Promoting International Tourist Attractions in the Tourist Cluster

like why a particular tourist chooses one destination over another. Dann (1981) points out that “once the trip has been decided, where to go, what to see or what to do (in relation to particular destinations) can be worked out. Thus, analytically, and often logically and temporally, push factors precede pull factors”. That is, push and pull factors can be thought of as involving two decisions made at two separate points in time. Tourists are first motivated by the need and desire to make a ‘go or not’ decision (push factors), and then by destination attributes to make a ‘go where’ decision (pull factors). Destination attributes are therefore crucial for a destination to be successful in attracting more tourists.

Elements of a destination that make it attractive to tourists include:

- Price: The price of goods and services at the destination is a measure to choose a tourist destination for many tourist groups, especially for tourist groups coming from areas with low average income.

- Culture: Cultural factors have become one of the most important and create attractive attributes for a destination to attract more tourists.

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- Services: Researchers believe that the real reason why people travel is that they seek to escape from their daily reality through the consumption of agricultural products and non-authentic experiences. People are tired of their daily lives. They travel for fun, entertainment and relaxation. Therefore, entertainment and relaxation can be significant attractive attributes for a destination to satisfy the needs of tourists. The quality of services at destinations will be the factor that attracts tourists to decide to extend their stay or return at later times.

- Landscape, weather and climate: Natural conditions can significantly influence tourist activities and behavior, as well as affect people's daily lives.

- Destination accessibility: Accessibility can be defined as “the relative ease or difficulty with which customers can reach their chosen destination” (Kim, 1998).

- Infrastructure conditions: Conditions of transport infrastructure, communications, hygiene conditions, food safety are issues that can affect the quality of services provided to tourists. Ease and convenience in transportation, travel, or exchange and communication can also create the attractiveness of a certain destination. In addition, good infrastructure can also be a condition for destinations to expand tourism products, such as MICE.

2.1.3. Promoting international tourist attraction in tourist clusters

2.1.3.1. Concept of international tourism promotion in tourism clusters

There are many concepts of tourism promotion. In a broad sense, tourism promotion can include "propaganda, promotion, and introduction of tourism in a region, locality, or country to develop unique tourist areas, tourist routes, tourist attractions, and high-quality tourism products imbued with national and local cultural identity that are competitive with tourism products of other countries" (Vietnam Tourism Law 2006).

In a narrow sense, promotion is "a process of communicating and transmitting information about products and sellers to customers (tourists) to influence or impact the awareness, attitudes, and behaviors of buyers and persuade them to buy their tourism products" (Nguyen Van Manh, Nguyen Dinh Hoa, 2018).

Marketing of a locality is similar to that of a business or organization, therefore, promoting international tourist attraction to a tourist cluster is also narrowly defined as " the process of communicating to international tourists to attract and persuade them to choose the cluster's tourism products ".

In a narrow perspective, promoting international tourism in tourist clusters needs to ensure attention to tourism products and factors affecting international tourists' choice of tourism products. On that basis, communication strategies are built more effectively.

2.1.3.2. Principles of international tourism promotion:

Firstly, promoting international tourism in tourism clusters as well as promoting tourism in general must be linked to a certain target market. When determining promotion strategies or plans, it is necessary to determine the objectives of each organization in each market.

certain market. For each different target market, the promotion strategy will be different.

Second, international tourism promotion also needs to be based on the competitiveness of the cluster. Most clusters must be different from other tourism clusters to survive in the market. This difference is the competitiveness of the cluster. Therefore, promotion strategies need to emphasize these differentiating factors to inform the target customers.

Third, tourism promotion must be consistent with the state and local tourism development plans. Tourism promotion activities must be based on the general development plans of each locality and the state's tourism strategies and orientations in order to survive and develop sustainably. In addition, promotion strategies that are consistent with the plans will provide accurate information to customers, which is the basis for tourists to trust and choose tourism products in the future.

Fourth, balance the promotion program based on the promotion budget. In addition to the capital of the promotion entities, it is possible to mobilize different resources to participate in the tourism promotion process, but in principle, promotion activities must be based on the principle of cost savings and maximizing promotion effectiveness. International tourism promotion programs will have a larger promotion budget requirement than domestic programs. Therefore, tourism clusters need to consider the cluster's general budget plans to ensure effective implementation of international tourism promotion programs.

2.1.3.3. The role of international tourism promotion activities

For tourism activities, tourism promotion plays a very important role and is indispensable in the exploitation process. A tourist destination that wants to be exploited and developed successfully must conduct promotion. This activity is carried out by organizations: For the country, it is carried out by the national tourism promotion organization in coordination with related sectors; For the locality, the promotion of local tourist destinations is carried out by the local tourism promotion organization and has the participation and coordination of related organizations. The role of tourism destination promotion is demonstrated through the following contents:

- Tourism promotion activities to propagate, advertise and introduce tourism services.

Provide tourism information about destinations in potential markets, thereby attracting tourists.

- Raise people's awareness of the role of tourism development, bringing many benefits to society such as creating a favorable tourism environment, increasing income, creating jobs, preserving and reasonably exploiting tourism resources.

- Create a positive image of the tourist cluster - tourist destination in the minds of tourists, influencing their choice of destination.

- Tourism destination promotion activities are defined as a proactive and creative effort of the destination, establishing information channels, persuading, offering goods and services or promoting the image and ideas of the tourist destination.

2.1.3.4. Benefits of international tourism promotion activities

- For tourist destinations and suppliers

Promotion activities can promote the image of a tourist destination to many people so that they know about the tourist destination, know about the tourist products of that destination, thereby helping the tourist destination to build a brand. At the same time, it can attract investment projects to exploit and develop the potential of the tourist destination itself.

For tourism organizations, businesses and tourism product suppliers, promoting tourism destinations will be an effective tool in maintaining old demand, creating new demand, stimulating consumption, increasing reputation and business position, supporting the introduction of tourism products and services to the market, thereby increasing profits...

- For local communities

Effective tourism destination promotion can attract a large number of international tourists, while creating jobs and increasing income for local communities at the tourist destination.

Promoting tourist destinations contributes to improving the quality of life of local people, educating awareness of environmental protection, protection of destination resources, service attitude, awareness of improving service quality...

Through tourists, local people can come into contact and exchange cultures with many different regional and national cultures, thereby enriching and diversifying the culture of the indigenous community.

- For tourists

Tourism destination promotion activities have the effect of orienting interests and shaping tastes and consumer behavior of tourists.

Tourism promotion activities contribute to enhancing the value of tourism products. Because through competition, tourism businesses strive to bring to the market better quality goods and services.

Tourism destination promotion activities have the effect of guiding tourists, providing systematic knowledge about a type of product, service, and destination. From there, tourists are improved and confident in choosing products more effectively.

In addition, promotional activities also directly affect the interests of tourists. Therefore, in the process of promotion, it is required to have ethics, responsibility and legal obligations to not provide false information, affecting national cultural traditions, contrary to good customs...

2.2. Organize tourism promotion process to attract international visitors to the tourist cluster

2.2.1. Building a promotion process

Promotion is a marketing tool that creates communication methods that can increase the number of potential customers who are aware of the tourism product. Tourism promotion is considered as measures to promote sales through the dissemination and dissemination of information. This means trying to encourage current and potential tourists to make a decision to travel. According to Salah Wahab and John J.Pigram (1997), the goals of tourism promotion are: (1) to make tourism products known to many people; (2) to make tourism products attractive and appealing to encourage many people to want to experience them. (3) to make the message content attractive but still ensure honesty.

Messages can be conveyed through audio (radio), visual (newspapers, advertisements, television, movies, exhibitions, etc.).

To promote tourism, entities need to develop a tourism promotion process. The promotion process is the process of planning and implementing a promotion plan.

This process includes steps, which are performed as follows:

1. Choose your target market

2. Identify promotional products

3. Build promotional content (message)

4. Promotional media

5. Set up a promotion budget

6. Building a promotion apparatus

7. Measure and evaluate promotion effectiveness

XTDL process

In the promotion process, it can be divided into two main stages in promoting tourism in the cluster, including (1) Planning promotion and (2) Organizing promotion implementation.

Figure 2.3. Tourism promotion process

Source: According to Baldemoro J., 2013

(1) Promotion planning:

(i) Identify the target audience and target market that the promotion organization needs to aim at. According to GA Schmoll (1977), promotion objectives need to comply with the general marketing plan and identify the characteristics of the target market group that needs to be promoted. Use primary and secondary research to indicate and identify the characteristics of the target market (e.g. demographic and geographic origin). The target market must be easily accessible through the promotional mix elements or a specific type of media. The target market must include individuals with characteristics similar to the expected business objectives. Promotion objectives must be specific, measurable, achievable and time-bound.

(ii) Identifying promotional products: With different target audiences, the cluster needs to identify products to promote tourism. Promotional products need to reflect the characteristics of the cluster, but at the same time also be suitable for the needs of the target audiences and target markets.

(iii) Develop promotional content (promotional message): Indicate the target of the message: needs, desires, motivations, expectations. Determine what can be

communication (message ideas), support for market approaches, testing message ideas. In addition, the promotion organization needs to choose the form of message expression: analogy, association and symbolism/ comparison/ fear,/ honesty/ slice of life/ testimonial/ virtual photography or exaggerated situations.

(iv) Promotional media: identify promotional tools to communicate messages to customers, which may include:

+ Advertising: any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, services, or products by an identified sponsor

+ Personal selling: oral or telephone, face-to-face communication between a seller and a potential customer

+ Sales promotion: an approach other than personal selling, advertising and public relations and publicity where customers are encouraged to make an immediate purchase or ordering decision, or to contact potential viewers or travel agents

+ Direct selling: materials used in-house to promote sales include display advertising materials, signs, posters, pictures, cards and other point-of-sale promotional items.

+ Public relations and publicity: all activities of maintaining or promoting relationships with organizations or individuals, publicity is a public relations technique that involves free communication about the services of a destination or an organization.

+ Internet marketing: using web, social networks, email, etc. to communicate with potential tourists.

To select the appropriate promotional tool, the promotional organization needs to consider factors such as transaction cost, cost per order (CPI), cost per thousand (CPM), geographic choice, longevity, market choice, noise level, time flexibility, total cost, image quality, view rate, source reliability, etc.

(v) Setting the promotion budget: The budget should be based on the promotion objectives, using the budgeting methods according to objectives and tasks (based on the Zero approach), but it is necessary to pay attention to what the organization can afford (affordable budget method), promotion cooperation should be

budget expansion. That is, parties can mobilize external budgets to serve promotional activities. Budget allocation also needs to take into account different market segments and target groups.

(2) Organization of promotion implementation:

(i) Building a promotion apparatus: building a promotion apparatus in a tourism cluster needs to take into account the parties involved in the promotion activities and the responsibilities of the parties in the process of implementing the promotion activities. The division of responsibilities is extremely important, especially for tourism clusters, with many different subjects and interests.

(ii) Measurement and evaluation of promotional effectiveness: carried out through a number of forms such as: Measuring changes in awareness levels, response and conversion rates; Research on advertising tracking; Cost comparison methods; Content testing; Conversion research; Prospecting and tracking; Pre-test and post-test. Travel exhibition accounting.

2.2.2. Promotion planning

2.2.2.1. Identify target audience and target market for promotion through market research

Identifying the target audience and target market for promotion through market research is the first step in starting a tourism promotion strategy or plan, whether it is from the perspective of tourism promotion of a business or a locality, a cluster of localities or a country. Identifying the right target market and customer base will help tourism clusters determine the right tourism promotion strategy.

Market research can be approached in a broad sense, that is, studying the behavior of subjects in the tourism market such as tourists, competitors, micro and macro factors that can affect supply and demand in the tourism market. However, the market research in this thesis only approaches from the perspective of studying the behavior of customers (tourists), on that basis, designing appropriate tourism products and tourism promotion strategies.

Researching the tourism market requires identifying the following issues: who are the customers, what are their characteristics? Which customers are the big customers?

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