Attracting more tourists by taking account of their cultural background

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Attracting more tourists by taking account of
their cultural background

• Marinel Gerritsen
• Professor of Intercultural Business Communication
  
• Department of Business Communication Studies
• Radboud University Nijmegen
• The Netherlands
• M.Gerritsen_at_let.ru.nl

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Three aspects of marketing communication of a
tourist area that will be dealt with

• a) Content of the information about the area
  (text and pictures)
• b) Communication media used to convey information
  about the tourist area
• c) Form of the communication

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Outline of the paper

• A model and a hypothesis that indicate that
  responding to the communicative conventions of
  the culture of a target group might be an
  important device in attracting tourists
• A communication model
• The similarity attraction hypothesis
• Which elements of culture visible and/or
  invisible elements?
• Applying knowledge of the values of the target
  group in the marketing communication of a tourist
  area
• Adapting to the communication style of the target
  group
• Implications for tourist marketers

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In communication at least two persons are involved

• Sender
• A person who sends a message in the form of
  symbols for example words, pictures
• Receiver
• A person who interpretes these symbols and
  deduces a message from these symbols

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Effective communication

• Communication between sender and receiver is most
  effective if the interpretation of the message by
  the receiver is similar to what the sender
  intended to communicate with the message

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Targowski/Bowman Layer-based pragmatic
communication model
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Twitter in Europe, the more colour the more
twitter is used
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Targowski/Bowman Layer-based pragmatic
communication model
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The marketer of the tourist area has to adapt to
the communicative conventions of the target group
and has to realize

• In intercultural marketing communication, what
  matters is not what you show, but how it is seen,
  and not what you say but how you are heard

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Similarity attraction hypothesis

• The more similar two individuals are, the higher
  the attraction between them
• and that is precisely what a tourist area
  wants attract tourists.
• Ng et al (2007) Tourist marketers should taken
  into account cultural similarities between their
  tourist area and the target group in their image
  building of a tourist area.

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Similarity between which elements of a culture
play the major role in attracting tourist?

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Model of culture Hofstede's onion-diagram
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Symbols
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Tea rituals in Japan
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Model of culture Hofstede's onion-diagram
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Model of culture The floating ice berg of Edward
T. Hall
Behavior, customs, language , history 1/9 visible
elements
Values, perception of the world, way of thinking
,presuppositions 8/9 invisible elements
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Similarity between which elements of the models
of culture should be taken account by tourist
marketers the visible or invisible elements?

• Invisible elements, values

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Why taking account of the invisible elements?-1

• Because tourists travel to see and experience
  new things, and they can especially observe the
  visible elements of a culture
• Two questions that call for further research
• 1. Do touristst from high uncertainty avoidance
  cultures (what is different is dangerous) and
  tourists from low uncertainty avoidance
  cultures (what is different is interesting)
  differ in the extent to which visible elements
  of a culture attract them?
• 2. Do difference between tourist area and target
  group in all visible aspects of a culture play
  the same role in attraction?

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Why taking account of the invisible elements? -2

• Values are learned at ones mother knee
• By the age of twelve a child has acquired values
  and because this learning process has taken place
  so early and unconsciouslousy, a person believes
  that persons all over the world have the same
  values

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Six basic values (Kluckhohn Strodtbeck 1961)

• 1. Human nature
• 2. Underlying motives for acting
• 3. Human Relations
• 4. Time
• 5. Space
• 6. Person-Nature

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16 values anno 2012 and the six basic values of
(Kluckhohn Strodtbeck 1961)

• 1. Human nature
• 2. Underlying motives for acting
• Indulgence-Restraint (Hofstede)
• Uncertainty Avoidance (Hofstede)
• Masculinity-Feminity (Hofstede)
• 3. Human Relations
• Collectivism-Individualism (Hofstede)
• Power distance (Hofstede)
• Particularism-Universalism (Trompenaars)
• Achieved-scribed status (Trompenaars)
• Neutral-Affective (Trompenaars)
• 4. Time
• Past, present, future (Trompenaars)
• Polychrony-monochrony (Hall)
• Confucian Dynamism (Hofstede)

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16 values anno 2012 and the six basic values of
(Kluckhohn Strodtbeck 1961)

• 1. Human nature
• 2. Underlying motives for acting
• Indulgence-Restraint (Hofstede)
• Uncertainty Avoidance (Hofstede)
• Masculinity-Feminity (Hofstede)
• 3. Human Relations
• Collectivism-Individualism (Hofstede)
• Power distance (Hofstede)
• Particularism-Universalism (Trompenaars)
• Achieved-scribed status (Trompenaars)
• Neutral-Affective (Trompenaars)
• 4. Time
• Past, present, future (Trompenaars)
• Polychrony-monochrony (Hall)
• Confucian Dynamism (Hofstede)

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Indulgence versus restraint ( the 6th value of
Hofstede (Hofstede, Hofstede, Minkov 2010, p.
281))

• Indulgence
• A tendency to allow relatively free
  gratification of basic and natural human desires
  related to enjoying life and having fun
• Restraint
• A conviction that such gratification needs to be
  curbed and regulated by strict social norms

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Indulgence versus restraint and attracting
tourists

• Content
• Indulgence aspects of a tourist area that show
  that one can have fun, enjoy life and pamper
  oneself
• Restraint aspects of a tourist area that are
  related to learn something (history, geography,
  art)
• Communication media
• Indulgence glossy, glamorous
• Restraint serious books, flyers

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Uncertainty avoidance

• The extent to which the members of a culture
  feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown
  situations
• High uncertainty avoidance What is different
  is dangerous
• Low uncertainty avoidance What is different is
  interesting

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Uncertainty avoidance and attracting tourists

• Content
• High uncertainty avoidance package tours, all
  inclusive, travelling in groups, well known hotel
  chains, well known destinations, booking long
  before the journey, risk free activities,
  transparency of information (facts and figures),
  strengthen de confidence of travelers by assuring
  stability, free insurance, guarantee of personal
  safety and security
• Low uncertainty avoidance new things,
  adventures, last minutes, bed and breakfast
• Communication media
• High uncertainty avoidance travel agency
• Low uncertainty avoidance internet, word of
  mouth
• Form of the communication
• High uncertainty avoidance precise, facts and
  figures, information long before the journey will
  take place
• Low uncertainty avoidance last minute
  information

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Masculinity versus Femininity

• Masculine
• Emotional gender roles are clearly distinct men
  are supposed to be assertive, tough and focussed
  on material success, whereas women are supposed
  to be more modest, tender and concerned with the
  quality of life
• Feminine
• Emotional gender roles overlap both men and
  women are supposed to be modest, tender, and
  concerned with the quality of life

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Masculinity versus femininity and attracting
tourists

• Content
• Masculine division of gender roles, one can show
  achievement in personal life and in for example
  sport and financial soundness during the holiday
• Feminine no division of gender roles,
  environment friendly, sustainability, one helps
  the population by visiting the area as a tourist
  , social responsibility, development assistance
• Communication media
• Masculine media that show achievement (glossy
  magazines)
• Feminine simple environment friendly media

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Collectivism versus Individualism

• Individualism
• Ties between individuals are loose everyone is
  expected to look after him- or herself and his or
  her immediate family
• Collectivism
• People are from birth onward integrated into
  strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout
  peoples lifetime, continue to protect then in
  exchange for unquestioning loyalty

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Collectivism versus individualism and attracting
tourists

• Content
• Collectivistic to have a holiday with the whole
  (extended) family and the possibility to travel
  in groups
• Individualistic individual activities that are
  tailor made to the individual desires
• Communication media
• Collectivistic more reliance on family/ friends
  or company colleagues for travel information
• Individualistic more reliance on the internet
• Form of the communication
• Collectivistic high context, indirect, flowery
  style, metaphors, narratives
• Individualistic low context, direct, facts and
  figures

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Power distance

• The extent to which the less powerful members of
  institutions and organizations within a country
  expect and accept that power is distributed
  unequally

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Power distance and attracting tourists

• Content
• High power distance highest quality and service,
  you will be treated as a queen, well known
  destinations (Montreux!), the most important,
  powerful and famous people of the world were here
  too.
• Low power distance population of the area is
  easily approachable
• Communication media
• High power distance glossy, luxurious brochures
• Low power distance internet
• Form of the communication
• High power distance show respect to elderly and
  people with power
• Low power distance you will be one of us

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Past, present, future orientation

• People differ in the way they think about the
  past, present and future, which of the three is
  most important and how they are related

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Past, present, future orientation in a number of
countries
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Past, present, future orientation and attracting
tourists

• Content
• Past history, historical monuments, archeology,
  glorious past
• Present modern buildings, modern life, hic et
  nunc mentality, innovations

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Polychrony and monochrony

• In monochronic cultures time is sequentially
  ordered, one prefers to do one thing at the same
  time and one does not like to change schedules
  that are settled
• In polychronic cultures one likes to do several
  things simultaneously and schedules are not
  important and can be changed easily

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Polychrony and monochrony and attracting tourists

• Content
• Polychronic appointments can be changed easily
  and time is flexible
• Monochronic everything will be organized in the
  way that is announced before, in time, there will
  be no changes in schedules
• Communication media
• Polychronic many different media and information
  about an area has not to be univocal
• Monochronic univocal, same information
  everywhere
• Form of the communication
• Polychronic communication way be woolly
• Monochronic facts and figures, direct, logically
  structured, sound communication

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16 values anno 2012 and the six basic values of
(Kluckhohn Strodtbeck 1961)

• 1. Human nature
• 2. Underlying motives for acting
• Indulgence-Restraint (Hofstede)
• Uncertainty Avoidance (Hofstede)
• Masculinity-Feminity (Hofstede)
• 3. Human Relations
• Collectivism-Individualism (Hofstede)
• Power distance (Hofstede)
• Particularism-Universalism (Trompenaars)
• Achieved-scribed status (Trompenaars)
• Neutral-Affective (Trompenaars)
• 4. Time
• Past, present, future (Trompenaars)
• Polychrony-monochrony (Hall)
• Confucian Dynamism (Hofstede)

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Communication style
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The Context theory of Edward T. Hall

• Cultures differ in the extent to which they use
  context and situation for the interpretation of a
  message
• In high-context cultures, most of the meaning of
  a message is deduced from the context in which
  the words occur, for example non-verbal
  communication, and the setting of the
  communication
• In low-context cultures, the meaning of a
  message is primarily deduced from the words

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Context and attracting tourists

• Form of the communication
• High context implicit, indirect, flowery,
  narrative, poetry-like, non-verbal
• Low context explicit, direct, to the point, no
  waste of words
• Communication media
• High context media with a high information
  richness ( face-to-face communication, travel
  agencies)
• Low context media with a low information
  richness (travel guides, e-mail, letter, text
  message, twitter )

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Implications for tourist marketers

• Determine target markets
• Adapt the communication about a tourist
  destination to the communicative conventions of
  the culture of the target group regarding
• content (text ánd pictures),
• communicaiton media used to convey the message
• form of the message
• This implies market segmentation and different
  marketing approaches for different target groups
  (Reisinger and Turner 2002, Frias et al 2011)
• Suggestion web sites tailor made for each
  target group. Just as tourist areas have web
  sites in different language they could have web
  sites for different cultures (reduction of costs
  by asking students from the target group cultures
  to help with content and design)

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Consequences for education of tourist marketers

• Future tourist managers should have knowledge
  about the cultural background of their customers
  (Tsang and al 2007).

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• More information M.Gerritsen_at_let.ru.nl