Tourism and social marketing: an integrative review

Abstract

This paper presents an integrative review of how social marketing principles and practices have been conceptualised and applied in tourism studies. A systematic literature search was conducted, which found 41 relevant tourism-related journal articles published from 1971 to January 2024. Thirty-six articles self-identified as social marketing, while five studies did not self-identify as social marketing. Findings show most tourism studies conceptualise social marketing from a downstream or micro- perspective, seeking to influence behaviour change in individual tourists. Studies applying an upstream or systems perspective in tourism are rare, indicating opportunities for future research in tourism to align approaches with contemporary social marketing practice. Often theory and model use are not reported, making it challenging to identify the requisite key success factors for effective social marketing interventions. Not only are the impacts of interventions rarely documented, but they also tend to be short-term. Long-term evaluation of interventions, particularly at the macro-level, is missing. A model of social marketing application in tourism is suggested that integrates approaches across the downstream, community, upstream, and macro- levels. Implications for further utilisation of social marketing to achieve sustainable tourism are discussed.

Keywords:

• Sustainability
• environment
• behaviour change
• climate change
• tourism systems

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

V. Dao Truong

Dao Truong is an assistant professor of tourism in Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) and an affiliated researcher in Tourism Research in Economic Environs & Society (TREES), North-West University, Potchefstroom (South Africa). He serves as regional editor for Journal of Social Marketing and editorial board member for Social Marketing Quarterly and International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing (Email: [email protected]).

Stephen G. Saunders

Stephen G. Saunders is a senior lecturer in marketing in Monash University Department of Marketing, Victoria, Australia (Email: [email protected]).

Aaron Tkaczynski

Aaron Tkaczynski is a senior lecturer in tourism and events in School of Business, Faculty of Business, Economics & Law, University of Queensland, Australia (Email: [email protected]).

Sharyn Rundle-Thiele

Sharyn Rundle-Thiele is a professor and founding director of Social Marketing@Griffith, Griffith University, Australia. She is also founding editor of Journal of Social Marketing (Email: [email protected]).