Mario Siglioccolo

Destination competitiveness and museum marketing strategies: an emerging issue in the Italian context

Abstract The aim of this paper is to inform the development of effective marketing strategies for provincial Italian museums. Being long-standing organisations, the characteristics of museums are deeply rooted within the context where they are located. As such, they must reflect an awareness of the location in which they are situated. With this in mind, we investigated the multifaceted nature of major Italian museums, located in a range of different provinces that had different degrees of competitiveness. We explain these variations in competitiveness by means of a descriptive analysis, in which we report on the most popular Italian museums and the levels of competitiveness in the province in which each museum is located. It is possible to categorise the most popular Italian museums in terms of those that are extreme outliers and those that fall into clusters. The differences in the number of visitors and the levels of competitiveness in the Italian provinces where the museums are located indicate that specific marketing strategies are warranted for the museums investigated, as determined by whether they are extreme outliers or part of a cluster. Marketing strategies for museums that are based on an analysis of the number of visitors and the degree of competitiveness of the province concerned have not been previously investigated. By using a novel approach of this kind, we present a preliminary attempt to develop strategies that are appropriate to the Italian context.

Rubbish emergency impact on in-bound tourism demand and on the number of visitors to museums.

Purpose – This study aims to assess whether or not the weight of the impact of the recent rubbish emergency in the Province of Naples (Italy) causes a temporary impact inbound tourism demand and the number of visitors to museums situated in the Province.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on secondary data referring to monthly tourist arrivals and visitors to museums to the Province of Naples, during the period in which crisis reached its climax. The variation of tourist arrivals and visitors to museums between this period and the same period of the previous four years represents the means for detecting an eventual decrease in inbound tourism demand and visitors to museums.Findings – Research findings show the variation in the number of tourists and in the number of visitors to museums in the Province from 2004 to 2008. Despite the pessimistic estimates reported by media, the situation in the Province of Naples, during the period in which the refuse emergency reached a climax, is quite sur...

Exploring Services Provided by Top Italian Museums Websites: What are They Used for?

Even though a number of studies have focused on museum websites, specific studies about top Italian museums and the services provided online have not been found. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature and investigate the online services performed by top Italian museums. The objective is to determine whether these museums have developed their own website, and what kind of services they provide to their online visitors. The presence or lack of services provided was recorded with the adoption of a descriptive approach, based on qualitative content analysis principles. Results are shown in terms of three kinds of services provided (virtual visit opportunities, e-commerce services, and e-relation tools). Results provide managers a mapping of the services provided by their specific museum. Nevertheless, they need to be expanded with further primary research.