Event Marketing in Tourism

Event marketing is useful for creating an experience customers will remember.

Event marketing is the use of an event or gathering in conjunction with selling of products or services in the tourism industry, the product may be a city itself or a destination. Event marketing can be quite successful, as consumers are enjoying the event and more likely to have less resistance to buying,.

Events for a City

One of the best ways to market a city is by hosting events that draw visitors from out of town. Concerts or large outdoor music festivals are a great way to bring in tourist revenue. Cities can benefit from having events that bring in diverse groups of travelers from all over the world and not necessarily North America. Hosting international sporting competitions or other international events can be great for a city. The idea is to capitalize on what the city has to offer and align it with events.

Events for a Destination

The event does not necessarily have to be held at the same place as the destination. For example, according to Caribanatoronto.com, the Caribana festival, a Caribbean festival in Toronto, attracts over 1.2 million visitors over a weekend and produces over $250 million for the Toronto economy. During the festival tourist packages, and flight sales to Caribbean destinations sky rocket, resulting in increased tourism to a destination that has done very little to contribute to the event marketing.

Conferences

Conference, industry events and trade shows are a great event marketing draw for tourism. Having an infrastructure in place that support such events, results in more of these events being held at that location. Places that align themselves with specific industries can benefit by having those industries hold conferences at that location.

Cultural Events

Events such as the Caribana festival or the Puerto Rican day parade in New York are good examples of culturally specific events that drive visitors to a particular destination. Cultural events also draw visitors who are not from a specific ethnic demographic to the event as well. Cultural events can also be artistic and involve art and other aspects of culture such as theater or performance art.

Natural Attractions

Capitalizing on natural attractions and linking events to these natural attractions or wonders is a great way to enhance tourism. The attraction does not need to be natural it can also be man made. Many cities have capitalized on event marketing based on natural attractions. For example, the city of Roswell, New Mexico has a UFO watching festival, capitalizing on an alleged UFO crash landing in the 1950s.

References

• Caribana 2010: Toronto Caribana
• Eventmarketer.com: Trends
• Constantcontact.com: Set Up Your Event