Developing business tourism beyond major urban centres: the perspectives of local stakeholders

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify development strategies for Business Tourism in territories where this segment is not always given due consideration, especially at the level of local and regional development policies. Design -The paper discusses the concepts of Business Tourism and analyses the characteristics of a delimited territory in the Central Region of Portugal that encompasses the cities of Coimbra, Aveiro and Viseu, located between the main Portuguese cities, Lisbon and Oporto. Methodology -A Delphi study was conducted to explore the prospects of destination stakeholders, with the aim of identifying proposals and product development measures in this territory. Findings -Despite the lower urban density and lower load capacity, when compared with the main urban centres of Lisbon and Oporto, this territory presents a qualified and diverse tourism offer that combined with the existence of differentiated venues and quality accommodation can contribute to provide a valued tourism experience associated with the Meetings Industry. Originality -The study presented here allows us to reflect on the potential of Business Tourism in territories with lower urban density and lower supply of facilities and services, when compared to the major cities that usually take the leading positions in international rankings. This is especially true, if we consider that smaller urban centres that are relatively near each other (as is the case of Coimbra, Aveiro and Viseu) may find interesting strategic advantages in joint action, taking into account that these three geographic areas complement each other in the integrated supply of tourism products, experiences, services and facilities.

Business tourists’ perceptions of nation brands and capital city brands: a comparison between Dublin/Republic of Ireland, and Cardiff/Wales

“…Demand patterns for business tourism are also changing globally. Although there has been an increase of around 10% each year in the average numbers of business events being held, their size is decreasing (ICCA, 2013; Marques and Santos, 2016). By far the majority of business events (79.8%) recorded by the ICCA between 2008-2012 'hosted fewer than 500 participants' (Marques & Santos, 2016, p.2).…”

“…These tourists often use at least some of the same facilities as leisure tourists, and use the existing destination infrastructure, but their visits can also lead to improvements in the facilities of a destination, and attract inward investment that leads to many increased economic benefits, including job creation (McNicoll, 2004) as new physical resources are built for the growing demands of a destinations' business tourists (Min & Roh, 2014). Moreover, business tourism leads to destinations offering a more diverse service, and this can lead to an extension of the tourist season (Millán et al, 2016;Oršič & Bregar, 2015) and help limit the effects of seasonality (Marques & Santos, 2016). Thus business tourism is not only highly lucrative, but also can become of strategic importance to national and regional economies.…”

“…1), particularly as this relates to local and regional development by not only strengthening these places' tourism image, but also in 'influencing the return of visitors' (Marques & Santos, 2016, p. 3). Therefore, while business tourism in Europe continues to be centred on national capital cities, one implication of the trend for a higher number of meetings of a smaller size to be held (ICCA, 2013;Marques and Santos, 2016) is that other places within a country can now capitalise on attracting these smaller but more frequently held events. Business tourism therefore has wide economic impacts on local, regional and national economies (Getz & Page, 2016), calling for more developed research to be undertaken that may address some of the methodological criticisms of the current state of some existing economic impact assessments , which is relevant to the qualitative focus of the empirical research undertaken in this study.…”

“…877-880), have identified some of the challenges facing DMOs in overcoming the 'fragmented nature' of a destination's 'governance structure', in order to 'develop an integrated marketing communication strategy to ensure a consistent message is being communicated to tourists', leading them to call for DMOs to be involved in the creation of a 'shared vision' about a tourism destination among 'this disparate and fragmented group of tourism stakeholders'. With specific reference to business tourism, Marques and Santos (2016) believe that there remains a role for not only DMOs, but also for the further creation of Conventions and Visitors Bureaus (CVB) to provide an appropriate supply infrastructure to event organisers in order to attract them to use a particular destination when planning a large scale business event. A recent study by the Union of International Associations 2015found that of 425 responses, only 60 of their member organisations had used a local Convention Bureau's services in the past 5 years, while 217 were not familiar with the type of services such an organisation could provide.…”

“…Similar to Marques and Santos (2016), and Murray et al, (2016), Hanna and Rowley (2013) also identify that the multiplicity and diversity of a place brand's stakeholders can lead to complexity in the development of salient place brand attributes, recognising that 'increasingly … places have needed to consider branding in a wide range of contexts' (p. 1782). Hankinson (2005) classified leisure destination brand image attributes under five brand image attribute categories: economic (based on the extent to which a destination is seen as commercialised, and how expensive or cheap it is perceived); physical environment (in terms of a place's natural environment, and also its level of economic development, attractiveness, pace, climate, atmosphere, potential for interest, and also the extent to which it is perceived as comfortable and secure); activities and facilities (including the food available, suitability for children, for different types of vacation, tourist facilities and infrastructure, accessibility, and potential for interest and adventure); the overall appeal and favourability of brand attitudes; and people (including the culture of a place, the extent to which it is perceived as trendy, and also any existence of language barriers and cultural distance).…”