Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 39 (2012) 1725–1757 1755

Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 1755–1756, 2012

Printed in Great Britain

DESTINATION MARKETING AND

MANAGEMENT: Theories
and Applications
Edited by Youcheng Wang and Abraham Pizam. CABI
<www.cabi.org> 2011, x + 370 pp. (illustrations) $160.00
Hbk. ISBN-13: 978 1 84593 7621
Malcolm J.M. Cooper
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan

This is an interesting and important book that deserves more attention than this
short review. It is divided into seven sections that move from scope, definitions,
and structures, through understanding consumer decision-making, research,
branding and image communication, destination product development and distri-
bution, managing stakeholders, safety and crisis management at destinations, to
managing competitiveness and sustainability. The topic is tourism destination mar-
keting, but the important sub-text is the activities of destination marketing organi-
zations (DMOs) in practice, or how does tourism destination marketing theory and
practice inform industry and community realities in the area of destination market-
ing and management. Another significant departure from the norm in the aca-
demic treatment of such topics is the healthy dose of criticism of some of the
earlier business management concepts as applied in tourism destination marketing
and management from some of the contributors. The editors claim that this is the
first book to examine this topic from the point of view of the effectiveness of the
management and marketing of tourism destinations, and as such this is an impor-
tant book for academics, students, and the industry alike.
Having said this, the overall value of the book would have been greater if the
order of the first two chapters had been reversed. This would have meant a very
good conceptual analysis of the whole field (Chapter 2, John Jenkins et al.) would
have led the discussion before getting to DMOs in such detail (Chapter 1,
Youcheng Wang) and provided a much better platform for the following parts.
The second part of the book provides six chapters on understanding consumer
decision-making from some of the eminent authorities in the field, in particular
Phillip Pearce’s work on travel motivation (Chapter 3). The idea that an
experiential (Chapter 4, Drew Martin et al.) rather than a rationality stance is more
important in understanding traveler decision-making is supported by the evidence
in Chapters 4, 5 (Dogan Gursoy) and 6 (Andrew Walls & Wang), but this reviewer
finds it interesting that tourism researchers should only now be discovering
this when the business location decision-making literature had done so many years
ago.
Part III turns the reader’s attention to research, branding, and image communi-
cation for destination marketing. This work confirms the importance of a
consistent destination identity in the branding process and the bonding between
this and the host community that resonates with the visitor. This factor is illustrated
with material on destination positioning (Chapter 8, Asli Tasci), image
1756 Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 39 (2012) 1725–1757

development (Chapter 9, Amir Shani & Wang) and on marketing research

challenges (Chapter 7, Muzaffer Uysal et al.). These are rightly identified as
among the most critical factors determining the competitiveness of tourism desti-
nations. The reader will find a considerable amount of good material in these
chapters.
The fourth part consists of six somewhat eclectic chapters categorized under the
broad theme of destination product development and distribution. The material
ranges from eTourism (Chapter 13, Dimitrios Buhalis et al.), and Web 2.0
(Chapter 14, social media, Peter O’Connor, et al.) through events and their impact
on destination management (Chapter 15, Graham Brown et al.), distribution
channels (Chapter 11, John Kracht & Wang), and destination marketing systems
(Chapter 12, Wang), to the evolution of tourism products in Scotland (Chapter
10, Richard Butler). Each is of interest and well-written, but the section lacks a uni-
fying theme. Chapter 10 should perhaps have been in Part V, while Chapters 11
and 12 probably more properly go with those of Part III. In fact, the book loses
a little cohesion at this point.
Parts V, VI, and VII continue cover additional aspects of the field and the
material is all of interest, especially that on safety and security (Chapter 18, Galia
Fuchs & Abraham Pizam), and destination crisis management (Chapter 19, Lori
Pennington-Gray & Pizam), but as with the first two chapters, the final chapter
should have been a variant of Chapter 20 (J. R. Brent Ritchie & Geoffrey
Crouch), with Chapter 21 (Alan Fyall) coming earlier in Part III. That final chap-
ter is more properly a discussion of a particular descriptive model of destination
management research, not ideally a final round-up of the book itself, although
parts of it are.
Minor quibbles about placement and content aside, industry operators, DMO
managers, and academic observers can gain much from this book. Overall, the
book is well and consistently written and contains much of value to inform our
understanding of tourism destination marketing, management, research, brand-
ing, and tourist motivations for travel, as they should now be conceptualized
given the intensive research of the past 20-30 years. Traditional marketing
and destination management approaches to this task are not useful in many
respects in the 21st Century, especially when the increasing influence of the
new social media on tourist and industry decision-making is taken into account,
and this book is a very useful theoretical and practical update that absorbs this
fact.

Malcolm J. M. Cooper: Tourism Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific Univer-

sity, Beppu, Oita 874-8577, Japan. E-mail <cooperm@apu.ac.jp>.

Assigned 16 December 2011. Submitted 11 March 2012. Accepted 12 March 2012.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2012.05.010