The Role of Electronic Marketing in Developing Tourism Growth‍
‍
By: Sabaa Saed Fadhil‍
‍
Supervised by: Lect. Dr. Dhiaa Radhi Al-Safi‍
‍
First: The role of marketing in reviving the tourism aspect‍
Modern media with its various tools constitute one of the most important influences on local and international public opinion, as its ability to reach the public with its various spectra, and spread very quickly, made it an urgent requirement in all activities and specializations.‍
‍
From this standpoint, tourism’s need for media activity is an integral part of the tourism industry itself, as it is considered an element of its development and part of achieving its goals in the desired manner.‍
‍
The truth of this appears in its vital role in more than one aspect, the most prominent of which is achieving awareness of the importance of tourism in society, and shaping the tourism culture among its individuals, including defining ways of dealing with tourists and the environment in addition to contributing to marketing tourism. (Adly and Shawqi, 2011: p. 3).‍
‍
Media is generally defined as the art of establishing and strengthening relationships, understanding and mutual trust between an institution and its various stakeholders, by introducing the institution and its products, studying the behaviors and desires of these stakeholders, and trying to satisfy their needs and work to develop and expand mutual interests.‍
‍
As for tourism media, it is all objective media efforts made by official or unofficial bodies to improve the image of tourism and calling for the preparation and transmission of messages or a group of messages with the aim of creating tourism awareness or developing the tourism image of a country or region in specific markets and audiences using media outlets in order to attract the interest of prospective tourists in those markets, whether inside or outside the country, and push them to practice tourism activity.‍
‍
It can also be said that social media applications have greatly affected the mechanisms and approaches followed in managing the marketing business of the destination on the one hand, and on the tourist and his decisions on the other hand.‍
‍
Tourism media focuses on the tourist facilities provided to tourists for each of them to enjoy when they come to the tourist destination because any restriction on their movement and freedom has an adverse effect, whether in extending their stay or in returning to visit or inviting others from their relatives and friends to visit the country they visited. (Badr, 2018: p. 172).‍
‍
The most prominent characteristics of tourism media are the following:-‍
‍
To present in a homogeneous manner the customs and traditions of ancient peoples and their modern renaissance.‍
‍
To provide tourism components such as hotels, entertainment facilities, and travel facilities, i.e. ports, airports, prices, etc.‍
‍
To define tourism components such as entry visa facilities, customs and health procedures, with an honest analysis of the benefit that accrues to the tourist.‍
‍
To adapt media activities to the customs, traditions, and history of the peoples to whom this tourism activity is directed (Jalal Badr: p. 174).‍
‍
Media promotion of tourism services is one of the most important elements of tourism promotion, if not the most important of all. In fact, the success of any tourism program depends on the ability of the tourism establishment to promote this program, as promotion creates knowledge among tourists about the company and its programs and creates positive interaction between the tourist and the information he obtained through promotional efforts.‍
‍
Second: Factors that help activate media promotion of tourism:‍
‍
There are many factors that help activate tourism, the most prominent of which revolve around‍
‍
(Abdul Karim, 2012: p. 22).‍