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Contents

FOREWORD

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION
Introduction
Trends in Digital Tourism
  Offline Is Losing Ground Every Year
  Mobile-Friendliness
Digital Communication, or Building an Identity
  A Glass Always Full
  Holistic Marketing Communication
  The Message Is Key
  Visual Creatures
From Potential Customer to a Successful Sale
  Let's Talk Funnels
  Your Marketing Channels
  Customer Satisfaction and Retention
  Best Practices
The Digital Age - Closing Remarks
  Recommended Learning Resources
  Where to Learn?
  What to Learn?

TOURISM
Foreword of the Authors
Things to Know About Tourism Products
What Is a Tourism Product?
Elements of the Tourism Product
  Attraction
Significant Factors in Tourism
Classification of Tourism Products
The Place of Tourism Demand in the System of Tourism
The Role of Motivation When Deciding on Travel
The Motives Behind Travelling
  7 useful tips for a successful tourism enterprise
Things to Know About Active Tourism
Characteristics of Cycling Tourism
  Definition of Cycle Tourism
  7 useful pieces of advice to improve active tourism supply
Rural Tourism
  Definition of Rural Tourism
  The Supply of Village Tourism
  The Demand for Village Tourism
  The Effect of Rural Tourism
  7 useful pieces of advice for rural tourism service providers
Changing Needs, New Trends: Alternative or Mainstream Tourism?
  The emergence of alternative tourism and sustainable tourism
One Version of Alternative Sectors: Ecotourism
  The Effect of Tourism on the Environmenth
  An Answer for the Challenges: Ecotourism
  Strengthening the Role of Ecotourism in Rural Development
  Linking Ecotourism with Other Tourism Products
  7 useful pieces of advice for ecotourism providers

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marketing and Communication
Tourism
Online sources

AUTHORS OF THE HANDBOOK

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Foreword

I am Ágnes Szabó-Diószeghy, project coordinator of CARPATHIAN TOURISM Project. The idea of the project was born in October, 2016 when I was interning at the Secretariat of Carpathian Convention of the United Nations Environment Program in Vienna. The basic idea was to try to provide very pragmatic marketing and tourism knowledge to rural tourism entrepreneurs in the Carpathian region, and it was a priority to involve local craftsmen in the project as well.

I spent several years in Spain, where I have seen many examples of rural entrepreneurs selling workshops as tourism products. The leather manufacturers in Ubrique offered bag making, shoemakers offered flamenco shoe making workshops for tourists, while carpet weaving can be learned at Pampaneira in Sierra Nevada. During my following travels, I found the heaven of Andean craftsmanship in Venezuela. Entrepreneurs' street or market stands are flooded by millions of sweaters, earrings, socks, hammocks, crates, and handmade pencils. Most of these items can already be purchased online, but unfortunately it is not local communities that receive the major part of the revenue.

On the one hand, we would like to help rural entrepreneurs and craftsmen sell their services more easily and successfully by advertising them on the right marketing platforms. On the other hand, we want to popularise local products of tourism in the Carpathians. Our aim was to explore how to increase the visibility and attractiveness of the products of the craftsmen and rural tourism service providers participating in the workshops, how to increase their income, how to create sustainable tourism services, or start and finance a business activity.

During the project, we organised four workshops, one in each of the four countries of the Visegrád Group. During the workshops we provided touristic and marketing knowledge with the help of experts on the development of businesses of rural tourism and craft entrepreneurship. The marketing modules were led by Péter Balog, and the tourism modules were led by Dr. Tibor Gonda and Dr. Zoltán Raffay.

The modules of the workshops are included in this handbook in a revised version, with the aim of helping those who did not come to the workshops but would like to enhance the promotion of their own product and business. The handbook is also published in English, so it can reach more entrepreneurs. In addition to the workshops and the handbook, we have created an English language catalogue of the products and services of the participants of the workshops with photos, which is available online and will be presented at the 2018 FITUR and ITB tourism exhibitions in Madrid.

Dr. Mátyás Szabó contributed to the project as a consultant and editor of the handbook. In implementing the project and editing the handbook, Adrienn Széll provided indispensable help.

The project is run by the Association for Tourism on the Tisza Plain in cooperation with Humtour Ltd. We received a lot of support and motivation from the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention, who helped the implementation of the project, contacting local partners, and the dissemination as a partner from the very beginning.

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Ágnes Szabó-Diószeghy
http://carpathiantourism.humtour.com

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