Tourism Product as a Tool Shaping Cross-cultural Approach in Marketing

Abstract

One of the earlier definitions of cross-cultural management focuses on its behavioral aspects and underlines an importance of interaction of people from different cultures. “Cross-cultural management is the study of the behavior of people in organizations located in cultures and nations around the world” [Adler 1983, p. 226]. This definition is based on the description of organizational behavior within countries and cultures on one hand and of organizational behavior across countries and cultures on another. Peoples from different countries often work together in the same environment creating specific interactions but they can also built special relationships during their leisure time.

Looking at the particular subject of management from this perspective it is possible to notice that tourism products have quite big potential for creating cross-cultural interactions when services are produced in different cultures or/and consumed in different cultural context. It is mainly connected with a simultaneous production and consumption on the one hand and consumer’s participation in both processes on the other hand. Tourism products posses an additional feature which creates a cross-cultural dimension in both production and consumption: movement (traveling) between different cultural environments which is a source of different cultural experiences; they have to be recognized a priori to be placed on the market with the tourism product. On the other hand tourism services have to be produced according to identified consumer expectations in different cultures.

The aim of the study is to present selected aspects of tourism products which can create cross-cultural interactions and require a special managerial marketing approach. This article discusses an impact of cultural diversity on organizational behavior in international tourism and on consumer behavior in cultural tourism with a special focus on cross-cultural interactions in consumption of tourism products. This is connected with the fact that tourism products are produced and consumed by tourists in different cultures; this relationship can create specific interactions of many types.

The main research method applied is a literature review on cultural tourism and marketing.