The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Tourist Destination Marketing

ABSTRACT

The article considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the marketing of tourist destinations. Particular attention is paid to the fact that COVID-19 has become a real challenge for tourism organizations around the world and forced them to significantly rethink their marketing plans and programmes in a market that will never be the same. The main goal of this research study is to examine the properties of tourism destination marketing in the context of COVID-19 and compile a list of practical recommendations for relevant government agencies and tourism organizations to implement effective and operational steps and effectively prepare marketing destinations for new realities. To quickly get out of the current situation in the field of destination marketing in the context of COVID-19, a number of proposals have been made that can be applied by the relevant government agencies and tourism organizations that specialize in tourism services in tourist destinations. In particular, it is proposed to provide marketing strategies for tourist destinations based on the possibility of addressing issues of epidemiological safety and hygiene for tourists who prefer to visit these destinations. Due to the rapid decrease in the availability of air travel, tourism organizations need to expand their activities by attracting more tourists to the markets of neighbouring countries and to the domestic market. Providing services to individual tourists and their families in the field of recreation in destinations is considered one of the ways to maintain and expand business in the new reality. Through the implementation of marketing communications (primarily through online services and social media), tourism organizations and companies need to more actively attract the younger generation to visit tourist destinations as a target group that is most actively returning to pre-crisis patterns of consumer behaviour and consumption of tourism services. It has been established that the active use of the latest digital technology (virtual tours, augmented reality, etc.) in the field of destination marketing is the most promising area, thanks to which the tourism sector will be supported and developed both during the pandemic and after COVID-19. Copyright © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.