The Role of Tour Operators in Destination Tourism Marketing in Malawi

Destination marketing is one of the tools used by tour operators to gain a tourism competitive advantage. Tourism is one of the biggest businesses in the global village. It is a business in a very competitive market environment that marketing tourism destinations cannot be done by destination management organizations (DMOs) alone but also intermediaries like tour operators. Marketing tourism destination nowadays is highly driven by technology which enhances tourists' destination knowledge prior to their visits. However, the downside of technology cannot be underestimated on the business environment. While there is a growing importance of technology usage which creates challenges for destination competitiveness, tour operators use their marketing strategies to help building positive destination images. These images are created to influence tourists' travel decision making and visits. This chapter, therefore, has examined the present tourism marketing strategies, activities, and approaches used by tour operators in creating positive images for tourism destination using 20 cases of Malawian tour operators.