Demarketing places: Rationales and strategies

The concept of demarketing, originally introduced by Kotler and Levy (1971 Kotler, P. and Levy, S.J. 1971. Demarketing, yes, demarketing. Harvard Business Review, 49: 74–80. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), can be used in the context of places to describe specific activities aimed at deflecting interest, visitors, and/or investment to a particular place. This paper presents an exploratory investigation into the use of place demarketing in the UK. Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with place-marketing practitioners whose work was identified as incorporating elements of place-demarketing practice and activity. Four main rationales for demarketing places were identified: sustainability of the place product; market segmentation and targeting; reducing the effect of seasonality; and crisis prevention/management. The strategies identified in the place-demarketing process include: no marketing; redirection/marketing alternative places; informational place demarketing; restricting access; and pricing mechanisms. The paper concludes by drawing together some of the issues and implications that the demarketing of places raises.