DMS and Destination Tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

DMS and Destination Tourism - Essay Example It is not surprising, hence, when countries, especially the developing economies, integrate tourism strategies in their overall economic policy. The idea is to take advantage of the opportunities, which are facilitated by the globalization phenomenon. According to Goeldner and Ritchie (2009, p.26), â€Å"for a number of countries, tourism is the largest commodity in international trade,† and that â€Å"in many others, it ranks among the top three industries.† The case of Namibia’s tourism strategy is a case in point. Last 2006, the World Travel and Tourism Association conducted an accounting study and found that: The broader tourism economy in Namibia accounts for 72,000 jobs and 18% of Namibia’s gross domestic product (GDP). These figures are 50% higher than were originally estimated. (Ivanovic et al. 2009, p.91). Since tourism is an industry that operates within the current globalized international trading system, countries and destinations have to compe te with each other for tourists in an integrated tourism market in order to gain meaningful economic benefits. The process is facilitated by free trade and technology. One of the consequences of this development is the emergence of the destination tourism model, which entails the identification and promotion of localities as a result of their location, natural attraction and tourist-oriented facilities (Binns & Nel 2002, p.235) The employment of this approach has enabled many destinations to thrive in the intensely competitive tourism market. Destination Tourism Destination tourism emphasizes location. What this means is that a country or a location builds on its own characteristics in creating a unique brand that help the location gain competitive advantage and effectively sold to a target market. Carter and Fabricius (2007) explained that a destination in tourism is "the basic unit of analysis in tourism which is a distinctly recognizable area with geographic or administrative bou ndaries that tourists visit and stay in during their trip where tourism revenue is significant, or potentially significant, to the economy and is serviced by both private and public sector." Keller and Bieger (2007, p.12) contextualized the benefits of tourism in their discussion of the economics of destinations. They argued that from a general perspective destinations could or should be treated as geographically delineated economic aggregates, which, similar to economic regions, generate economic growth, which can be driven by "quantitative and qualitative changes in inputs and the efficiency with which these inputs are being employed." This is the reason behind the thematic conception of the way destinations are marketed. For example, Singapore works on promoting itself as an Asian urban destination. The public relation initiatives that sell the location as a product focus on the urban amenities that Singapore has to offer. The â€Å"theming† of the city has been very consi stent. In the past, it has pursued thematic concepts depicting â€Å"Instant Asia† and â€Å"Garden City† and after 1997, it has finally adopted a highly effective imaging strategy that aims to market the city-state as a modern metropolis with an exotic Asian