Tourism Marketing Strategy Analysis

This assignment requires an in-depth analysis of tourism marketing strategies. It focuses specifically on the UK's tourism sector, examining various aspects such as consumer behavior, market segmentation, destination branding, and digital marketing trends. The analysis draws upon relevant academic literature and real-world examples from the industry to provide a comprehensive understanding of effective tourism marketing practices.

Marketing in
travel and
tourism

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Core concepts of marketing ..................................................................................................3
1.2 Marketing environment of Edinburgh ..................................................................................4
1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand for Edinburgh .....................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
A: Analysis of importance strategic marketing planning for Edinburgh tourist destination.......5
B: Relevance of marketing research and market information to travel and tourism sector
managers in Edinburgh................................................................................................................6
C: Assessment of positive and negative influence of marketing on the society of Edinburgh....6
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Elements of marketing mix ...................................................................................................6
3.2 Importance of service sector mix...........................................................................................7
3.3 Applying the concept of total tourism product to individual tourism business.....................8
4.1 Integrated nature and role of promotion mix.........................................................................9
4.2 Plan and justify the integrated promotional campaign for Thomas Cook...........................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
In modern era, attracting consumers is considered to be the most difficult task. It is
essential for the business unit to promote its products and services. The marketing has gained
huge importance in field of travel and tourism sector. The countries need to promote themselves
as tourist destinations so as to attract large number of visitors. The report proposed herewith
emphasizes on evaluating importance of marketing for travel and tourism sector. The report deals
with evaluation of Edinburgh as a tourist destination. It is through formulation of effective
marketing strategies that the city is able to attract large number of tourists. The report throws
light on importance that marketing plays in travel and tourism sector.
TASK 1
1.1 Core concepts of marketing
Marketing for tourism emphasizes on promoting tourist destination among visitors of the
foreign and domestic land. Different concepts of marketing are described underneath in detail.
Identifying consumers’ needs: As per the marketing concept, business unit needs to
identify needs of consumers. The marketing concept emphasizes on identification of consumers’
needs. It is after thorough idea of consumers’ needs and wants that the business unit is able to
deliver required goods and services. The concept of marketing focuses on identification of
customers’ needs and wants before delivering services (Connell, 2013). Edinburgh needs to
identify desires and wants of visitors before promoting itself. This in turn helps in designing
promotional strategy that attracts large number of consumers.
Designing customer oriented offering: One of the most important factors of marketing is
designing consumer-oriented offering. The principle of marketing focuses on designing offering
that are highly consumer centric in nature. Edinburgh needs to promote itself as a tourism
package for different groups of people. For instance, the city can promote its Zoo to animal
lovers, its museum to history lovers and so on (Hinch and Higham, 2011). It is through designing
of distinct set of offerings for different groups of visitors that the city is able to attract large
number of consumers.
Marketer’s potential: The marketing concept also focuses on marketer’s potential to
deliver products and services. It depends on marketer’s potential to deliver customized offerings.
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Tourism sector within Edinburgh needs to promote the city on basis of various attractions. The
marketer’s potential tends to decide the attractiveness of visitors towards some destination.
Direct relationship: In case of travel and tourism sector the business unit needs to
develop direct relationship with its customers (Heung, Kucukusta and Song, 2010). The tourist
place needs to be promoted directly among visitors as an attractive destination. The direct
relationship with consumers results in increasing level of satisfaction among consumers.
1.2 Marketing environment of Edinburgh
Travel and tourism industry is achieving growth at rapid pace in recent past. The
marketing environment of Edinburgh is analyzed through adoption of PESTEL analysis.
 Political environment- Travel and tourism industry cover a 10% of the UK GDP and
contribute greatly in growth of UK. Due to this reason political parties are fully
committed towards growth of this sector. In upcoming years ruling government will bring
many new changes in its policies which will positively affect UK travel and tourism
industry. Hence, it can be said that there is no threat to firm on this front.
 Economic environment- It refers to the economic condition of the people and nation. UK
economy is on growth track and it is performing well (Dickinson and Lumsdon, 2010).
This indicates that in upcoming years tourism industry will certainly grow which will
lead to growth of the firms operating in this industry.
 Social environment- It refers to the people attitude, belief and thinking. People attitude is
positive towards tourism and due to this reason firms operating in this industry does not
have any threat from this component of the business environment. Technology environment- Firms operating in this industry needs to continuously upgrade
their software (Scott and Lemieux, 2010). So that they can provide better service to their
customers. If this factor will be ignored then firms will legged behind in competition.
 Legal environment- It refers to the rules and regulation that firms needs to follow in
order to operate business without any problem. No compliance with laws may lead
imposition of penalty on the firms.
1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand for Edinburgh
There are many factors that affect motivation and demand for Edinburgh.
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 Aesthetic- This is the prime factor that affects customer motivation. When any one wants
to visit any place he wants to make sure that place that he intends to visit must be
beautiful in nature (Bornhorst, Ritchie and Sheehan, 2010). Edinburgh is known for its
beauty and due to this reason large number of people visits this place every year.
 Cost of visiting a tourist place- Cost of visiting a tourist place is another factor that
affects customer motivation to visit specific place. Currently, economy is in a recession.
This directly affects people saving rate and their choice of tourist destination (Haugland,
and et.al, 2011). Hence, if cost of living will be low at the Edinburgh then large number
of people will be motivated to visit mentioned tourist place.
1.4 Principle of market segmentation
There are several factor considered for carrying out the promotion of Edinburgh as a tourist
destination. In this context, some important principles of market segmentation are explained
below:
 Demographic segmentation: With reference to these segmentation criteria, the market
planner identifies the target consumers with reference to age, sex, generation, religion,
and occupation and education level. It is considered as a most important variable for
selection of target consumers (Garín-Muñoz and Pérez-Amaral, 2011). In this process,
organization considers income level, age group and etc. for selection of target consumers
for particular destination.
 Geographic segmentation: In this process, selection of target market is carried out
according to geographic criteria that include nations, states, and regions along with the
postal codes. The geo-cluster approach combines demographic data with geographic data
for selection of potential consumers or visitor for particular destinations.
 Psychographic segmentation: Psychographic segmentation is carried out with reference to
lifestyle of an individual which is measured by carrying out detail investigation of
different activities, interests, and opinions of target consumers (Kolar and Zabkar, 2010).
It also determines how people spend their leisure time that influences their decision
regarding selection of best location. Psychographics are very important to segmentation
because managers will be able to identify the wide range of personal activities of target
consumers.
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TASK 2
A: Analysis of importance strategic marketing planning for Edinburgh tourist destination
Strategic planning is vital factor for all the business entities as it assists in successful
planning and promotion. In addition to this, it assists in attainment of aims and objectives in an
effective manner. Strategic marketing planning will provide long term sustainability to the
Edinburgh as a tourist destination (Blankson and Kalafatis, 2007). With this planning process,
Edinburgh will be promoted among local and foreign tourists in order to develop an effective
image so they can be influenced for the visit. With this approach, tourist income will be
increased and it will also be beneficial for the future development of Edinburgh. Strategic
marketing planning will also identify the issues and obstacles linked to the travel and tourism
and with it will provide effective remedy to resolve this issue (Brooksbank, 2001). By this
planning procedure, effective understanding can be attained regarding strength and weaknesses
of the tourist destination in order to overcome weaknesses and removal of threat.
In accordance with the SWOT analysis, it can be said that Edinburgh is famous for its
rich culture by which organization operating in this industry can easily attract tourists in order to
provide them wide range of services (Buck, 2011). Further, this destination is having effective
presence in global market as flights and tourist packages are easily available for this place.
Organization can avail opportunities for expansion as government is introducing various
beneficial policies for the promotion of travel and tourism (Cooke, 2000). However, weaknesses
of this destination is that expensive accommodation and venue. In addition to this, there is lack
of industry support and there is high volatility in airline industry.
B: Relevance of marketing research and market information to travel and tourism sector
managers in Edinburgh
In present competitive era, it is important for business organization to attain information
through market research in order to facilitate strategies for development and to attain beneficial
opportunities. Marketing research and collection of information is an integrated activity which
provides description of needs and expectations of the customers along with the market trends
(Damonte, 2013). With this information and research, tourist organizations operating in
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Edinburgh market can attain various business opportunities and this aspect will also enhance
tourism revenues. For this aspect, manager of tourism entities can make use of several secondary
and primary resources. In addition to this, management can have appropriate evaluation of
foreign customers and can make improvement in their quality of services in order to enhance
their level of satisfaction (Freytag and Munksgaard, 2011). Collected information will also assist
in developing better image and in promotion of tourist destination in global market. These
factors will also increase number of tourists in Edinburgh.
C: Assessment of positive and negative influence of marketing on the society of Edinburgh
Marketing activities have positive as well as negative influence on the society. Thus, it is
essential for management of business organizations to consider these aspects in order to prevent
negative aspects and to enhance positive influence. With the implementation of effective
marketing activities, Edinburgh can develop increasing trend in tourism revenue and visit
frequency in domestic as well as global market (Graham, 2008). Marketing activities has positive
impact on the GDP of the country and it also creates developing opportunities for the economic
system of Scotland. In addition to this, it will create job opportunities for the individual by
creating awareness among business corporate by which they can enhance their business activities
(Jayawardena, 2013). Along with these positive influences there are also some negative
influences. Increase in visitors will in hamper the perception of localities and their culture.
TASK 3
3.1 Elements of marketing mix
The marketing mix consists of four major factors which are mentioned below as: Product- Thomas cook is an organization that provides various kinds of products and
services related to travel and tourism sector. At the time of developing and providing
their services, the brand is required to make sure that they meet the changing need and
demand of customers at its best. One of the major issues which have been associated with
services development is that the organization is not able to respond quickly to ever
changing needs of people in the market (Keillor, 2007). Therefore, Thomas cook is
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required to carry out intensive market research to find out customers needs and then
develop their services according to them. Price- Price is termed as the monetary value which customers pay at the time of
purchasing products or services. Thomas cook is required to make sure that the pricing
strategy which it has developed is appropriate and suitable in context of its targeted
market (Marshment, 2009). The brand can gain competitive advantage the organization
can adopt a low price strategy in case if it is providing same kind of services as what
other market players are providing. On the other side of this, if Thomas cook is providing
unique services, then it can opt for a high prices strategy. Place- Thomas cook is needs to ensure that all its travel related products and services are
offered from a place which is convenient for users (McDonald and Wilson, 2011). The
company is facing difficulty in determining an appropriate place from where customers
can find it very convenient to purchase products and services.
 Promotion- market trend changes with the passage of time and companies are required to
respond quickly to these trends. The brand is still using traditional tools of marketing and
promoting all its products and services. This has become an issue as the brand is not able
to attract more customers (Mehmetoglu, 2004). Thomas cook is required to increase its
use of modern marketing tools such as email and social media marketing. Official pages
on social media sites such as Facebook and twitter can be created so that organization can
interact with all its customers at regular intervals.
3.2 Importance of service sector mix
Even if a brand operates in service sector, it is required to develop effective mix so that it
can attract new customers and retain old ones. In the present scenario, Thomas cooks is facing
intense competition from other market players. In addition to this, all the business operating in
travel and tourism sector offers almost same kind of services (Mehmetoglu, 2004). This means
that customers of these sectors are available with wide variety of options available with them. In
order to gain competitive advantage and increase its exiting market share, Thomas cook needs to
develop appropriate mix. This will result in several kinds of benefits to the brand. With the help
of unique and different services, the organization will be able to attract more and more customers
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(2015 forecast, 2014). Effective pricing strategy will create a sense of satisfaction among the
entire service user. In order to gain high degree of customer loyalty and satisfaction, the brand is
required to introduce appropriate packages that can provide unique services to customers
(Robinson, 2009). In addition to this, Thomas cook also needs to make sure that ranting and
development programs are carried out at regular intervals so that the workers can provide more
satisfactory services to all the customers.
3.3 Applying the concept of total tourism product to individual tourism business
In regard to this, it can be stated that travel and tourism sector is one of most critical
industry that provides a great assistance to effective development of economic system. As per the
structured study of travel and tourism industry it has been spotted that there are number of
operational activities that boosts the success aspects of Thomas Cook (Terpstra, 2000).
Classification of key operational activities of sector is as accommodation, transportation, local
transportation, food, etc. In order to design effective strategy it is necessary for business firm to
focus on recent trends that are associated with these operational activities.
Moreover, in other words, it can be said that the total tourism product is considered as a
combined effort that business firm have in order to meet organisational goals. It also refereed as
tour package or combination of activities that covers all the operational activities of travel and
tourism sector. In order to have effective design of total tour plan that can provide better
opportunities in Scotland the Thomas Cook need to ensure about effectiveness of all supportive
activities or sector (Britain tourism strategy, 2013). For example, if transportation services are
not effective then it will influence the perception of customers in negative manner which will
directly impact total tourism product. In order to have effective development of total tourism
product the company needs to improve its brand image within market.
4.1 Integrated nature and role of promotion mix
Promotion mix is an integrated activity conducted to attain the aims and objectives of
business in an effective manner. Approach of promotion mix assists in developing better public
relations through sales promotion, advertising and personal selling. Description of key elements
of the promotional mix which are required to be considered by management of Thomas Cook is
as follows:
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 Advertising: It is paid presentation used by the business organizations for the promotion
of goods, ideas and services through an identified sponsor in a mass medium. With the
effective advertising organization can reach up to large audience in order to promote their
product and services (Jayawardena, 2013). Advertising will assist company in developing
better image in the market by getting recognition. In addition to this, it will make increase
in the sales of the company along with their market share. Management of Thomas Cook
can advertise their service through print and social media in order to get good response. Personal Selling: It can be defined as procedure of influencing individuals for the
purchase of goods and services through oral presentation. With this approach,
management of Thomas Cook can get associated with the various organizations in order
to provide better packages to the customers (Robinson, 2009). By this strategy, they can
attain various advantages for the business such as cost cutting, increase in customers and
increase in scope of business expansion. Public relations and publicity: It is an indirect activity conducted by third party for the
promotion of business activities. With this element, effective relationship can be
developed with the customers and other stakeholders. Management of Thomas Cook can
develop public relations through press releases and corporate activities.
 Sales promotion: Sales promotion can be defined as media and non media
communication used to enhance demand in the market in the limited time period
(Mehmetoglu, 2004). For this aspect, management of Thomas Cook can provide various
offers and discount through brochures for the sales of services. In addition to this,
organisation can provide discount on its premium services in situation where sales ratio is
low as per expectations.
4.2 Plan and justify the integrated promotional campaign for Thomas Cook
Management of Thomas Cook is required to focus on promotion mix in order to create
awareness regarding the tour package. For this aspect, management of company can make use of
developed distribution channels in UK and Scotland. Furthermore, company can also make use
of online media to promote their product and services in an effective manner. This strategy will
make increase in their sales. Company can also design the brochures for the circulation through
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online web portal. Similarly, they can invite ideas and queries from the customers in order to
make improvement in their services.
CONCLUSION
In accordance with the present study conclusion can be drawn that marketing activities
plays significant role in promotion and development in tourist industry. With the effective
planning and management strategies organization can enhance their tourism revenue and number
of visitors. In addition to this, effective marketing techniques will enhance operational
effectiveness and develop better brand image in global as well as domestic market. Thomas
Cook can attain their aims and objectives by making effective use of marketing mix. By this
approach they will be able to enhance quality of their services. Furthermore, it will develop their
tourism activities in order to attain long term sustainability.
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