Tourism Industry Research and Management Assignment

This assignment covers various topics related to the tourism industry, including economic impacts, destination competitiveness, affiliate marketing, crisis events, innovation research, website evaluation, social media in tourism, family tourism, knowledge management, perceived justice, rapid natural disaster risk assessment, and destination marketing. The assignment provides a comprehensive review of literature on these topics and discusses their significance in the context of tourism management.

Marketing in Travel and
Tourism

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Core concept of marketing in context with Travel and Tourism...........................................1
1.2 Impact of marketing environment on Travel Business and Destination................................2
1.3 Reasons affecting Consumer’s Motivation and Demand......................................................3
1.4 Evaluating the market segmentation......................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Analysis of Strategic Marketing Planning.............................................................................4
2.2 Relevance of Marketing Research and Information..............................................................5
2.3 Assess the influence of marketing on Society.......................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Discuss the issues related to Marketing Mix.........................................................................5
3.2 Impact of service sector mix element on Tourism Sector.....................................................6
3.3 Apply the concept of total tourism to an individual tourism.................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Assess the role of promotional mix.......................................................................................7
4.2 Plan and justify the integrated Promotional Campaign.........................................................8
M1 Effective approach to study and analyses the market segment.............................................8
M2 Methods of Marketing Mix...................................................................................................9
M3 Structure and approach to study TTP Model........................................................................9
D1 Critically evaluating the Market Plan for Scotland:..............................................................9
D2 Substantial activities related to Total Tourism Product.........................................................9
D3 Innovation in integrated Promotional Campaign.................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Every Business Organization whether small or large requires Marketing to identify the
needs and wants of their prospective customer. It may vary according to the type of business
entity. Their objective is. People generally travel either for pleasure or doing corporate activity,
contributing to the tourism sector. The success of Travel Industry depend upon the various
marketing tools and techniques which attract the pool of potential visitors every year that
generates greater revenue and market share of the firm (Wang and Pizam, 2011). In order to this
well, company’s do the research part in context of knowing the likes and dislikes of their
consumer and then uses such information and draft campaigns that increase the profitability of
the organization. Visit Scotland is the chosen company in this project report which is
commissioned to promote Scotland as tourist destination. This report covers the impact of
marketing environment, importance of strategic planning, elements of marketing and
promotional mix, and concept of total tourism product in order to satisfy the desired necessities
of target market.
TASK 1
1.1 Core concept of marketing in context with Travel and Tourism
Marketing refers as managerial activity by which consumer or firm obtained what they
want and desire in exchange of product and services. Scotland is country that have different
attractive destination such as Edinburgh, Skye, Glasgow, Inverness and other essential places.
All these are highly attracted visitors in order to visit in these places. They articulate their
services to ideal customer in order to hold the market share. Various core functions that are
related to marketing are as follows: Needs, Wants and Demand: Need means the urge to travel arises. Wants deal with
specific demand such as visiting Scotland and Demand includes the full fledged Itinerary
of desired want. It is very essential part of the business success and development. In this
Visit Scotland provides different facilities to their visitors as per their needs and wants. Products and services: It deals with services in context of travel industry. Customer
satisfaction is depend upon the services provided to them which fulfills their desire or not
(Aldebert and et. al., 2011). Company provides different kind of services to their visitors
such as cap, guide and other facilities in an effective manner.
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 Value and Satisfaction: Visit Scotland and its Travelers attain certain level of
satisfaction from the facilities provided to them and on the basis of their pleasure, value is
judged. In order to fulfill basic requirement and needs of the clients, business entity
provide higher satisfaction level to clients.
 Exchange/Transaction: It deals in providing services to its tourists and they are getting
monetary benefits in return. Scotland is very attractive destination which attract large
number of the visitors who are interested in traveling this places.
 Relationship/Networking: Satisfied visitors, often repeat its services whenever they travel
again. So it is very important to maintain healthy relation with clients so to retain them
for longer period and gain competitive advantage (Ardahaey, 2011).
1.2 Impact of marketing environment on Travel Business and Destination
It includes micro and macro factor that influence the working of business operation.
Internal factors are under the control of the company and can be analyse by doing SWOT while
External is influenced by the outside world, their analysis can be done by applying PESTLE.
 SWOT Analysis for Internal Factors
Strength: Visit Scotland is well known and
reputed brand in tourism sector. And
Scotland also, is a liberal nation built on
innovation and creation. Visit Scotland has
strong base of satisfied customer and
provide excellence experience in terms of
services.
Weakness: The role of online marketing is
weak in context of promoting its services.
Also they lack in the IT department which
take care of the breakdown website server.
(Aldebert and et. al., 2011
Opportunities: Company is using Social
media platform instead of traditional
method. Also covering the unexplored
countries or cities by exploring them.
Threat: With pace of increase in competition,
customer might switch to other Tour
Operators.
 PESTLE analysis for External Factors
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Political: Recent issue of Brexit, has increased the inflation rate in many parts of
UK which ultimately affects the behavior of consumer.
Economical: Economic vagueness in many parts of the nation obstruct the
attractiveness of Scotland.
Social: Tourism industry faces problem due to the level of unemployment which
decrease their market share.
Technological: Every organization is using advance technology in terms of using
social media platform in order to promote their good or services.
Legal: Tourism sector provides higher level of satisfaction its customers by
adhere to the laws of the country.
Environmental: Awareness among customer regarding the ecological concern
attracts the customer automatically.
1.3 Reasons affecting Consumer’s Motivation and Demand
Various factors such as Social cultural, Technological and Tourist Motivation has a lot of
influence on Consumer motivation and demand which are in detailed below
 Social Cultural Factor: A major trend has been found out in shifting the
dependency of consumer towards tourism industry which is less expensive as
compared to traditional players in this sector (Brown and Cave, 2010).
Technological Factor: Exchange of data through social media and online bookings portal has
played a crucial role in improving the productivity of the business enterprise. This attracts the
new generation visitors which are highly influenced by the internet (Hjalager, 2010).
 Tourist Motivation Factor : Consumer are having infinite options in terms of
looking and searching for what they desire like Trip advisory, and Trivago which
provides them endless solution. Thus, motivation for tourism is becoming pull i.e.
forcefully attracting the client rather than the push factor.
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1.4 Evaluating the market segmentation
It refers to the concept that divides the market into smaller subsets including customer
which are having similar need, taste, desire and want. Each segment is different from other in
terms of individual interest. Types of market segmentation are as follows:
 Psychographic Segmentation: The origin of such division is lifestyle of
individuals which is different from one person to another. For e.g. Rich person
wants to travel Europe in their holidays but middle class group does not think the
same, they may opt for some cheap destination. It may vary on the basis of
individual’s interest, attitude and taste.
 Behavioral Segmentation: This divides the consumer on the basis of their
loyalty towards the specific product or services. For instance, if a person is
satisfied with the facilities provided by the Visit Scotland, it automatically
generates loyalty among that organization and client uses often experienced
services rather than trying new one (Gregori and et. al., 2014).
 Demographic Segmentation: It divides the consumer on the basis of variable
such as occupation, education level, income, family size, status, sociology-
economic etc. They believe that client with similar variable will have same
purchasing pattern
Segmentation plays an important role in marketing planning at Visit Scotland as it help the tour
operator to understand their visitors more effectively and efficiently who are more frequent
travellers (Chen and et. al., 2011). It also helps in developing marketing strategies and elements
of marketing mix in order to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. They can
develop market plan for the Scotland as winter tourism destination. Also, it identifies the
profitable customer for the business enterprise.
TASK 2
2.1 Analysis of Strategic Marketing Planning
It refers to an ongoing process which creates different marketing strategies for their target
consumer. It has three stages which are as follows:
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 Segmentation of market and customer: Under this, company divides the pool of
clients into smaller groups according to their taste, behavior and choices. Visit
Scotland can make the subsets of their regular consumer who often travels more
as compared to others. They can also make market plan for Scotland which is a
land of mountain that attracts the tourist to travel there.
 Profiling the market segment: Visit Scotland profiled the customer on the basis
of profitability, as they concentrate more on such client that generates higher
revenue for their organization by satisfying their needs and desire more
effectively and efficiently.
 Develop a market segment marketing strategy: Visit Scotland can built
strategic marketing planning in order to promote the tourism in Scotland by
targeting the client through direct or indirect sales (Hall, 2010). This ensures that
organization achieve their overall objective in terms of profitability and market
share by conveying a consistent message to its clients.
Visit Scotland can also use the Framework of Tourist Area Life Cycle which covers the
introduction, growth, maturity and decline of the organization and provide suggestive measures
to grow effectively in each area.
2.2 Relevance of Marketing Research and Information
Visit Scotland can gather relevant information related to its operations and customer
through the help of research. It helps the company to understand the latest trend, technology, and
customer requirement etc. Competitors offers services at lesser rate which attracts the clients
very easily and make them to switch (Law, 2010). Therefore, Visit Scotland is required to
understand the phenomenon of gathering appropriate market information for maintaining better
quality of services and consider the factors that are causing client dissonance. These help in
foresee the future trends and preferred destination which help the business to gain competitive
advantage.
2.3 Assess the influence of marketing on Society
Marketing plays a significant role in purchase decision making of its client by attracting
their needs and want. It involves all types of advertising in the form of television commercial,
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social media, print messages, and hoardings etc. which influence the target customer from the
society. It gives necessary information to the customer by educating them various marketing
offers that fulfils their desires. Such as if a person wants to travel Scotland, Visit Scotland is
required to critically evaluate their main attraction and then instructing the client about the tourist
package related to that. This makes easier for visitors to travel with predefined itineraries. They
can also modify it according to their requirement. Also it focuses on providing various choice to
its customer. They can compare the tour package among other operators such as Trivago, Trip
advisor (Robinson and et. al., 2011). Basically, marketing involves earning the customer loyalty
and interest which help in maintaining relationship with the customer for longer duration.
TASK 3
3.1 Discuss the issues related to Marketing Mix
It refers as set of marketing tool which enables the organization to purse its objective by
putting right product in accurate place at right time and price. Companies related to tourism and
travel sector can focus on the price, place and product elements of Marketing Mix. Following are
the details in context of Scotland Package by Visit Scotland Tour Operator.
 Product: In this project, product refers as tour package to Scotland that is made and
designed by Visit Scotland keeping in mind the desired needs and wants of the customer.
This is the basic offering of the company to its clients in form of providing all the
necessary details about the destination such as their attractions, most visited place which
may vary depending upon the requirement of consumer (Ardahaey, 2011). Visit Scotland
is required to collect essential market intelligence in order to attract the interest of target
market. They are mainly offering innovative products to all their clients in order to retain
loyalty of customers and they will spend money in buying these products thus enhancing
growth of money s there will be huge money flow.
 Price: It refers to the amount that client pays for the required product. For instance, in
this project it acts as an integral factor in order to determine the price for the Scotland trip
(Hjalager, 2010). Visit Scotland can also undercut the price so as to the advantage of
competitive edge. The prices for the products are normally charges very high from the
tourist who are visiting to different locations thus they are able to make changes in their
different structures of buildings so people will be attracted.
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 Place: It is the element which provide purchaser access in order to communicate the
information related to Scotland trip. It acts as medium between company and customer.
Visit Scotland can transfer or share relevant content to its clients by using social media,
online portal or through related channels. This is an important factor as people will eb
able to see the beauty of different locations and they will know how the older people use
to stay what things are used by them in order to make their life easy. Customers are
mainly focusing on visiting those places which consist of unique items and they are also
attracted by the natural beauty of these places thus places should focus on keeping their
places neat and clean so large number of customers will visit them.
 Promotional: It is an effective tools of the business organization because with the help of
these, they can easily promote their products and services (Schanzel and et. al., 2012).
With the use of social media like; Twitter, Facebook and What's apps etc. There are also
advertisement techniques such as newspapers and television. The advertisement are given
in newspapers, social media websites etc and these are the way in order to gain attention
of customers so they will use these services thus enhancing growth and profitability
factors.
3.2 Impact of service sector mix element on Tourism Sector
It covers the factors which are highly essential in delivering the best possible services to
its client. It deals with the following:
 Process: It focuses on delivering the services to their target customer. It should be
hassle free which is satisfying the customer need. Visit Scotland can provide the
services optimally without compromising with its quality. The process which are
developed by firms should be effective and these should work in order to provide best
services to all their clients.
 People: It includes the workforce of Visit Scotland who interacts with the customer at
the time of sales order or post that. Turning visitors into target consumer is the aim of
their employees. These are valuable factors which are giving information to clients in
order to visit at those location which are famous at those places.
 Physical Evidence: In tourism sector, it refers as a tangible factor in the form token
of services such as getting feedback on client’s stay in hotel, type of food offered,
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convenient flight etc. which makes them to develop competitive advantage over their
customers (Leung and et. al., 2013) People are consuming food when they are visiting
to new places, they are purchasing goods which are valuable for them or attracting
them and this is related with proof as they had visited those places.
 Variability of the offering: Visit Scotland is required to distinguish itself from their
rivals by offering non-repetitive services to their target market. These locations are
offering new and innovative products to their clients which are valuable for them in
order to achieve strong competitive gains.
 Importance of brand identity: Visit Scotland is having their own identity which
makes them unique or different from their competitors. It often generates potential
clients that remains for longer duration and creates market revenue for the business.
3.3 Apply the concept of total tourism to an individual tourism
Visit Scotland is having an ambition of satisfying their target customer by providing them
best services in the tourism sector. They are required to make different strategies in order to
attract clients by offering various promotional methods such as discount, coupons etc. Visit
Scotland is required to make competitive advantage over their competitors by applying the
concept of total tourist product in their organization. In this, company offers whole package to its
consumers including their stay, flight, food, accommodation, beverages, sightseeing,
entertainment, nightlife, wildlife etc. it is the responsibility of the company to discuss such
factors with their customer so as to know about their choices and preferences (Tsai and Chen,
2011). For instance, if a person wants to visit the Scotland, Visit Scotland is required to given
them proper itinerary which includes all such factors that satisfy them the most. Like if client is
fond of food, music and sightseeing then they must visit places such as Stirling, Mull, Oban,
Skye, Fish Supper, Scottish Salmon, and Porridge etc. They are required to meet the unlimited
demand of customer and treat them as the king under one roof in the best possible way.
TASK 4
4.1 Assess the role of promotional mix
This defines the promotional tools chosen by the organization in order highly satisfied
their customer. It has an influence on new as well as on existing customer. It became important
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for a company to build its brand image in front of their consumer that generates customer loyalty
towards the organization and ensures in increasing their sales and market share (Law and et. al.,
2010). Following are the tools of Promotional Mix:
 Advertising: Visit Scotland can promote their services in the form of television,
social media, print media, newspaper, emails, radio, banners, web pages, hoardings,
brochures and pamphlets to reach its goals. It helps in attracting more customers and
create competitive edge of the firm. This is the best methods use by firms in order to
make customers aware about the offered products and services thus they will enhance
their overall sales and profitability ratios.
 Sales Promotion: Promotion done by the company in order to stimulate the customer
to buy the services which led to increase the sales and market share of the firm. Visit
Scotland can provide discounts, offers, rebate, refund, premiums or gift, lucky draw,
packaged premium, and complimentary stay or food etc. in order to attract more
customers. There are various promotional tools used by firms in like discounts and
these are used in order to gain attention of clients so they will visit these places.
 Direct Marketing: It involves the process of personal selling where the employees of
Visit Scotland is required to have direct or face to face communication with its
customer (Brown and Cave, 2010). They can use tools such as street and mall
advertising, campaign, catalog and promotional letter etc. which informs and attract
the customer about the various offers of the company. Visit Scotland is required to
send personal message or mail to its loyal customer briefing them about the various
offers in order to make them feel special and unique. In this factor there is one to one
communication with employees in order to deliver them right information so they will
make plans in order to visit these places.
 Public Relation: Visit Scotland is required to maintain a healthy relationship with its
customers. The brand and goodwill of the firm plays a vital role in gaining the trust of
their clients which creates a positive image of the, organization in front of the
consumer. More loyal person greater revenue generation. This is the most vital factors
in order to establish strong images of business at market places thus customer’s will
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buy their products thus their overall sales and profitability ratios will be greatly
enhanced.
4.2 Plan and justify the integrated Promotional Campaign
As a marketing intern at Visit Scotland, I would like to analysis the promotional mix
strategies of the firm which depicts various promotional tools and techniques offered to large
number of consumer in order to attract them and satisfy them in the best possible way. They have
used the total tourism plan method which provides complete package or itineraries to their
consumer keeping in mind their choices and desire. Also the firm has used different tools in
terms of promoting and advertising their services by the help of social media, television,
newspaper etc. and maintaining better relation with their customer which retain them for longer
period. Visit Scotland is required to make their loyal or regular customer feel special by offering
particular discounts to them which builds the higher trust factor between the customer and
company (Schanzel and et. al., 2012). Such techniques and strategies helps the firm to achieve
overall objective by satisfying the client’s need effectively and efficiently. The plans which are
formulated by firms should focus on developing awareness about their products and services by
using various promotional tools and techniques which are beneficial for them in order to enhance
their customers who will be using their services.
M1 Effective approach to study and analyses the market segment
Market segmentation divides the market with into small group on the basis of customer
choice and preferences. Following are the elements which comes under this are as follows:
 Demographic: As Scotland is a rich country therefore, they are required to
consider middle and high income group of people and the educated people as their
target market.
 Psychographic: As the lifestyle of UK people is quite happening, they can
consider them their target client because such people loves to travel and explore
often.
 Behavioral: As the nature of UK people is to try something new very often or
follows the latest trend, they can come under their target customer.
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M2 Methods of Marketing Mix
There are 7Ps which considers as the element of Marketing Mix. Cited Organization is
required to critically evaluate the services in order to attract large consumer (Svari and et. al.,
2010). They can fix up the price by doing research on analysing the buying behaviour of
consumer and use various promotional strategies that their clients are using such as social media
platform in order to make stronger bond with them.
M3 Structure and approach to study TTP Model
Total Tourism product is a group of needs or preferences of the target customer that is
combine together in order to gain higher satisfaction level from their consumer (Leung and et.
al., 2013). It covers every aspect starting from airline choice, accommodation, food,
entertainment, adventure and nightlife etc. that client requires in their package so as to draw
competitive edge.
D1 Critically evaluating the Market Plan for Scotland
According to the Hall, (2010) It refers as the document of all marketing approaches and
tactics which Scotland is used in order to attract the customers (Svari and et. al., 2010). They
have used the tools of service and promotion mix strategies such as Advertising, Direct Selling,
Public Relation, and Sales Promotion in order to promote their services and generate higher
revenues.
D2 Substantial activities related to Total Tourism Product
According to Uysal, (2012), TTP deals in providing exactly what customer admires or
wishes for. Company is required to understand the preferences of their consumer and then make
itineraries according to their choices which satisfies them in the best possible way. It covers
almost everything starting from the selection of airline, accommodation, food, entertainment,
music, adventure etc.
D3 Innovation in integrated Promotional Campaign
According to Sigala, (2014), Visit Scotland has use the promoting mix strategies in order
to advertise their product in a better way. They are using the tool such as social media, which is
on top now a days to promote their services (Sigala and Chalkiti, 2014). Putting their offers on
Facebook, Instagram, making YouTube video which influence the customer to today’s era or
generation. They are trying to opt the latest technology for their promotional part.
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CONCLUSION
Every business organization whether travel or hospitality requires proper marketing
strategies which influences the customer in a better way and enhance their sales and productivity.
Customer satisfaction is the top most priority of any business enterprise as it contributes towards
generating revenues of the firm. It also involves the process of designing advertisement and
making strategies that will appeal customers towards the tourism sector. Company can satisfy the
needs and desire of their client by using various marketing tools such as services and promotion
mix, total tourism plan, market segmentation. The aim of such companies is customer attraction
with profit maximization.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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performance, customer satisfaction and sustainable tourism. Journal of Sustainable
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Hall, C.M., 2010. Crisis events in tourism: subjects of crisis in tourism. Current issues in
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Hjalager, A.M., 2010. A review of innovation research in tourism. Tourism management. 31(1).
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Schanzel, H., and et. al., 2012. Family tourism: Multidisciplinary perspectives (Vol. 56).
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