Technology Application in the Asian Tourism Industry: Destination Promotion

Destination promotion efforts are activities aimed at stimulating the behavior of tourists to purchase tourist products. The processes that affect the purchasing decision of the tourist are significantly influenced by personalized experiences with the effect of technological developments. The development of the Internet allows tourists to share their comments about the product they experience easily and in a short time. Tourists have become subjects that both remarket the destinations and consume a tourist product with their comments through social networks. With the creation of content that enables active participation and interaction between the visitor and the destination in the digitalized world, the added value is created for the tourism product, and the potential visitors are provided with the opportunity to access more reliable and accurate information about the previously experienced product. The transformation and change that occur with technology in the consumer market structure cause to apply different strategies in marketing destinations, creating a positive image about the destination by destination marketing organizations. Thanks to the continuously developed algorithms of destination management organizations and all other units responsible for marketing, the websites that customers like the most on the Internet, mobile phone applications that include reviews about their travels, their emotions expressed on social media, and other voluntary information given by the customer can be reached easily. In this versatile digital environment, marketing activities are carried out through channels such as search engine-based marketing, e-mail marketing, mobile marketing, digital content marketing, omni-channel digital marketing, influencer marketing, and chatbots. In addition, new approaches such as offering digital experiences to meet customers’ requests in marketing, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain, and Internet of things have emerged. In the Asian tourism market, where cultural elements are used extensively in destination marketing, many destination tourism organizations make use of digital marketing tools. For example, Singapore Tourism Board uses virtual reality videos in destination promotion. In this section, the use of technology in the Asian tourism market will be explained in detail.