Making Sense of Place: New approaches to place marketingBy Chris Murray (Comedia 2001 ISBN: 1 873667 18 3, £9 [£11.84 inc p&p] Chris Murray’s book, which started life as a thesis, examines ways in which the local tourism sector describes place to attract tourists. What he finds is a fairly undifferentiated representation of a Britain "drenched in the past" that few of us would recognise. It relies on a particular historical view that is unsurprising and uninspiring, fails to demonstrate how each place is attractive in its own right, and largely ignores contemporary society, let alone contemporary arts and culture. One of the biggest problems with this marketing is that it implies tourists are offered the same product (place) wherever they visit in Britain. This is not only impossible but also completely at odds with most brochures’ claim to ‘uniqueness’. Another serious complaint is that this marketing can’t be shown to work as the tourism industry can’t provide figures or other evidence to demonstrate its effectiveness. (Substitute ‘audience’ for ‘tourists’ and isn’t this argument very familiar?) Chris offers 6 key actions and 7 central issues to revolutionise this situation (which those familiar with the arguments will want to read first). One of the main calls is for the development and use of new ‘place’ marketing techniques (rather than relying on those for ‘product’) that will represent the rich mix of life, lifestyles, people and culture (in all senses) that make up modern Britain. There are a number of on-target complaints, useful case studies (using overseas material) and practical suggestions for improving this situation to aid marketers of culture, tourism or cultural tourism.
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