Demand Control: The Case for Demarketing as a Visitor and Environmental Management Tool

Little has been written in tourism on what happens once sustainable limits have been set and met. This paper introduces 'demarketing' as a policy option and management tool, outlining the literature in this field. First coined by Kotler in the early 1970s, it was presented as an aspect of the marketing mix. Demarketing has been applied successfully (if somewhat controversially) in the health sector as a means for reducing smoking and inappropriate health careconsumption. However, the strategy itself can be taken beyond health and marketing and applied to tourist management and planning. The implications for the tourism industry are enormous, providing fresh ways to consider the management of mass tourism and the environment and culture on which it relies. While aspects of demarketing have been used unconsciously in tourism operations such as man-made attractions and national park management systems, this paper looks at demarketing's potential as a conscious policy tool within the built and natural environmental management spheres, specifically in relation to visitor management and tourism. Studies of the planning and management of selected tourism environments in Australia and North America demonstrate the potential of demarketing as a management tool.