Tourism Marketing Communications Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Destination Marketing Manager, Tourism Marketing Officer and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-TH-037

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in marketing, communications, visitor services, hospitality sales, destination development or a related commercial role.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Tourism organisations must communicate a distinctive visitor proposition while balancing commercial targets, destination reputation, resident expectations, partner relationships and changing traveller behaviour. A campaign that generates awareness but fails to support booking, manage expectations or address service realities can damage trust and waste budget. Marketing teams need a disciplined approach to audience selection, brand messaging, channel coordination, performance measurement and crisis preparedness.

This course equips participants to plan and manage integrated marketing communications for destinations, hotels, attractions, resorts, tour operators and visitor-economy partners. Participants apply STP segmentation, customer journey mapping, message architecture, the PESO model and RACE planning to tourism communication decisions. They learn to develop brand-led campaign messages, coordinate owned, paid, earned and shared media, work with travel trade and influencer partners, set measurable objectives, allocate budgets and interpret campaign results.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with tourism cases, group analysis, campaign-planning simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect issues such as low-season demand, destination repositioning, hotel launch campaigns, reputation incidents, event promotion and source-market targeting. Participants leave with a practical integrated tourism communications plan, including audience priorities, message architecture, channel choices, a campaign calendar, measurement measures and a 90-day implementation plan. The five-day instructor-led course is available in classrooms in more than 50 cities or live online, runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, and includes a certificate of completion.

The course is designed for professionals who already contribute to tourism, destination or hospitality marketing and need stronger planning discipline across multiple channels and stakeholders. It is particularly relevant where campaigns involve tourism boards, accommodation providers, attractions, travel intermediaries, public bodies or community partners.

What you will be able to do

  • Develop STP-based visitor segments, priority personas and customer journey maps
  • Create a destination or hospitality message architecture with evidence-based positioning
  • Design integrated campaigns using the PESO model and RACE planning framework
  • Prepare content calendars, creative briefs and channel-specific communication plans
  • Assess influencer, media, travel-trade and partnership opportunities against defined criteria
  • Construct campaign budgets, KPI trees and measurement plans for tourism communications
  • Apply crisis communication, review-response and responsible-claims procedures
  • Produce a 90-day integrated tourism marketing communications action plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Plan tourism campaigns with a clear connection between visitor demand and communication activity
  • Present channel, budget and measurement recommendations more credibly to senior stakeholders
  • Create stronger briefs for agencies, content producers, media partners and influencers
  • Manage destination reputation risks before they become public communication failures
  • Build a reusable planning method for seasonal campaigns, launches and market recovery activity

For your organisation

  • Improves coordination between destination, hospitality, trade, media and digital communication activity
  • Reduces inconsistent messaging across partners, source markets and visitor touchpoints
  • Connects campaign expenditure to bookings, length of stay, visitor spend and other business measures
  • Strengthens controls for influencer disclosures, content rights, consent and responsible claims
  • Creates repeatable campaign planning and reporting practices across tourism marketing teams

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can assess tourism market conditions and translate destination context into communication priorities.

  • Tourism demand drivers mapped through source markets, purpose, seasonality and booking windows
  • Destination brand equity assessed using awareness, associations, perceived quality and loyalty
  • Visitor economy stakeholders classified by influence, contribution, risk and communication needs
  • PESTLE factors translated into communication implications for destination and hospitality brands
  • Competitive message audits compare propositions, proof points, channels and share of voice
  • Resident sentiment and social licence considered within destination communication decisions

Participants can select priority visitor audiences and map their communication needs through the travel journey.

  • STP segmentation combines geographic, behavioural, psychographic and value-based visitor variables
  • Priority personas document motivations, barriers, media habits, triggers and booking paths
  • Customer journey maps identify inspiration, planning, booking, experience and advocacy moments
  • Jobs to Be Done clarifies functional, emotional and social travel motivations
  • Accessibility needs and inclusive representation inform audience selection and creative briefs
  • Source-market differences shape language, imagery, offers, timing and channel allocation

Participants can create consistent tourism brand messages tailored to audiences, markets and channels.

  • Brand positioning statements connect target audience, category, difference and supporting evidence
  • Value propositions distinguish destination promises from hotel, attraction and operator offers
  • Message architecture aligns master narrative, pillars, proof points and audience adaptations
  • Brand voice guidelines govern tone, vocabulary, claims, imagery and cultural sensitivity
  • Storytelling structures use character, tension, resolution and place-specific detail responsibly
  • Creative briefs specify communication objective, audience insight, proposition, mandatories and measures

Participants can structure coordinated tourism campaigns across paid, earned, shared and owned channels.

  • PESO model assigns paid, earned, shared and owned media roles
  • RACE planning links reach, act, convert and engage communication activities
  • Channel portfolios balance reach, credibility, conversion intent, cost and controllability
  • Campaign calendars sequence always-on content, seasonal pushes, launches and partnerships
  • Media-neutral objectives prevent channel choices preceding audience and task analysis
  • Frequency, reach and effective frequency guide paid media scheduling decisions
  • Cooperative campaigns define partner contributions, approvals, assets, costs and reporting

Participants can plan owned content and direct communications that support visitor research and conversion.

  • Content pillars translate destination positioning into repeatable editorial themes and formats
  • Editorial calendars schedule seasonal stories, booking triggers, events and partner content
  • Website information architecture supports itinerary research, accessibility and conversion pathways
  • SEO keyword mapping matches traveller search intent with landing-page content
  • Email lifecycle journeys address inspiration, abandonment, pre-arrival, in-stay and post-stay communications
  • UTM conventions preserve source, medium, campaign and content attribution data
  • Content governance assigns owners, approvals, rights, expiry dates and publishing standards

Participants can select and manage promotional, media and creator activity using clear commercial and reputational criteria.

  • Paid search structures campaigns around destination, experience, competitor and seasonal queries
  • Social media formats selected against attention patterns, storytelling depth and response needs
  • Influencer vetting assesses audience authenticity, brand fit, disclosure and content rights
  • Press office workflows build news angles, media lists, pitches and hosted visits
  • Media familiarisation trips set itineraries, expectations, disclosures, access and follow-up
  • User-generated content permissions cover consent, credit, licensing and brand safety
  • Crisis-sensitive social listening identifies misinformation, complaints, safety concerns and escalation signals

Participants can align consumer communications with travel-trade, partnership and event-marketing activity.

  • Trade marketing aligns consumer campaigns with travel agents, tour operators and wholesalers
  • Co-op marketing agreements specify audiences, deliverables, funding, approvals and measurement
  • Sales enablement kits package product facts, imagery, rates, contacts and booking links
  • Event marketing plans connect pre-event promotion, on-site capture and post-event follow-up
  • Partnership selection tests audience overlap, brand fit, commercial value and reputational risk
  • Distribution messages address availability, rate parity, packages and booking conditions accurately
  • Stakeholder communications coordinate tourism boards, residents, businesses and public authorities

Participants can set measurable campaign objectives, allocate budgets and report results for decision-making.

  • SMART communication objectives distinguish awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty and advocacy
  • Logic models connect communication inputs, outputs, outcomes and visitor-economy impacts
  • KPI trees relate channel metrics to bookings, revenue, length of stay and spend
  • Measurement plans define baselines, targets, data sources, owners and reporting cadence
  • Attribution limits compared across last-click, assisted conversion and incrementality methods
  • Campaign budgets allocate working media, production, agency fees, contingency and evaluation
  • Dashboard narratives explain variance, learning, corrective action and investment recommendations

Participants can prepare communication controls for reputation risks, visitor concerns and responsible tourism claims.

  • Reputation risk registers cover safety incidents, overtourism, misinformation, service failure and backlash
  • Crisis communication plans establish roles, holding statements, approvals, channels and response times
  • Social listening protocols triage sentiment, rumours, complaints, threats and emerging issues
  • Accessibility, diversity and cultural representation tested against audience and resident expectations
  • Green claims substantiated with evidence, boundaries, qualifications and operational accountability
  • GDPR consent requirements shape email permissions, profiling, retention and preference management
  • Review-response guidelines address praise, complaints, recovery offers and escalation thresholds

Participants can convert campaign decisions into an accountable, time-bound tourism communications action plan.

  • Integrated campaign briefs consolidate objectives, audiences, messages, channels, budgets and measures
  • 90-day action plans sequence approvals, production, launches, optimisation and reporting
  • RACI matrices assign accountable owners for content, media, partnerships and analytics
  • Test-and-learn roadmaps prioritise hypotheses, test cells, decision rules and documentation
  • Creative asset inventories identify gaps across formats, markets, languages and accessibility needs
  • Performance review cycles convert reporting findings into budget and content decisions
  • Personal application plans identify immediate communication improvements and stakeholder commitments

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Tourism audience segmentation and persona template
  2. Destination message architecture model
  3. Integrated PESO campaign planning template
  4. Tourism content and campaign calendar
  5. Campaign KPI tree and measurement plan
  6. 90-day tourism communications action plan

Who should attend

  • Destination Marketing Manager — coordinates campaigns across markets, partners and public stakeholders
  • Tourism Marketing Officer — needs structured methods for planning and measuring visitor communications
  • Hotel or Resort Marketing Manager — connects brand campaigns with occupancy and direct-booking targets
  • Attraction or Experience Manager — promotes visitor experiences through focused audience and channel choices
  • Tour Operator or Travel Trade Manager — aligns consumer promotion with intermediary sales activity
  • Communications Manager — manages reputation, media relations and stakeholder messaging during tourism campaigns

Skills and tools covered

Tourism audience segmentationBrand message architectureIntegrated campaign planningTravel trade marketingCampaign performance measurementCrisis communications

Tools and standards

STP segmentation, PESO model, RACE Planning Framework, GDPR

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses concise instructor briefings to introduce frameworks, followed by tourism and hospitality cases, group analysis and campaign-planning tasks. Participants assess destination brands, hotel offers, attraction promotions, visitor journeys and communication risks using realistic source material. Simulations cover campaign review meetings, partner coordination, media decisions and reputation-response choices. Each module builds material for an individual application plan, with instructor feedback on objectives, messages, channels, budget assumptions and measures. Live online delivery uses facilitated breakout groups and shared planning templates.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in marketing, communications, visitor services, hospitality sales, destination development or a related commercial role. They should be familiar with basic marketing terms such as target audience, brand, campaign, social media, website and budget. Experience of tourism operations, travel distribution or hospitality customer service is useful but not essential. Participants do not need prior formal marketing qualifications, advanced digital advertising expertise, graphic design skills, web development knowledge or access to specialist analytics software.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have some experience in marketing, communications, tourism, hospitality, sales or visitor services. You do not need a marketing qualification or specialist digital advertising skills.

Bring a laptop if possible and examples of a current campaign, destination, property, attraction or visitor segment you want to improve. Participants can apply the course templates to their own organisation, although this is not required.

It suits marketing and communications professionals in destination organisations, hotels, resorts, attractions, tour operators and travel businesses. It also suits managers who coordinate agencies, tourism partners or visitor-economy campaigns.

This course addresses the full communication system: audience strategy, positioning, content, media, public relations, travel trade, partnerships, measurement and reputation. Digital channels are covered as part of an integrated campaign rather than as isolated tactics.

Participants leave with planning tools for audience selection, message development, channel coordination, budgeting and reporting. The final module converts course decisions into a 90-day action plan linked to a current communication priority.

The course comprises ten teaching modules of approximately three contact hours, supported by application planning and instructor feedback. Training days run from 08:30 to 16:30, providing about 6.5 contact hours each day.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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