Introduction to Marketing in Travel and Tourism

The definition of marketing is: “the management processes responsibly for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers requirements profitably” *source institute of marketing.

Setting targets is a common approach but one that often fails for a number of reasons. Often the targets are not appropriate or where they are, once written, they are never utilised. Setting SMART targets can help with the former (but not with the latter)

SMART stands for

S

Specific

M

Measurable

A

Attainable

R

Realistic

T

Time-constrained

Therefore essentially SMART targets set out what’s going to happen, who’s going to do it, when it’s going to be done by, and how achievement will be measured.

Easy to say – much harder to do in practice and provide meaningful targets.

Also it is vitally important to provide customers with the right product or service, this is noticeable when customers are purchasing a holiday. Since when you go into a travel agent you can see the different brochures they have on offer, this is because customers have different needs/ requirements, which need to be addressed.

As a result when a customer is looking for a particular destination or resort then they need a brochure to be applied to this in terms of purchasing a holiday. E.g. skiing holiday not a summer sun destination. Many clients need to be provided with the right products and services and much of this can be done in a variety of ways such as informing the company as to what you requirements may be or need in the present or future.

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Or the company having the facilities to cater for the individual needs.

During the year there is a significant fluctuation in prices this is because there is known as a high and a low season in the Travel and Tourism

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industry. This is because there are periods when holiday purchases are significantly lower depending on the month. This is because people choose to take their children away mainly during school holidays which means that during the high season their will be more bookings. As a consequence the travel companies put up prices to compensate for the loss in trade during the lower seasonal months. However many people who don’t work choose to purchase their holidays during the winter months this is predominantly noticeable in the old aged pensioners groups. Therefore making an advantage to the high and low season. In comparison to this parents or guardians have to pay a considerably higher price when taking their children away on holiday, for reasons mentioned above.

Mainly a typical package holiday is sold from a travel agent, which are generally located in high street locations. Ideal for people to see when they’re out in their local town or city. As a result you can expect to find many different outlets which means there is plenty of choice for people to come across when purchasing a package holiday. The location of travel agents is largely to do with the population numbers, this is because more people equates to more money. Therefore with densely populated areas there is more shops and more travel agents, in comparison to sparsely populated areas such as village not benefiting from travel agents which means that they have to commute to purchase a holiday. If they decide to purchase through that means of purchase.

Travel companies use different promotional methods to influence people’s decisions about purchasing a holiday. Travel companies use many different media forms to convey their message, which they are trying to portray to the consumer. Many people can see these promotional influences in the form of bill boards, TV advertisement, magazines, fliers, posters, letters, SPAM e-mails, internet pop-ups, newspapers, transport stations, and internet web page advertisement. As a result of their being many different forms of media advertisement available to the companies there is plenty of ways of encouraging prospective clients to purchase a travel and tourism product and service through their company.

The major marketing management decisions can be classified in one of the four categories:

? Product.

? Price.

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? Place. (distribution)

? Promotion.

These variables are known as the marketing mix or the 4 p’s marketing. They are the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in a target market. They marketing mix is portrayed in the following diagram.

The firm tries to generate a positive response in a target market by blending these marketing mix variables in an optimum manner.

Product.

The product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. In the case of physical products, it also refers to any services or conveniences that are part of the offering. In the travel industry the physical product is the actual holiday. Therefore differentiating in a physical product (the holiday) and a product you purchase in a shop for example.

Product decision includes aspects such as a function, appearance, packaging, service, warranty etc.

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Price.

Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and the profitable pricing response of competitors. (The Big 4) Pricing includes not only the list price, but also discounts, financing and other options such as leasing of properties in which company affiliated stores, offices etc are based.

Place.

Place (or placement) are decisions are decisions associated with channels of distribution that serve as a means of getting the product to the target consumer. As mentioned earlier.

Distribution decisions include market coverage, logistics and level of service required.

Promotion.

Promotion decisions are those relating to communicating and selling to potential customers. Since these costs can be large in proportion to the product. Their needs to be analysis of the of the income generated by the sales which they can get from their financial records and the amount the company is prepared to pay or promotion of their products and services. This is noticeable during the low season when adverts are on the TV informing people about warm sunny location. Therefore influencing people to get away from the cold weather (due to autumn winter advertisement) therefore establishing the high seasons brochures. Which people can book in months or weeks in advance before the peek time for foreign transport to popular destinations.

Many companies want to determine the future profit margins of their company, therefore market research is a significant advantage of what the customers needs and wants may be. Many companies entice people to fill in questionnaires by offering free holidays to popular destinations to a small number of lucky people (no guarantee of a holiday though!) Therefore companies can accurately gain an insight into the future outcomes for the company such as profit, amount of custom etc.

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Therefore when people fill in the survey’s companies can utilise the information and apply this to charts and see where the biggest needs and wants may lie, therefore giving the company the opportunity to apply these changes to the high season when business is busiest.

Every person is classified; therefore companies can use this information in determining the products and services they should offer to their customers. Clients may be classified on gender, ethnic background, socio-economic group, age/ family circumstances, geographical location, and age. The information in which the travel companies have about potential clients can be focused or geared towards a particular market segment. Therefore increasing the productivity of the company in general.

Target markets can be complex because there are many different types of people in which activities can be offered at particular clients. For summer sun holidaymakers, people can participate in many different activities, which the resort representative(s) talk about in the welcome meeting. For people who are going on sports holiday then sports and recreational facilities would be the main focus of the holiday in contrast to relaxation which would be associated with summer sun holidays or a health spa.

Do not reproduce this work it’s a guide only! Don’t forget the golden rule state your sources.