Analysing the promotion, product and visitor expectations of urban tourism: Auckland, New Zealand as a case study

Urban tourism is generally not recognized as a concept. There appears to be a lack of understanding by many tourism operators that tourists visit urban destinations primarily because they are multifi. mctional and offer a wide variety of activities. This study reports the fmdings of an analysis of 160 tourism brochures by 120 different Auckland- based operators and a survey of 170 tourists. The results indicate that there appears to be a mismatch between supply and demand with tourists undertaking urban activities while the industry is primarily offering outdoor and adventure type activities. The challenge for the future is to refonnulate and promote an image which is consistent with the supply attributes.