Theoretical Basis of Tourism Destination Marketing

- Social tourism: Appeals to people for whom contact and interaction with other people is most important. For some people, being accompanied by members of a social group on tours is also satisfying. Others seek the opportunity to integrate with the local population at the destination. Family visits can also be included in this category.

- Activity tourism: This type of tourism attracts visitors with a predetermined and challenging activity to complete during their trip, during their vacation.

- Leisure tourism: This type arises from the need to rest and relax to restore physical and mental health. This type of tourism attracts people whose main reason for traveling is to enjoy and enjoy the vacation.

- Sports tourism: Attracts sports enthusiasts to improve their physical fitness and health. Participating in sports such as tennis, golf, beach volleyball, surfing, skiing, road cycling, etc. are examples of activities suitable for this type of tourism.

- Thematic tourism: This type of tourism involves a small, limited group of people traveling with a common purpose or a special interest unique to them.

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- Religious tourism: satisfies the special religious needs of people of different religions. It is expressed in pilgrimages to places of spiritual significance or revered religious sites.

- Health tourism: attracts people looking for opportunities to improve their physical condition. Resorts, health resorts in high mountains or coastal areas, hot springs or mineral water spots are typical places that generate this type of tourism.

- Ethnographic tourism: This type of tourism characterizes the people who

return to the homeland to learn about the history, origin of the homeland, family lineage or seek to restore indigenous cultural traditions

Classification by territorial scope

- International tourism: involves trips that go beyond the tourist's national territory (borders).

- Domestic tourism: is the trips of residents only within their own country.

-Domestic tourism: includes domestic tourism and international tourism.

-National tourism: includes domestic tourism and international tourism.

Classification by geographical characteristics of tourist destinations

- Sea tourism: sea tourism is a type of tourism based on nature in areas with sea potential, aiming to satisfy people's needs for entertainment, recreation, relaxation, and swimming.

-Mountain tourism: is a tourism activity taking place in a defined and limited geographical space such as hills and mountains with special characteristics and attributes associated with a specific landscape, terrain, climate, biodiversity (plants and animals) and local community.

- Picnic: Picnic is a useful activity for all ages, through entertainment, sightseeing, it helps improve health and discover new things.

- Garden tourism: garden tourism is very popular today and loved by many people. Traveling to fruit gardens, not only enjoy the fresh and cool air, but also pick fruit and participate in fun activities.

Classification by means of transport

- Bicycle travel: Bicycle travel is also a good way to exercise to improve your health. When traveling by bicycle, you will be more independent and flexible in moving.

- Car tourism: car tourism is also the most important in the world, it is the main means of connecting tourist cities. Today's tourist cars also integrate entertainment facilities, or luxurious beds to help passengers feel more comfortable.

- Traveling by train: a safe means of travel with fast speed, full amenities, you can enjoy the long distance scenery through the window.

- Travel by boat: traveling by boat is convenient, the boat is both a means of transportation and a place of accommodation, providing tourists with all the high-class entertainment facilities during a long tour.

- Air travel: is one of the modern forms of travel, can travel long distances in a short time.

Sort by trip length

- Short-term tourism: is a type of tourism that usually lasts from 1-3 days (or less than 1 week) focusing mainly on weekends.

- Long-term tourism: is a type of tourism that is often associated with long periods of several weeks to several months in a location far from the visitor's residence.

Classification by organizational form

- Group tourism: is a type of tourism involving a group of guests, usually belonging to organizations, using the services of travel agencies.

- Individual tourism: is a tourism activity in which individuals decide on their own trip such as schedule and service providers. This type is increasingly developing because

has certain advantages such as flexibility, promoting the needs of individual tourists during the trip.

- Family tourism: is a type of tourism organized by families themselves or using the services of travel companies.

1.3 Theoretical basis of tourism destination marketing

1.3.1 Tourist destination

Through the research process, tourism marketing experts have come up with general concepts about tourist destinations:

“A tourist destination is a place with attractive elements, complementary elements and products that combine these elements to meet the needs and desires of tourists” - Dr. Nguyen Van Dang - University of Commerce. [3,3]

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Manh: "A tourist destination is a destination that we can perceive by geographical borders, political borders or economic borders, has attractive tourism resources, and is capable of attracting and meeting the needs of tourists" [5,342]

According to the law on tourism: "A tourist destination is a place with attractive tourism resources, serving the sightseeing needs of tourists". Thus, a tourist destination must be a place with tourism resources, with the ability to attract tourists.

Classification of tourist destinations

-Based on the scale of the destination, it is classified into 3 main scales: Megadestination (Large scale at the continental level), Macro-destination (Macro-destination at the national level), Micro-destination (Micro-destination - regional, provincial, city, town, township level...)

- Based on location: destinations can be classified as being in coastal or mountainous areas,

city or countryside

-Based on the value of tourism resources: it can be classified as a destination with natural or human resource value.

- Based on the country: tourist destinations can be classified as a country or a group of countries, or it can be a region.

- Based on purpose: destinations can be classified for different purposes.

- Based on the planning location: is it a destination in the tourist center of the region or a neighboring destination. (According to Dr. Nguyen Van Dang) - [3,4-5]

Elements of a tourist destination

- Tourist attractions: The attractions of a tourist destination, whether man-made, natural or events, provide the initial impetus for visitors to visit.

- Transportation: Creativity in organizing tourist transportation will facilitate groups of tourists in accessing destinations and is an important factor in attracting tourists.

- Accommodation: The destination's accommodation services not only provide formal accommodation but also create a general feeling of warm hospitality and unforgettable impressions of local food and specialties.

- Facilities and support services: Tourists require a range of facilities, facilities and support services at the tourist destination. This segment is characterized by low ownership concentration.

- Other aspects: Activities and elements that make up a local tourist destination other than the physical aspect, which is the infrastructure and technical facilities of the destination.

The important thing to make a tourist destination attractive and appealing to visitors requires destination business management. The issue of destination business management

involves many issues from marketing, propaganda, advertising and destination promotion to product development at the destination, especially the close coordination of subjects at the destination to improve the quality of customer service so that they have deep emotions and experiences.

1.3.2 Tourism destination marketing

In the tourism sector, tourism destination marketing includes a series of activities aimed at attracting tourists to visit and use the tourism products and services provided at that destination. Through these activities, the destination seeks positive changes in value by providing benefits to current and potential tourists, while benefiting other components involved in tourism activities at the destination. Sustainable tourism destination development requires that economic, social, environmental and community benefits at the destination must be ensured in a harmonious manner.

Besides, many research organizations and scholars have also proposed the concept of tourism destination marketing, specifically:

In the book "Promoting tourist destinations", Dr. Nguyen Van Dang introduced the concept of tourist destination marketing: "Tourist destination marketing is a management process that allows marketing organizations to create and maintain relationships between tourist destinations.

and current and potential tourists, through anticipating and meeting tourists' needs for the destination and being able to easily communicate with the destination” [3,20].

According to Dr. Karl Albrecht - business strategist, member of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), tourism destination marketing is defined as "an approach to the economic and cultural development of a region (region)".

proactive, strategic and people-focused approach that balances and integrates the interests of tourists, service providers and local communities”

Thus, it can be seen that tourism destination marketing is the process by which destination management organizations conduct market research to select target tourist markets, establish, maintain and develop tourist markets by creating and bringing them superior values of the tourist destinations they expect.

1.3.3 The role of tourism destination marketing

For the destination

In the context of an increasingly diverse and developed tourism market, tourist destinations tend to be saturated and obscured, without highlights to differentiate and attract tourists compared to other competitors. The competition for tourists attracts tourists compared to other competitors. The competition for tourists is gradually focusing on highlighting the soul and identity of the destination. Therefore, tourism destination marketing becomes an important tool to highlight the differences and competitive advantages of a destination, helping customers easily access and make choices. From there, build a unique identity, making it easy for customers to recognize the tourism products of that destination.

Tourism destination marketing is a bridge connecting, diverse and close relationship between destination and potential customers. Directly impacting customers' decision to choose a destination.

Tourists choose a destination often based on the images in their minds about that destination. These images are often created from diverse sources of information: Internet, television, movies, news, magazines, reports, opinions of people around them... Implementing destination marketing will give tourists an accurate view, customers will be able to choose the right destination.

visual, sympathetic images that stimulate the desire to learn and experience. Limit misleading images from unofficial sources about the destination.

Nowadays, tourism destination marketing is not only an effective activity to attract tourists, but also an inevitable trend to achieve the overall development goals of the destination.[10,4]

For tourists

In today's era, when the value of time and convenience is increasingly emphasized, customers always tend to proactively seek information to make informed decisions. Especially for the tourism market, when making a decision for a vacation, it means that customers need to choose a location that suits their needs for rest, relaxation, and entertainment, suitable for the amount of money they intend to spend, and the interesting points of the destination they want to explore. Thus, destination marketing will provide customers with an overview of the destination, introducing them in general to the outstanding features of the destination such as culture, customs, landscapes, historical sites, beliefs, people... helping to shorten the time and effort in searching for information, choosing the destination that best suits their wishes.

In addition, tourism destination marketing is an effective competitive method, not only to develop the brand, increase the awareness of the tourist destination with customers, it also helps to improve and strengthen the quality of tourism products and services at that destination through comprehensive programs that affect all subjects in the tourism industry. Thus, customers will be the beneficiaries of marketing activities through exposure to high-quality products and services at competitive prices.

The choice of tourist destination today has become one of the important indicators to evaluate the lifestyle of tourists. Therefore, tourist destinations need to have the strength

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