Social Marketing and Tourism: What Is the Evidence?

In: Social marketing quarterly: SMQ ; journal of the AED, Band 19, Heft 2, S. 110-135

Abstract

Though the effectiveness of social marketing has been proven in various areas, it has captured scant research attention of tourism scholars. This article analyzes the social marketing characteristics of a number of tourism-related projects that have been funded by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Vietnam. The importance of NGOs in Vietnam's development process is highlighted. A search strategy is described where some terms and phrases are combined to identify tourism-related development projects. Forty-five projects were found and assessed against a set of six social marketing benchmarks. Twenty-one projects match all the criteria, where different evaluation measures are noted. Significantly, no project labeled itself in terms of social marketing attributes. The social marketing label is thus not necessarily effective in identifying social marketing interventions in tourism-related projects. Despite some caveats, the article indicates that social marketing may be effective in promoting behavior change for sustainable tourism development and poverty alleviation.