Place Marketing

The course aims to provide students with advanced knowledge and applied tools to understand and design territorial marketing strategies, with specific reference to hospitality, tourism and the sustainable enhancement of places and destinations.

The course develops the ability to analyse territories as complex systems made up of tangible and intangible resources, public and private actors, local communities, infrastructure, cultural identities, tourist destinations and hospitality services. From this perspective, the course examines the contribution of marketing to the sustainable planning, management and promotion of territories, with particular attention to value creation for visitors, residents, firms and institutions.

Through lectures, case study discussions, practical exercises and project work, the course enables students to analyse the competitive positioning of a destination, segment tourism markets, design place branding strategies, define marketing mix policies for hospitality and tourism, and assess the economic, social and environmental implications of marketing decisions.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Knowledge and understanding
- describe the main concepts, models and tools of territorial marketing, hospitality marketing and tourism marketing;
- explain the specific features of service marketing in tourism and hospitality, with reference to intangibility, inseparability, variability, perishability and the central role of experience;
- understand the role of marketing in the strategic planning of destinations and in the sustainable enhancement of territories.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding
- analyse the competitive environment of a tourist destination or territorial system;
- apply segmentation, targeting and positioning tools to tourism and hospitality markets;
- design a territorial value proposition consistent with local resources, tourism demand, sustainability and stakeholder expectations;
- develop a marketing plan for a destination, a local hospitality system or a territorial enhancement project.
3. Making judgements
- critically assess the opportunities and limitations of territorial, tourism and hospitality marketing strategies;
- interpret data, cases and market information in order to make reasoned decisions;
- consider the social, environmental and economic implications of tourism promotion and destination development strategies.
4. Communication skills
- communicate analyses, strategic diagnoses and operational proposals in a clear and structured way;
- present a territorial marketing project using appropriate technical language;
- discuss cases and project solutions with both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
5. Learning skills
- independently use bibliographic sources, teaching materials, territorial data and business cases;
- update their knowledge of tourism marketing, hospitality, sustainability and territorial competitiveness;
- develop an autonomous and applied approach to solving territorial marketing problems.