Pergamon zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFE Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 616-629, 1995 Copyright 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0160.7383/95 $9.50 + .OO 0160-7383(95)00010-O TOURISM DESTINATION MARKETING ALLIANCES Adrian Palmer De Montfort University, UK David Bejou University of North Carolina at Wilmington, USA Abstract: Tourism destination marketing involves many stakeholders and a complex product offer. Complexity and interdependency among stakeholders have resulted in the creation of many local tourism marketing alliances. The nature of their environments influences the domain over which they have authority. This paper uses a model describing the coverage, form, mode, and motivation of an alliance. A comparison of UK and USA alliances indicates that the domain of the latter are more constrained by the social, economic, and political environment in which they operate. Prescriptions for local tourism marketing alliances should not be made without understanding the needs of stakeholders and the constraints of their environments. Keywords: destination marketing, collaboration, collaborative alliances, United Kingdom, United States. R&urn& Les alliances du marketing des destinations touristiques. Le marketing des destinations touristiques implique de nombreuses parties et une offre de produits complexe. La complexit& et 1’interdCpendance parmi les parties concernCes a conduit ?I la crCation de nombreuses alliances locales dans ce secteur. La nature de I’environnement de ces alliances influence leur domaine d’autoritt. Le p&sent document utilise un modtle qui d&it la couverture, forme, mode et motivation d’une alliance. Une comparaison des alliances britanniques et amtricaines indique que ces dernitres sent plus restraintes par l’environnement social, Cconomique et politique dans lequel elles operent. Aucune prescription concernant les alliances locales dans le domaine tourist- ique ne devrait &tre formulte sans prendre en ConsidCration les besoins des diff&entes parties et les contraintes de leurs environnements. M&s-cl&: marketing des destinations touristiques, collaboration, alliances, Royaume-Uni, Etats-Unis. INTRODUCTION The proportion of GDP spent on tourism related activities has in- creased significantly during recent decades. The World Tourism Or- ganization (1987) has estimated that tourism -loosely defined - ac- counts for about 3.4% of GDP in the United Kingdom and 4.6% of GDP in the United States; while the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has estimated that within member countries, each $1 billion of additional tourism spending cre- ates 33,000 new jobs through a multiplier effect. As a means of gener- Adrian Palmer is Principal Lecturer in marketing at De Montfort University (Leicester Busi- ness School, Leicester LE1 9BH, United Kingdom. E-mail: “ajpmar@dmu.ac.uk”). He has management experience in tourism and has taught and researched in the field of services market- ing in UK and USA. David Bejou is Assistant Professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (E-mail: “bejoud@vxc.ocis.unwil.edu”), with a background in service industry management. His specialized area of teaching and research interest is relationship marketing. 616