Assignment Code: TS-6/TMA/2022

Course Code: TS-6

Assignment Name: Tourism Marketing

Year: 2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

1. Give an account of the evolution of Marketing. Why is marketing important in tourism? 20

Ans) The evolution of marketing is as follows:

Production Orientation Era: The prevailing attitude and approach of the production orientation era was “consumers favour products that are available and highly affordable.” The mantra for marketing success was to “Improve production and distribution.” The rule was “availability and affordability is what the customer wants.” The era was marked by narrow product-lines; pricing system based on the costs of production and distribution, limited research, primary aim of the packaging was to protect the product, minimum promotion.

Product Orientation Era: The attitude changed slowly, and approach shifted from production to product and from the quantity to quality. The prevailing attitude of this period was that consumers favour 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 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 of marketing. Today’s marketer focuses on 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.

Importance of Marketing in Tourism

Identify the ideal target market: The first step to developing a successful marketing campaign, like the one presented by Digital agency Brisbane, is identifying who the ideal target market is. Depending on the experience on offer, the customer will vary.

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.

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.

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.

Hone in on the most effective tactics: Using research and analytical tools, a marketing strategy allows us to assess which resources are best helping to reach our 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 us to feel confident in knowing that all our business’s marketing needs are being carefully looked after.

2. Elaborate the steps of conducting a Marketing Research . 20

Ans) The steps of conducting a marketing research are as follows:

Identification and Defining the Problem

The market research process begins with the identification “of a problem faced by the company. The clear-cut statement of problem may not be possible at the very outset of research process because often only the symptoms of the problems are apparent at that stage. Then, after some explanatory research, clear definition of the problem is of crucial importance in marketing research because such research is a costly process involving time, energy and money.

Statement of Research Objectives

After identifying and defining the problem with or without explanatory research, the researcher must take a formal statement of research objectives. Such objectives may be stated in qualitative or quantitative terms and expressed as research questions, statement or hypothesis. For example, the research objective, “To find out the extent to which sales promotion schemes affected the sales volume” is a research objective expressed as a statement.

Planning the Research Design or Designing the Research Study

After defining the research problem and deciding the objectives, the research design must be developed. A research design is a master plan specifying the procedure for collecting and analysing the needed information. It represents a framework for the research plan of action. The objectives of the study are included in the research design to ensure that data collected are relevant to the objectives. At this stage, the researcher should also determine the type of sources of information needed, the data collection method (e.g., survey or interview), the sampling, methodology, and the timing and possible costs of research.

Planning the Sample

Sampling involves procedures that use a small number of items or parts of the ‘population’ (total items) to make conclusion regarding the ‘population.’ Important questions in this regard are— who is to be sampled as a rightly representative lot? Which is the target ‘population’? What should be the sample size—how large or how small? How to select the various units to make up the sample?

Data Collection

The collection of data relates to the gathering of facts to be used in solving the problem. Hence, methods of market research are essentially methods of data collection. Data can be secondary, i.e., collected from concerned reports, magazines and other periodicals, especially written articles, government publications, company publications, books, etc.

Data Processing and Analysis

Once data have been collected, these have to be converted into a format that will suggest answers to the initially identified and defined problem. Data processing begins with the editing of data and its coding. Editing involves inspecting the data-collection forms for omission, legibility, and consistency in classification. Before tabulation, responses need to be classified into meaningful categories.

Formulating Conclusion, Preparing and Presenting the Report

The final stage in the marketing research process is that of interpreting the information and drawing conclusion for use in managerial decision. The research report should clearly and effectively communicate the research findings and need not include complicated statement about the technical aspect of the study and research methods.

3. Write short notes on the following in about 150 words each: 5x4=20

a) Forecasting in Tourism

Ans) "To forecast is to foresee the future. The ability to foresee future developments is very important while planning. because a plan is developed using specific presumptions. These presumptions are made in accordance with forecasting. Accurate forecasting is essential when creating a marketing plan, especially.

The forecast can indicate particular customer behaviour or competitive activities. One must also take into account broad socio-economic, legal, or environmental developments as well as governmental actions that produce odd tendencies.

For instance, the volume of travellers to particular locations will fluctuate depending on certain periods. If we take social seasonality into account, we may predict that more people will travel during the summer. If we consider the climatic seasonality, we may conclude that in the summer, inhabitants of the scorching plains will seek refuge in the cooler climate of the hills. For airlines, railroads, hoteliers, tour operators, tourist transport providers, food and catering facilities, and other industries related to or dependent on the hospitality and tourism markets to plan effectively.

b) Familiarisation tours

Ans) FAM Tours are hosted by travel destinations, restaurants and attractions to familiarize travel professionals with products and services that they feel will help the travel professional sell their destinations or services. FAM tours can be as close as a local restaurant or B & B in your community inviting the local Information Centre staff or local travel agents to enjoy a meal or overnight stay. First hand experiences are much easier to sell.

FAM Trips are not usually free but offered to travel professionals at a reduced rate. This ensures that travel expert is truly invested in learning about the destination or product. While this may sound like an ideal way to take a vacation, it is far from it. Destination FAM tours are jammed packed with hotel rooms, quick overview stops at attractions, dining experiences packaged into a short trip with long, long days. FAM tours are designed to provide the travel professional with a “snap shot” of the destination.

c) Questionnaire

Ans) 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.

Our survey design depends on the type of information we need to collect from respondents. Qualitative questionnaires are used when there is a need to collect exploratory information to help prove or disprove a hypothesis. Quantitative questionnaires are used to validate or test a previously generated hypothesis.

d) Socially Responsible Marketing

Ans) Socially responsible marketing is critical of excessive consumerism and environmental damages caused by corporations. It is based on the idea that market offerings must not be only profit-driven, but they must also reinforce social and ethical values for the benefit of citizens.

The idea of socially responsible marketing is sometimes viewed as an extension of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR is promoted as a business model to help companies self-regulate, recognizing that their activities impact an assortment of stakeholders, including the general public.

CSR is sometimes described in terms a pyramid, starting with economic as its base, then legal, ethical and philanthropic actions at the top. It is in the last two layers of the CSR pyramid, ethical and philanthropic, that socially responsible marketing opportunities appear the greatest. Meeting the first two layers, economic and legal, are necessary for a business to thrive in order to engage in the latter two.

4. Write a detailed note on the Marketing Mix in tourism. 20

Ans) Anyone who runs a business or markets a specific product within the tourism industry knows about the tourism marketing mix. The traditional marketing mix was created in 1960 and has been applied to nearly every product created since then. The marketing mix contains the 4 P’s: product, place, price, and promotion. However, 3 extra P’s apply for the experiences industry: People, Processes, and Physical Evidence. As a tour operator, here’s what you need to know about the basic tourism marketing mix and how you can utilize them to analyse your competitive strategies.

Product

Product is the first step of the marketing process because you need to create a product that consumers want. Without the right products, it won’t be easy to market your business and attract customers to your services. As a tour and activity provider, you must offer a specific tour or activity that is in demand. It should be a high-quality tour and an authentic experience. By striving to exceed your customers’ expectations, you will surely gain a target market that seeks your product.

Place

Decades ago, tour and activity providers simply sold their products through their storefront and through travel agents. Today and with the advancement of technology, you have to make sure your tours and activities are available both online and offline. This allows for a wider avenue of bookings to come through from a wide variety of platforms. These days, most travellers want to book online in order to make their reservations, and it’s essential to have a mobile-friendly website that accepts bookings.

Price

Price our tours and activities according to demand and value is essential. We don’t need to give away our products for free in order to attract customers. We simply need to offer them a valuable experience that they find worthwhile. By marketing our products correctly and providing evidence that your tours and activities are credible, we can align our services with a price point that customers will agree to pay.

Promotion

We should utilize a variety of advertising techniques and marketing campaigns to promote our business. Whether that be an online promotion or an exclusive offer between our business and an agent, promoting campaigns correctly is key to boosting our sales. How and where we communicate our campaigns is also an important element to our promotion’s success. Utilizing channels such as our website, social media, storefronts, and agents (including OTAs) will help widen our business’ exposure.

The tourism marketing mix: 3 extra P’s

The service marketing mix, or in our case, the tourism marketing mix consists of 3 more P’s. It applies to every business that sells services and, experiences as a product.

People

Invest in the right employees who demonstrate the qualities of a good tour guide. Our staff and guides are the faces of our company. They will represent your business and are one of the main determining factors of our customer’s satisfaction. By hiring enthusiastic and entertaining guides, it can help draw more customers to our business and will enhance the overall customer experience.

Processes

Our processes are key to a great customer experience. Clear processes provide convenience for both your staff and your customers. It ensures our business’s operation and procedures run smoothly.

Physical Evidence

Give the customers physical evidence of what they paid for when they booked their tours. Make sure vehicles, gears and other materials are clean and presentable. The staff should also be trained and properly presented, and if we have a storefront, make sure it’s well-maintained.

5. Discuss the role of NGO’s in the development of tourism. 20

Ans) The role of NGOs in the tourism industry is based on an understanding of the new economic, social, and political processes that accept the use of markets and private sector initiative as the most effective means of achieving economic growth, producing goods, offering the majority of services to the majority of people, etc.

Markets are also said to be a prerequisite for maintaining democracy since they give rise to powerful, non-state-dependent centres of power (i.e., interest groups). A country like ours does not voluntarily engage in tourism. Through policies, it is planned and enforced on the populace. People have a right to disagree with these policies, even if it means contesting the political and governmental structures. Instead of using foreign models mandated by the government or outside bodies, these distinctions aid in the formulation of new models. Perhaps it is challenging to accept that the future is in our control in the face of the unrestricted influx of foreign capital and ongoing alienation.

As a criticism of tourism's role in development, the following comes to light:

1. Is viewed within the framework of a political development model.

2. In diverse regions of the world, progress has coincided with a rise in elitism, authoritarianism, militarism, and different types of state repression; all of these pose risks to culture, the economy, and community empowerment.

3. Globalization and growth both put national sovereignty in danger.

4. Celebrates a certain extravagant and consuming way of living that is in no way feasible in the majority of developing nations.

5. Is founded on the objectified vision of the world, where beaches, sanctuaries, and mountains are perceived as objects of pleasure, which eliminates the possibility of meaningful interactions between people and their settings and promotes net outflow of capital to wealthy parts inside the country.

People who live in tourist areas cannot afford to argue various sorts of tourism. Additionally, they cannot afford to view every infraction in tourist hotspots as an anomaly. Every anti-democratic policy violates the rights of those who are trying to find a way to survive on a daily basis. Here, NGOs contribute significantly to the socioeconomic growth of the country. These organisations are created for a variety of reasons based on concepts created by a person or group to achieve particular objectives and goals. The unique function of an NGO is its voluntarism, or the requirement that all participants in its operations be willing to do so.

As a result, it must conduct its business by negotiation, accommodation, and persuasion rather than through bureaucratic control. However, in the end, the validity of the decision-making is determined by the level of participation. People who will be impacted by this process should have the right to be heard and a platform to voice their demands. NGOs open this window. The concern for people rather than projects has become increasingly apparent among NGOs over the past few years, and as a result, training, awareness-nurturing, capacity-building, social organisation, and institutional-development have all taken centre stage on their agendas.