Principles of Marketing in Travel and Tourism Sector

Evaluation as well as development of marketing strategies of the destination will be conducted as a management trainee of Visit London. Concerning this deep research will be carried out in regards with the tourism product, amenities and services of London. Visit London is an official website accountable for promoting the destinations in London. Furthermore, Buckingham palace is chosen for the present research report. It is the London residence as well as administrative headquarters of the Monarch of UK (Visit London, 2018). It is a beautiful palace which is open for the general public who can see the treasures of history which encompasses paintings and other artistic things.

TASK 1

Core concept of marketing

Needs, wants and demands– This concept is of the belief that needs, wants as well as demand of the clients is varied and therefore, to achieve competitive edge over the other firms in the market, it is quite significant for the firms to comprehend the taste and preferences of the customers. After ascertaining the preferences, it is important to design the product consequently. Speaking about promoting London as a tourist destination, the company is required to satisfy safety, social esteem, physiological and self-actualization need of the people at London (Fyall and Morgan, 2009). With the support of marketing, companies foresee and identify the demand of the target customers. After that strategies are devised to achieve determined requirements.

Customer value and satisfaction– With this, the firm makes sure that their clients gets full value of their money paid and are satisfied with the products and services. Further, the value of the services is identified with the satisfaction level of the customers.

Marketing offer– Being an Assistant manager, understanding the desire of the customers visiting London is necessary. It is also responsibility of the manager to deliver the same thing being demanded by the visitors. Further, the firm is also responsible for identifying the target group and anticipating their needs like accommodation, widespread travelling, holiday packages etc. Furthermore, the requirements of the visitors can be ascertained through marketing research. It can be introduced on the current and future potential market (Acton, 2012).

Markets– Market is nothing but a place that needs to be promoted by the firm. In addition to this, it also takes into account clients that have specific desire and needs. Visit London is successfully offering valuable services to customers of both international and domestic market because of growing internationalization. Taking the present case, the firm is rendering supportive hand in indorsing Buckingham palace. In this regards, it is necessary to evaluate the threats and opportunities of target market of the product. For illustration, the palace is established in central London area. This area is famous for systematic and strategic encouragement of structure of tourism and thus, it will attract number of tourists (Goeldner, 2000).

Analyzing the tourism marketing environment of London

Speaking in relation with the marketing environment of London, it defined as a force that might have a direct and indirect effect on the capabilities of the destination. There are majorly two kinds of environment, internal and external. The analysis of marketing environment of selected destination i.e. Buckingham palace and London is defined below:

PEST analysis

Political– The Political system of London is stable that helps in facilitating more tourism within the nation. Transportation as well as infrastructural development is very effective. Further, the government of UK is also planning to expand the airport, which in turn helps in attracting more visitors in London (Adair and Ritchie, 2004). Growing awareness related to green issues is also one of the significant concerns among the tourism in this current scenario of London.

Economical– This is also regarded as an important factor that impacts the business of travel and tourism business and the destination Buckingham Palace. Because of the inflation, there is rise in the prices of products and services in London. Further, the travel and tourism sector is also affected by the issues of seasonality. Recently, the exchange rate of pound is not so strong and thus, travellers are postponing their trips. Other than this, travelling and planning a trip to United Kingdom is relatively costly and thus, people with low per capita income restrict themselves to travel.

Social– Due to increasing concern related to environment, there is less travelling across nation. In addition to this, because of some social events like Olympics and football matches, tourism is facilitated in a positive way in London. Other than this, culture, belief and values are also other factors that impact the travel and tourism business in London (Farrell, Oczkowski and Kharabsheh, 2008).

Technology– Technology is crucial factor that influences the business related to tourism. Online Booking system has made it easy and convenient for the travellers to book and plan tickets with one click. This has significantly helped in increasing the footfalls of tourists in London. Additionally, due to increasing hospitality network system travel and tourism business in London are flourishing up to a great extent.

Factors influencing consumer motivation and demand for London as tourist destination

In each and every industry, consumer is being regarded as a king. Their significance is doubled when it is related with the travel and tourism business. Thus, when the product destination that is Buckingham Palace needs to be promoted, it is quite essential to understand different kinds of factors that may have some or the other impact on the behavior and motivation of the target base of customers (Wood, 2008). Some of these factors includes family influences, social-economic and cultural influence etc. Concerning this, various factors of motivation are being explained underneath:

Personal Factors – Personal factors are better renowned as psychological factors. For illustration, there are many people who want to explore the culture and tradition of royal families and their history and thus, these types of people are perfect targets. In addition to this, such type of visitors can be motivated by including cultural, historical part of the Buckingham Palace.

Social and cultural Factors – There are many occasions where in decision in relation with the travel is encouraged because of social impact. For example, group of students studying in college might have more attraction towards exploring the culture as well as history behind the Buckingham palace. They also may show high level of interest in discovering the royal treasures of the royal families.

Principles of marketing segmentation

Talking in references with the segmentation of market, it is referred as a significant part of marketing planning (Ryan, 1991). Speaking in other words, it is nothing but a process by which firms can identify the suitable customers having same desires, demand as well as behavior. These target customers are also being known as segments. Based on these segments firms establish their strategies related to marketing. Visit London is required to ensure that the product that needs to be promoted has the right target segment. Further, it is also essential that the segments set by the company must be accessible, measurable and substantial. Thus, the firm should develop the segments on the basis of different criteria like lifestyle, demographic, geographic, geo-demographic and behavioral.

Geographic segmentation– According to this segmentation, the firm can distribute their market in different geographical divisions such as national, regional and city level. For illustration, the firm can develop the promotional campaign for Buckingham palace for United Kingdom on the basis of individuals, neighboring areas and cities.

Demographic segmentation– This segmentation categorizes the customer based on income, age, family size, gender and many more. For example, tour packages related to London can be offered to the students falling under the category of 15 to 18 years of age, who have the desire to discover the culture. Furthermore, elderly people who have interest to explore the historical places can also become the target group (Dickinson and et al., 2013).

Behavioral segmentation– here, people are being segregated based on their attitude, behavior, understanding and knowledge. Other than this, there are many customers who are loyal to the firm and thus, they can be targeted by the firm.

TASK 2

Strategic planning of London and its importance

Helps in planning for survival– Strategic marketing planning helps destination in planning various ways through which it can achieve a competitive edge in the market and can survive or in other words attract more and more visitors towards London.

Better satisfaction of customers– Talking about the current scenario, most of the E-commerce activities comprise of travel and tourism transaction. Because of this, it can be well attributed that, people are now interested to ascertain travel related information through internet. Visit London can highlight this need of the customer and engage more towards online related operations (Fletcher, Shepherd and Wanhill, 2008).

Determining various opportunities– Seeking help through strategic marketing planning, it becomes easy on the part of company to explore the daily chaos and clutter. They can also find themselves in a position to identify various opportunities provided by the travel and tourism sector of UK.

Better allocation of resources– With the help of strategic marketing planning, valuable resources can be allocated effectively with a view to achieve lower level of costs. Almost 20percent of the total operating budget is expended in regards with the marketing by Visit London. Furthermore, high amount of operational costs is being involved in marketing.

Relevance of marketing research to managers

In order to have suitable information in relation with the circumstances of market and competitor, each and every industry is required to have an effective process of market research. Seeking help through market research, present trends, need and habits of the consumers can be ascertained. Other than this, various techniques can be adopted by Visit London to determine the strategies as well as policies of its competitor (Cook, Yale and Marqua, 2010). It is important on the part managers of the firm to grab the information in regards with the technological aspects so as to have suitable alternation in the strategies. Further, from the market research, opportunities for development and growth can be increased by collecting necessary information. If the firm will implement effective alternation in the policies, the customers will be attracted towards Visit London. The main focus of market research is carrying out analysis of competitors and thus, they will surely support the organization to achieve competitive advantage. In addition to this, there are various advantages that can be availed through market research, as it helps in developing opportunities related to growth of business. Furthermore, the development of business is dependent on the emphasis being given by the firm towards the interest of the society. To gain loyalty from the clients, it is vital for the market researcher to deliver efficient services to its customers.

Influence of marketing on society

Talking in references with the marketing, it has both positive as well as negative influence on society. For making society aware in relation with the consumerism, marketing renders a supportive hand in protecting the customers through adhering the strict rules and regulations being levied by the government on various products and services (Product, Placement, Promotion, Price, 2015). Moreover, marketing helps in increasing the social responsibility of the business so as to makes sure that the community is benefited by the organization.

Marketing also impacts the psychology of the customers. There are numerous activities that impact the psychology like promotional campaign in relation with the products and services. When the promotional campaigns are conducted for long period of time it imposes a great psychological influence on the target group. Furthermore, it also helps in creating awareness about the brand in the mind of customers. Therefore, it can be said that is indirectly support in shaping the behavior of the firm. For Example, Visit London has realized that the tourism market about the honey moon couples is now showing interest in relation with other destinations rather than honey moon destinations. Pertaining to this, the firm has propelled exotic honey moon destination apart from standard one. Through this, customers are of the belief that the company is taking interest in fulfilling their needs (Matz, 2008).

However, marketing not always reaps out higher amount of revenue. A poor marketing efforts being undertaken by the organization might prove negative for the firm. Therefore, it is essential for the company to plan their strategies in such a manner that proper comprehension of the information about the potential customer base can be gained.

TASK 3

Issues in the elements of Marketing Mix of Thomas Cook

Product– Thomas Cook is engaged in the business related to travel and tourism tours. The firm has attained the leading position in this sector by giving competition to many tour operators in United Kingdom. Products being offered by company are hotels, tours, cruise line, insurance, travel facilities, booking website, airlines etc. It becomes essential on the part of Thomas Cook to facilitate effective product and services to better satisfy the customers (Fesenmaier and Uysal, 2011).

Price– This element is considered as very crucial as well as complex, as number of tangible as well as intangible services is being involved in a single element. Organization has taken into consideration mid-premium pricing policy so as to grab large share in the market.

Place– Thomas Cook has its operation in various parts of the world. They also tour packages for different destinations of the world like Egypt, US, Italy, Greece, Portugal etc. In recent times, the firm has majorly five divisions for conducting their activities and operations smoothly and these divisions are Central Europe, German Airlines, Northern Europe, West Europe and UK.

Promotion– The firm has adopted aggressive marketing so as to increase awareness of the brand in the market. Accordingly, they have developed campaigns with the help from print and electronic media (Bhasin, 2015).

Significance of service marketing mix

People– As it is a service based company, customers and workforce plays a crucial role. It includes trained employees, guides, officers, sales team and managers.

Process– Number of processes are taken into account for carrying out successful business by Thomas Cook. Customers are being attracted by the way of marketing and advertisements. As the clients step forward for enquiry, customization in the product and service takes place along with the documentation of visa process, travelling documents and currency exchange. Moreover, it is vital for the firm to ensure that customers get best quality experience (Bernick and Boo, 2013).

Physical Evidence– It includes merchandize such as caps, pens, bags, hotels and other forms of physical presence of the brand. Thomas Cook has more than 182000 hotels all across the world.

Concept of Total Tourism product

Total tourism product is intangible and tangible elements of the activities at a particular destination. Consumption of all these elements signifies that there are certain activities carried out at the destination which supports in making the experience of customers related to travel luxurious and comfortable. TTP encompasses four fundamentals such as bookings, accommodations, public goods and complementary services. Further, it has numerous functions to perform like helping clients to get them busy in some other activities, developing total travel experience and helping in developing brand at the time of stay. Thomas Cook also provides fleet of vehicles to their customers at particular destination. Their distribution channel system is also every efficient. Along with this, the firm also offers wide range of products in their targeted market segment (Dimitris, 2001).

TASK 4

Role of promotional mix

Advertising– It encompasses promoting the products and services of the firm by print media, internet and social media.

Personal-selling– It includes influencing the customers through oral presentation by sales representative, incentive programs and sample among others.

Sales promotion– In this lucrative offers are being provided by the firms to attract the customers.

Public relations– It is defined as a friendly motivation by the firm to supply goods and services to the customers. It involves diffusing the information in mass media such as magazines, news channel, newspaper and many more (Laurie and et. al., 2004).

Direct-marketing– Direct marketing considers communicating with their potential customers directly through mobile messages, emails, websites, door-to-door selling and letter.

Planning integrated promotional campaign

Integrated promotional campaign takes into account traditional as well as latest activities to communicate with the clients. The main focus of this process is increasing the revenue level of the firm through their activities. Travel and tourism related firm can make use of this strategy to develop their marketing strategy to impact the consumers and their travel. Thus, the main aim of integrated promotional campaign is to enhance the awareness of the brand in the market by making use of different channels of communication (Marketing process, 2012). Furthermore, it also supports in creating a brand name in the intellects of the customers. It is also observed that there is a requirement of ways through which the business can achieve the path of success and increase the brand reputation in public. All this can be made possible with the help of integrated promotional campaign, as it is related with numerous techniques and tools for brand with special attention on the domestic as well as international customers.

CONCLUSION

Consequently, it can be well attributed that marketing is necessary for travel and tourism sector. Companies are making effort in promoting their brand so as to create image in the intellect of the customers. Strategies should be applied appropriately to sustain in the market.

REFERENCES

• Abu, R. and et. al., 2012. Hospitality and Tourism. CRC Press.
• Acton, Q. A., 2012. Issues in Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism: 2011 Edition. Scholarly Editions.
• Adair, D. and Ritchie, B., 2004. Sport Tourism: Interrelationships, Impacts, and Issues. Channel View Publications.
• Bernick, N.L. and Boo, S., 2013. Festival tourism and the entertainment age: interdisciplinary thought on an international travel phenomenon. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. 7(2). pp.169 – 174.
• Cook, R.A., Yale, L. J. and Marqua, J.J., 2010. Tourism: The business of travel. MCgrow– hill.
• Dickinson, J.E., Robbins, D., Filimonau, V., Hares, A. and Mika, M., 2013. Awareness of Tourism Impacts on Climate Change and the Implications for Travel Practice: A Polish Perspective. Journal of Travel Research, 52(4), pp.506-519.

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