Critical factors for marketing urban cultural tourism: a conceptual model

Cultural tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing global tourism markets, and marketing plays an important role in promoting cultural tourism destinations and increasing their competitiveness and attractiveness. Based on the 'value-based marketing' concept of Kotler and Keller (2008), this study takes a comprehensive overview of previous literature and identifies three dimensions which embrace a series of factors related to the marketing of urban cultural tourism. First, 'value exploration' consists of segmentation, targeting and positioning – the essence of strategic marketing. This study demonstrates that cultural tourism market can be segmented by six factors. Some elements are also proposed to craft a city's positioning. The second dimension is 'value creation', and authenticity, inclusiveness and creativity are the three critical factors for developing cultural tourism products. Third, 'value delivery' is concerned with how a city can deliver the new value offerings more efficiently. The establishment of partnerships and the deployment of supporting resources are deemed as crucial. Finally, the conceptual model of this study could be presented as a base line for further primary research.