On June 5, 2024, at 10:00, Caucasus University will host a student conference titled "Development of a Tourist Destination and Its Marketing Campaign." The event is organized by the Caucasus School of Tourism and is supported by the National Tourism Administration.

 

The conference is open to student teams from accredited universities in Georgia.

 

Important dates:

 

• April 20: Deadline for team registration. Register at the provided link.
• May 20: Deadline for receiving reports from registered teams (10-15 pages in length).
• May 28: Announcement of the teams that have passed to the final stage.
• June 5: Announcement of the winning team based on presentations and submitted reports.

 

Challenge: Marketing campaign for a tourist destination.

 

Participation Format: Undergraduate student teams from authorized universities in Georgia will participate. Each team should consist of 5 students. It is important for each team to have a coordinator.

 

The challenge aims for students to:

 

• Deepen their knowledge in marketing strategies from a practical perspective.
• Study the methods of marketing tourist products in tourist places using a practical example.
• Be able to identify target markets and segments and develop appropriate marketing tools, with a special focus on digital marketing strategies.
• Learn about the principles of sustainable development and inclusive public development through tourism.
• Use situational analysis methods in practice.
• Develop teamwork skills.

 

The winning team will receive special prizes, and all teams that have passed the final stage of the conference will be awarded certificates. The purpose of the conference is to promote the strengthening of cooperation between universities and the Georgian National Tourism Administration and to increase student involvement in the issues of tourism development in the country.

 

Task:

 

Develop a tourism marketing campaign in your chosen tourist location (city, village). The campaign should fully reveal the tourism potential of the tourist destination, provided that the contribution of tourism to sustainable development and the well-being of the local population is ensured.

Challenge:

 

Many tourist destinations, despite their great tourism potential, do not have appropriate marketing tools that would allow them to position themselves as attractive tourist destinations for visitors and at the same time make tourism a means of their inclusive and sustainable development.

 

Method:

 

When preparing your response to the challenge, please consider the following guidelines:

 

• Assemble the team - Remember when selecting a team, it is important to be guided by their competencies in their respective field.
• Choose a tourist destination. When choosing a tourist destination, consider your existing knowledge about the place.

 

Your campaign should include: situational analysis, strategic planning, implementation, and impact assessment tools:

 

• Define goals and objectives and how you will measure and monitor them.
• Determine how tourism products and experiences can be used in your chosen destination to increase economic benefits for the community, while respecting sustainability principles. For example, local food, nature-based activities, cultural tourism, etc.
• Consider using statistical information and market segmentation: identify key market segments and prioritize target markets; Define motivations, needs and priorities for each priority market segment.

 

While conducting field research at the tourist site is preferred, it is not mandatory.

 

Create a comprehensive action plan that includes, among other things, the following: detailed activities, budget, implementation dates, responsible agencies, etc. Determine what role stakeholders (business partners, associations, local residents, government structures) should have in your proposed plan.

 

Don't forget the most important thing, be creative!

 

Formatting:

 

• The thesis should be formatted as a PDF document with a maximum of 16 pages.
• Header (1 page)
• Presentation of team members (1 page)
• Summary covering all aspects of the response to the challenge (1 page)

 

Response to the Challenge (8 pages providing the response to the challenge and includes assessment, strategy and proposed activities):

 

• Description of the response to the challenge
• How to implement the response to a challenge
• Contribution to SDG indicators (how and which SDG)
• Impact of challenge response outcomes in the short, medium and long term
• Bibliography and/or additional information (max. 5 pages)*

 

*If the bibliography or additional information section requires less than 5 pages, the remaining pages can be allocated to further develop the response to the challenge. However, ensure that the total PDF document does not exceed 16 pages in length.

 

Evaluation criteria:

 

Your work will be evaluated by the jury based on the following criteria:

 

• Innovativeness and originality
• Implementation of the model and its performance
• Accuracy and effective contribution to the challenge
• Contribution to SDG
• The visual side of the presentation

 

The jury evaluates these aspects individually from 1-10 points. The score for the team is a total of 50 points according to the given categories.