Public and private partnership approach for applying the tourism marketing mix to spiritual tourism

This conceptual paper discusses the growing importance of spiritual tourism in particular as a separate niche market segment in the world economy. This paper presents the view that considerable potential exists for spiritual tourism product if marketed effectively. The paper proposes the application of the public and private partnership approach (PPP) from economic theory to design effective marketing strategies for spiritual tourism. In this paper, the PPP framework is presented as to effectively apply the tourism marketing mix for marketing spiritual tourism. Further, all 8 Ps/elements of the tourism marketing mix are separately analysed and their application for spiritual tourism is discussed, which critically suggests their usefulness to create and apply a new PPP framework-model for marketing strategy for spiritual tourism. The important role of PPP as a critical element of the marketing mix for spiritual tourism is an outstanding contribution of this research paper. This study suggests that PPP will enhance the competitive advantage of the spiritual tourism product through collaboration, and partnerships between the various stake holders. The research offers a unique combination of economics and marketing theories to illustrate the significance, growth and economic sustainability of spiritual tourism in the 21st century and beyond.