Faculty of Business & Industrial Management

Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management

Full Module Specification
Module Title/Course Name Tourism & Hospitality Marketing.
Module Code : THM-303
Module Level : BTHM
Academic Year : 2024
Module Lecturer : Bipasha Sukrana
Contact Address: [email protected]
Counseling Hour: Tuesday-Sunday 9.00-4.00 or
By appointment
Module Credit 3
Pre Requisites : Principles of Marketing
Co Requisites :
Duration of Module : 16 Weeks
Grading : As outlined in the University policy
Teaching Methodology Class room lecturer, multimedia presentation
, discussion, group study, assignment,
presentation, etc.
Method of Evaluation Attendance =20
Continuous Assessment =20
Mid-term =30
Final =30
TOTAL =100

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 Tourism & Hospitality Marketing
● Introduction

Welcome to Tourism & Hospitality Marketing module. This module is offered to the
students of Tourism & Hospitality Management on the basis of class tests, assignments,
discussions, presentations and the final examination.

● Objectives
On completion of this course, you will be able to:
✔ Traditional marketing terminology and concepts.

✔ Unique application of marketing principles to the travel and touris

m industry.

✔ Evaluate different strategies and impact of tourism and provide what if scenarios,
such as multiple budgets.

✔ Conduct feasibility.

✔ Marketing strategy and planning in the travel & tourism industry.

Message from the Teacher:

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 Course Contents:

Wee Module Topics/Module/Chapter

k
Lesson 1 The Significance Of Market
Environment
Market Environment
1 Macro-Environment
Micro-Environment

Lesson 1 Tourism Micro-Environment —

Porter's Five Forces Model
Tourism Macro-Environment —
Pest Analysis
Lesson 2 Needs Of A Tourist
2
Tourist Life Cycle

Tourist Life Cycle Comprising Pre-

Trip, Trip And Post-Trip.

Lesson 2 Tourist Consumer Behaviour

Analysing Tourist Characteristics
3
Product-Related Segmentation

Behavioural Sequence Model

Lesson 2 Information-Search Process.
Tourism Consumer Behaviour —
Typologies
4
Sunlust And Wanderlust Tourism

Individual-Experiencing Capability
Class Test 1
Lesson 3 Tourism As A Service

Service Industries Related To

5 Tourism

Scope For Improvement In Existing

Tourist Services

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 Role Of Marketing In Tourism
Services

Parasuraman's Service Quality

Model
Lesson 4 Marketing Mix

Internal Marketing Mix

6
External Marketing Mix

The 4 C's

Midterm
Wee Topics/Module/Chapter Course Teacher
k Zinnia Abedin Juthy
Lesson 5 TALC

7 Tourism Regions

General Marketing Strategies

Lesson 6 Market Segmentation, Targeting
And Positioning (STP)
Segmentation
8
Segment Identification

Class Test 2
Lesson 6 Segmentation Techniques Readings

Segment Evaluation Text:

Tourism Marketing
Levels Of Market Segmentation
BY
Patterns Of Market Segmentation Devashish
9 Dasgupta
Effective Segmentation

Targeting

Selecting And Entering Market

Segments
Lesson 7 Tourism Product Development
10

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 Essential Requirements In Product
Development
Assignment
Lesson 8 The Communication Process
11 Types Of Attention
Applications Of TMC
Lesson 8 Long-Term Objectives
12 Short-Term Objectives
Tools Of Communication
Final Exam

Lesson- 01

Tourism Market Environment Scanning

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARKET ENVIRONMENT

For any marketer, it is necessary to understand the market environment first. A good
understanding of this enables to formulate entry strategies and establish oneself well amidst
strong competition. In tourism this competition is fiercer, since the competition is amongst
destinations of various states as well as countries. Market environment scanning necessitates a
thorough analysis of the market, using the right tools to enable a strong strategy for entry and
early growth, and it goes a long way in determining how successful the new player will be.

The market environment consists of the macro-environment and the micro-environment, also
known as broad and task environments, respectively, which are discussed in the next section. To
succeed in any market, marketers must pay close attention to the trends and developments in
these environments and make timely adjustments to their marketing strategies. Within these
environments, marketers apply the marketing mix – the set of marketing tools used to achieve
marketing objectives in the target market.

Market Environment

Market environment refers to all the constituent forces which exist in the environment and
influence the customer decision making. It can be divided into two parts, macro-environment and
micro-environment.

1.Macro-Environment. The macro-environment refers to all forces which influence the

industry from a macro context. It consists of six components: demographic environment,
economic environment, natural environment, technological environment, political-legal
environment and social-cultural environment. These environments contain forces that can have a

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major impact on the actors in the task environment, which is why smart marketers track
environmental trends and changes closely.

Demographic Environment: An important variable in the demographic environment will be

existing classifications of age and their impact. For instance, India has got a relatively younger
population than many other nations. This makes it a potential customer for education and related
markets. Thus, countries, for example, Australia and New Zealand, look forward to Indian youth
for joining their academic programmes. In tourism, this piece of data gives a fair amount of idea
regarding the attraction power of destinations in the country for a specific demographic group.

Economic Environment: The economic environment refers to the purchasing power of potential
customers and the ways in which people spend their money. Tourists spend mainly on travelling,
staying and shopping. The economic environment data regarding a specific customer segment
can throw much light on the spending pattern as well as affordability of the tourists coming from
a specific country or a continent.

Natural Environment: The natural environment includes the natural resources that are used by
companies as inputs and affect their marketing activities. Destinations like sea beaches, lagoons,
deserts, coral reefs form a part of the natural environment. In tourism, one sub-classification can
be created within the natural environment: heritage environment and modern man-made
environment. India is amongst the few Asian countries to have heritage monuments in
abundance. Countries which do not have this privilege have created multiple man-made modern
tourist destinations. Any country having heritage monuments or natural destinations is always at
an advantageous position to attract tourists in larger numbers.

Technological Environment: Today in the era of e-marketing, this environment is perhaps the
most dynamic and effective sphere of a country's tourism macro-environment. This environment
includes all the technological interventions which make a tourist more comfortable and efficient
in decision making as well as further processing of his decision. It includes online ticket
booking, payment gateways as well as exploring various tourism opportunities. With the
advancement in travel now, nearly all the tourist destinations of the world can be reached within
36 hours. Any incidence of events detrimental to tourist interests is communicated at a lightning
speed. Nations or states which have been able to harness themselves with the latest in technology
are better off in reaping the benefits in terms of better destination, brand image and tourism
revenue.

Political Environment: The political environment includes all laws and legislations that
influence the tourism industry and government agencies and groups that influence or limit the
scope of tourism and tourists. For instance, Rossebuurd is a legally authorized red light district of
Amsterdam (Netherlands). However these types of activity will never be legally accepted in the
country like India. Similarly Casinos are legally not allowed in many countries.

Socio-cultural Environment: This environment consists of institutions and basic values and
beliefs of people; this helps in focusing of marketing campaigns to reflect the values of a target
audience. This has got two dimensions. First, cultural aspects of the people reside at the tourist
destination. At times, the culture and customs of the people become a major tourist attraction.

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For example, in India Deepawali in Northern India, Holi celebrations in Mathura, Kite flying
festival during Uttarayan (Makar Sankranti) in Gujarat, Durga Puja in West Bengal, Ganesh
Utsav in Mumbai, Dussehra in Mysore, State of Karnataka are some occasions which are directly
connected to the culture of the people residing in the tourist destinations. Second, here is the
culture of the people in target segments. For instance, Non-Asians would feel more enchanted to
watch cultural festivals in India than their Asian counterparts.

2. Micro-Environment. The micro-environment refers to forces that are close to the tourist
destination and affect its ability to serve its guests. This includes the immediate actors involved
in communicating with the guests: bringing them to the destination, making them stay and visit
the destination as well as taking them back. It encompasses travel organizations, hotels,
restaurants, souvenir retailers and destination staff besides tourists themselves. Service suppliers
such as marketing-research agencies, advertising agencies, Web site designers, and banking,
insurance, transportation and telecommunications companies are included in the supplier group.

The government aspect of the micro-environment refers to the internal environment of the
destination. To remain competitive, a destination must consider its biggest competitors, while
considering its own size and position in the tourism market. The final aspect of the micro-
environment is public, which is any group that has an interest in or impact on the destination's
ability to meet its goals. Studies have established the fact that in any tourist destination the onus
ultimately lies in the attitude of the local public towards tourists and tourism as an industry for
the success of any tourist destination.

Tourism Micro-Environment — Porter's Five Forces Model

Michael Porter's five forces analysis is a framework for industry analysis and business-strategy
development. It uses concepts developed in industrial organization (IO) economics to derive five
forces that determine the competitive intensity and, therefore, attractiveness of a sector/market.
Attractiveness in this context refers to the overall sector profitability. An “unattractive industry”
is one where the combination of forces acts to drive down the overall profitability. A very
unattractive industry would be one approaching “pure competition.”

For the tourism sector in India, the following would be important:

● New entrants: New avenues of tourism such as development of new tourism sites
● Threat of substitutes: Creation of other sources of relaxation within the native city of
the traveller
● Buyers: The consumer, that is, the tourist, who is the source of income for the tourism
industry
● Suppliers: The various states/countries promoting their tourism destinations
● Rivalry between existing competitors: Competition to attract tourists by established
tourist places

Tourism Macro-Environment — PEST Analysis

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For scanning the tourism-market environment in India, the PEST (Political, Economic, Social
and Technological) analysis is done. These are explained below.

● Political: Political stability, law-and-order situation and absence of terrorist activities in

the place where tourism needs to be promoted
● Economic: Purchasing power of the tourist, also taking into account the foreign-
exchange rate
● Social: Availability of facilities such as proper medical facilities, open culture and
education of people
● Technological: E-connectivity of the tourist place and presence of good mobile network

The PEST analysis describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the

environmental scanning component of strategic management. It is very important to understand
the environment of the tourism sector in India before beginning the marketing process. In fact,
environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning. Demographics,
cultural factors and natural environment also need to be taken care of while studying the macro-
environment factors.

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 Lesson- 02

Tourist Consumer Behavior

Needs of a Tourist

The importance of customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction derives from its purported impact on

repeat-purchase behavior and brand loyalty. An effective customer satisfaction system provides
management with early warning signals, which enable the prevention of loss of market share.
Although defensive strategies (those that seek to retain existing customers) are vital to marketing
managers; offensive strategies (those aiming to gain new customers and variety seekers) are also
very important as they determine the long-term growth and profitability of a company.
Understanding the buying behavior of first-time buyers is essential for a firm's marketing
strategy since first-time buyers are the potential repeat purchasers and may become loyal to a
brand. Post-purchase rationalization is a common phenomenon, wherein people invest a lot of
time, money or effort in something to convince themselves that it must have been worth it.

Many decisions are made emotionally and, so, are often rationalized retrospectively in an attempt
to justify the choice. This rationalization is based on the principle of commitment and the
psychological desire to stay consistent to that commitment.

Tourist Life Cycle

A tourist life cycle can be classified into three phases — pre-trip, trip and post-trip. Pre-trip (or
planning) is the phase during which a potential tourist is considering tourism travel. In this
planning phase, tourism intermediaries (travel agents, tour operators, hotels, airlines, etc.) play a
vital part in forming the opinion of a potential tourist.

There are some similar pre-trip requirements for the three kinds of tourists (inbound, domestic
and outbound). These include information about the destination, boarding/ lodging, mode of
travel and package tour(s), advance payment mechanism and security concerns, etc. Additional
pre-trip requirements, specifically for inbound and outbound tourists, include documentation for
visa, currency conversion issues, local travel synchronization with international travel, etc.
During pre-trip, a potential tourist seeks reliable and current information on the tourism

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alternatives available: information about mode of travel, budget trip prices, budget
accommodation and its prices, distance of the accommodations from the tourist spots,
availability of any package tour that may take care of the boarding/lodging with additional local
sight seeing. Approximate costing of the proposed trip can be provided to potential tourists using
some online calculators.

Tourist Life Cycle Comprising Pre-Trip, Trip and Post-Trip.

Once a potential tourist decides to visit India, the “trip” phase begins. After landing in a hotel,
the tourist would begin visiting various sites in the destination city. The ticketing process and
interaction with local populace should be made as simplified as possible. A tourist may be
provided with a smart/credit/debit card that would have all the details of the sites visited by the
tourists, plus it also records the sequence of the visit plu it contains all details about the tourist. A
tourist needs to be made aware of the common rules of the land while eating in restaurants and
general civic sensibility.

During the last 48–72 hours of the trip, again hand-holding is needed. Checking out of hotels and
reaching airports need to be a pleasurable experience. Taking feedback of the trip is also
important. Feedback forms need to be carefully designed so that each aspect of the trip can be
carefully captured. Providing feedback should not become a chore for the tourist but it should be
captured at every possible point while the tourist is in his/her trip.

Post-trip link with a tourist is very important for many reasons. Once the tourist leaves for
his/her home country, after a few days, a feedback can be asked for seeking constructive
suggestions to improve the situation. The customer should be provided an ATR on the feedback
provided by the customer. If the tourist is upset or angry over some issue, someone should
sympathetically look into it and try to resolve it amicably.

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Thereafter, the tourist should be kept informed (through emails, etc.) constantly about any new
package deals, with schemes like discounts for repeat customers. This will make the tourist feel
wanted and at home. This would increase the word-of-mouth-impacted tourists.
TOURIST CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Tourist consumer behavior is influenced by the attributes of the tourist destination,

communication and image of the travel destination, as also by the quality of services rendered.
The following factors have been recognized as being conducive to the growth of tourism across
the world and in continents like Europe and Asia, which have a rich tourist consumer history:

● Increase in disposable income of the consumers

● Enhanced aircraft technology, facilitating speedy travel
● Development of cars and railroads, giving an enhanced connectivity
● Education and awareness, leading to the desire to see different locations
● Increase in leisure time of consumers
● Proliferation of holiday packages and tour operators in the tourism industry

Fig. 2.1: The Five-Phase Experience Model

A five-phase outdoor-recreation experience model has been proposed to delineate vacation

experiences and the decisions involved in the process (Fig. 2.1). The five-stage travel model
involves modeling decision processes of travelers from a macro-perspective and has the
following stages: anticipation phase, travel to actual site, onsite experiences and activities, travel
back, and recollection of experiences.

Another school of thought delineates tourists' decision-making process based on the realization
that tourist behavior is a rational decision activity. In other words, a potential traveler assesses
the costs and benefits of his/her actions before committing to a purchase. This model asserts that
tourism services have unique characteristics that differentiate them from other products (e.g.,
intangibility, involve risks). Tourism firms affect tourist behavior, and the consumer, in turn,
affects how firms make marketing-related decisions.

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ANALYSING TOURIST CHARACTERISTICS

Fig. 2.2: Supply and Demand Side Influences

Product-Related Segmentation

Product-related segmentation involves grouping similar products. The various categories under
product-related segmentation are:

● Accommodation
● Adventure operators/organizers: Ranging from family adventures and motorcycle tours
to hunting and bird watching
● Attractions: Ranging from museums and theme parks to sports clubs and festivals
● Transportation and services: Ranging from train and van tours to restaurants and gas
stations
● Seasons: Varying across fall and winter
● Nature of visit: Business travel, leisure travel, pilgrimage, international sports events,
travelers for arts and architecture, travellers for mountain sports, travelers to wildlife
camps and bird sanctuaries, beach strollers, interest groups, etc.

Demand-Based Segmentation

Demand-related segmentation involves classification on the basis of demographics and

behavioural patterns of tourists.

Life-Cycle Segments

● Youth market (age 18–35, with no children under 20 living at home)

● Family market (with children under 20 living at home)
● mature market (age 36–65)
● Seniors market (age over 65)

Traveller Profile

● Duration of trip/stay

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 ● Destination

Socio-Economic Classification (SEC)

● Upper class
● Middle class
● Lower class

Demographics of Households

● Household make-up
● Age profiles
● Occupation profiles
● Income
● Lifestyle and life-stage profiles
● Race/ethnicity and
● Education level

Behavioral Sequence Model

Alternative-decision participants' role and the specifics of the decision process can most easily be
identified by constructing a behavioral sequence model (BSM) (Fig. 2.3). BSM uses a grid
format to identify the decision of the target audience. The horizontal information enumerates the
WHAT of the decision, specifically the major decision stages preceding, including and following
the purchase. The vertical information, on the other hand, enumerates the data inputs relating to
the following factors:

● WHO – the decision participants and decision roles

● WHERE – the locations of decision stages
● WHEN – the time and timing of each stage
● HOW – a capsule description of how each stage is accomplished

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 Fig. 2.3: Behavioral Sequence Model

Information-Search Process. The information-search process involves the evaluation of

alternatives, purchase decision, consumption and post-purchase behavior. The relatedness of
numerous factors on both the information-search processes conducted and the overall
destination-purchase process is depicted in Figs. 2.5.

Fig. 2.5: Information Search Model

TOURISM CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR — TYPOLOGIES

Sunlust and Wanderlust Tourism

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In the early 1970s Gray used the terms sunlust and wanderlust tourism to categorize two types of
tourism. Sunlust tourism is basically tourism motivated by the desire of rest, relaxation and the
three S's — sun, sea and sand. Wanderlust tourism on the other hand is typically based on the
desire to travel and experience different cultures and people. Cohen (1972), a sociologist and one
of the early researchers on this subject, proposed a theory that classifies different types of tourists
based on their relationship to the tourist business establishment as well as the tourist destination
country.

Individual-Experiencing Capability

As per Cohen (1972), tourists fall into four categories based on their individual capabilities to
experience and adapt to the unfamiliar environment: organized mass tourists, individual mass
tourists, explorers and drifters.

● Organized mass tourists prefer to stay in familiar environment as far as possible. Thus,
well-organized and well-planned packaged tours are their top priority.
● Individual mass tourists are similar to organized mass tourists except the fact that a small
percentage of personal freedom or decision making is maintained by this category of
tourists.
● Explorers do not tread the beaten path as far as possible. Another important aspect of
explorers is that they associate with the people of the visited destination, at the same time
a percentage of basic routine based on their comfort level is maintained.
● Drifters are complete wanderers and do not stress on familiarity at all. Such tourists
intend to venture away from their accustomed ways of life as far as possible, so that they
can immerse completely in the culture of the host destination.

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 Lesson-03

Services Marketing Issues in Tourism

TOURISM AS A SERVICE
Tourism has always been a major social phenomenon in any society. It is motivated by the
natural urge of every human being for new experience, adventure, education, knowledge and
entertainment. In order to understand cultures and values of each other, as well as to cater to
several other social, religious and business interests, many tourist and infrastructure facilities
have been developed. This, along with the progress of proper transportation network globally,
especially of airways and waterways, has encouraged people to venture out to foreign lands. It
has facilitated trade and commerce between the different regions of a country and between the
different countries. As a result, over the years, it has acquired the status of a service industry.

Service Industries Related to Tourism

The service sectors related to tourism include airlines, hotels, transport (local), tourist guides,
security/police, basic sanitation and other amenities at the tourist places. The following are
service industries related to tourism:

Airlines Industry. The airlines industry is one of the significant contributors to tourism,
especially in developing countries. Previously, developing countries used tourism as a means to
generate essential foreign currency and to generate employment. But due to the emergence of
low-cost airlines, which offers better connectivity within the country, the developing countries
are slowly entering into the tourism market. Further, the liberalization of the airlines sector and
the minimization of constraints from the government side have been seen as an opportunity for
airlines to enter the tourism market. The airlines sector is one of the important industries by
which any country can get into the tourism market. For any country, airlines serves as the first
gateway for tourism. So, improving the services offered will directly have an impact on the
tourists' turnover.

Hospitality Industry. Hospitality is the act or practice of being hospitable, that is, the reception
and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers, with liberality and goodwill. Hospitality
frequently refers to the hospitality-industry jobs for hotels, restaurants, casinos, catering, resorts,
clubs and any other service position that deals with tourists. Hotels are among the most visible
and important aspects of a country's infrastructure. The hotel industry is closely linked to the
tourism industry. A number of factors like promotion of tourism and rapid industrial progress
have given a boost to hotel management. The recent liberalization of trade and the opening up of
the economy will further lead to revolutionary growth in this sector.

Scope for Improvement in Existing Tourist Services

Local Transport/Tourist Guides. The local transportation within the tourist spots should be well
connected. Also, the tourists who are not part of the tourist packages should be made to utilize

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the government or government-authorized facilities so that they are charged the right amount of
money and are not cheated. The tour operators should provide competent tourist guides to bus
operators because they are the representatives with whom the tourists are going to interact
mostly. They should portray a positive image of the country among the tourists.

Basic Amenities in Tourist Locations. The tourist locations should be maintained properly so
that they remain clean. This can be done by a team that takes care of the maintenance of
monuments and surroundings, and protects these from misuse. The basic amenities of food and
toilets should be available, and also maintained continuously. The food should be of the needed
quality level, and the revenue generated through the food outlets/paid toilets should be reinvested
only for renovation.

Security. The concerns of personal security and also the security of the belongings can be taken
care of by the tour operators. They should constantly monitor the foreign tourists, so that they do
not end up in troubles because of local people. Proper guidelines should be given regarding the
shops they should purchase from, the point of contact in case they get lost, etc. These might seem
to be small issues, but if not addressed rightly, they can portray the country in a darker light.

Role of Marketing in Tourism Services

Firms in the tourism industry, just like those in any other services industry, extensively employ
different types of services marketing strategies in order to stay ahead of competition. Among the
key services they need to market are airlines and hospitality. The strategies vary from one firm to
another, and depend on the customer segment that the firm is targeting. It does not matter what
the marketing strategy of the firm is; it has to necessarily account for the following aspects of a
tourism-service offering: intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability. These are all
described as follows:

Intangibility. Unlike physical products, services cannot be verified by any of the human senses.
However, consumers often infer the quality of the service from place, people, equipment, price,
communication and material associated with the service. This has a crucial bearing on the
perceived value of service for a customer. In case of tourism, a customer would have a different
perception about the quality of services, for example, a room or food offered in a five-star luxury
hotel as compared to an economy hotel, owing to the various factors listed above. This indicates
that a hotel, depending on its value proposition, may target the appropriate segment of the market
by leveraging the factors listed above. Likewise, a holiday agency that intends to cater to the
middle class may aptly choose the intangible aspects associated with its service, so that it attracts
most of the middle-class populace.

Inseparability. A unique aspect of services is that unlike physical goods, they have to be
produced and consumed simultaneously. In tourism, the tourist and the service providers interact
continuously, right from the tourist's arrival in the country till the completion of the entire
tourism process. The service providers in such cases can continuously gauge the level of
satisfaction of the tourists.

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Variability. Services vary from one place to another, and from one time to another. It is
extremely difficult to maintain the same standard of service delivery. The service delivery
standard also depends on the person who delivers it. For example, the type of hotels found in a
tourist destination known for its beaches is different from the type of hotels found in a hill
station. Each type of hotel has its own value proposition and intends to offer a different type of
service to the tourists, and hence, the quality of service would invariably vary. However, the
hotels in each case have to ensure that they necessarily meet the consumer expectations as often
as possible. Likewise, the services offered by different travel agents and holiday planners would
vary immensely. The level of service quality will, nevertheless, depend largely on the
segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies of the firms. For example, a holiday-planning
agency intending to cater to the requirements of the upper-middle class will have to ensure that
the services offered by it match the prices charged.

Perishability. Unlike products, services cannot be stored. This implies that during the peak
season as well as during unfavourable seasons, a potential mismatch may occur between the
demand for tourism services and the supply, which is often the case with most hotels in hill
stations during summers.

Parasuraman's Service Quality Model

Parasuraman's service quality model highlights the following gaps in service quality (Fig. 4.2).

Gap Between Consumer Expectations and Management Perceptions (Gap 1): In service
industries, where the consumer is directly involved in the process, this gap plays a crucial role.
Sometimes, the customer might want something and the management could be focusing on
something else. The customer might be interested in low-cost hotel rooms while expecting good
hygiene, whereas the management might be cutting costs by compromising on the hygiene. This
is one of the important factors creating dissatisfaction among the travellers.

Gap Between Management Perceptions and Service-quality Specifications (Gap 2):

Sometimes, even if the management is able to identify the customer's wants, it is not in a position
to provide the same due to cost constraints or other limiting factors. For example, a professional
tourist operator is more interested in the number of trips he can do in a month than the level of
satisfaction of people in each trip.

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Source: A. Parasuraman, Valarie A. Zeithami, and Leonard L. Bary, “A concept model of
service quality and its implications for future,”, Journal of Marketing (Fall 1985).

Fig. 4.2: Parasuraman's Service Quality Model

Gap Between Service-quality Specifications and Service Delivery (Gap 3): The quality of
service depends on the capability of the person who is serving. For example, people expect a
certain standard from the tourist guide, hotel receptionist or stewardess in the flight. If a person is
not fit enough for the job, the tourist will be dissatisfied.

Gap Between Service Delivery and External Communications (Gap 4): This gap is highly
prevalent in the Indian scenario. The hotels will advertise high-end facilities, a great range of
services and competitive costs. But when the tourist actually visits the hotel, the reality is
nowhere close to what is advertised; in fact, there will be some hidden costs associated with the
service. A tourist might not be able to know these things beforehand, and these issues will come
to light only when he actually avails the service.

Gap Between Perceived Services and Expected Services (Gap 5): This gap occurs when the
consumer misperceives the service quality. For instance, if a hotel advertises low price as its
unique feature, the customer might think that the service provided by the hotel will not be good.
Sometimes, the service might be really good, but the consumer might have a preconceived
expectation, which if not met will lead to dissatisfaction. This happens when the tourist is not
well informed about what to expect or when the company sends wrong communication to the
target customers.

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 Lesson-04

Marketing Mix and C's of Marketing in Tourism

MARKETING MIX

The marketing strategy should be viewed as a package of offerings designed to attract and serve
the customer or the visitor. The tourism market consists of internal and external marketing.

Internal Marketing Mix

Internal marketing aims at building employee morale as well as setting quality standards to
ensure that each and every employee plays a pivotal role in building the customer experience.
The success of internal marketing depends on creating an atmosphere wherein employees desire
to deliver good services to the customers. Internal marketing encompasses all stakeholders of the
organization. It would include all the levels of management of the organization, the suppliers, the
creditors/financers, the channel partners and all others involved in the working of the
organization.

A number of factors such as customer relations, quality control and employee morale can be
achieved by providing tangible benefits such as incentives during peak season and intangible
morale boosters such as support from supervisors, regular trainings and an environment where
quality is a natural practice rather than a forced exercise.

External Marketing Mix

The 4 P's. The external marketing mix includes product/service, price, place/location and
promotion.

Product: It is the element to which all the other elements relate, but without which they would
be inaccessible or have little meaning. “People do not buy products; they buy the expectation of
benefits. It is the benefits that are the product” (Levitt 1969). A business product comprises
whatever is being delivered to satisfy consumer needs. It is much more than goods or services
and is what the customer buys to satisfy a want. The fact that a product exists is, therefore, only a
part of the story. What is the product offered by Airtel and Vodafone? It is certainly much more
than the services and the mobile handsets that they provide. It is a communication, a reassurance
when one can call an elderly relative, happiness when one receives a call from someone they
love, excitement when one hears good news and sadness when one hears bad tidings. Similarly, a
hotel is much more than a place to sleep and eat. It could be a surrogate home for a company's
director while away on business, a haven of refuge for a sales representative when stranded or
even a prison for a tourist if caught up in a war zone. It may be a place to relax, work, entertain
or be entertained, confer or just lie around in the sun. The first step in tourism marketing is to
understand the wants of the customer.

Price: Price is the one element in the marketing mix which produces revenue. Most of the others
involve cost, which may explain why marketing is less popular than it might be. Price is often

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determined by the cost, with a margin being added to yield a profit or return on the investment.
Marketing, however, would recommend using price tactically to help achieve the goals of the
business, varying the price according to the level of demand and the willingness of the market to
pay the price. Marketing is about giving each product or business its own unique selling
proposition, so that it is different from all competing products and can command a premium
price. Price is also an indicator of perceived quality, particularly for the first-time buyer, and
while it remains so, subsequent purchases are much more concerned with the judgment of value
for money. When establishing prices, tourism businesses should give attention to pricing
strategies that may encourage off-season/non-peak-period sales, longer stays, group business and
sale of package plans (combination of room, meals and recreational facilities).

Place: A packet of tissues can be bought from almost anywhere, but the places where tourism
can be bought are relatively few. Tourism is not very well packaged in the domestic market – it
is much easier to buy an all-inclusive holiday abroad than to buy one in India. Tourism is
different from many other products, in that we travel to the product, for example, to enjoy a
weekend in Shimla, one must first travel to get there, whereas most of the other goods we buy,
from cars to tomato sauce, travel to us, or at least to the nearest car dealer or shop. Tourism is a
service, mainly intangible at the point of sales and often not to be inspected. Many service
products like travel and tourism are “ideas” in the minds of prospective buyers. They cannot
easily be measured, touched or evaluated at the point of sale prior to performance. In travel and
tourism, the point of sale is, more often than not, remote from the product. The role of third-party
product evaluation and reporting is vital here. A customer cannot hold an experience, and the
familiar “wish you were here,” written on postcards by holidaymakers. The role of holiday snaps
is interesting as they are an attempt to capture the experience so that it can be shared and relived.
In much the same way, third-party product evaluation and reporting is vital as part of promotion
in the form of recommendations and testimonials.

Promotion: This P is the term many people confuse with marketing. Promotion is about telling
people what is on offer. Promotion refers to all the methods and tools used to spread information
about the product, and encourage consumers to buy it. Once a business is in operation, it is this
part of marketing that the business will have to spend money on every year. Knowledge of the
product and market is essential for keeping the promotion budget in line and producing results. It
is not entirely separate from the product because what is said and how it is said influence how
the product is seen. Promotion includes not only advertising but also direct mail, public relations,
printed brochures, presence at trade shows and participation in joint marketing schemes.
Promotion can be very expensive, and it is often difficult to decide whether or not it is
successful.

The 4 C's. With market competition shifting from the product-oriented focus to a customer-
oriented paradigm, some defects of the 4 P's framework emerge.
Under this condition, the 4 C's marketing-mix model is put forward by Robert Lauterborn, who
suggests that the marketing strategies that involved product, price, place and promotion are
passé. The C's developed by Robert Lauterborn are the customer decision points corresponding
to the marketer tools. They are customer solution, cost to the user, convenience and
communication.

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● Product (customer solution): Customers look forward to solve their problems.
Incidentally the solution is the product. In tourists the problem can be how to best utilize
the vacation, or how to have a break from the monotony in life.
● Price (cost to the user): Cost to the user may far exceed the price of the product. A
tourist destination may focus on the economy of the expenses at the destination.
However, for a tourist the cost will include complete transport expenses to and from the
destination, local transport along with all sundry expenses as well as shopping.
● Place (logistics) (convenience): Even if there are multiple logistics options for tourists
they will always weigh them as per their convenience. Thus, even if the midnight flight is
least priced it may just not be the convenient option for them. Convenience can again
have multiple dimensions. It can be convenience in terms of logistics, language, culture
and, the most basic, travel.
● Promotion (communication): Each destination undertakes an effort to promote itself in
the most impressive manner. However, how it gets communicated is most important. A
great Web site, along with lovely advertisements can all go waste with the media report
of harassment or exploitation of tourists or even the spread of some health threats some
hundreds of miles away from the destination.

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 Lesson- 05

Tourism Life Cycle

TALC also provides a focal point for both policymakers and tourists to ask pertinent questions –
such as what leads a destination to change over time, how destinations and their markets change,
which stage the current destination is in and, given the knowledge of the stage, what can be
expected of the destination even before researching it. It, thus, provides a convenient mechanism
for tourists to help them to shortlist the destination of their choice and for a policymaker to
determine vital issues such as determining the amount of funding and how to utilize this funding
for the selected tourism area.

Butler (1980) adapted the PLC model to the tourism industry and created the TALC concept. He
established six stages under this model: exploration; involvement; development; consolidation;
stagnation; decline and rejuvenation.

Stage 1: Exploration

During this stage, a small number of visitors arrive seeking unspoiled destinations. Tourism
facilities hardly exist, and so the tourists share facilities with locals. Consequently, contact with
the locals is likely to be high, but the economic return from tourism is insignificant.

Stage 2: Involvement

During this stage, the number of incoming tourists increases. This results in an increase in the
number of professionally maintained facilities. However, it is generally observed that businesses
mostly remain family based and the tourist-host relationship from the previous stage continues.

Stage 3: Development

Heavy advertising of tourism venues takes place during this stage. Characterized by externally
(domestic or overseas) owned and controlled facilities, local ownership and control declines. In
this stage, local attractions are marketed specifically. The landscape of the venue starts to
change, particularly, in terms of new development and buildings.

Stage 4: Consolidation

The rate of increase in number of visitors declines during this stage. The industry responds to the
decline in the growth rate through wide-ranging advertising campaigns and efforts to extend the
tourism season and the market area. Facilities and infrastructure start to show signs of age.

Stage 5: Stagnation

This stage starts when peak visitor numbers have been reached and capacity levels exceeded for
many variables, resulting in environmental, social and economic problems. The region is well

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known and well established but no longer fashionable. As a result, some venues diversify into
serving as host to conventions and conferences in order to maintain visitor numbers.

During the final stage, the area will either decline or be rejuvenated.

Stage 6a: Decline

In this stage, there will be an inability to maintain market share. The venue would no longer be
on the favourite lists of people, but might be used for day trips. Tourism-related structures would
get converted to non-tourism uses such as retirement centers, apartments and offices, since the
tourism destinations also attract permanent residents. In the end, the tourism sector there offers a
low level of facilities or dies completely.

Stage 6b: Rejuvenation

This requires a complete change in the attractions on which the tourism region is based.
Rejuvenation can be achieved, first, by using man-made attractions such as casinos and, second,
by taking advantage of previously untapped natural resources. Other special-interest groups
could be catered to through activities such as cycling, mountain biking, diving and fishing (Fig.
6.1).

Tourism Regions

There could be several classifications of tourism regions, broadly speaking, though, they can be
appropriated into three groups: regions of stability, regions that suffer a decline in tourism and
regions that get declined, but become popular again with time. There are regions that have
cultural or religious significance to the tourists, whereas some are known for their scenic beauty.
Similarly, some tourism regions gain importance due to their close proximity to a certain

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metropolitan area. The location of a destination is also very crucial in the development of a
tourism region. Certain locations are located en route to other popular destinations, as a result of
which there is a constant traffic flow across the region, keeping the destination busy. Certain
owners get encouraged to visit these locations again and again due to the fact that they own a
number of holiday homes at these places. However, not all regions are that lucky and by a sad
turn of events as in the decline stage, tourist numbers could see a large drop leading to huge
losses to the system along with a surge in unemployment and mortgage foreclosures.

Tourism Regions of Long-Term Stability. Certain tourism regions never seem to lose their
sheen. It is due to the fact that these regions have cultural and/or religious significance.
Prominent examples could be that of Rome, Israel, Athens and Cairo. Rome was the heart of the
Roman Empire and an important seat of cultural and religious beliefs. The city houses significant
remains of the Roman civilization, which forms the core of the European culture. Apart from
this, Rome houses the Vatican, the house of the pope, which could be considered the Mecca of
Catholics. Israel, Athens and Cairo are other similar examples in their own right.

Tourism Regions That Have Declined. There are regions whose complete economy is based on
tourism. If tourism as a business goes down, the economic base of the region could come under
threat. Various authors have put forward their theories behind the declining number of tourists at
such destinations; however, the comprehensive list put up by Cooper could be considered a
genuine attempt at diagnosing the issues involved herein. The list was originally prepared for the
“cold water resorts” of Europe and the United Kingdom; but most of the points are valid for any
resort that is facing a decline. As per Cooper, the following factors were identified:

● Growth in low-status, low-spend visitors and day visitors

● Competition from holidays abroad
● Over dependence on long-holiday market
● Limited appeal to overseas visitors
● Highly seasonal destinations
● Outdated, poorly maintained accommodation and amenities
● Local opposition to tourism as resorts’ residential roles increase
● Lack of professional, experienced staff
● Local government reorganization creating amalgams of resorts and diluting political
power of resorts in larger authorities
● Demands for increased operational efficiency and entrepreneurial activity in local
government
● Shortage of research data

Rejuvenated Tourism Regions. The word rejuvenated means that the region has returned back to
its days of old glory as a thriving tourist destination or as a centre of economic activity. The only
aberration could be the fact that the region would be now dominated by other groups of
industries. In certain cases, the resort area, which faced decline in its primary product of tourism,
tries to diversify into other areas of enterprise. Certain examples are New York, Bournemouth
and Nice, all centres of tourism that declined. Los Angeles (LA) was a seaside resort town that
was never able to complete its life cycle and reach the decline stage. During the Cold War, LA's
economy diversified into aviation, electronic and shipbuilding industries, aptly supported by the

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military contracts. This diversification led to new employment opportunities, and cheap
mortgages were made available by the Federal Housing Association. As a result, the population
of LA rose from about 4 million in 1950 to nearly 7 million in 1980.
GENERAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

● Tourists should have access to information regarding tour operators, tour agents and tour
guides.
● There is a shortage of skilled manpower in the tourism industry. So, some attention
should be given to this area.
● Tourism businesses should also view their services/products in generic terms. Thinking
of products/services in this manner helps focus more attention on the experiences desired
by customers and also on the facilities, programmes and services that produce those
experiences.
● Tourism can retain existing customers, attract new customers, increase brand awareness,
build business, reduce customers’ perceived risk and gain the trust of customers through
promotional campaigns. The marketers should promote their products by means of
appropriate media (radio, television, print) aimed at specific markets. They need to
develop and maintain Web sites specific to tourism.
● Enhance local awareness of offerings: The majority of tourists to India visit friends or
relatives who live here. The local population has an important role to play in ensuring the
success of the events, facilities and attractions that are promoted for tourists. Currently,
there is a perception amongst stakeholders that residents lack awareness or have negative
perceptions of what is available in the country. One aspect of the tourism marketing
campaign should be aimed at enhancing local pride, appreciation and awareness of India's
cultural offerings in order to ensure that residents participate in promoting Indian
attributes to visitors.
● Develop new partnerships and packages for tourism: Increased understanding will
kindle appreciation for and interest in collaborative activity that can benefit all parties
involved. Partnerships should be encouraged between hoteliers, restaurateurs, retailers
and cultural groups. New packages such as museum tours coupled with meals at local
establishments, theatre packages with accommodations/meals or a package of festival
tickets are just some of the possibilities.
● Conduct research specific to the tourism sector: Research should include quantitative
information such as attendance, origin of respondents, spending patterns and
demographics, as well as qualitative information such as visitor satisfaction and
accessibility and programme aspects. This results in assisting the development of
presentations that can be made to non-tourism sectors. In addition, it results in informed
decision making on operations, programme and capital funding, infrastructure
improvements and tourism initiatives to grow.
● Enhance funding for tourism development: With the evolution of the tourism strategy,
there is an opportunity to diversify and expand funding. Though it is not easy to
determine how much new funding might be needed in the long term, majority of
stakeholders feel strongly that infrastructure and tourism marketing require more stable
and sustained funding in the future.

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Page 27 of 40
 Lesson- 06

Tourism Market Segmentation and Targeting

To satisfy the needs of the tourists more successfully and reach them in the most effective and
efficient way, tourist operators should identify groups of tourists or potential tourist with
homogenous characteristics and behaviors, and try to adapt their service as much as possible to
the unique needs and desires of the segment members.

Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is the actual process of identifying segments of the market and the process
of dividing a broad customer base into sub-groups of consumers consisting of existing and
prospective customers. . In dividing or segmenting markets, researchers typically look for shared
characteristics such as common needs, common interests, similar lifestyles or even similar
demographic profiles. For example, Southwest Airlines’ single-minded focus on the short-haul,
point-to-point, major-city routes, allowed them to prosper as their competitors floundered. The
airline’s focus on specific segments allowed them to do a better job of deciding what their target
segment really valued (for example, convenience, low price, on-time departures and arrivals,
among other things).
. Diverse customers will have different expectations. For instance, there may be customers who
will value a differentiated, high quality service, whilst others may be more price-sensitive.
In the tourism industry, the business traveller is usually considered as an attractive segment.
However, there are different types of business travellers:
● The Hard Money Travellers (or the independent business travellers), these include the
business individuals travelling at their own expense;
● The Soft Money Travellers (or corporate business travellers), these include business
individuals travelling on an expense account;
● The Medium Money Travellers (or the conference or incentive business travellers), these
include business individuals travelling within a group;
● The Interim Travellers, these include business travellers who are combining personal
travel with a business trip;
● The Frequent Short Travellers, these include business travellers who consistently fly a
short-haul route;
● The Periodic Travellers, these include sales persons who make a round of stops on a
steady itinerary.

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Segmentation Variables
The traditional variables that may be used for market segmentation can be grouped into five
main categories: (i) Demographic; (ii) Geographic (iii) Psychographic; (iv) Behavioural and / or
(v) Product-Related Factors.
● Demographic Segmentation
Demographic segmentation involves dividing the market into groups that are identifiable in
terms of physical and factual data. The demographic variables may include; age, gender, income,
occupation, marital status, family size, race, religion and nationality. These segmentation
methods are a popular way of segmenting the customer markets, as the demographic variables
are relatively easy to measure.
● Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation involves selecting potential markets according to where they are
located. This segmentation approach may consider variables such as climate, terrain, natural
resources and population density, among other geographic variables. For example, those
individuals who are living in wet and cold climates will favor warm, sunny destinations for their
holidays.
● Psychographic Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation could be used to segment markets according to personality traits,
values, motives, interests and lifestyles. A psychographic dimension can be used by itself to
segment a market, or it can be combined with other segmentation variables. The psychographic
variables are used when purchasing behaviours correlate with the personality or lifestyles of
consumers. For example, affluent business travellers who are used to high standards of living
will expect an airline’s service to complement such a lifestyle .Social grades (grades in status)
may be broken down as follows:
A: Higher managerial, administrative or professional;
B: Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional;
C1: Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional;
C2: Skilled manual workers;
D: Semi or unskilled manual workers;
E: State pensioners or widows, casual or lowest grade workers.

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Most business class passengers come from the A, B and C1 social grades. These people have
high occupational status, earn high income, demand high standard of service. For examples of
additional facilities for Class A passengers could include; separate cabin for business class,
separate check-in desks, private lounge. Low-cost carriers are increasingly targeting lower social
grades, namely, C2, D and E, as a means of exploiting the market.
● Behavioral Segmentation
Behavior-based segmentation is conspicuous with the benefits sought from the product, with the
identification of specific buying behaviors, in terms of shopping frequency and volumes of
purchase. For example, customer profiles of frequent-flyer travellers.

Effective Segmentation
There are a number of ways of how a market can be segmented. However, not all market
segmentations are effective. Market segments must mean something, they must have relevance to
the product being marketed. The market segments must possess the following characteristics:
Measurabel: The size, purchasing power and characteristics of the segments can be measured.
Substantial: The segments are large and profitable enough to serve. A segment should be the
largest possible homogenous group with a tailored marketing programme.
Accessible: The segment can be reached and served.
Differentiable: The segments are conceptually distinguishable and respond differently to
different market mix. If two segments respond identically to a particular offer, the do not
constitute separate segments.
Actionable: Effective programmes can be formulated for attracting and serving the segments.

Market Targeting
Once the market segmentation has been completed, the company should be aware of the needs
and wants of its selected segments. . It is then necessary to identify the most profitable segments
and to decide which segments will be served. There are three market coverage alternatives which
can be applied; undifferentiated marketing; differentiated marketing and concentrated marketing.

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 1. An Undifferentiated Marketing Strategy
An undifferentiated marketing strategy ignores any differences in the market. Therefore, this
strategy involves approaching the customers with one market offer. In this day and age,
discerned customers are increasingly becoming more demanding. It will prove difficult for the
business to develop a product or a brand which will satisfy all consumers who may have
different needs, wants and expectations.
2. A Differentiated Marketing Strategy
A differentiated marketing strategy will usually involve targeting a number of segments. This
marketing coverage strategy entails developing an individual product or service offering, and
creating a marketing plan for each and every segment. Hence, the company should carry out a
thorough market research to learn about how it can satisfy its selected segments. This will
translate to more costs than an undifferentiated strategy. For example, the airlines’ additional
facilities, such as; separate check-in desks, airport lounge facilities, separate cabins with
comfortable seating for first class or business class passengers, as well as superior inflight meals,
will translate to greater costs for the airline.
3. Concentrated marketing
The companies with limited resources will usually target just one or a few sub-markets. If a
segment is successfully chosen, there is a possibility that the firm may earn a high rate of return
on its investment. However, this form of marketing could also involve a high-risk factor. If the
selected segment fails, the company can experience hefty losses.
In sum, the appropriate market coverage strategy may be determined by a number of factors:
● The company’s resources. If the resources are limited, concentrated marketing
could be the most logical choice;

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 ● The type of service which is to be offered. For example, airlines could offer
chartered or scheduled service, low-cost or full-service, long-haul or short-haul
services, business or leisure services, and so on;
● Diversities within the market. The companies need to understand their customers’
requirements. For example, independent business travellers may have different
needs and wants than those of the corporate business travellers who are sponsored
by their employers;
● The competitors’ market coverage strategies. For example, if competing airlines
are successfully applying segmentation techniques; probably.
Which segment should be selected? Businesses should only consider those market segments that
are profitable. Therefore, they should target profitable customers within those segments and
nurture a long-lasting relationship with them.

Market Positioning
The final stage in target marketing is positioning. Firms formalize “positioning statements”
which specify the position they wish to occupy in their target customers’ minds, relative to other
competitors’ products or services. Customers continuously compare products or services.
Therefore, marketers must build their positioning strategies to improve the customers’ (and
prospects’) perceptions of their products. Effective positioning have four important
characteristics.
Firstly, they are built around benefits for prospective customers.
Secondly, they differentiate the specific firms’ products or service from those of key
competitors.
Thirdly, the respective firms need to possess relevant skills, resources, and the credibility to
deliver on their implied statements and promises.
Finally, an effective position is defensible, which means that an aggressive competitor cannot act
quickly to neutralize another positioning strategy. For example, a full-service, national carrier
could differentiate itself among other competitors as the only airline offering a superior service
in its chosen markets.
Alternatively, low-cost carriers like Southwest Airlines could position themselves as a punctual
airline, as a no-frills airline, as a low-cost airline, as a safety-conscious airline, as a friendly

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airline, and as the airline serving the western part of the U.S. Recently, they used TV advertising
to counter an unpleasant customer perception about the airline’s ‘free-for-all’ seating policy. The
rationale behind this spot was to build an image in their consumers’ minds.

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 Lesson- 07

Tourism Product Development and Packaging

Tourism Product Development

The stages for a tourism product development can be shown diagrammatically. For example, if
we consider a wildlife tourist place product development, the following stages can be thought of.

● Stage 1 – Generic development: To develop and promote several natural features of a

destination as the generic component. The tourism industry should offer packages that
include a variety of outdoor activities rather than focusing on just one. Destinations
should focus on providing pre-trip information about the variety of high-quality natural
resources and associated activities that they have to offer to tourists and other outdoor
enthusiasts.
● Stage 2 – Unique features development: To develop and promote tourism-viewing
products that focus on species that are unique to the destination or would be unique to
potential visitors. Develop and promote unique tourism products that will attract domestic
travellers. For instance, many city dwellers may not normally get to see flora and fauna,
and may be attracted to areas that offer such viewing opportunities. Likewise, people who
live in land locked places may be attracted to view marine or estuarine tourism. Develop
and promote unique tourism products that will attract international travellers. Many
wildlife species in some areas are quite different from species found elsewhere in the
world. By highlighting species that are not seen in other parts of the world in tourism
products, destinations may be able to attract more foreign tourists.
● Stage 3 – Segmentation based on age: Develop tourism products to accommodate
tourists of all age groups. Once the area has been developed with unique characteristics,
the focus shifts to providing services to all age segments. It needs to be ensured that
services and facilities adequately meet the needs of all ages. For example, easy walking
and hiking trails should be developed so that children and seniors may enjoy them.
Younger adults could tackle trails that are more difficult.
● Stage 4 – Segmentation based on income: Destinations should ensure that services and
facilities range from very affordable to high-priced luxury. Accommodation should range
from budget (campgrounds, inexpensive motels, cabins, bed and breakfasts) to luxury
(high quality, expensive hotels and breakfasts). This has to be done to accommodate
tourists from different income segments.
● Stage 5 – Customized products: Efforts should be made to attract tourists by offering
affordable short-duration getaways. Trips during summers are most common among
tourists. Offering shorter getaways during the shoulder seasons could help alleviate some
of the seasonality problems associated with tourism. With an area's specific climate in
mind, many communities could potentially offer products during shoulder seasons.
● Stage 6 – Product design: Weekend trips should be offered throughout the year to entice
those tourists who work during the week or who wish to travel with school-aged children.
High-value mid-week trips should be offered round the year to attract retired tourists or
those who do not work during the week.

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Essential Requirements In Product Development

The essential requirements in product development can be clubbed as below.

Need Gap Analysis. International tourism arena is full of interesting tourist destinations which
can make a guest's holidays most memorable. Inspirations can always be drawn from there for
either developing something new or improvising on something existing. At the same time each
region has some inherent socio-cultural characteristics. These, along with the natural fauna and
flora give leads for developing a particular genre of tourism destination. Finally another lead can
be derived from the outgoing tourists' statistics. The most popular international tourist
destination for the outgoing natives speaks volumes about the latent needs of the domestic
tourists. Need gap analysis throws light on such issues which otherwise lie unattended.
Behavioural Trends. Tourists generally would like to behave differently when they go out for
tourism. This is a major factor which should always be kept in mind while designing a tourism
product or destination. Two factors which remain constant is the attachment towards native
language and native food. In case of food, however, there has been a change in trends as a
majority of the young tourists would like to experiment with the food of the native people at the
destination. Although Indians are supposed to be still having craving for Indian food even if they
go to Europe.

Anticipating the demand through behavioural variables is critical for developing appropriate
tourism products. In tourism, such research aims to fit the resources of a destination to the
opportunities existing in the market. For destinations, this means understanding the
characteristics of current and potential travellers so that they can establish whether there is
sufficient demand for new services and facilities. Specifically, demand analysis should reveal the

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current behaviours and expectations of tourists. It can assist destinations in enhancing the
augmented and potential components of their product.

Target Segments Profiling. A tourism product or a tourist destination cannot attract all the
tourists, be it international or domestic. Tourists of different nations based on their ethnicity and
exposure look for different set of experiences. If the expectations match with the attributes of the
product, chances are that the product will be successful in the tourist arena.

Lesson- 08

Tourism Promotional Mix: An Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Approach

The Communication Process

Task of the marketing communication activity is to create a message and then send the same to
the receiver through different channels. This has been referred by Duncan (2002) as the
interactive communication process. But it has to be noted here that such a process takes place in
an environment where disturbances, termed as noise, might affect the message and its
transmission to be received differently than intended by the sender (ibid).

There are many models theorized to capture the communication process. In all cases of
communication, a successful communication process occurs when the receiver understands the
message just as the sender wants it to be understood.

Figure 10.1 shows a communications macro-model with nine elements. The elements of the
communication process are: input, sender, channel, noise, receiver, output and fields of response.

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 Fig. 10.1: Communication Process Model

● Input: The sender has an intention to communicate with another person. This intention
makes up the content of the message.
● Sender: The sender encodes the message. Thus, he gives expression to the content.
● Channel: The message is sent via a channel, which can be made of a variety of materials.
In acoustic communication, it consists of air, and in written communication, of paper or
other writing materials.
● Noise: The channel is subjected to various sources of noise. One example is telephone
communication, where numerous secondary sounds are audible. Even a solid channel
such as paper can be crushed or stained. Such phenomena are also regarded as noise in
the communicative sense.
● Receiver: The receiver decodes the incoming message0 or expression. He translates it
and thus receives the message.
● Output: This is the content decoded by the receiver.
● Fields of response: In the process, the relevance of a code becomes obvious. The codes
of the sender and the receiver must have at least a certain set in common in order to make
communication work. That frame of reference is the sum of experiences in the form of
each person's knowledge, beliefs and values. Our frame of reference is also greatly
influenced by the culture to which we belong. On the basis of that body of personal
knowledge, each member of the audience decodes the message. As members of the
audience differ, so will their interpretations of what they hear.

Written communication such as ancient texts is a linear process in which there is no feedback
loop to allow for correction. Also, given the factors of culture, history, geography and language,
the more the receiver shares in these elements, the higher the probability of a successful
communication process. When the sender and the receiver do not share the same culture,
historical time period, geographical location or language, the probability of a successful
communication process is low.

Types of Attention

The marketing communicator's ultimate objective is to encourage the consumer to choose his
product rather than the competitor's offering. In terms of tourism, this would mean encouraging
the consumer on to visit the location at hand rather than a different location. Capturing the end
user's attention, then, becomes critical in this regard. Attention simply means to focus on and
consider a message to which one has been exposed. There are three basic types of attention:
involuntary attention, non-voluntary attention and voluntary attention.

● Involuntary attention: Requires little or no effort on the part of the receiver and the
marketing tool intrudes upon the person's consciousness. Loud music or dramatic videos
on television advertising a location are an example of this.
● Non-voluntary attention: Also called spontaneous attention, it occurs when a person is
attracted to a stimulus and continues to pay interest because it holds its interest. The
“Incredible India” campaign with magnificent pictures of Kerala or of the Bengal Tiger
seeks to capture the consumer's attention via these means.

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 ● Voluntary attention: It occurs when a person wilfully notices an advertisement. This
happens when the consumer is specifically planning his/her vacation and is seeking
information regarding various tourist destinations.

Applications of TMC

The four basic controllables are the tourist package according to the changing needs of target
customers; pricing, which is used to manage the volume of sales; promotion to make potential
customers aware and favourably disposed towards buying it and the place, which includes the
location of the facility and all the points of sale that provide access to the product (tourist
package) and services to prospective customers. These are discussed as follows:

Product. The inclusive tourism package is a themed experience that provides an immediate
context to its visitors, but is primarily confident on stimulating the senses of sight and sound. The
key to success for the tourism industry is to customize its package offering to meet the needs of
the defined target market.

People. Hospitality is often described as people's industry. All of the people who play a part in
the service delivery influence the buyer's perception of the service itself. A service is performed
and not handed over as in the case of a manufactured item, and people form part of the process
and delivery by means of friendliness, helpfulness and efficiency.

Price. Marketers should consider the external factors when making pricing decisions including
the nature of the demand for the offering, consumer perceptions, price elasticity and competition.
The quality of the offering must meet the expectation that the price has generated in the
customer's mind.

Promotion. Consumers have a choice, and marketers must give them a reason, other than price,
for deciding to buy their products and services. Various promotional tools available with the
marketer are advertisement and public relations.

● Advertisement: One of the important tools for creating awareness in the mind of the
customer is advertising. Advertising is the non-personal communication in which a
message is delivered through a paid medium for the purpose of influencing the buying
behaviour of the tourist.
● Public relations: In tourism, public relations assume special significance because of the
peculiar nature of the product. Here, the need for making complete information (the facts)
available to both potential and actual tourists assumes special significance.

Brochures and other printed sales literature represent a distinctive group of paid-for marketing
communications that exclude commercial publications such as directories, maps and guidebooks
sold through bookstores.

Long-Term Objectives

Long-term objectives include creating interest and reinforcing the brand.

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 ● Create interest: From the awareness stage, motivating a prospective tourist to buy a
tourist package presents a significant challenge. It is very essential that tourists
(customers) first are able to recognize as to what are their needs. Identifying and clearly
establishing the latent need in the An Advertising Campaign Appealing to the Charm of
Reconnecting with Family minds of the customer is an endeavour of any marketing
communication strategy. This has been done on the basis of various personality traits /
characteristics such as emotion, aspirations and ambitions.
● Reinforce the brand: Once a purchase is made, a marketer can use promotion to help
build a strong relationship that can lead to the tourist becoming a loyal customer. For
instance, many service providers now ask for a customer's email address so that follow-
up emails containing additional information or even an incentive to purchase other
similar tourist packages can be sent in order to strengthen the customer-marketer
relationship.

Short-Term Objectives

Short-term objectives include building awareness, providing information and stimulating

demand.

● Build awareness: New destinations are often unknown to a market, which means initial
promotional efforts must focus on establishing an identity. In this situation, the marketer
must focus on promotion to effectively reach customers and tell the market who they are
and what they have to offer.
● Provide information: Some promotions are designed to assist customers in the search
stage of the purchasing process. In some cases, when a destination is novel, the
information is simply intended to explain what its main attractions are. In other
situations, where there are many similar destinations, informational promotion may be
used to help with a positioning strategy. Marketers may use promotional means,
including direct comparisons with other destinations or tourist packages, in an effort to
get customers to mentally distinguish the destination from other destinations.
● Stimulate demand: The right promotion can drive customers to make a purchase. In case
of destinations that a customer has not previously visited or has not visited in a long time,
the promotional efforts may be directed at getting the customer to try the destination. For
destinations with an established customer base, promotions can encourage customers to
increase their visits to those destinations. For example, a pre-holiday newspaper
advertisement may remind customers about the destination or the tourist package.

TOOLS OF COMMUNICATION

The following are the tools of communication:

● Advertising: Advertising is often seen as TV commercials, radio commercials and print

ads in magazines, newspapers, books and brochures. In addition, advertising is also seen
as tourist boards, travel guides, telephone directory and third-party and outdoor
advertising.

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● Direct marketing: Direct marketing includes direct mail, catalogue marketing and
telemarketing.
● Personal selling: Personal selling is direct-sale contact, face-to-face sales or telephone
sales.
● Public relations: Public relations is often seen as service publicities, press relations,
internal communications, open houses and information packages.
● Sales promotion: Sales promotion includes items such as discounted prices and extra
incentives offered within the sales promotion.
● Trade shows: Trade shows are usually composed of periodic gatherings with potential
groups of buyers such as tourists and intermediaries.
● Internet: The Internet can facilitate communication through banners, chat rooms and
booking online. For example, Government of Dubai has established a new portal on the
Internet for promoting tourism by showing the attractions that Dubai has to offer to
tourists. For more detailed information visit www.dubaitourism.ae.
● Sponsorship: Sponsorship is a communication tool including sponsors for sports teams,
cultural programmes and the arts.
● Point of purchase: It includes design and improvement of ambience, posters and other
materials at point-of-purchase of service.
● Word of mouth: An example of word-of-mouth communication is messages spread via
rumours or friendly recommendations.

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