Developing marketing strategies for tourism destinations in peripheral areas of Europe: the case of Bornholm

This thesis concentrates on the subject of destination marketing with a specific focus on the process of developing strategies through a Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) for a peripheral area, illustrated by a case study from the Danish island of Bornholm. It investigates the theoretical foundations for destination marketing, concluding that there should be a shift in focus from general marketing theory to a broader application of organisational theories and associated fields, enabling the DMO to improve performance. The specific conditions for and structures of peripheral areas indicate that the process in these areas should be adapted to the circumstances generally experienced there. Specifically the predominant occurrence of lifestyle businesses in peripheral areas, either as micro-businesses or SMEs, which plan on a short-term basis, needs to be included in the strategic planning process by viewing them as cooperative customers. Thus the DMO needs to apply the principles of marketing to the development process of the strategy itself, and therefore to view the strategic plan as a product of the DMO, which needs to be marketed. The theoretical analysis shows that DMOs cannot control all of the components of the marketing mix, but they can cooperate with the providers of the destination mix and incite coopetition for the benefit of visitors. The case study portrays the DMO at a mature cold-water resort in a European peripheral area; it also illustrates the general development of tourism to the island and the impact of this development on the organisational structure of the tourism industry. It is assumed that the findings are transferable to other destinations that operate under similar conditions.