Destination Marketing of Australia Return on Investment

The efficient targeting of destination marketing depends not only on identifying markets that are currently or potentially “high yielding” but also on the cost effectiveness of marketing expenditure in different markets. At least three different types of yield measures that are relevant to “return” on marketing investment have not been clearly distinguished in the literature. One relates to the expenditure associated with the additional tourism flows generated as a result of the marketing effort—this is a well-used measure. Another relates to the economic contribution associated with different inbound market segments. A third measure relates to the (economy-wide) impact of the visitor spending. The article uses each measure, combined with marketing elasticities, to estimate the return on investment associated with promoting Australia in nine key markets. While Australia provides a context for study, the approach taken and the results have relevance to destination marketing organizations worldwide.