Where are the Danish tourists? - An explorative study of destination image and target group awareness

Master's Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Tourism, grade: 2, University of Aalborg, 44 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In 2007, the biggest sea side resort of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, the town of Kühlungsborn, welcomed circa 209 Danish visitors.§Between January and April 2008, the number of Danish visitors had already doubled the above stated number. Consequently, this was attributed to the direct marketing activities of the destination s private tourism businesses on the Danish target market and had resulted in a sudden increase of bookings from potential Danish guests.§Thus, this thesis takes its point of departure in the existence of an observable phenomenon of the tourism industry of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania (MV),namely the very low density and almost absence of Danish tourists at the MV Baltic coastline, although they present a highly profitable and potential target group.§The main objective of the present thesis is the demonstration of an explorative insight view into the existing level of perceived destination image and awareness of Danish tourists in regard to their potential holiday destination at the Baltic coastline of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania (MV), in order to emphasise the enormous potential of the Danish target market for the tourist destinations at the MV coastline.§Additionally, the lack of target group awareness by the MV destination marketeers will be demonstrated, as, presently, this potential seems to be rarely recognised and in particular, not fully utilised.§The theoretical frameworks used in order to analyse the above stated phenomenon will derive from destination marketing theories and theories of destination image formation as well as destination brand image, also in a local and international context. §Additionally, theories of general tourist behaviour and particularly the importance of target group awareness by destination marketeers will be discussed in the tourism context of the MV coastline.§Following the theoretical considerations, a recent situation analysis of the MV tourism industry will be provided. The main problems of MV regarding its position on the international tourism market will be discussed including the crucial demand for the development of an international image and brand.