Public_Relations_Activites_in_Tourism

Estonian Business School Department of Entrepreneurship PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES IN TOURISM: THE EXAMPLES (LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL) OF PRESS RELATIONS, PRODUCT PUBLICITY, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, LOBBYING AND COUNSELING. Essay Kristel Aus BBL II Lecturer: Elena Pruvli Tallinn 2008 Public relations (PR) is the managing of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image and customer preference. It has become a very important marketing tool and it is moving into an explosive growth stage. Companies have started to realize that PR holds the promise of a cost-effective promotional tool – the creative use of news events, publications, social events, community relations and other PR techniques offers companies a way to distinguish themselves and their products from their competitors. Effective PR can influence a vast range of different groups of people, encouraging them to buy the specific product or service – every private sector company wants to be the best, so it is important to pay attention on its communication with the public. In the U.S. today, approximately 122 000 people are employed full time in the public relations field. There are five main activities of public relations in tourism; press relations, product publicity, corporate communication, lobbying and counselling; which help institutions to cope successfully with many problems, to build prestige, to promote products, and to win legislative battles. Firstly, I will concentrate on press relations. The aim of it is to place newsworthy information into the news media to attract attention to a product or service. Press relations has become very popular in the tourism and hospitality industry because of its credibility. A favourable article about a hotel in the newspaper definitely has more impact on the consumers than an advertisement written by the hotel’s management. That is why companies and also consumers have started to pay more attention on press relations. For example, the Regency Resort & Health Spa was voted "The Readers Choice Award Winner" by Spa Finders Magazine, as one of the world’s top ten destination spas. This information definitely has more credibility and attracts more tourists than just an advertisement which says: „Our spa is one of the worlds top ten spas”. Bad publicity in tourism can be very devastating. In November 2001, there was a service incident in Houston Double Tree Club Hotel, which was reported widely in the media of the United States. The problem was that a pair of web developers were refused "guaranteed" rooms when they arrived at the hotel at 2 a.m. - the desk clerk said that he had given the rooms away hours earlier. The guests expected an apology and prompt resolution from the employee, but instead, they got insolence and insults, because “usually the hotel guests do not arrive at 2 a.m”. Eventually, they got two smokers’ rooms in a “dump” of a hotel six miles further away from downtown Houston. The bitterly disappointed web developers decided to compile a PowerPoint slide show and sent it to the hotel’s manager, Joseph Crosby, and to some friends. However, the news about the incident and also the PowerPoint slide show spread widely all over the newspapers and internet. I think this is a good example of how a bad publicity can have a direct affect on a company’s reputation. Product publicity is another very common PR activity in tourism. It involves various efforts to publicize specific products or services. New products; special events, such as food festivals; redesigned products, such as a newly renovated hotel; and products that are popular because of current trends, non-fat desserts for instance – those are all potential candidates for publicity. The success of a product is very much related to its launch-campaign – if it is successful and catchy, the product is likely to become well-known and desired as well. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has segmented and regrouped its core national tourism products into a seven-point package that is marketed worldwide under the banner of “Seven Amazing Wonders” of Thailand. The new campaign is underpinned by the strong branding slogan “Amazing Thailand” which proved hugely successful in 1998/1999 and underscores the country’s image as a peaceful, hospitable country and a year-round tourism destination with high quality of value-for-money products and services. TAT has opened offices in many countries and is also working actively in China which is projected to become Thailand’s top source of visitor arrivals by the end of this decade. A lot of time and effort is directed at enhancing TAT’s e-marketing abilities through websites, blogs, discussion forums, travel clubs, mobile phone messages, etc, especially to reach the high-end target group in places like Japan, Australia and the US. The campaign has definitely risen the awareness of Thailand among the world – more and more people travel to Thailand every year. A great example of a hotel getting publicity by organizing a special opening event is Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel in Tallinn in 2007. The 400 guests who attended the grand opening were witness to a dizzying display of light, music and fire by Tiit Kikas and the acrobatic troupe Four Seasons. It was a very successful launch for the hotel. First of all, it was very well-organized and one of the other reasons why the hotel has been very popular since it was opened, is that it combines a modern Conference Centre and the luxurious Aqua Spa. The message of the hotel is that everyone deserves to relax and pamper his or her soul and mind after a long day at work, which has become a huge trend nowadays. One of the activities carried out in tourism is also corporate communications. It covers internal and external communications and promotes understanding of the organization. It serves as the liaison between an organization and its publics. One important aspect of corporate communication is communication directed toward employees, such as company newsletters or videos. But companies also need to manage their communication with their shareholders and clients in order to make sure that they understand the company’s goals and objectives. Corporate communication encodes and promotes strong corporate culture and identity, reasonable corporate philosophy, an appropriate and professional relationship with the press, understanding of communication tools and technologies and sophisticated approaches to global communications. Corporate communications is important because, strong, modern and socially responsible corporate culture, based on universal and business ethics, helps the organization to reach and attract consumers and to remain in a globalized business. In leisure management industry, a superbrand named “Hillside Beach Club”, is certified to be one of the best in reputation management. Through a solid brand identity and promotional activities, Hillside is perceived to be the leader in leisure management industry in Turkey. The firm’s promotional activity is to create brand loyal guests under the corporate identity of Hillside Community. They also offer Hillside card to reach this goal. Word of mouth marketing is another tool that the firm utilizes in its growth strategies. Hillside brand is perceived to be creative, leader, modern, unique, trustworthy, high quality among its customers. Another key issue in the success of the brand is definitely related with the social responsibilities and “giving back to the community”. All these facts increase the sales so it is definitely true that communicating the corporate culture to the target market is the key in the success of the brand. Many political decisions have an impact on tourism and that is why lobbying is one of the PR activities in tourism. Lobbying is the timely, legal exercising of influence on political decision-making processes in order to assert particular (primarily economic) interests, especially by means of information. It involves dealing with legislators and government officials to promote or defeat legislation and regulation. It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents or organized groups. Large companies usually employ their own lobbyists, whereas smaller companies lobby through their local trade associations. For example, the tourism industry of Florida has begun lobbying lawmakers to spend $43.4 million in public money next year for marketing the state to travelers. It's an audacious request since it would be $10 million more than the Legislature spent on tourism advertising last year. The legislative session, in which lawmakers will put together next year's budget, began in March. And finally, briefly about counseling. It involves advising management about public issues and company positions and image. Counseling is important when there are or may be sensitive issues associated with the business. What is important about counseling is that the company has to find an independent counselor – there are various public relations companies that provide counseling, so choosing the one with a prestige and experience is very important. So it is very important for the company to create and maintain good communication with the public in order to be successful. Public relations has become a very effective promotional tool, especially when it is implemented in a right way. Communicating its global and ethical values and visions to the clients and shareholders as well as using various PR techniques helps the company to distinguish itself and its products or services from its competitors. The main purpose of PR is to maintain a positive image of the company and customer preference, so by implementing an effective PR it is possible to influence people to buy the specific product or service. PR activities, such as press relations, product publicity, corporate communication, lobbying and counselling, help to build prestige and promote the products.