Marketing in Travel and Tourism: A Comprehensive Analysis of London's Tourism Sector

This report delves into the crucial role of marketing in the thriving travel and tourism sector, focusing specifically on London as a prime tourist destination. It examines the core concepts of marketing, analyzes the tourism marketing environment of London, and explores the factors influencing consumer motivation and demand. The report further investigates the importance of strategic marketing planning and market research, highlighting their relevance to London Tourism. It also dissects the elements of the marketing mix, applying them to a chosen UK tour operator, Expedia.com, and discusses the concept of the 'total tourism product.' Finally, the report assesses the integrated nature of the promotional mix and proposes an integrated promotional campaign for Expedia.com, justifying its effectiveness.

Marketing in Travel and Tourism
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 3
Task 1.......................................................................................................................................... 4
Task 2........................................................................................................................................ 10
Task 3........................................................................................................................................ 12
Task 4........................................................................................................................................ 15
Conclusion................................................................................................................................. 17
Reference List........................................................................................................................... 18
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Introduction
The travel and tourism sector is expanding exponentially worldwide, and marketing practices
adopted by such sectors have also had to undergo changes. This report aims to study the
impact and importance of marketing in the context of London’s tourism sector. Further, the
report analyses the importance of market planning for London, as a tourist destination. The
importance of market planning, research and information is understood with reference to the
tourism managers at London Tourism. The impact of marketing in tourism on tourists as well as
the host community is analyzed. The elements of the marketing mix are studied, and the
processes of designing and developing a product for a tourism-related company have been
discussed, keeping in mind a relevant tour operator in UK. The concept of total tourism product
has also been addressed. Finally, the role of the promotional mix is elaborated upon, and a
detailed promotional campaign is created.
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Task 1
A. Discuss the core concepts of marketing and apply to your selected destination of
London (consider the selected destination as the product to be promoted) [P1.1].
Introduction
This report will evaluate regarding the various methods and strategies used by the marketing
team of different tour operators in order to enhance their business. The core concept of the
marketing will be elaborated in a detailed manner.
According to Kotler, the main concepts related to the marketing process are identified as needs,
wants, demand, product, utility, exchange or transaction/transfer, relationship marketing
network, and finally the market (Armstrong et al, 2015). With reference to London as a tourist
destination, the core concepts of marketing can be applied in the following sense-
Needs, wants and demands- The needs and wants of tourists who visit London are governed
by the desire to experience British culture and food, as well as to visit landmarks that have
historical and cultural significance.
Product- The products offered by London as a destination include famous British foods such as
fish and chips served by several pubs and restaurants in London, sightseeing locations such as
the Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, etc.
Value, satisfaction and quality- The tourists who visit London will have expectations in terms
of product and service value and quality. The cost incurred in sightseeing activities, quality and
price of accommodation in hotels and of food, as well as the behavior exhibited by locals will
determine the perceived value of the services for the customer (Rajesh, 2013).
Exchange, transactions/transfer and relationship marketing- Transactions and relationship
marketing are particularly important for a tourist destination. If the tourism industry of London
provides quality services to tourists, they will have a positive opinion of London and this will
attract a high inflow of tourists every year.
Market- To promote London as a destination to tourists (the buyers), the tourism industry
engages in market segmentation and market analysis to understand the demands of the
tourists.
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Figure 1: Core Concepts of Marketing
(Source: Created by Learner)
B. Briefly analyse the tourism marketing environment of London and assess its impact
on the travel and tourism businesses and destination itself [P1.2]. 286
In the tourism industry, the marketing environment refers to the internal and external factors
such as market trend, shifting consumer demands, socio-political and economic scenario,
demographic change etc, that impact the marketing processes (Kotabe and Helsen, 2014). The
tourism marketing environment of London is determined by the following analyses-
Factors Analysis
Political Post-Brexit, political instability has adversely
affected the flow of tourists to UK, as free
movement is now restricted
Economic Economic recession has led to lower spending
power, and has led to a decline in the tourism
sector’s revenue.
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Needs,WantsandDemandsBritishcultureandfoodhistoricalandculturallandmarksProductFamousBritishfoodsSightseeinglocationsValue,satisfactionandqualityCostandQualityoffood,hotelExchange,transaction/transferRelationshipMarketingProvidingqualityservicesMarketMarketsegmentationMarketanalysis

Social Tourists will not visit destinations where their
life may be endangered by terror attacks
(Baker, 2014) The London police has had to
tighten security so that the safety of tourists is
uncompromised.
Technological The tourism sector has had to adopt and
implement new technologies to keep up with
consumer expectations and to provide high
quality services.
Environmental Tourists are now looking to the tourism sector
to implement sustainable practices. This has
led to a rise in sustainable processes in hotels
in London, and the promotion of responsible
tourism to fulfil the needs of customers
(Geerts, 2014).
Legal Trade as well as travel laws have changed
due to Brexit. This has affected the movement
of tourists to London.
Table 1: PESTEL analysis of London’s tourism marketing environment
(Source: Created by Learner)
Factors Analysis
Strengths A major strength of London tourism is that the
city has various historical and socially rich
landmarks that tourists are attracted to.
Weaknesses The impact of Brexit has weakened the UK
economy and political structure. This has
lowered the revenue of London’s tourism
sector.
Opportunities The tourism industry is set to receive funding
from the UK government, which will provide
ample opportunity to expand the sector.
Threats Terrorism is a major threat to tourism in UK.
Moreover, the changing trade and travel
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agreements may hamper tourists’ visits to
London.
Table 2: SWOT analysis of London’s tourism marketing environment
(Source: Created by Learner)
C. Discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand for London as a
tourist destination, for both business and leisure travelers [P1.3].
There are number of factor that plays a significant role in consumer motivation. The factors that
help in increasing demand for London among leisure as well as business travel are:
Buyer’s decision process: Purchasing capabilities of visitors help in determining whether they
can afford a leisure holiday or not. The purchasing decisions of the consumers are based on the
price of the packages, the popularity of destination, the services offered and more.
Consumer behaviour: Marketing managers of tourist operators keep creating awareness
regarding the tourism destination. The consumer behaviour is one of the most important factor
that influences the decision making process of the consumers. The creative advertisements and
promotion helps in grabbing the attention of the consumers towards London.
Figure 1: Model of consumer behaviour
(Source: shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in, 2018)
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Tourist Motivation: Tourist motivation is important in order to increase tourism demand of
London. For example, if a visitor is interested in cultural tourism then they can visit London in
order to explore British Museum, National Gallery, Hampton Court, Buckingham Palace and
more. These factors assist in attracting leisure tourist; however, London is gaining popularity as
a business hub all across the globe. In the year 2015, around 3.7 million tourists visited London
in order to attend meeting, conduct business transactions and make business deals
(londonandpartners.com, 2018).
D. Analyse the principles of market segmentation and discuss how you can use these in
destination marketing planning for London [P1.4, M1].
The management of Visit London makes use of market segmentation so that they are able to
categorize their visitors as per their needs and requirement and fulfil their demands. This allows
the tour operator in satisfying their consumers in an enhanced manner. The various market
segments that are commonly used by operators are:
Figure 3: Market segmentation
(Source: Cross et al., 2015)
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Psychographic segmentation: This type of segmentation categorises the visitors based on the
perception of the tourist regarding a specific service, commodity or their values and beliefs that
they follow.
Demographic Segmentation: This type of segmentation allows the operators to divide their
visitors based n their ethnic background, purchasing behaviour, age, religion, culture and more
(Baeza, 2015). This will help the tour operators in categorizing their tourist interesting in cultural
tourism or aged base tourism activities.
Behavioural Segmentation: This type of segmentation helps in dividing the visitors based on
their expectation from a particular tourist destination. Visit London is highly benefited from this
type of segmentation as this segment helps the operator in understanding the purchasing
behaviour of their consumers.
Visit London is expected to consider the demographic as well as psychographic segmentation
as it will assist the organization to segment their visitors for culture as well as adventure travel.
They will also have the opportunity of developing luxury packages for their consumers. The tour
operators will also be able to categorise their visitors based on their income generation that will
help them in analyzing the best tour package for London, as it is an expensive city.
Conclusion
The report helps in gaining information regarding the significance of market segmentation.
According to segmentation, it is evident that psychographic segmentation as well as
demographic segmentation is most appropriate for the tourism industry of London as the tour
operators will be assisted by this segmentation while arranging tour activities for their tourists.
The different elements of the core concept of marketing have been discussed in a detailed
manner. The report helps in evaluating about the strengths and weaknesses of tourism industry
of London. The different factors playing important role in consumer motivation have been
analyzed.
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Task 2
A. Critically analyse the importance of the strategic marketing planning for London as a
tourist destination and discuss the importance of marketing research in the planning
process (critically analyse the plan) [P2.1, P2.2. D.1].
it is evident that most of the tour organizers of London implement a number of strategies and
methods that helps them in analysing and understanding the business environment of UK. The
tour operators make use of tool such as SWOT analysis that provides them with the information
about the internal as well as external business environment of the travel industry (Kotler, 2015).
The PLC methods reveal that London is presently situated at the growth stage of the curve as
the demand to visit London is increasing at a rapid rate. These techniques help the tour
operators to understand the different business environment prevailing in the tourism sector. The
marketing managers are expected to conducts market analysis so that they are able to collect
information regarding the current market trend. After gaining the data regarding the present
market, the managers develop an appropriate marketing plan. The strategic marketing plan
helps the marketing managers in develop clear goals and objectives that will be beneficial for
the development and growth of the traveller. It serves in guiding the employees to underhand
the steps that should be followed in order to achieve the objectives and goals of the tourism
organization.
B. Discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to travel and
tourism sector managers at London Tourism (www.visitlondon.com) [P 2.2].
Marketing research and Marketing information are the methods that are used by the market
manager of the tour organizers in order to communicate and interact with their consumers.
These techniques allow them in enhancing and building meaningful customer relation, the
managers are able to understand the trends and needs of their consumers. Gaining information
regarding current trends is vital for the growth and development of tourism industry. For
example, it is evident that sustainable tourism is gaining popularity among the consumers at it
allows them in protecting the environment (Armstrong et al., 2015). Presently most of the
marketing department of tourism organizations are making use of marketing information system
that consists of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyse, and evaluate the
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current market requirements and demands. The system helps in enhancing decision-making
process and allows the management to take appropriate decisions within the stipulated time.
Market research conducted by the tour operator of London allows them in gaining valuable
information existing problem in the market, increasing competition, strategies that are being
used by other competitors, current as well as future market trends and the growth opportunities
that are available. Marketing manager conducts a number of surveys, take online interviews and
group discussion with certain focus group that helps them in understanding the ways they can
improve their tourism business within London.
C. Assess the positive and negative influence of marketing on the society (of people of
London and the visitors). Consider elements such as responsibility and ethics,
regulations and public policy,
The marketing activity of the tour operators of London generates both positive as well as
negative impact on the people and the visitors of London. Some of the most common impact o
the marketing activity has been mentioned below:
Social responsibility: The tour operators must be accountable towards the information that is
provided by them in their promotional advertisements. They must ensure that all the message
and information are authentic and accurate. This will help them in enhancing their visitor’s
experience (Sheth and Sisodia, 2015). However, if the operators are not socially responsible
they will lose the interest and trust of their consumers.
Environment: The marketing managers of tourism industries are expected to ensure that their
marketing activities do not generate any waste and harmful impact on the environment. If they
damage the environment in any manner, they will lose the interest of their consumers.
Marketing managers must implement sustainable tourism practices that help in protecting the
environment or else their activities scan cause a lot of pollution.
Ethics: The tour organizers of London are expected to follow all the ethical codes and are
required to remain true to their promises and statements. They must provide their consumers
with the offers and services that have been stated by them. Unethical behaviour in business can
result in reduced faith of visitors and they will avoid associating with complicated firms.
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Task 3
A. Identify the elements of marketing mix and discuss the issues of designing and
developing the product, price and place elements for your chosen UK tour operator
[P3.1, M2].
The tour operators make use of methods such as marketing mix in order to gain information
regarding the policies and strategy of an organization.
Marketing mix of Expedia.com
Product: Expedia.com is a popular website that provides their visitors with hotel reservation
services, air booking services, vacation packages, cruise booking services, and car rental
services. The company also services their consumers with various email services such as travel
alert that is sent due to availability of similar prices.
Price: The management ensures to attract consumer from both reasonable as well as luxury
segment. The organization makes use of penetration pricing strategy. The company conducts in
depth research and the findings revealed that majority of their consumers were of middle
economy, so they changed pricing strategy as per their target consumer.
Place: Expedia is popular and has a strong global presence. The company is accepted with the
help of local sites in Brazil, Germany, China, UK, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Norway,
Sweden, Mexico, Italy, Vietnam, Japan, Australia and more. In order to book hotels or flights,
the company make use of Amadeus and Sabre reservation.
Promotion: As Expedia.com is an online brand, they are required to follow a vivid marketing
policy. The website is updated at a regular interval to provide detailed information regarding new
offers and packages. They advertise about their services on Google Ads, Social media,
television commercial and newspapers. In order to create awareness about their packages they
use the method of bulk email.
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B. Using your chosen UK tour operator, assess and discuss the importance of service
sector mix elements [P3.2].
Service sector mix helps in revealing about the business of an organization. They will help in
developing beneficial policies and strategies. The services developed using service sector mix
assists in offering customers a choice within a specified or particular range.
Service sector mix of Expedia.com
Process: The Company is associated with a wide range of brands that help them in gaining a
strong consumer base. Some of the most popular brands associated with this firm include
Hotels.com, Egencia, Hotwire, Media solutions, Elong.com and more. The company is
associated with a number of suppliers that provide them with quality resources that helps in
enhancing the brand image. More than 1000 travel experts work for Expedia.com in order to
increase the revenue generation of the business organization.
People: The organization is available in more than 60 countries all across the globe, recruiting
more than 150000 employees that help in enhancing the operational activity of the organization.
As the Expedia.com is an international firm it recruits a diverse range of individuals belonging to
different cultural background. This helps in increasing the customer service as visitors of various
backgrounds can be handled by staffs in an efficient manner.
Physical evidence: Expedia is one of the world’s leading travel agency that has more than 30
companies situated all across the globe. The most significant physical evidence is the online
website of the company that allows the consumers to gain detailed information regarding their
services (Expedia.co.uk, 2018). Apart from website, the company has a few subsidiary
organizations and is available n mobile applications.
C. Apply and discuss the concept of the ‘total tourism product’ using your chosen
company to illustrate the various components that are integrated [P3.3, M3, D2].
Total tourism products are a combination of various elements and substances that are essential
and required by their visitors during their trips to different destinations. These products include
both tangible as well as intangible components that are based according to the offerings of a
specific tourist destination (Andereck, 2016). These products may include accommodation,
food, transportation, and various other needs of the tourists. Expedia.com is a popular and
leading e-commerce agency that is visited by a huge number of visitors that are planning their
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trips. The visitors explore the services and packages that are being offered by the site. They
inquire about different destination to gain idea and information regarding the services that will be
provided to them by Expedia.com. The company can create a platform that will help them in
understanding their consumers in a better way. The website will allow the company to gain
reviews from their existing customers regarding the trips that has been conducted by them.
They will be able to improve their services and enhance the experience of their visitors.
The platform is required to be designed in a way that it provides detailed information regarding
the web traffic. The number of customers visiting the website, the destinations that are being
viewed by them, the package that is gaining popularity among the consumers. This will help
them in understanding their consumers and they will be able to increase their consumer base.
The reviews ad comments of existing customers will help new customers in understanding the
service of the company they will gain information regarding the quality of service that are being
provided by the organization. The transportation, accommodation, food and other services
provided to them. This will help the company in gaining loyalties of their new customers.
Providing information will help in maintain transparency between the company and the
customers.
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Task 4
D. Assess the integrated nature and role of the promotional mix with reference to your
selected tour operator [P4.1].
Promotional mix helps the company in order to understand the ways by which they can improve
their services and enhance their customer service. The promotional mix of Expedia.com has
been discussed below:
Public relations: Public relation is an essential method that assists the organization in
communicating and interacting with the public so that they are able to understand the opinions
of their consumers (Theaker, 2017). Expedia.com makes use of different online platform to
interact with their consumers, they also employee individuals with skills to increase their public
relation and create awareness about their service and improves their brand image.
Direct selling: This method requires business organizations to employee or recruit candidates
with skill and knowledge in order to increase the sales volume of their company. Expedia.com
recruits sales candidates who visit their customers in order to provide them with detailed
information about different services. They explain the packages, discounts and offers that the
company is offering to their consumers. The representative is skilled to pursue the consumer so
that they are attracted towards the offer and purchase it. The candidates are provided with
training so that they have proper skills that allow them in increasing their sales volumes.
Advertising: The process helps business organizations in creating awareness and promoting
their services and products. Expedia.com makes use of certain mediums such as Google ads,
social media, newspapers, television commercial and other such medium to advertise and
promote their packages and services.
Sales promotion: This method requires companies to offers discounts and offers so that the
business firm is able to grab the attention of their consumers. Similarly, Expedia.com provides
their consumers with huge discounts during holidays or summer seasons. This helps them in
attracting huge amount of tourists during peak seasons.
Internet and online promotion: In order to reach out to maximum individuals and potential
clients many of the leasing firm makes use of online and internet related platforms. For
example, Expedia.com utilizes their official website in order to advertise about their packages
and services. They also make use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other
such platforms in order to promote their services.
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E. Plan and justify an integrated promotional campaign for your selected UK tour
operator [P4.2, D3].
Integrated Marketing is an approach that helps in creating a seamless and unified experience
for customers to interact and communicate with the brand enterprises. It tries to meld all the
different aspects of the marketing communication such as public relation, sales promotion,
advertising, social media and direct marketing. Integrated promotional campaign for
Expedia.com has been explained below:
Internet and online promotion: Expedia.com can make use of online promotional methods so
that they are able to promote about their services and new products. It is evident that most of
the users are available on more than one social media platform (Marinescu and Frincu, 2015). If
the management of Expedia.com advertises about their services, on social media, it will help
them in reaching out to a majority of customers and they will be able to attract huge customer
base. Social media serves as a strong platform that helps them in gaining the views and
opinions of consumers. The feedbacks of the consumers help the organization in improving their
services. The company can advertise about their services with the help of internet advertising
on Google ads or platforms such as Instagram and more. They can interact with their
consumers with the help of email or whatsapp and assist their consumers with their queries.
Public relation: The Company can utilize the method of public relation in order to create
awareness regarding their new products. They should recruit skilled candidates so that they are
able to inform the consumers regarding the packages and service that are being introduced by
the organization. They must pursue the consumers to purchase the package and enhance the
sale of the company.
Sales promotion: Expedia.com can implement this method, offer their consumers with huge
discounts, and offer so that they are able to attract their consumers towards their new product
(Mendez et al., 2015). The management of the company should strategise at aligning the new
product with seasonal offers and sales that will help them in grabbing the attention of their
consumers and allow them in increasing their customer base.
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Conclusion
This project evaluates the effectiveness of core concept off marketing on the business activities
of tourism sector of London. The tour operators working in London utilized market segmentation
method in order to categorise their visitors in psychographic and demographic segments so that
their business can be increased. The segmentation allows them in providing services to the
visitors as per their needs. The management of expedia.com uses the marketing mix method in
order to understand their current market position they are able to develop strategies that help
them in enhancing their performance. The internal business environment of the organization is
analysed that helps in determining the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. The promotional
mix conducted helps in gaining information regarding the methods and strategies that can be
implemented by the operator in order to increase the sales volume of the company. The various
promotional methods that are being used by the management of expedia.com can be analyzed
with the help of this assignment.
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