can support DMOs’ efforts for morepersonal, interactive and sophisticated communication with their audience.Destination management systems, like those used by Tiscover, are the best examplewhich should be followed by all DMOs However, recent studies have shown thatDMOs cannot keep up with/ follow the new technology due to limited financialsources or lack of appropriate leadership and human resources (Palmer and McCole,

2000; Yuan et al, 2003) At this point, it must be mentioned that emerging

technologies, such as the Internet should be accompanied by the existing ones, such ascall-centres where personal feedback and specific information can be provided(Hanson, 2000)

Another challenge that the DMOs have to face is to find the balance betweenpromotion activities expenditure and fixed (operational) costs (WTO, 1999)

The last challenge refers to the evaluation of the DMOs performance It is essentialthat the DMOs justify their existence and the positive outcome of their activities

concerning all stakeholders (Pike, 2008;Gretzel et al, 2006;Anderson, 2009).

Especially in historic cities, where the flows of visitors are high (Van Der Borg,1996), the DMOs have to work hard to prove the value of their activities The basicmeasures are the growth of tourists’ arrivals, the growth of the tourists’ receipts, theoverall ROI, total tourism revenues-cost of DMO marketing and the websitesvisitation number However, it is stressed that qualitative measurements to evaluateproduct development, marketing efforts, community relation management,

contribution to the host society need to be included (Pike, 2008; Gretzel et al, 2006).

The limitation here is that not all impacts are related to the DMO activities

Finally, it must be pointed out that all these challenges are totally interrelated andmust be faced in a holistic way so that the DMOs can correspond effectively to theextremely strong competition within the tourism industry

2.3 Destination Branding

Destination branding is one of the most effective tools of promotion, and consists ofdifferent areas and tools that formulate the desirable destination image, brand name

and brand identity (Henderson, 2007) Morgan et al (2003) describe branding as a

“powerful weapon” in the expense of contemporary destination marketers that have toface issues such as substitutability, competition and product parity

Tourism destinations had to use Branding as a tool of marketing in order todistinguish themselves from similar but competitive destinations, and be bale to send

to the consumers’ side their appealing and motivating message (Aaker , 1991)

Branding is one of the most important elements and tools of marketing, and assists theefforts of promotion of destinations that operate in a highly competitive environment(Karagiannis and Alexandru, 2009)

2.3.1 Historical development of branding

The first appearance of branding literature took place during the 50’s by a few authorssuch as Banks (1950) and Gardner & Levy (1955) They discussed that a brandrepresents a personality, therefore has more positive outcomes than advertising whichfails in the differentiation between competitive products or services Branding is not amodern practice as there are reports about craftsman marks of identification in theircreations in Europe, China and India from the 13 century B.C (Keller, 2003) Lowand Fullerton (1994), though, argue that the first roots of branding are traced in thelate 19th century, when brands such as “Gillette” and “Quaker Oats” were introduced

2.3.2 Branding applications

Using a brand when promoting a destination has another benefits too, for instance itcan be copyrighted; therefore, the brand will remain unique to the destination (Kolb,2006) The same author states that by brand a tourist can be sure that the destinationoffers high quality of services and products, thus creating a link between quality and

the specific destination In the long term, this practice will provide the visitor with anefficient way to remember the “assets” that the destination has to offer (Kolb, 2006)There is criticism, though, about the concept of country (tourism) branding because it

is a complex issue Especially with reference to countries branding, there is a high

degree of outright hostility and scepticism (Morgan et al., 2003) The same authors

argue that, through branding, countries have the opportunity to take full advantage oftheir resources and be competitive in the international stage in political, social andfinancial terms

Branding, as Aaker (1991), de Chernatony (1993) and Keller (2003) state, isincreasing awareness about the importance of brands for a number of reasons: globalcompetition, brand equity, retailers’ power and commoditization are only few of thereasons of the branding importance related to destinations Those areas of interest will

be examined in the following part of this chapter

Brand equity:

According to Aaker (1996a), it is created by consumers’ agreement on a brandpersonality that is interesting when they have an image of the specified target market( potential users- buyers) A strong brand personality can lead to positive correlations

in the consumers’ minds, leading to the creation and enhancement of brand equity(Johnson, Soutar and Sweeney, 2000; Phau and Lau, 2000) Pike (2007), states thatConsumer Based Brand Equity (or CBBE) adds potential value to DMOs in relation

to brand effectiveness measurement due to the fact that it increases awareness andprovides an alternative “to the financial perspective that views brand equity as abalance sheet intangible asset” According to him, this happens because a brand can

be an asset or responsibility of the firm towards the consumers, affecting this way thefirms (in this case, the destinations) value Pike (2004) also suggests that allmarketing communications should have as a goal the growth of brand equity in theconsumers’ memory Equity associated assets (such as loyalty, perceived quality andawareness) may be affected in case of brand alteration or if brand positioningchanges (Aaker, 1996b)

Global Competition:

It is increasing because of the breaking down of any protective measurements andregulations that existed until recently between nations (Pike, 2008) This incident and

other technological developments, such as the expansion and massive use of theinternet, have led to a higher level of awareness of competitors (Buhalis, 2003) onboth the suppliers’ and the consumers’ side Morgan et al (2002) argue that, astourism statistics show, about 70% of the international tourism flows visit only 10countries while over 90 NTOs compete for the remaining 30% of those travellers.Both Middleton (1998) and Dahles (1998) have recognised the importance of theglobal competition phenomenon, with Dahles stating that only a few years back Paris,London and Amsterdam received large numbers of tourists, but nowadays Amsterdam

is fighting to survive in the global tourist map Middleton states that internationalcompetition between traditional tourism receiving places and new (emerging)destinations has important impacts for most places and suggests that thosedestinations will have to “review and adapt their traditional organisational andmarketing methods to survive and prosper in the new millennium”

Commoditization:

Or else Commodification, is about the destination being seen as a commodity, in otherwords an item that can be exchanged in the market In terms of tourism, relevanttheories have been developed by authors from the 70’s and up to date An example isSheery’s (1987) definition of tourism commoditization, as the “commodification ofcultural forms” in terms of converting the authentic cultural forms into “ ‘local colour’

in which tourists have rights occurs worldwide”

Another theory of commoditization has been developed by Tomlinson (1990) anddescribes this process as the intense and sophisticated symbolic aestheticization ofmaterial objects He also argues that the consumers’ culture is a complex one andwithin this cultural context, consumers develop identities while relating with materialthings

Tourism is a way of expressing social status and the choice of a destination (masstourism, elite , emerging, etc) are ways to show the social class that a person belongs

to or try to differentiate him/her self from the social class and improve the others’perception about him/her, in other words, it is a way of social differentiation andexpression of the identity ( Miller, 1995) For those social reasons, tourism and, in awider sense, destination brands possess a symbolic meaning for the audience that themessage is sent to A brand strategy that produces effects shall provide the destinationwith a differentiated image As Gardner and Levy (1955) state, “in commodity

categories something must make a greater difference to a consumers’ thinking aboutthe competing products that offer features of a similar quality and that something isthe symbol a brand represents to the consumer” Keller (2003) suggested a list ofsuccessful branded commodities in different categories in which, as Pike (2008)states, differentiation is difficult to achieve This list includes water (Perrier), Beer(Budweiser), bananas (Chiquita) and oatmeal (Quaker)

By all the previous statements, it is concluded that the commoditization issue has asignificant role in relation to the wider notion of destination branding Bycommoditizing the destination, an essence of tangibility is given to the visitors,making it easier to brand the destination and create a favourable image (Iversen andHem, 2008)

Retailers’ Power:

The power of big retailers has increased recently Especially in the tourism industry,tour operators, such as TUI and Thomas Cook, have merged with smaller companies

to create two of the biggest tour operators worldwide (Aguilo et al., 2003) Their

power is combined with their own labels (for example both TUI and Thomas Cookhave private air fleet and their own hotels), access to a large customer base, and withcombination of their control of high profile shelf space, it is understood that there isnot enough ground for competition by the small product suppliers Their power allowsthem to offer their services and products in such a way as supermarkets operate andenables them to distribute them through retail travel, through the internet or by thesmall travel agencies

2.3.3 Branding Destinations

Ritchie & Ritchie (1998) state that the scientific community of tourism has failed torecognise the importance of branding regarding the raise of awareness relating to thedestinations, that lead to positive attitudes and finally to the choice of the destinationthat the tourists will go to

It is considered as one of the most powerful and effective tools of marketing available

to destination marketers to deal with the growing competition and contemporarysubstitutability Branding is also important as many of the competitive destinations(Greece, Spain, Turkey and Cyprus) project similar elements such as friendliness of

the local population, and it essential for each destination to develop its own brandimage and brand identity to differentiate itself from other “rival” destinations

It should represent the image that reflects the real life, the culture and norms of thedestination to create an attractive image and make the AIDA model operate (Barnham,2008)

Destination branding involves politics as well, as it is being carried out throughDMOs which have to manage with real-politics at a local or regional level, and at thesame time to apply effective PR and “cutting-edge” advertising policies It is adifficult task to achieve balance between those two “challenges”, but if DMOmarketers can succeed in that then the destination can appear as a fresh andcontemporary place continuously in the long-term (Morgan and Pritchard, 2003) There are many issues associated to branding and one of them is the brand personalitylinked with the benefit pyramid that offers the framework to use different brandpersonality elements to different targeted markets (segmentation) It uses bothemotional and logical factors to create the ideal destination brand proposition andmake the consumers relate the destination brand to certain meanings and images(Landon, 1974)

Another potential tool is “Celebrity endorsement” which can create certaincorrelations to the destination (youthful, luxurious etc.) and meanings through someevents, e.g music performances (McCracken, 1989)

But what exactly is destination brand? As Pike (2008) states, when consideringdestination brand construction definitions, it is also important to take into account thepoint of view of both DMOs (organizations) and the market Aaker’s (1991) definitionexamines the market perspective and states that the brand provides the consumerswith a set of values easy to recognise and remember and is also a distinguished name

or logo that intends to make clear the differences between the branded product and thesimilar competitive products that exist in the market

Pike (2008) argues that the brand name shall stand for a reason, such as a promise tothe consumer, about the quality of the product or the satisfaction he will get He alsostates that “it is useful to consider a brand as representing an identity for the producerand an image for the consumer”

Destination branding is a far more complex area than product branding The branding

of an area is the responsibility of the respective DMO, in most cases

The multidimensional spectrum of destinations makes them far more difficult to brandand promote that consumer goods or services The theory suggests that, in order toreach the consumer’s mind, the destination marketer has to construct one or more(favourable) links to the brand As Pike (2008) suggests, slogans relating to a brandhave to be selected and promoted carefully having in mind the specific market or themarket segment that he/she is targeting, and the different meaning that a slogan mayhave in all market segments He also suggests that the DMO politics have asignificant role about the decision on the brand theme, image etc There is anotherarea of concern, this of the lack of influence that the DMO has in the local touristcommunity and how they effect the brand name and the delivery of promises that thebrand carries (Bennett, 1999)

A tourism destination brand name is enhanced by recommendations through the

“word of mouth”, previous experience of the destination and satisfaction levels andall those elements can have a significant role on the selection of a destination (Tasciand Kozak ,2006)

Building a Destination Brand name is about establishing communication with themarket or the individual consumers, therefore the brand shall infuse a feeling of trust-worthiness and consistency to the consumer’s side

As a study of Mansfeld (1992) shows, “word of mouth” recommendations have asignificant role and impact on the potential travellers’ final decision on the chosendestination, with lots of tourists asking for recommendations for their next holidaydestination from relatives and friends, whereas only few of them look for information

in tourist magazines, newsletters etc (Klenosky and Gitelson, 1998)

A major area of consideration about the branding theory and literature for DMOs isthe “Brand Loyalty” Staying in touch with previous tourists (through the DMOmarketing and management incentives) is an efficient way of enhancing thedestination brand, but a draw back in this case is the lack of access to visitors’ detailsthat hotels and lodgements, in general, have

2.3.4 Destination Image (Formation and Promotion)

As tourism marketing is about sales and creates the ideal “dream” environment, theimages play an important role Since there are many different options nowadays for

the tourists, the creation of a strong image and brand name within the tourism industrycan influence the decision-making process of the visitors (Pike, 2008) Thedestination image is probably the most important attribute that DMOs have to manageand plays a significant role in destination marketing (Pike, 2008) There are variousfactors that influence the perceived image about a destination According to Pike(2008), these are categorized in four main areas: Intangibility and risk (includingperformance, social, physical and financial risk), inseparability and variability, perish-ability and substitutability Other authors examine two different image formationprocesses, the Static and the Dynamic (Baloglu and McCleary, 1999) The staticexamines the relationship between image and factors such as visitor satisfaction( Chon, 1990) and destination selection (Hunt,1975), while the dynamic involves thestructure and formation of the Tourism Destination Image itself (Gartner, 1996) Crompton (1978) defines Destination Image as a summary of beliefs, impressionsperceptions, experiences and expectations that a tourist has about a specificdestination

Destination Image can be built by different sources, in the individual’s mind Gartner(1993) suggests that image can be promoted by overt and covert communications,using celebrities, favourable articles in the press and mass media coverage by films,documentaries and television programmes about the destination, and as Pike (2008)states, those elements of image construction can be used, depending on the marketingobjectives

2.4 Chapter Summary

The literature review enabled the researcher to identify key areas of the DMO operationand key theories relevant to destination branding, and come to important conclusions DMOs have different legal forms and names, as they can be agencies, tourism promotionbodies or organizations They can differ also in their structure by being public, private,non-lucrative organizations, quasi-public or cooperatives between the private and publicsector Nowadays, DMOs have evolved from Destination Marketing to destinationManagement Organizations, but their primary responsibility remains the coordination ofthe promotion activities Management is a difficult task as it combines responsibilitiessuch as product development or destination planning

Destination branding is also a difficult task, as it involves several different stakeholdersbut it is considered as one of the most effective promotion techniques since it developsassociations to the branded destination and can lead to “word of mouth” suggestions,Brand loyalty (repeaters) and Brand name enhancement

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Introduction

When carrying out a research, it is crucial to adopt the appropriate research process(method, sampling procedure etc.) For this reason, the research process suggested inthe book “Research Methods for Business Students” by Saunders et al (2007) wasadopted This chapter will include subchapters about the research methods used, thejustification for using them and a summarizing chapter in the final part

3.2 Justification for the research

3.2.1 Purpose and Nature of Study

The purpose of this study is to find weak and strong areas of the work being done bythe local DMO and the branding techniques used by them in order to promote tourismsales and create a favourable image of the island of Corfu According to the findings

of the study, recommendations will be made and they will be presented in the nextchapter (data analysis and findings) of this work

Furthermore, the objectives of this study are:

 To gain an insight about the effectiveness of the Prefecture of Corfu DMOoperations regarding destination image and branding, destination marketingand other tourism-related issues as they are perceived by the interviewed keytourism stakeholders who are directly or indirectly related to the DMO

 To examine the possibility and the potential profitability of targeting newmarkets and the potential need of rebranding strategies in certain markets or,

in general, of rebranding Corfu’s tourism product in a different direction

 To provide recommendations about a more effective operation of the DMOand alternative/new branding and promotion techniques and new policies ordirections that will lead to a better brand name and increased sales based onthe participants’ opinions and proposals and on the existing literature

 And to find out how the ideal DMO of Corfu should be (as regards itsstructure and other issues), how it should operate (representation of theindustry in the board and other issues) and what roles the DMO should have,either under its current form or a new one

An exploratory study was undertaken due to the time limitation, the research

objectives and the limited knowledge of the branding concept among the local tourismindustry people (except for those in the tourism scientific community) For thisreason, an information research was carried out among people from private and publicsector authorities and business directly related to tourism, such as the Corfu islandDMO (which is under the Prefectural authority of Corfu), local travel agents, theTourism Scientific Society members, etc

Furthermore, this will help understand the problems related to the DMO function andassess the procedure of conclusions and suggestions for the more effective operation

of the DMO specifically related to the concept of Branding

Robson (2002) argues that, while conducting exploratory studies, the use of in-depthinterviews can assess to a high degree the effort of understanding what is happening,

in order to ask questions, to evaluate situations and phenomena and seek “newinsights” Saunders et al (2007) add to this the opinion that semi-structuredinterviews can also be used when conducting an exploratory study

One of the advantages of exploratory studies is that they are “flexible and responsive

to change” This can happen because, as Adams and Schvaneveldt (1991) suggest, thenew findings through interviews can give the researcher a new direction because ofthe appearance of new information and insights According to them, this does notmean a lack of direction to the inquiry but, as the research progresses, the focusbecomes narrower than the initially broader focus

3.2.2 Research Strategy

Qualitative research methods were selected by the researcher in this study, as theyenabled him to gain an insight to the DMOs operational problems, strong areas andareas of improvement and to understand the important issues of the tourism industry

of Corfu that are related to the DMO (Altinay and Paraskevas , 2008)

They also enabled him to meet his objectives as in-depth interviews provided himwith an understanding of the whole spectrum of different views around the samesubject by professionals of the industry and helped him to provide accurate and validrecommendations (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003)

On the contrary, when involving quantitative research methods, experimental methods

to do and generate hypotheses for testing are used (Hoepfl, 1007) There is littlespace for the participants to express their own opinions and thoughts as there is astructured framework of data collection setting limitations, usually with the use of

scales (Rowe et al., 2008)

The qualitative data are referred to as data in forms of words and they result from theFreudian concepts and phenomenological sociological research of the 1960’s (Flick,2002) They are used in research for health sciences, education and psychology

( Holter and Schwartz-Barcott, 1993) The findings of this type of research are notextracted through statistical analysis or “other means of quantification” (Strauss andCorbin, 1990)

The qualitative research gives the researcher the ability to develop a longerrelationship with the interviewees and, through the collected data, to have richercontext and depth that will enable him to have a better view of new perspectives Thisapproach seemed to be the appropriate one for this study as it suits the objectives andthe nature of this study and it will enable the researcher to understand the issues andgain insight since it will also set a base for future research relevant to branding issuesrelated to Corfu or to DMO related issues

The research strategy used in this dissertation is that of a case study Robson (2002)

defines case study as the strategy for applying “an empirical investigation of aparticular contemporary phenomenon” to real life conditions and gaining insightthrough further research by using a variety of sources of evidence Morris and Wood(1991) suggest that using case study will be a very interesting research strategy as itwill provide the researcher with a rich understanding about the general framework ofprocesses and methods being used It contrasts totally with both the experimental andthe survey strategy because these both occur in a highly controlled context, thuslimiting the researcher because of the number of variables that have to be examinedthrough the data collection and analysis

As Saunders et al (2007) argue, the case study strategy can provide answers to

“why?”, “what?” and “how?” while, as Perry (1998) argues, this type of study focuses

on the variables involved

The research methods used in the context of exploratory research are most likely used

in combination This may include interviews, documentary analysis, observation andquestionnaires The case of this dissertation is a case study of the Corfu DMOeffectiveness in relation to the Destination Branding The selected techniqueinvolves semi-structured interviews: half of the questions will be common for allinterviewed persons and the other half will be relevant to their occupation or position(scientists, tour operators, DMO personnel )

A single case is used from the list of case studies that Trevsky and Khaneman (1986)

and Yin (1981) introduce, because it may be typical or because it can provide the

researcher with the possibility to watch and analyse an area of consideration or a

phenomenon on which there is little or no research Saunders et al (2007) suggest

that the definition of the case is the most important when using a single case.According to Tellis (1997) and Yin’s (2003) separation between holistic or embeddedunit of analysis, the current paper will be a holistic analysis because there will be anexamination of an organization (Corfu DMO) as a whole, and with the criteria thatYin (2003) and Rowley (2002) have set (by having worked in this specificorganization in the past or at present) Rowley (2002), however, argues about theholistic unit of analysis that it can ensure a “helicopter view of the case” but it canalso be a shallow approach and miss some changes that may occur in the analysis unitand this may possibly have an impact on the initial research plan suitability

An inductive approach is also being used in this research, as the research questions

will be administered directly to people of the local tourism industry to determine thenature of the problem by the most possible perspectives and extract useful and

accurate results and recommendations (Saunders et al., 2007 and Lashley &

Morrison, 2001)

Inductive approach is used in most cases of both qualitative research and case studiesrelevant to tourism, as supported by Riley and Love (2000) According to them, it isused to show the different perceptions of real life phenomena in the time of theirdiscovery; therefore it is assumed that the inductive approach is used in cases when

those realities cannot be foreseen a priori As Huberman and Miles (1994) stated,

deductive and inductive research approaches are both useful and licit ways

Davis et al (1985) suggested that a study should build on knowledge gained byprevious studies or research relevant to the examined topic

However, as stated before, this is an inductive research and, as Eisenhardt (1989)suggests, this type of research is used on the basis of lack of theory to be taken intoconsideration This stance, though, is unfeasible in most cases In fact, many authorssupport the opinion that the inductive researcher can use a part of the theory thatalready exists (Deshpande, 1983)

The inductive approach has other important points and “benefits” according to

Easterby-Smith et al (2002) It can prove to be the strong area of a research while,

when using an inductive approach, the researcher has the possibility to: be providedwith more information which will enable him/her to select the proper research design,

by including questions that will allow him to decide on the sources for data collection,the kind of data to be gathered and how they will be analysed in order to answer thekey questions Furthermore, this enables the researcher to decide on the properstrategy and choices that will suit him/her and reject those that will not Finally, it willprovide him/her with the possibility of rescheduling in case of any kind of limitationsthat may occur, such as limited access to data or limited knowledge of the examined

subject (Saunders et al., 2007)

The deductive approach, on the other hand, wouldn’t be the appropriate approach in

this study, due to the fact that it is used to test the existing theory in the real world andnot to build new theories and add to the body of knowledge (Dubois and Gadde,2002)

This kind of approach (deductive) is used in most cases of explanatory studies and, asHenwood and Pidgeon (1993) state, it is used to apply universal laws of “cause andeffect” in a framework that creates assumptions about the real world The effort is toexplain facts and examine existing theory through a scientific framework Then theresearcher uses deductive approach by establishing hypotheses, choosing variablesand, finally, testing the existing knowledge to the real world (Ali and Birley, 1999).Desphande (1983) also states that deductive approach is mainly used in quantitativeresearch The nature of this case is an exploratory (single case) study and it will beconducted with the use of qualitative methods (interviews); therefore, it would not bethe appropriate type of approach given the objectives and all the other elements thatthis research model consists of

3.2.3 Time horizon

Depending on the main question of the research and the data collection methods, aconsideration about the time horizon for the conduction of the research has to be set

As Saunders et al (2007) state, this can happen due to the researcher’s willingness in

combination with research objectives to conduct a research described as a “snapshot”that will be carried out in a specific time schedule (e.g 10 days), with the other casebeing an extended research in terms of time which will be more like a “diary” thatrecords events that happen in a specific time period Sekaran (1992) argues that thistype of study is carried out in order for the research questions to be answered, it canlast over a few days , weeks or months and the data are gathered only once

In this study, the time horizon was 14 days (7th until 21st of July 2009) and theinterviews were conducted with tourism industry key officials of both the private andthe public sector, officials of the Tourism Scientific Society and the DMO marketer,questioning their views on the issues related to the DMO with special focus onbranding and promotional activities.

The interviews took place on weekdays and weekends, between 11 a.m and 19 p.m inorder for the interviewed persons to be at a “non- peak” time of work and willing torespond to the interview questions

3.2.4 Level of Researcher Interference

The level of interference in this case study was minimal because of its nature (singlecase – case study) according to Lee’s (1991) criteria In order to conduct theinterviews, appointments were arranged directly with the concerned persons, throughtelephone, personal (face to face) contact or e-mail

3.2.5 Measurement

Due to the fact that the data gathered were qualitative, a measurement scale was notneeded The measurement techniques are used basically in the case of quantitativedata (questionnaires etc.), as Cooper and Schindler (1998) suggest

In most studies, there is the necessity to sample, as there are timing and financialconstraints that make it difficult, if not impossible, to conduct research with the wholepopulation (Veal, 1994) The same author states that it would be impracticable toconduct survey or interviews with all the members that are of interest to the researchbecause of the already mentioned limitations

At this point, it would be useful to provide a definition of “sample” and “population”.

Sample is a small and representative part of the entire population selected to test

hypotheses or answer research questions (Moffitt, 2005)

Population is used when we describe large numbers, such as communities of people,

as are the British tourists that travel abroad or the population of a specific area (eg.Guildford) Veal (1994), though, suggests that the term “population” can be also usedfor “non-human phenomena” ,as he describes them, and suggests as an example astudy that was conducted in Australia concerning the physical characteristics ofbeaches; there were about 10000 in total Therefore, the 10000 beaches were the

population, and the 100 beaches that were selected for the survey were the sample.

Population, in some cases, is referred to as universe (Farhangmehr et al., 2001).

When selecting samples, there are two main areas of consideration: The sample sizeand the procedures that shall be followed in order to ensure its representativeness AsVeal (1994) states, those are interrelated since, as the sample number grows, so doesthe level of representativeness and (potential) accuracy

In this study the population is composed of all the local tourism industry stakeholders

related, directly or indirectly, to the DMO and its activities

The sample is formed of 10 people that have key positions in the industry either in the

public or the private sector (by being presidents or members of the board of differenttourism bodies - the private sector respondents have key positions in most cases), orpeople that have good and broad knowledge of the industry because of their studies asare the TSSC members

The sampling techniques follow two patterns: probability and non-probability

sampling As this research is a case study, non probability sampling will be implied

As stated by Baloglu and Assante (1999), non probability sampling is the mostcommonly used technique for research in tourism, with specific reference to scientific

Journals for tourism This is supported by Saunders et al (2007) who state that this

sampling method is used mostly when case study strategies are involved In the nonprobability sampling though, there is a short spectrum of different options aboutsample selection

The one chosen in this study is the “Purposive sampling”, as the data that are needed

cannot be collected from the entire population; because of the focused area of interest

of the study, no statistical inferences must be done from the selected sample and there

is no need for high representativeness, for the reasons explained earlier Furthermore,the purpose of the study is not just exploratory but there will be a focus on potentialoptions for the regeneration of Corfu as a destination, the promotion to new marketsand suggestions by the participants Therefore, there won’t be only exploration aboutthe problems regarding Corfu’s brand name but also opinions and suggestions aboutnew strategic approaches by different tourism stakeholders The individual cases arenot difficult to identify and the selected sample will be relatively small (8 to 15

persons) According to Saunders’ et al (2007) guide for non probability sampling (p.

227), the purposive sampling would be the proper sampling approach for this case as

it enables the researcher to work with a relatively small sample The positive aspecthere is that the sample will be very much focused in the survey topic with richknowledge of it and that the people forming the sample will be competent to answerthe research questions with the various information they can provide and help theresearcher meet his/her research objectives.( Neuman, 2000)

The interviews were conducted with the participation of key officials andbusinessmen from both the private and public sector of the tourism industry, in anumber that didn’t exceeded 15 people

Private Sector Interviewed Respondents

Mr Charitos Dimitrios Travel Agent- Chairman of A.O.C.T.A.

Mr Dendrinos Konstantinos Hotel Manager- Vice-President of T.S.S.C.

Mr Doukas Georgios Travel Agent – Board member of P.O.E.T and S.E.T.E.

Mr Kontos Vasileios Travel Agent – Board member of H.A.T.T.A.

Mrs Liveri Sofia Hotel Employee- President of the Labour Unions’ Federation Mrs Prosalenti Stella Travel Guide- President of the Association of travel guides of

the Ionian Islands and Western Greece Public Sector Interviewed Respondents

Mr Kafyris Georgios Prefecture of Corfu DMO’s Marketer

Mrs Karnezi Anna Municipality of Corfu’s Tourism Promotion Official

Mr Loumpos Konstantinos GNTO Employee- Previous director of G.N.T.O Regional

Tourism Authority office for the Ionian Islands

Mr Tsoumanis Konstantinos GNTO Employee- President of T.S.S.C –Dr of Tourism

EconomicsTable 3.1 List of the interviewed tourism industry key stakeholders

The sample consisted of 10 participants, 6 key stakeholders of the public and 4 of theprivate sector with one of them being the DMO marketer There were also 2 members

of the TSSC, - one being employed in the public sector and one running his ownbusiness in the private sector- that were selected because they approach tourism issuesbased on scientific knowledge and their recommendations and suggestions were based

on both scientific and work field experience of the tourism industry, each of themfrom a different perspective (private/ public sector) The private sector stakeholderswere selected on the basis of their experience, their involvement in tourism bodies andbecause they deal with a large number of visitors each day The public sectorrepresentatives were selected to represent different public bodies, as they know theproblems of the Prefecture and of the brand name of Corfu from their owninvolvement and their proposals could also be useful for the data analysis and forextracting recommendations based on their thoughts and views of the topic

The reason for such a small sample is that Corfu is a small place (about 110,000residents) and all the needed information could be provided by a sample of a limitednumber of people, representing as equally as possible all the involved parties in thelocal tourism industry This number would be enough to give an insight andperceptions for the current brand name and image of Corfu as well as proposals Apartfrom the fact that the interviews were focused mainly on the concept of thedestination branding of Corfu and because of those research questions, the individualswhich took part in this research were required to have a good knowledge of the keyissues concerning the local industry and Corfu as a destination, in general, in order toprovide accurate and descriptive answers

3.4 Data Collection Methods

For the development and the answering of the research questions, a combination ofdata gathering was used

3.4.1 Secondary Data

Secondary sources relevant to this study were collected from the Library, throughacademic Journals, notes from international tourism conferences, the WTO website,the Corfu DMO official website, various books relevant to Corfu and articles in

tourism websites, such as Travel Daily News This research was very useful as itprovided key literature regarding destination marketing concepts on destinationbranding, image and management, DMOs and concepts related to them and theoriesrelevant to methodological issues, such as data collection and research strategytechniques Furthermore, the research for literature relevant to tourism in Corfuprovided sufficient information about the historic development of tourism, its socialand economic impacts and other areas of consideration, such as the connectionbetween culture and tourism

3.4.2 Primary Data

Primary data are new data that have to be collected in order to conduct the proposedresearch The nature of this study demanded the carrying out of interviews with keyofficials and businessmen in order to identify key issues related to the operation(s) ofthe DMO , their opinion about the image and the brand name of Corfu as a destinationand, then, the exploration and analysis of different perceptions about imageimprovement or possible alterations This may lead to an increase in demand andsales for Corfu Primary data are essential in tourism research, as supported bydifferent authors, as they are intended to meet the research objectives, though thereare various options for the collection method depending on the research objectives

and purposes (Kastenholz et al.,1999; Litvin and Kar,2001) As Bryman (1984)

states, qualitative data collection is essential when knowledge about the surveyedthings cannot be obtained directly through measurement or observation Interviewsare also used in this case as they enable the researcher to focus directly on the topic of

the case study (Johnston et al., 1999)

Interviews:

The interview questions were directed to people of the industry with knowledge of theproblems of Corfu as a destination who could make suggestions and proposals Thesample size and formulation have been discussed earlier in this chapter, and theinterviews were semi-structured in order to have a common ground for everyparticipant Depending on his/her position, the researcher could gain insight andexamine different perceptions and views around the same topic that can lead to awealth of useful proposals and suggestions in the Recommendations section of the