Blend In With Nature : a study about marketing communication of Indonesian ecotourism resorts

Abstract:

The purpose with this study is to investigate and analyse how ecotourism is marketed to customers by two Indonesian small- and medium sized ecotourism resorts, focusing on marketing communication. Further, the aim is to clarify how these companies enhances their “eco brand”. This study was based on a qualitative research method with the purpose of creating a deeper understanding for our chosen topic and an inductive approach with deductive features was undertaken. The empirical data were collected through nine interviews with representatives and customers from the two studied companies. All of the interviews were conducted in Indonesia and done face-to face. The results of this research revealed that within marketing communication, digital media and word-of-mouth, have a greater importance for small and medium sized ecotourism resorts. It is also discovered that depending on how resorts operates ecotourism it will determinate how strong their “ecobrand” image.