Pilgrimage and Tourism Marketing Concepts, Prospects, and Challenges in two Developing Countries: Bangladesh and Ghana

Javed, Md; Evans, Michael ;; Khan, Rashed

Abstract

This contextual paper analyses the significance of pilgrimage and tourism marketing concepts, prospects, and challenges in two developing countries, Ghana in the West of Africa, and Bangladesh in the South of Asia. The focus of this study is to assess the present marketing and promotion of tourism in the two countries which are different in population size, economy, and tourism contribution towards each country’s GDP.

Within the context of nature-based tourism initiatives in Bangladesh, it is imperative to measure future prospects of tourism marketing ventures related to pilgrimage. The development of marketing for tourism can be helpful for delivering stability to the volatile industry of a developing country. Subsequently, active marketing and advertising of tourism activities will allow Bangladesh to retain and increase their visitors. Moreover, religious tourism can explore new ways to foster tourists in Bangladesh. On the other hand, the growth in tourism marketing targeting international tourists to Ghana, appears to be less focused than marketing and promotion activities for domestic tourism. Effective marketing and promotion of domestic tourism attractions such as water sports, festivals, national parks and wildlife reserves could attract more visitors and increased employment and income stream for the proprietors of such attractions / venues. Furthermore, within this context, religious tourism is considered as a niche market with many new prospects for the future in Ghana.

The study also aims to assess the challenges of the rise of new tourist sites within Bangladesh and Ghana’s neighbouring countries, disintermediation in the distribution system, inadequate ICT infrastructure, changes in consumer behaviour, and fragmentation of the tourism industry, which are all contributing factors to the marketing difficulties that tourism practitioners in developing countries or emerging economies face. A management and marketing plan that is well coordinated is required to address these issues. The concept of smart destinations has emerged as a result of the development of new ICT concepts, including digital marketing, social media marketing, e-tourism, and virtual tourism. These will all be considered in this paper.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 27, 2024
• Publication Date: Dec 4, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 18, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 20, 2025
• Journal: International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage
• Electronic ISSN: 2009-7379
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Publisher URL: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol12/iss2/10