Marketing power of actor-networks – the key to tourism competitiveness

Globalization and shortened destination life cycles caused by shifting consumer preferences have resulted in a heightened competitive rivalry among tourist destinations (Fuchs and Weiermair, 2004; Lundtorp, Wanhill 2001; Ritchie and Crouch 2000). According to Butler et al. (1998: 2): "changesin the economic and social fabric of society have meant that once tradltional timing, setting and patterns of work and leisure activities have often become indistinguishable, and the boundaries between the different elements of leisure become frequently meaningless". As a result, the tourlsrn of destinations gradually changes into the tourism of motivations, and single-featured destinations are evolving into diverse tourist routes and networks. Therefore, in the era of rapid 'post-mass' tourism transformations, a thorough analysis of tourism networks as complex dynamic relationship nexuses might deliver a proper clue to the effective user-tailored marketing and competitiveness strengthening of the 'post-mass', tourist places, offers and routes. The aim of this study is to explore hov the actor-network-theory (ANT) enables better understanding of complex networks of 'post-mass' or 'post-Fordist' tourism (Ioannides and Debbage, 1998) and their sustainable development, and how this understanding could facilitate developing an adequate 'post-mass' tourism marketing approach which were congruent with the 'networked' tourism ordering, In this article, we deliver few insights into the ANT-based 'pos-mass' turism marketing approach, illustrating them with an example of the 'Amber Coast', a transboundary southeast Baltic seaside tourism region.