The Role of Information Centres in Promoting Tourist Destinations. Case Study: Tourist Information Centre Brasov

• Author: Ispas, A. - Rada, D. - Sava, A.
• Position: Dept. of Marketing, Tourism and Business Administration, Transilvania University of Brasov - Dept. of Marketing, Tourism and Business Administration, Transilvania University of Brasov - Dept. of Marketing, Tourism and Business Administration, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 123-130

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 7 (56) No. 1 - 2014

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION CENTRES

IN PROMOTING TOURIST DESTINATIONS

CASE STUDY: TOURIST INFORMATION

CENTRE BRAŞOV

A. ISPAS1 D. RADA2 A. SAVA2

Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is represented by the developing

of proposals for improving the activity of Tourist Information Centre (TIC) in

Braşov, starting from the fact that it has a very important role in promoting

Braşov county. In the first part of the paper we focused on the theoreti cal

concepts related to our topic, whereas in the second part we applied the

benchmarking method for comparisons between three Tourist Information

Centres in the world: Riga (Latvia), Girona (Spain) and Manhattan (USA),

for adopting the best practices learned in our proposals to improve the

activity of TIC in Braşov. In order to analyze the activity of TIC Braşov, we

used the mystery consumer technique. The last part contains the conclusions

and our proposals for improving the activity of TIC Braşov.

Key words: tourist information, mystery consumer technique,

benchmarking.

1 Dept. of Marketing, Tourism and Business Administration, Transilvania University of Braşov.

2 Dept. of Marketing, Tourism and Business Administration, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction

Tourists need to be informed when they

choose to go to a new tourist destination.

The types of information required shall

bear: what they can visit in that location,

places where they may find

accommodation or where t o dine, how they

can spend their time out there, where they

can buy souvenirs etc. Most of this

information can be purchased in time by

visiting websites or consulting guidebooks.

However, visitors of a plac e, of a region or

country often seek Tourist Information

Centres (TIC).

The TIC is often the first contact partner

of tourists from a certain tourist

destination. Here tourists are offered new

ideas of leisure, recommendations for

accommodation or meal, and other

important information. Also, when they

arrive in an unfamiliar city, TIC is, for

many tourists, the first place that they call

in order to obtain information about the

tourist offer. Therefore, the receipt and

services provided by TIC shall meet the

requirements of tourists from different

countries.

Starting from these considerations, we

wrote this paper in order to assess the

activity undertaken in TIC Braşov, and to

formulate proposals for improvement,