TS-6/2018

TOURISM MARKETING
1. Define tourism marketing. How did it evolve as a concept? Discuss some of its salient
features. 20

Ans. Tourism Marketing Plan

Every marketing effort should begin with a plan, and tourism marketing is no different. The marketing plan is
your road map and details the attractions in your area. It forces you to set a budget on your promotional
spending. At the end of each tourism season, you can use your marketing plan to set goals and make changes
for next year. For example, if revenue at one attraction did not meet expectations, perhaps it needs product
development -- some upgrades to make it more appealing to visitors -- or better advertising.

Partnerships

Tourism marketing can be expensive, particularly if you want to attract national or international tourists.
Typical funding sources are state tourism agencies and taxes, including hotel taxes. To stretch tourism dollars,
public/private partnerships often form among local and regional businesses and chambers of commerce. For
example, if there are several tourist attractions in a specific county -- or across several neighboring counties --
the entire area can be marketed as an appealing weeklong destination site by combining advertising and
other marketing activities. Partnerships can provide tourists with a fuller travel experience.

Characteristics

Tourism marketing has distinct characteristics from other marketing plans. Because tourists are temporary,
they are exposed to an area's goods and services for shorter periods. But tourists are counting on having a
good time, so marketers should consider strategies that appeal to the emotions, such as treating kids to a
memorable experience. Tourism-dependent businesses rely on other organizations: One example of
leveraging this dependence would be a musical venue offering discount coupons for meals at a nearby
restaurant.

Tourist Themes

Combining tourism with volunteer opportunities is another tourism marketing strategy that appeals to many
tourists. Popular both domestically and abroad, such volunteer tourism can range from repairing schools on
American Indian reservations to installing water systems in poor communities. Promoting sustainable tourism
efforts also appeals to environmentally conscious travelers. Sustainable tourism emphasizes a balance on
tourist activities and the effect it has on its surroundings, such as the environment. Practices include such
things as energy-saving upgrades, environmentally friendly products and signs and even limiting the number
of visitors to outdoor areas.

Basic marketing addresses four pillars of creating and selling a product or service:product,

price, place and promotion. In tourism marketing, the four Ps are often applied in the following
ways:

Product
Tourism marketing includes determining the unique selling benefit or benefits one area has
over its competition. A destination might offer people looking to combine business and
pleasure ease of travel to and from the area, ample convention halls and hotels, interesting
nightlife, and activities for adult partners and children.

Price
When trying to attract tourists, locales often use discounts, loss leaders and bundling to draw
visitors. For example, a local chamber of commerce might solicit money from local businesses
to hold a free concert, sporting event or festival that generates hotel stays, restaurant visits and
other consumer spending. A hotel might offer discount coupons to a local restaurant. The
restaurant gets free referral marketing, while the hotel offers a value-added service to its
guests. Some hotels and resorts offer guests free shuttle service. Tourist centers carefully
analyze tourism trends and raise and lower their prices based on a busy or “high” season and
an off-season, and based on what their competitors are offering, to maximize occupancy rates.

Place
The “place” in the four Ps refers to where a business distributes its product or service, such as
in a store, online, using catalogs or through wholesalers. In tourism sales, location and
destination marketers sell through tour operators, travel agents, inside sales teams and by
setting up websites and phone operators to handle incoming inquiries. Spring break cities are
well known for working with packaged vacation tour companies that bring college students to
specific hotels by the busload. Destinations often offer free “site visits” to meeting planners,
providing free rooms at different hotels, meals, golf, tennis and guided tours to vetted business
professionals who select the location of meetings, seminars, retreats, conventions and trade
shows.

Promoti on
Tourism marketing uses a wide variety of communications strategies and techniques to
promote areas and destinations. A convention center might purchase advertisements in trade
magazines for meeting planners and send direct mail materials to corporations that hold
events. They might place ads in tennis or golf magazines to attract those consumers.
Destinations build websites and place ads in consumer publications read by their target
customers. Chambers of commerce are involved in promoting their areas generally and the
businesses within their areas specifically. This often includes offering potential visitors packets
filled with brochures, discount coupons and other materials.

3. Define Tourism Product. Outline the steps in designing and developing a tourism product of
your choice. 20

Ans. Tourism Product

Tourism products compared with the types of products other goods and services have
different characteristics and to understand the shape and form of tourism products, the
following definition of tourism products that dikemukanan by:
• (Burkat and Medlik), namely tourism products to an array of integrated products, which
consist of objects and attractions, transportation, accommodation and entertainment, where
each element of the tourism product is prepared by individual companies and are offered
separately to consumers (tourist / tourist). 

• (Medlik and Middleton), the tourism product consists of a variety of elements which is a
package that is not integral to each other and meet the needs of tourists from leaving his
residence to the place of destination and back again to the place of origin. 

Based on both this sense, it can be concluded that there are 3 (three) elements that
form a Tourism Product, namely: 
1. Destination Attractiveness of 
2. Facilities of Destinations 
3. Ease of Destinations 

Furthermore, the three elements together and produces an image of a destination,

whether good or bad. Here there are a number of 6 (six) tourism product elements that make
up an integrated tourism package described on a needs basis wisatwan, among others: 
1. Objects and Attractions; 
2. Services Travel Agents & Tour Operators; 
3. Service Transportation Company; 
4. Accommodation Services, Restaurants, Recreation and Entertainment; 
5. Services Souvenir (Souvenir); 
6. Business Services Support. 

Understanding the tourism product in depth can be done by first memehami

characteristics of tourism products, among others: 
1. Can not be moved 
2. No need for intermediaries (middlemen) to achieve satisfaction 
3. Can not be stockpiled or stored 
4. Strongly influenced by non-economic factors 
5. Can not be tried or sampled 
6. Highly dependent on human factors 
7. Having a high level of risk in terms of investment 
8. does not have an objective standard or measure in assessing the level of product quality. 

Definition of Tourism Products

            Tourism product is a series of interrelated services, namely services produced from
various companies (economically), community services (social aspect) and natural service. 
According Suswantoro (2007:75) on substantially the understanding of tourism products "is
obtained and the overall service felt or enjoyed by tourists since he left his residence to the
tourist destination of his choice and to return home where she originally departed" 

Tourism products as one of the objects in the supply of tourism marketing have the main
elements which consist of 3 parts (Oka A. Yoeti, 2002:211): 
1. Attractiveness of tourist destinations, including the image of envisioned by   tourists 
2. Facilities owned tourist destination, including accommodation, food processing businesses,
parking, transportation, recreation and others. 
3. The ease to reach these destinations. 

Mason (2000:46) and Poerwanto (1998:53) has made the formulation of the components of
tourism products namely: 
1. Attractions, which is a good tourist attraction of natural, cultural or man-made such as
festivals or performing arts 
2. Accessibility, the ease of obtaining or achieving organizational goals such as tourism, tourism
(travel agents) 
3. Amenities of the facility to obtain pleasure. In this case can take the form of accommodation,
cleanliness and hospitality 
4. Networking, the network of cooperation relating to the products offered by local, national or
international. 

Product Idea Brainstorming

The first step is to generate an idea for the product. Ask employees, especially those who deal
with customers regularly, for product ideas. Survey customers for feedback on existing
products. Examine your industry to see whether there are areas where useful products do not
exist. Create an online survey for your customers or social media fans to take. List all ideas for a
new product.
Evaluate the Ideas

Make a list of product ideas and share it with the appropriate decision-makers in the company,
such as the management team. Discuss the pros and cons of each idea and narrow the list to
just a handful of the best ideas, based on their potential to generate revenue, as well as the
time and resources you have to actually create the products.
Market Evaluation

Seek feedback from customers, employees and partners on which idea is most appealing. Ask
customers for feedback via email or phone calls. Send an email to partners and employees and
ask which of the products seems most useful or valuable. Whittle the list to just one or two
product ideas.
Analysis

Analyze the remaining product idea from a business perspective. Determine how much, if any,
competition exists for similar products. Determine the demand for the product, and estimate all
costs affiliated with the product, such as development costs and operational costs, to help
determine the profit margin.
Prototype and Marketing

Develop a prototype of the product, then share it with a handful of good customers and key
partners. Ask them to try it out and provide feedback. The marketing team should use that
feedback to craft marketing messages and developing marketing campaign ideas, such as email
campaigns, websites, billboards or posters. Base the marketing messages on the most common
positive comments or reactions from customers and partners during the prototype evaluation.
Market Testing

Make adjustments to the prototype or develop a new version, if necessary. Develop additional
prototypes for market testing. Do a small product release in select areas. See whether the
product sells well, and evaluate why sales are high or low. Evaluate the price and the
effectiveness of the marketing messages. A small launch helps determine what needs to be
done before an official launch.
Prepare for Launch

Begin production for the first round of the product launch. Evaluate how many products to
produce based on your market testing and demand for the product. Advertise and speak to
product distributors about ordering the product, if the product will be sold in stores.
4. Discuss the importance of market research in tourism. Discuss its various steps. 20

Ans. The Marketing research process is a set of six steps which defines the tasks to be
accomplished in conducting a marketing research study. These include problem definition,
developing an approach to the problem, research design formulation, field work, data
preparation and analysis, and report generation and presentation.

Step 1: Problem Definition

The first step in any marketing research project is to define the problem. In defining the
problem, the researcher should take into account the purpose of the study, the relevant
background information, what information is needed, and how it will be used in decision
making. Problem definition involves discussion with the decision makers, interviews with
industry experts, analysis of secondary data, and, perhaps, some qualitative research, such
as focus groups. Once the problem has been precisely defined, the research can be designed
and conducted properly.
Step 2: Development of an Approach to the Problem
Development of an approach to the problem includes formulating an objective or theoretical
framework, analytical models, research questions, hypotheses, and identifying characteristics
or factors that can influence the research design. This process is guided by discussions with
management and industry experts, case studies and simulations, analysis of secondary data,
qualitative research and pragmatic considerations.
Step 3: Research Design Formulation
A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It
details the procedures necessary for obtaining the required information, and its purpose is to
design a study that will test the hypotheses of interest, determine possible answers to the
research questions, and provide the information needed for decision making. Conducting
exploratory research, precisely defining the variables, and designing appropriate scales to
measure them are also a part of the research design. The issue of how the data should be
obtained from the respondents (for example, by conducting a survey or an experiment) must
be addressed. It is also necessary to design a questionnaire and a sampling plan to select
respondents for the study.
More formally, formulating the research design involves the following steps:

1. Secondary data analysis

2. Qualitative research
3. Methods of collecting quantitative data (survey, observation, and experimentation)
4. Definition of the information needed
5. Measurement and scaling procedures
6. Questionnaire design
 7. Sampling process and sample size
8. Plan of data analysis
Step 4: Field Work or Data Collection
Data collection involves a field force or staff that operates either in the field, as in the case of
personal interviewing (in-home, mall intercept, or computer-assisted personal interviewing),
from an office by telephone (telephone or computer-assisted telephone interviewing), or
through mail (traditional mail and mail panel surveys with prerecruited households). Proper
selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of the field force helps minimize data-collection
errors.
Step 5: Data Preparation and Analysis
Data preparation includes the editing, coding, transcription, and verification of data. Each
questionnaire or observation form is inspected, or edited, and, if necessary, corrected. Number
or letter codes are assigned to represent each response to each question in the questionnaire.
The data from the questionnaires are transcribed or key-punched on to magnetic tape, or disks
or input directly into the computer. Verification ensures that the data from the original
questionnaires have been accurately transcribed, while data analysis, guided by the plan of data
analysis, gives meaning to the data that have been collected. Univariate techniques are used for
analyzing data when there is a single measurement of each element or unit in the sample, or, if
there are several measurements of each element, each RCH variable is analyzed in isolation. On
the other hand, multivariate techniques are used for analyzing data when there are two or
more measurements on each element and the variables are analyzed simultaneously.
Step 6: Report Preparation and Presentation
The entire project should be documented in a written report which addresses the specific
research questions identified, describes the approach, the research design, data collection, and
data analysis procedures adopted, and presents the results and the major findings. The findings
should be presented in a comprehensible format so that they can be readily used in the
decision making process. In addition, an oral presentation should be made to management
using tables, figures, and graphs to enhance clarity and impact.
For these reasons, interviews with experts are more useful in conducting marketing research
for industrial firms and for products of a technical nature, where it is relatively easy to identify
and approach the experts. This method is also helpful in situations where little information is
available from other sources, as in the case of radically new products.

6. What do you understand by competitive analysis? Explain the strategic options. 20

Ans. Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the

strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an
offensive and defensive strategic context to identify opportunities and threats. Profiling
combines all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one framework in the support
of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation, monitoring and adjustment.
Competitor analysis is an essential component of corporate strategy. It is argued that most
firms do not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough. Instead, many enterprises
operate on what is called "informal impressions, conjectures, and intuition gained through the
tidbits of information about competitors every manager continually receives." As a result,
traditional environmental scanning places many firms at risk of dangerous competitive
blindspots due to a lack of robust competitor analysis.
One common and useful technique is constructing a competitor array. The steps include:

 Define the industry – scope and nature of the industry.

 Determine who the competitors are.
 Determine who the customers are and what benefits they expect.
 Determine the key strengths – for example price, service, convenience, inventory, etc.
 Rank the key success factors by giving each one a weighting – The sum of all the
weightings must add up to one.
 Rate each competitor on each of the key success factors.
 Multiply each cell in the matrix by the factor weighting.

The strategic rationale of competitor profiling is simple. Superior knowledge of rivals offers a
legitimate source of competitive advantage. The raw material of competitive advantage
consists of offering superior customer value in the firm’s chosen market. The definitive
characteristic of customer value is the adjective, superior. Customer value is defined relative to
rival offerings making competitor knowledge an intrinsic component of corporate strategy.
Profiling facilitates this strategic objective in three important ways. First, profiling can reveal
strategic weaknesses in rivals that the firm may exploit. Second, the proactive stance of
competitor profiling will allow the firm to anticipate the strategic response of their rivals to the
firm’s planned strategies, the strategies of other competing firms, and changes in the
environment. Third, this proactive knowledge will give the firms strategic agility. Offensive
strategy can be implemented more quickly in order to exploit opportunities and capitalize on
strengths. Similarly, defensive strategy can be employed more deftly in order to counter the
threat of rival firms from exploiting the firm’s own weaknesses.
Firms practicing systematic and advanced competitor profiling may have a significant
advantage. A comprehensive profiling capability is a core competence required for successful
competition.
A common technique is to create detailed profiles on each of the major competitors. These
profiles give an in-depth description of the competitor's background, finances, products,
markets, facilities, personnel, and strategies. This involves:

 Background
 location of offices, plants, and online presences
 history – key personalities, dates, events, and trends
 ownership, corporate governance, and organizational structure
 Financials
 P-E ratios, dividend policy, and profitability
 various financial ratios, liquidity, and cash flow
 profit growth profile; method of growth (organic or acquisitive)
 Products
 products offered, depth and breadth of product line, and product portfolio
balance
 new products developed, new product success rate, and R&D strengths
 brands, strength of brand portfolio, brand loyalty and brand awareness
 patents and licenses
 quality control conformance
 reverse engineering or deformulation
 Marketing
 segments served, market shares, customer base, growth rate, and customer
loyalty
 promotional mix, promotional budgets, advertising themes, ad agency used,
sales force success rate, online promotional strategy
 distribution channels used (direct & indirect), exclusivity agreements, alliances,
and geographical coverage
 pricing, discounts, and allowances
 Facilities
 plant capacity, capacity utilization rate, age of plant, plant efficiency, capital
investment
 location, shipping logistics, and product mix by plant
 Personnel
 number of employees, key employees, and skill sets
 strength of management, and management style
 compensation, benefits, and employee morale & retention rates
 Corporate and marketing strategies
 objectives, mission statement, growth plans, acquisitions, and divestitures

10. Write notes on the following in about 250 words each: (10x2=20)

a) Emerging trends in tourist market in India

discusses the Indian tourism scenario to the extent of tourism policy, trends and development
in tourism market, various campaigns and new product development in India. Paper based on
secondary data to probe into the Government annual reports, newspapers, websites, published
and non-published documents. It found that there is significant improvement in growth of
tourist arrival and Foreign exchange earnings. There was a dramatic and appreciable growth
rate for Indian tourism Scenario. The first public milestone in the history of tourism was the
creation of the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), in 1966. National Tourism
Development Policy, 2002 introduced with the principles of positioning tourism as a major
engine of economic growth and that removes the large exercise of unplanned tourism
development. Tourism policy highlights seven key areas viz. Swagat (Welcome), Soochna
(Information), Suvidha (Facilitation), Suraksha (Safety), Sahyog (Cooperation), Samrachna
(Infrastructure Development), and Safai (Cleanliness) that would provide the thirst to tourism
development. Public Road Shows and mass media communication in newspapers, Television,
and outdoors media create general awareness about the Atithi Devo Bhavah program. Under
the Incredible India Online Campaign, a domestic online campaign was launched to promote
tourism within the country. New product development such as Golf tourism, Cruise tourism,
river cruise, adventure tourism like skiing, paragliding and mountaineering, medical tourism,
wellness tourism, Sustainable or Eco tourism, Accessible tourism etc. Recently Poll tourism is
emerges in Indian market.

Tourism in India is economically important and is growing rapidly. The World Travel & Tourism
Council calculated that tourism generated ₹14.02 lakh crore (US$220 billion) or 9.6% of the
nation's GDP in 2016 and supported 40.343 million jobs, 9.3% of its total employment. The
sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 6.8% to 28.49 lakh crore (US$450 billion) by
2027 (10% of GDP). In October 2015, India's medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth
US$3 billion. It is projected to grow to $7–8 billion by 2020. In 2014, 184,298 foreign patients
traveled to India to seek medical treatment.
About 88.90 lakh (8.89 million) foreign tourists arrived in India in 2016 compared to 80.27 lakh
(8.027 million) in 2015, recording a growth of 10.7%. Domestic tourist visits to all states
and Union Territories numbered 1,036.35 million in 2012, an increase of 16.5% from 2011. In
2014, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were the most popular states for tourists.
Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra and Jaipurhave been the five most visited cities of India by
foreign tourists during the year 2015. Worldwide, Delhi is ranked at 28 by the number of
foreign tourist arrivals, while Mumbai is ranked at 30, Chennai at 43, Agra at 45, Jaipur at 52
and Kolkata at 90.
The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 ranks India 40th out of 136 countries
overall. The report ranks the price competitiveness of India's tourism sector 10th out of 136
countries. It mentions that India has quite good air transport (ranked 32nd), particularly given
the country’s stage of development, and reasonable ground transport infrastructure (ranked
29th). The country also scores high on natural and cultural resources (ranked 9th). Some other
aspects of its tourism infrastructure remain somewhat underdeveloped however. The nation
has very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison and low ATM penetration.
The World Tourism Organization reported that India's receipts from tourism during 2012
ranked 16th in the world, and 7th among Asian and Pacific countries.
The Ministry of Tourism designs national policies for the development and promotion of
tourism. In the process, the Ministry consults and collaborates with other stakeholders in the
sector including various Central Ministries/agencies, state governments, Union Territories and
the representatives of the private sector. Concerted efforts are being made to promote new
forms of tourism such as rural, cruise, medical and eco-tourism. The Ministry also maintains
the Incredible India campaign focused on promoting tourism.

b) Destination planning

Tourism can and will evolve with or without planning, however the sustainability of a
destination depends on whether the type and scale of tourism is best suited to the destination.
Effective destination management relies on an iterative and continual planning process that
integrates tourism into a community’s social, economic and environmental aspirations. Tourism
destination planning is an area which has attracted significant research and analysis,
summarised in the following sub-sections of Destination Planning:

 Situation Analysis
 Planning Process
 Ongoing Engagement

Effective destination management looks at the strategic direction for future development,
marketing and management of tourism where decision making is based on an assessment of
the best available knowledge. In short, effective destination planning should:

 Be collaborative process that ensures the engagement, participation and commitment

of all relevant stakeholders;
 Be a coordinated approach that is managed based on clearly defined processes and
frameworks;
 Be based on an understanding of existing internal and external operating
environments of the destination;
 Be based on a sound understanding of tourism supply and demand forecasts for the
destination;
 Consider all relevant information including market research, stakeholder values, the
planning environment and available resources and assets;
 Develop a clear and agreed strategic direction for the destination including a tourism
vision, goals, strategies and actions, brand and positioning, roles and responsibilities,
ongoing management processes and performance measures;
 Result in the development of key planning and strategic documents including plans for
destination management, ongoing research, strategic marketing, risk identification and
management;
 Be used to inform all phases of destination
management including ‘Implementation’ and ‘Destination Performance’;
  Be an ongoing or cyclical process, where plans and strategies are regularly reviewed to
ensure relevance within the changing environment.

Elements of effective destination planning can be achieved through three steps – the situation
analysis phase, the planning process and ongoing engagement. Further information on these
steps is provided in the links below along with specific information, tools and resources to assist
destination managers.