Farming communities of moderate marketing activities

In Table 8 the elements of the marketing mix of the four farming communities of moderate marketing activities – Almviks Gard (SWE), Krisnuv Dvur (CZE), Simhachalam (GER) and Goloka Dhama (GER) – are summarized;

and similarly to Table 6, similarities are shown in shared cells, while differences separately. In the case of smaller rural communities the differences in the first three elements are not so significant due to the touristic product not having elaborated yet; promotional activities are moderate too

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and the last three elements are again mostly uniform and determined by religion, but an interesting phenomenon may be observed, as these elements are not so significant as in the case of the larger institutions. Even though similar promotion tools are used as by the larger entities, the activity of their usage is significantly lower for the smaller farming communities.

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 Temple

 Opportunity to eat in the canteen

 Festivals

Place  Peaceful places suitable for retreat

 An opportunity for outsiders to get an insight Promotion  Online marketing

o Website

People  Following the principles of Krishna Consciousness

 Aiming to transmit the knowledge about their religion

 Fulfilling tourism-related duties occasionally

Processes  Rituals guided by religious principles BUT open for visitors

 Opportunity to join in catering

 Guest house

 Externally – local culture

 Internally – Indian markings

 Few

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In these countries, where the rural communities are less developed – and of smaller population –, the product is decisively still religious with certain touristic elements, which means that the touristic product is visibly less complex than in the farming communities discussed above. The farming communities are open to the visitors, but they are not prepared to host such a huge number of visitors as the larger ones; and conscious strategy and planning are missing too. To these, smaller farming communities there are only approximately 2-3000 guests arriving in a year and according to the experiences of the managers a significant proportion of them are devotees, or followers of other religions originating from India. The motives for visiting are decisively religious, falling into the categories of religious tourism or pilgrimage. From promotion perspective festivals are the most important, as these events attract tourists from outside the religion as well, while broader cultural tourism is not typical of these institutions. Fervent and scholarly tourism is the most common type of visitors arriving, while other forms of interested, general or accidental visitors are rare, which means that smaller rural communities do not rely so much on tourism at the moment (Griffin &

Raj, 2019; Santos, 2000; Somogyi, 2012; Terzidou et al., 2017, 2018).

However, the leaders of all the three entities expressed their wish to follow the path of their Hungarian, Belgian and British fellow communities.

In each of the smaller farming communities examined, Krisna Völgy, Radhadesh and Bhaktivedanta Manor are regarded as role models, but these entities are missing a number of necessary assets to step on the path of progress. According to the experiences of the respondents the cooperation between the farming communities of the different countries is strong; which fosters the exchange of experiences and best practices among larger and smaller entities.

As the touristic product is limited, significant changes in the perceived price have not happened either, which prevents the positive effects of the

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product shift to take place. Meals, overnight stays and products do have prices as well, but since tourism is not dominant yet, the prices of the religious product are still in the mind of the majority; the openness, which could be observed in the case of larger farming communities is not yet present in the smaller ones (Iannaccone, 1995, 2012, 2016).

All the interviewees of the smaller rural communities agreed that it would be early for them to cooperate with tourism agencies, as currently they are not able to cope with greater number of tourists; this implies that the creation of a place for tourists to meet the religion has not fully happened yet;

and the lack of the complex touristic product influences all the elements of the marketing mix as well, leaving further space for improvement to create a place with greater role in making the religion more widely known.

Since smaller farming communities are less able to serve a large number of visitors, their activity in terms of touristic promotion is significantly lower too, and just like the touristic product, this is also mainly centered on festivals.

Table 9 – Promotion tools applied by farming communities of moderate marketing activities

‘Visit’ or ‘Contact’ menu for visitors

Facebook Religion and festivals Daily life Religion and festivals

Instagram - Farming - Religion

YouTube Religiously themed broadcasts Cooperation

PR activities Newspapers Informative content Charity (food distribution) Television

(Source: own edition)

As seen in Table 9, most of the communication focuses primarily on religion and target religious audiences, with the exception of festivals, which are promoted both on the online platforms and via traditional means, such as

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fliers or posters. In line with the findings of Cristea et al. (2015) in the case of the tourism of smaller farming communities mass media is still more dominant, online platforms still focus more on the religious product rather than tourism, as it happens in larger rural communities, which may be attributed to the lack of a complex touristic product and conscious planning of visitor management (Barghi & Kazemi, 2013; Collins-Kreiner, 2020;

Cristea et al., 2015; Timothy & Olsen, 2006).

Interestingly, even though people, processes and physical evidences are uniform and mainly influenced by the religion, their level of development falls far behind the characteristics observed in the larger communities. People dress and behave according to the principles of the religion, but only a few inhabitants are prepared to manage guests; processes of handling visitors, are not well-established yet, which still supports credibility, but does not contribute so efficiently to visitors’ experience, as in the larger communities.

The only exceptions are the guest houses operated by the smaller farming communities, where there is more focus on the guests (Barghi & Kazemi, 2013; Barghi et al., 2012; Bence, 2014; Collins-Kreiner, 2020; Duda &

Doburzynski, 2019; Terzidou et al., 2017, 2018).

Though Barghi & Kazemi (2013), Duda & Doburzynski (2019) and Terzidou et al. (2017) emphasized the importance of physical evidence, the religious influence is less observable in the case of smaller rural communities:

in their cases the buildings generally follow the architectural patterns of the country of location, only the altars, the temple rooms and parts of the interior design follow the Indian traditions, they are not so embroidered with religious aspects as in the larger farming communities. According to the respondents this can be traced back to two important, interrelated factors: financials and the lack of tourism. As the managers of the larger farming communities have explained, many of the physical elements of the entities are created for the sake of tourism; devotees do not need them in daily life. Certainly, this means

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the lack of larger guest houses, shops and restaurants, but also the simplicity of decorations. Limited tourism does not make these aspects necessary, however, the lack of them also prevents the community from hosting more visitors, which in turn could improve their financial situation and provide an opportunity for investing more in the infrastructure. As mentioned before by the respondents, the way to overcome this challenge would be to have a clear vision and a set of goals within the communities – which is already present in some of them, but missing in others.

5.1.3. The effects of the product shift on the elements of the marketing mix