Improving the deployment model of modern electronic marketing methods for the Cyprus tourism organisation.

Traditional business models that used to govern the operations of travel and tourism businesses, defined in a rigid way their functional areas and the relationships among them. The advent of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) has driven the transformation of these business models into novel destination marketing models.
National Tourism Organisations’ task of managing the process of destination marketing has been augmented with the advent of electronic marketing methods. The complexity of managing the diverse interests of the multiplicity
of the stakeholders involved in destination marketing has been extended by the novel electronic communication channels that have been introduced. This has made the need of establishing an explicit model for managing the process
of destination marketing more imperative than ever before.
Recognising the need for explicitly managing the process of destination marketing for the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), an integrated marketing model has been developed to guide the management of the
destination’s marketing process. The key for optimising the destination’s
marketing processes is the successful implementation of the model through
the integration of traditional with electronic marketing activities.
The model is founded upon the CTO’s marketing executives’ mindset and expectations and facilitates the satisfaction of the CTO’s online visitors / customers’ expectations. Moreover, it reflects on the CTO’s existing marketing
services, the Cyprus tourism industry’s eMarketing deployment and European NTOs’ eMarketing deployment level. The utter objective that is aimed to be achieved through the implementation of the developed model is the improvement of Cyprus’ competitiveness as a tourism destination worldwide.

A project submitted to Middlesex University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Professional Studies.