Marketing remote destinations: a case study of the Northern Territory, Australia

It is accepted that effective marketing is an important feature of successful tourism destinations and is necessary in order to promote tourism growth. Effective marketing is even more important for remote destinations since these destinations have extra challenges to overcome such as accessibility and tourists’ perceptions of inferior infrastructure. This article presents findings from a study that examined Tourism Northern Territory’s approach to marketing and how stakeholders in three destinations viewed this approach. Stakeholders suggested that Tourism NT’s ‘destination’ approach to marketing the Territory, when viewed against the previously employed generic ‘whole of Territory’ marketing methodology, provided a more appropriate positioning tool for their region, and by extension, provided local tourism stakeholders with a greater connection with the marketing division of Tourism Northern Territory. However, these positive conclusions were tempered by some perceived failings.