Popular Culture As a Powerful Destination Marketing Tool: an Australian Study
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ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following work: Radomskaya, Valeriya (2018) Popular culture as a powerful destination marketing tool: an Australian study. PhD Thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: https://doi.org/10.25903/5d34f9382c79c Copyright © 2018 Valeriya Radomskaya. The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please email [email protected] POPULAR CULTURE AS A POWERFUL DESTINATION MARKETING TOOL: AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY Thesis submitted by VALERIYA RADOMSKAYA Master of Business Management, Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University named after N. A. Dobrolubov, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research Thesis (Tourism) College of Business, Law and Governance, James Cook University, Townsville, AUSTRALIA December 2018 STATEMENT OF ACCESS I, the undersigned, author of this work, understand that James Cook University will make this thesis available for use within the University Library and, via the Digital Theses network, for use elsewhere. I understand that, as an unpublished work, a thesis has significant protection under the Copyright Act; and, I do not wish to place any further restriction on access to this work. 07.12.2018 Valeriya Radomskaya Date I DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material which has been submitted (and accepted) for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other institution of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. 07.12.2018 Valeriya Radomskaya Date II ELECTRONIC COPY STATEMENT I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of James Cook University, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate Research School. I declare that the electronic copy of this thesis provided to the James Cook University Library is, within the limits of the technology available, an accurate copy of the print thesis submitted. 07.12.2018 Valeriya Radomskaya Date III DECLARATION ON ETHICS This research presented and reported in this thesis was conducted in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) National Statement on Ethics Conduct in Human Research, 2007. The proposed research study received human research ethics approved from the JCU Human Research Ethics Committee: Approval number: H6920 07.12.2018 Valeriya Radomskaya Date IV DECLARATION OF PUBLISHED RESEARCH The current thesis is formatted according to the James Cook University guidelines for a Doctor of Philosophy research thesis (traditional). Under these guidelines, candidates are encouraged to publish sections of their thesis before it is formally submitted for examination. The table below lists research outputs from this thesis. Publication title Contribution Radomskaya, V. (2018). Growing Competition for Screen Tourists Sole author Activates New Destination Marketing Tactics. In Lundberg, C., & Ziakas, V. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Popular Culture and Tourism (pp. 414-426). Taylor & Francis. Radomskaya, V. (2019). Promoting cultural tourism in Australia: Sole author an urban perspective. In Pearce, L. P., & Oktadiana, H. (Eds.), Tourism Intelligence (accepted for publishing). Emerald. I certify that the above material describes my work completed during my registration as Doctor of Philosophy candidate at James Cook University. I also acknowledge that copyright of published works resides with the copyright holder(s). 07.12.2018 Valeriya Radomskaya Date V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to JCU Graduate Research School for offering me a Scholarship which has enabled me to pursue my PhD. I greatly appreciate the support and help of the JCU staff and my supervisors, especially my principal supervisor, Professor Philip Pearce. I am profoundly grateful to him for his continuous encouragement and generous support. I also want to express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr Josephine Pryce and Prof Laurie Murphy for their help and timely advice. I appreciate the support of my husband and friends. Thank you for pushing me to always do my best. I was lucky to get your valuable help and advice at every step of the way. I send my sincere love to the Tan family - thank you, all five, for everything. You are the best. Finally, I want to thank all the people who participated in my study. The great diversity of our conversations was a true inspiration for me. It was great meeting you. VI THESIS ABSTRACT This thesis is concerned with the marketing possibilities of popular culture tourism (PCT). There is promise in developing alternative forms of cultural communication and cultural representation in tourism. Specifically, PCT is explored as a way to enhance and reshape the current approach to destination promotion in Australia. Through the arrival of new and diversified cultural experiences, Australia can improve the existing tourism portfolio. Although there have been many studies which describe the marketing practice of using elements of popular culture in destination promotion, few, if any, effectively address the issue of usability of such methods in Australia. To understand the nature of the challenge, it is important to acknowledge the diversity inherent within popular culture, as well as the huge diversity of individual experiences and responses to such cultural practices. This work is concerned with the richness of individual experience, the multi-form qualities of interpersonal encounters with popular culture in Australia. This thesis uses pragmatism as the main interpretive framework, with its powerful ability to disambiguate and clarify the research questions. To study the phenomenon the researcher uses a combination of three research methods: survey research, descriptive study, and exploratory study. Each study contributes a unique perspective to the literature on popular culture tourism. To answer the research questions considerable data comprising 253 detailed questionnaires, 20 unstructured interviews, 648 blogs and social media posts, and marketing materials of over 50 DMOs were collected and analysed. The thesis has six chapters in total. VII The first chapter introduces the concept of PCT. It discusses how popular media and tourism, and thoughtful engagement of these forces, have created a phenomenon with great potential and strong commercial and popular impact. PCT is an umbrella term comprising several fields, such as film-induced, literary, and music tourism, as well as special events, and technology tourism, among others. The chapter argues that PCT can encourage youth tourism and help accommodate the needs of tourists coming from diverse households and families (multi-generational groups, singles, ‘second’ families). The chapter highlights the need to diversify the traditional tourism product by embracing specialty markets. The second chapter outlines the theoretical framework, rationale, and conceptual structure for the materials to follow. The third chapter introduces Study 1. The first study uses survey data to uncovers behaviour patterns and preferences of local popular culture tourists. It compares the events and locations in the context of PCT, and works with important cues (e.g., associations and preferences) and key features (e.g., consumption rates and travel intentions) by matching them with several hypotheses related to the consumption of popular culture. In Chapter 4, the scope of the investigation widens to include the international perspective. Study 2 is concerned with qualitative aspects of the cultural economy, namely the subjective experiences and expectation of past, existing and potential visitors. This study employs social listening and content analysis to observe and analyse online discussions related to popular culture events and locations in Australia. The captured experiences (impressions, feelings, thoughts, and observations) helped: (1) identify how Australia is being represented in popular culture discourse; (2) identify VIII how the particular imagery of local popular culture commodities can influence the Australian tourism development strategy. The last study, Chapter 5, is concerned with practical applications. It offers a rigorous analysis of the marketing strategies that utilise popular culture in destination promotion. It discusses how these integrations are carried out by the DMOs in real-world practices. The chapter identifies seven advanced destination marketing tactics as efficient methods that can be used for tourism promotion in Australia. It offers recommendations and comments on the use of PCT in national tourism campaigns. Chapter 6 is devoted to the discussion of findings, implications, and limitations. The key findings contribute to the academic literature on cultural tourism. This thesis investigates the possibilities of using location-specific popular culture tools in ‘narrative’ marketing campaigns. The work identifies different PCT activities and their impacts on destination's image and tourists’ experiences. The results and work also emerge as practical