GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE EVOLUTION OF MARKETING.

WHY IS MARKETING IMPORTANT IN TOURISM?

Marketing has changed over the centuries, decades, and years. The
production-centered system systematically changed into the
relationship era of today and over the period; specializations have
emerged such as sales versus marketing and advertising versus
retailing. The overall evolution of marketing has given rise to the
concept of business development. Marketing has taken the modern
shape after going through various stages since last the end of the 19th
century. The Production oriented practice of marketing prior to the
twentieth century was conservative and hidebound by rules-of-thumb
and lack of information. Science & technology developments and
especially the development of information technology have now
changed the way people live, the way people do business, and the way
people sell and purchase. Following is a short summary of the various
stages of the evolution of marketing.
Production Orientation Era
The prevailing attitude and approach of the production orientation era
were -“consumers favor products that are available and highly
affordable”. The mantra for marketing success was to “Improve
production and distribution”. The rule was “availability and
affordability are what the customer wants”. The era was marked by
narrow product lines; a pricing system based on the costs of production
and distribution, limited research, the primary aim of the packaging was
to protect the product, minimum promotion. Advertising meant,
“Promoting products with a lesser quality”.
Product Orientation Era
The attitude changed slowly and the approach shifted from production
to product and from quantity to quality. The prevailing attitude of this
period was that consumers favor products that offer the most quality,
performance, and innovative features and the mantra for marketers was
‘A good product will sell itself, so does not need promotion.
Sales Orientation Era
The increased competition and variety of choices/options available to
customers changed the marketing approach and now the attitude was
“Consumers will buy products only if the company promotes/ sells
these products”. This era indicates the rise of advertising and the mantra
for marketers was “Creative advertising and selling will overcome
consumers’ resistance and convince them to buy”.
Marketing Orientation Era
The shift from production to product and from product to customers
later manifested in the Marketing Era which focused on the “needs and
wants of the customers” and the mantra of marketers was” ‘The
consumer is king! Find a need and fill it. The approach is shifted to
delivering satisfaction better than competitors are.
Relationship Marketing Orientation Era
This is the modern approach to marketing. Today’s marketer focuses
on the needs/ wants of target markets and aims at delivering superior
value. The mantra of a successful marketer is ‘Long-term relationships
with customers and other partners lead to successes
The following sentences summarize the above evolution of marketing.
1. Production era: ‘Cut costs. Profits will take care of themselves.
2. Product era: ‘A good product will sell itself.
3. Sales era: ‘Selling is laying the bait for the customer’.
4. Marketing era: ‘The customer is King!’.
5. Relationship marketing era: ‘Relationship with customers
determines our firm’s future.

IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING IN TOURISM

1. Identify the ideal target market

The first step to developing a successful marketing campaign is
identifying who the ideal target market is. Depending on the
experience on offer, the customer will vary.
2. Attract new customers and develop loyalty
Once the ideal target market has been identified, a strategy to reach
these potential customers must be developed. Because customer
loyalty is key, a lot of time needs to be devoted to building brand
awareness and creating ongoing, interconnected campaigns that both
target previous guests, and attract new ones.
3. Understand the customer journey
In tourism, the ultimate end goal is the sale of an ‘experience’ – not a
material object. This means that the customer journey to making a
purchase is rather different and comes with its own set of challenges.
Understanding this ‘journey’ that the customer takes before going
through with a purchase is critical to a successful marketing
campaign.
4. Stand out from competitors
As the tourism industry becomes more and more competitive, it’s
important to make sure that your business stands out. Highlighting
what is unique or different about the business is one of the best ways
to achieve this. A really good marketing strategy is able to
communicate these points effectively to the customers in a way that
‘speaks’ to them.
5. Hone in on the most effective tactics
Using research and analytical tools, a marketing strategy allows you
to assess which resources are best helping to reach your audience, and
then focus on those resources to ensure the best ROI possible. At the
end of the day, having a good marketing strategy in place allows you
to feel confident in knowing that all your business’s marketing needs
are being carefully looked after.
DISCUSS GIVING SUITABLE EXAMPLES THE
APPLICATION OF MARKETING SEGMENTATION
CONCEPT IN TOURISM

What is tourism market segmentation?

Tourism market segmentation is the tactical instrument for getting a

clear picture of the heterogeneity and commonalities among potential
tourist groups. Tourism industry customers have different
backgrounds, preferences, aspirations, habits, and of course price
sensitivities; even the media they are exposed to varies.

Tourism and marketing professionals thusly must practice market

segmentation strategies to understand the opportunities for competitive
advantage in the marketplace by bringing together consumer groups
according to sets of common features.

The travel services provider must have a clear understanding of their

actual and potential consumers as well as what motives and incentives
will determine their willingness to buy the tourism products on offer.

Why segment the tourism market?

As with any industry, in tourism it is impossible to appeal to everyone

with the same message – otherwise, the value proposition becomes
muddied and ambiguous. Overall, segmentation of the tourism market
provides conditions for the creation of competitive tourism products.
These conditions are based on demand studies focusing on consumer
needs.

It is very difficult to achieve optimal satisfaction of consumer needs

without studying demand based on market segmentation; either the
product does not sufficiently satisfy the consumer, or the way it is
offered does not provide access to those who could buy it.

How to begin your tourism segmentation journey?

In order to determine your market segmentation strategy, you should at
minimum be able to answer these five elemental questions:

1. Who is your client?

2. Where is your client located?
3. What is your client interested in?
4. How would you introduce your product to that client?
5. Why would certain segments be interested or not interested
in your products?

What are segmentation criteria?

There are four fundamental criteria for segmentation:
• Geographic Segmentation
• Demographic Segmentation
• Psychographic Segmentation
• Behavioral Segmentation

Geographic Segmentation
In geographic segmentation, the market is divided according to
geographical areas such as regions, cities, states, countries, topography,
political boundaries, etc. These criteria are based on the assumption that
people from the same place may share features such as lifestyle
characteristics and consumption habits.
Despite globalization, according to research by the Boston Consulting
Group (BCG), consumer mindsets still differ substantially from one
another in most parts of the world, including in markets that are in
theory quite similar.

For example, for the purpose of overseas tourism marketing, the

Department of Tourism in India has divided the overseas markets into
the following “similar” regions: the Americas, Europe, Middle East,
Far East, and Australasia.
As well, geographical segmentation can be done according to the
tourism product. For instance, Indian mountain resorts are promoted
not in Switzerland or Andorra but in countries with no mountains, e.g.,
the Netherlands. For the same reason, the desert safaris of Rajasthan
are marketed in countries like the UK or Germany (which have no
deserts).

Demographic segmentation
Demographic segmentation, on the other hand, separates tourists by
their gender, age, life cycle, family structure, ethnicity, or
socioeconomic background, among other factors.

An example of marketing segmentation using demographics could be

developing tours for young people, aged 18- 25. They would most
likely require an inexpensive, lively travel holiday, with a variety of
social and entertainment activities, as well as plenty of free time for
exploring. Meanwhile, the tourist product for the silver-hair
segment could present a well-structured, pre-agreed tourist program,
which would provide for all amenities and expected comfort.
Psychographic Segmentation
The third criterion, psychographic segmentation, more strongly
considers the psychological composition of the tourist. Marketing
professionals gather information about the target tourists’ lifestyles,
personalities, values, and interests, being careful that tourists within the
same demographic segment may have vastly different psychographic
profiles.

Example Adventure products like hang gliding in Rio de

Janeiro would target adventure seekers, for example, while less
adventurous visitors might prefer an all-inclusive resort where they
could enjoy a quieter vacation in a safe context near a swimming pool.
Behavioral Segmentation
Finally, behavioral segmentation distinguishes consumers based on
consumption habits such as frequency or brand loyalty. For instance,
some tourists would prefer to stay at Four Season Hotels and Resorts
regardless of the destination, as they have very high brand loyalty and
it is difficult for them to consider other accommodation alternatives.
This segmentation also considers seasonality, as a travel habit of a
particular group. For example, European travelers are expected to
concentrate their extended trips during summer, since the vacation
period is usually longer.

It should be noted that an organization can apply one, two, or more

variables simultaneously for market segmentation. Market research,
trial and error, intuition, experience, and knowing one’s capacity and
resources become key for selecting the basis for segmentation.
ELABORATE THE STEPS OF CONDUCTING A MARKETING
RESEARCH.
What Is Market Research?
Market research is the process of determining the viability of a new
service or product through research conducted directly with potential
customers. Market research allows a company to discover the target
market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about
their interest in the product or service.

Three key objectives of market research

A market research project may usually have 3 different types of
objectives.

1. Administrative: Help a company or business development,

through proper planning, organization, and both human and
material resources control, and thus satisfy all specific needs
within the market, at the right time.
2. Social: Satisfy customers’ specific needs through a required
product or service. The product or service should comply with
the requirements and preferences of a customer when it’s
consumed.
3. Economical: Determine the economical degree of success or
failure a company can have while being new to the market, or
otherwise introducing new products or services, thus providing
certainty to all actions to be implemented.

STEPS OF CONDUCTING A MARKETING RESEARCH

1. Identify and define the problem. Before you start any

web survey project, you should identify the key issues you hope
to be able to solve. This step should also include clearly defined
objectives.
2. Develop the approach. In this step, you need to establish a
budget, understand influencing factors such as the environment
or economy, decide on sampling and survey methods, and
formulate hypotheses.
3. Research design. Designing a survey or questionnaire is
considered the most important step in any survey
process. Question design takes a lot of thought and time. We like
to say, "If you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out." This means
that if the questions are bad, the data will be bad as well. During
the survey research design, keep in mind the sampling methods
and data analysis factors you intend to use.
4. Collect the data. Don't forget to test your survey before to ensure
you're fielding the correct data. Thankfully, with the help of an
online survey tool, this step is relatively painless.
5. Analyze the Data. The types of analysis you planned to perform
on the collected survey data should have been decided in earlier
steps, but after collecting the data you have to actually perform
the survey analysis. Analysis can be performed using survey
analysis tools like office programs, such as Excel, or more
advanced programs such as SPSS - the complexity of the
questions will determine this.
6. Report, Present, Take Action. The final step in the market
research process is to present your survey research findings and
draw conclusions. While Step 3 is the most important because it
defines the outcome of your survey, if you fail to complete this
last step and act on the findings in some way, the previous steps
don't matter.
WRITE A DETAILED NOTE ON THE MARKETING MIX IN
THE TOURISM

Tourism Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the process of managing the quality of the market.
To manage the market an organization should be used different types
of materials tools and products which is called the marketing mix. The
word marketing mix was used by Neli H Borden in 1964 A.D. The
concept of the marketing mix was found by James Colleton. To control
the marketing mix the combining of strategies of 4p. "Mix” is the
element that helps to get the target or the goal of the company or
organization. The tourism marketing mix is a joint effort so one single
organization has no control over the other organization. For example

In these ways, mix marketing has many kinds of definitions in the

world and some of them are given below:

According to Philip Kotler-- Marketing mix is the setting of the firms

of marketing decision variables at a particular point in time.

According to William J. Stanton –Marketing mix is the term is the

term that is used to describe the combination of the four input that
constitutes the core of company marketing system: the product, the
distribution system, the price structure, and the product distribution to
consumers.

According to Petter D. Bennett- Marketing mix is the marketing

program including product conception and development, pricing
decision, promotion of the product, and distribution to the consumer.

According to Jerome E. McCarthy- The marketing mix is the

controllable variable which the company puts together to satisfy its
target market.

According to Thomas A. Staudt and Donald A. Taylor- Marketing

mix refers to the actual work that must be done to reach the target
market and achieve corporate objectives.
In conclusion, marketing means the process of things or companies in
the same way as time. Tourism marketing helps to fulfill the demands
of the more by or the customer and that kind of activity helps to score
the goals of an organization.

The production concept of the tourism marketing mix is the supportive

component of the marketing mix. As the first letter of all the seven-star
with p so that it is called as 7p also. The product concept of the tourism
marketing mix is as follows:-

Product:
The product is the process of providing goods and services to the
organization to get the goals of the organization of the market. The
product is a group of utilities that helps to get to a need of the customer
to satisfy them in their life.

Price:
Price is the amount of money that customers have to pay to get the
product. It is directly affected the demand for goods and services. Price
is one of the important factors of the product of sales revenue. The price
of the product or the tourism product is the total of monetary and non-
monetary elements, as many tourism products are available at free of
cost such as natural beauty, social hospitality. Tourism product always
includes the value of time and the value of money.

Place:
Different distribution strategies can be selected for tourism marketing.
It includes various activities undertaken to make the product accessible
and available to target customers. Infrastructure facilities,
transportation, communication are important for the development of
the tourism center. In tourism, as the product is immovable channel
refers to the transport of customers from the point of sale (POS) to the
point of service delivery (POSD). It includes transport system channel
members.

Promotion:
It is related to informing, educating, persuading, reminding the
customers about the benefit an organization offers. Promotion helps in
maximizing the duration of stay, frequency of visit by offering new
tourists products in the same country to areas. Advertisement, sale
promotion, public relations, and personal selling are the elements of the
Traditional Promotional Mix.

People:
People play an important role in tourism. Customer service is a focus
issue in tourism. The travel agents, guides staff of travel companies,
sales staff, etc. are the people. Their skill, efficiency, knowledge,
motivation, and customer care are very important. People mix includes
staff, customers, and others which create a tourism environment.

Physical evidence:

A tourism product is the combination of a tangible product like a

comfortable seat while traveling, layout and design of the resort, natural
service scope, etc. The service concept needs physical evidence.
Consideration is given to the decor, environment, and ambiance of the
product or where the product is consumed.

Process:
The operation process of the tourism firm will depend on the size of the
tourism. The attributes of a process include speed, efficiency, service
time, "waiting time", appointment system, and forms and documents.
WRITE SHORT NOTES ON THE FOLLOWING IN ABOUT 150
WORDS
FORECASTING IN TOURISM
Definition of Forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making predictions of the future based on
past and present data. The importance of Forecasting in Tourism will
be discussed later in the post.
Forecasting means future prediction.
Forecasting refers to the practice of predicting what will happen in the
future by taking into consideration events in the past and present.
Different Methods of Forecasting
Basically, forecasting could be of various duration such as,

1. Short term- Seasonal.

2. Medium-term – Annual.
3. Long term – More than 2 – 5 years.

There are other factors which we can forecast in Tourism. Let’s

discuss them one by one

1. Surveys
2. Time-Series
3. Correlation
4. Market Tests
5. Judgmental

1. Surveys: can be conducted by Government organizations, or

small private firms. These are very helpful in finding out the
preferences of tourist and their impressions about various tourism
services.
2. Time-series: By using historical data and sorting it on time basis,
highs and lows of seasons can be better understood, especially
tourism industry which is highly seasonal can benefit from such
details
 3. Correlation: Tourist flows to certain variable factors such as per-
capita incomes
4. Market tests: Understand demand in the market and the products
of competitors
5. Judgment: It is based on experience.

FAMILIARIZATION TOUR

A Familiarization (FAM) Tour involves hosting tour operators, travel

agents and travel media in an effort to create awareness, in this case, of
the travel experiences that are available along the Rideau Heritage
Route.

The purpose of hosting a travel agent or tour operator FAM tour is to

either increase product knowledge and/or destination knowledge. One
of the key roles of the Rideau Heritage Route Tourism Association
(RHRTA) is to sell the region as an exciting destination. In doing so,
one of the most effective methods is to initiate and organize FAM tours.
These FAM tours can only be successful with the participation and
cooperation of local tourism operators.

When FAM tour participants experience the RHRTA first hand, they
are able to better relay information to their readers and clients. Since
their jobs involve dispersing information to large numbers of people,
this is a valuable tool.
QUESTIONNAIRE

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of

questions or other types of prompts that aims to collect information
from a respondent. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of close-
ended questions and open-ended questions.

Open-ended, long-form questions offer the respondent the ability to

elaborate on their thoughts. Research questionnaires were developed in
1838 by the Statistical Society of London.

The data collected from a data collection questionnaire can be

both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. A questionnaire may
or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a survey always
consists of a questionnaire.

Questionnaire Examples
The best way to understand how questionnaires work is to see the types
of questionnaires available. Some examples of a questionnaire are:

Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire: This type of research can be

used in any situation where there’s an interaction between a customer
and an organization.

Product Use Satisfaction: You can use this template to better

understand your product’s usage trends and similar products. This also
allows you to collect customer preferences about the types of products
they enjoy or want to see on the market.

Company Communications Evaluation: Unlike the other examples,

a company communications evaluation looks at internal and external
communications. It can be used to check if the policies of the
organization are being enforced across the board, both with employees
and clients.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE MARKETING

Socially responsible marketing (SRM), sometimes referred to as ethical
corporate marketing or green marketing, are practices that some
companies adopt to acknowledge the larger social and environmental
impacts of their products and services. SRM signals to consumers that
the company takes responsibility for and aims to reduce the negative
consequences of its operation. These practices fall under the larger
rubric of corporate social responsibility (CSR) but are easily conflated
with opposing practices: socially irresponsible marketing (SIM), more
commonly referred to as greenwashing, the corporate practice of
masking poor social/environmental records with deceptive ad
campaigns that boast of their socially/environmentally responsible
behavior/commitment.

IMPORTANT POINTS

• People have become increasingly aware and concerned about

social responsibility when it comes to corporate governance and
the behavior of firms.
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) also extends to responsible
marketing strategies.
• Examples include green branding, highlighting the inclusion of
recycled materials, or noting that a portion of profits will be
donated to charity.