Marketing Malta as tourist destination to Finnish market

Abstract

The aim of this research is to gain improved insight of the marketing Malta as a tourist destination to the Finnish tourist leisure market. The focus of the research is on the demand perspective, and therefore the Finns' level of awareness of and interest in Malta as a destination are studied. Related to the latter, Malta's attractiveness to the Finnish tourist market is also evaluated in relation to the destination choice sets. Furthermore, the perceived and the projected destination images of Malta are analysed. The results were gathered through both quantitative and qualitative research. The qualitative research included expert interviews conducted with the marketing director of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) and two tour operators as well as web-content analysis of six online travel agencies while the quantitative research method was applied in the form of a questionnaire to the Finns. The findings revealed that Malta is only offered as a dynamic package travel destination for the Finns by the online tour operators and travel agencies. In addition, MTA is not directly marketing Malta in Finland unless a direct flight connection between the countries is established. Thus, the lack of charter and direct scheduled flights hinders the tapping of the Finnish tourism market by means of marketing. It has also been concluded that the cultural element of Malta's tourism product is more prevalent in the projected destination images of online travel intermediaries targeted at Finns than in the perceived images of the Finnish respondents who essentially regard Malta as a sunny island destination. Above all, the directional evidence of this study suggests that Finns have a positive image of Malta and perceive Malta as an attractive destination but do not regard it as their next potential travel destination. To change this, recommendations with regard to the destination marketing of Malta to Finns are also provided.