Road’s end – the beginning? - A study of the marketing practices of small tourism firms in Sweden

Självständigt arbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) 10 poäng / 15 hp International travelling is moving full steam ahead and Sweden as an international tourist destination plays an increasingly important role for Swedish industry. This is arguably even more so for peripheral areas where the word lay off has become an unpleasantly well-worn phrase. A cause of rejoicing is that these regions, at road's end, show a sprouting business activity utilizing what Sweden has in abundance - pristine nature. To say that what cannot be seen does not exist is to go to the extremes but marketing matters. It is paramount for successful business. The focus of this thesis is small companies whose marketing budget, alas, is corresponding to the size of their business necessitating a careful selection when deciding on marketing. Against this background we settled on the purpose of this thesis; to look at how small tourism firms situated in the upper northern half of Sweden are marketing themselves today and to explore their knowlegde of causal relationships in their marketing. This described research aim was pursued by conducting a quantitative study by using semi-structured interviews, the latter formed in a deductive spirit. The study indicates a widespread acceptance to cooperation but a somewhat worrying unawareness of the causal relationship for different marketing tools. There was a general belief in the benefit of undertaking marketing research but fewer that actually had conducted an analysis of the market. Strikingly many respondents stated better surrounding nature and level of service to be the distinguishing factors that put their company ahead of the competition. Can that many companies be better than the others? Someone is either telling lies or terribly wrong. International travelling is moving full steam ahead and Sweden as an international tourist destination plays an increasingly important role for Swedish industry. This is arguably even more so for peripheral areas where the word lay off has become an unpleasantly well-worn phrase. A cause of rejoicing is that these regions, at road's end, show a sprouting business activity utilizing what Sweden has in abundance - pristine nature. To say that what cannot be seen does not exist is to go to the extremes but marketing matters. It is paramount for successful business. The focus of this thesis is small companies whose marketing budget, alas, is corresponding to the size of their business necessitating a