Tour Operator Marketing Strategies

This assignment delves into the world of tour operator marketing. Students are tasked with analyzing current marketing strategies employed by tour operators, identifying their strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to explore innovative and effective marketing approaches that can contribute to the success of tour operators in today's competitive landscape.

Marketing in Travel
and Tourism

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1................................................................................................................................................1
1.2................................................................................................................................................2
1.3................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1................................................................................................................................................4
2.2................................................................................................................................................5
2.3................................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 covered in PPT......................................................................................................................7
3.2 covered in PPT......................................................................................................................7
3.3 covered in PPT......................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1................................................................................................................................................7
4.2 covered in poster...................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a process involving activities of promoting, branding and attracting
customer's attention to sell the products and services of company and maintaining the customer
base. It contains different elements known as marketing mix for product, price, place and
promotion (Moutinho, 2011). It focuses on satisfying the customer needs and maintaining
relations post selling. Marketing mostly focuses on creating demand for the product instead of
just selling it to customers.
Travel and tourism consists of travelling to various destinations for luxury activities as it
incurs a lot of cost for the traveller. It includes the other factors such as accommodating,
providing tours and packages for special activities. This term is not limited to holiday, it includes
travelling for leisure and business frequently. This activity play an important role in shaping up
the economy as it a major source of income for many countries. Thomas Cook is a travel and
tourism company established in 2007 in UK. It is a public company with it's shares listed on the
London stock exchange for public trading (Hall, Timothy and Duval, 2012). Thomas Cook also
owns Condor airlines and hotel booking website, Hotel4u. Morocco and Egypt also depends on
travel and tourism for growth of their economy and culture. Morocco and Egypt both being an
African country covering west and east regions have a slow economic growth. Tourism in
Morocco is a major source of earning foreign exchange for the country. However, in recent years
the number of tourists has decreased in Egypt (Stankov, Lazic and Dragicevic, 2010).
TASK 1
1.1
Thomas Cook is one of the leading travel and Tourism Companies in the UK. It was
established in the year 2007 by merging companies, Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group.
Thomas Cook is considered as one of the best travel and tourism company provides different
packages and offers for it's customers. It operates mainly in the UK, Central Europe, Germany,
West and Northern Europe (Buhalis and Foerste, 2015). Thomas Cook includes the core
concepts of marketing to capture a large area which are as follows:.
Customer demands: A company operates with the main focus of satisfying the customer
needs and demands. The main focus of the company is to maximize its profit by increasing the
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sales and by satisfying the demand. Thomas Cook has to provide the best accommodation and
travelling services to satisfy the demands of the customer.
Markets: Company operating in a dynamic environment has to evaluate and analyse the
market trends and demands in order to work towards satisfying them. Thomas Cook is arranging
a Summer Holiday trip 2017 to Morocco and Egypt to satisfy customer’s demands and to
promote tourism in countries (Hudson and Thal, 2013).
Customer satisfaction: As being the main focus for every company's operations, it
ascertains the success and failure of a firm in the long run. To have a satisfied customer base,
Thomas Cook will have to provide the best services possible. It will increase the satisfaction
level and improve the customer experience resulting in brand loyalty and larger customer base.
Customer relations: Company even after providing services has to maintain public
relations to retain the customers and promote new offers with established clients. The travel and
tourism company, Thomas Cook, provides offers and deals for travelling to it's former customers
to improve relations and retain them. These factors help in providing customer satisfaction and
improving the experience (Buhalis and Foerste, 2013).
1.2
Marketing environment includes all the factors affecting operations of an organisation
internally and externally. Marketing being connected with all other departments is considered to
have interaction with all the factors of business environment. The internal factors of the
organisation constitutes the micro environment which includes all factors related to working and
operating of a company. External factors constitutes the macro environment which is not under
the control of company and therefore, has a major impact on the firm (Crooks and et.al, 2011).
Micro environment: The elements inside the company which affect the working and
operating of the functions and are under the control of the organisation are said to be the
elements of micro environment such as all departments, suppliers, intermediaries, customers and
market, etc. The demands of the customer is the main focus for the company and it plans its
strategies around that, suppliers provide materials for operating the business and any changes in
the prices can affect the business positively or adversely. The company needs to analyse its
strength and weaknesses in order to assess the the areas for modifying the functions to attain
company objectives. Thomas Cook, a travel and tourism company needs to analyse the internal
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factors which can affect the working of the firm and can be controlled as per requirements. The
company is required to analyse the consumer demand and by maintaining relations with
suppliers, receiving good quality materials can be ensured.
Macro environment: The external factors such as political factors, economic,
demographic, technological, legal, etc. If the company operates in a politically stable
environment, the growth and efficiency of the business increases, economy of the community
can affect the prices for the product in the market and having the latest update of technology can
give a competitive edge to the company (Huang and et.al, 2013). These are the factors which are
not in control of the company but has a huge impact on its operations. The macro elements can
change the plans and strategies of the company along with its ways of operating. Thomas Cook
should operate in such markets which have a stable political conditions in order to operate
smoothly. Morocco being one the most politically stable country is a profitable investment
destination for the company, whereas Egypt encountered a decline in tourists due to the
revolutions and unstable political conditions (The Content Express: Success Tips for the
Travel/Tourism Industry, 2016).
1.3
The customer motivation and demand in any sector is the main focus for the company as
it results in sales in profits. The company needs to identify the factors which affect the demand
of the customers and motivate them to convert demand in actual transaction (Evans, Stonehouse
and Campbell, 2012). The process of motivating the customers to create more demand is done
through the technique of marketing. Thomas Cook, a travel and tourism company provides
services, demand for which can only be generated through the marketing process (Sotiriadis and
Van Zyl, 2013). The factors which guide the customer demands and motivation are:
Cultural factors: The culture of any region play a crucial role in shaping up the
individual and his behaviour. The choices made by the customer and demands created are mainly
the result of cultural factors that affect the customer. The culture of a destination is the major
reason for a tourist to choose the destination for travelling (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). It can
attract the tourist or it can repel them also. The culture of Morocco and Egypt plays an important
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part in attracting tourist from over the world due to its cultural heritage and preserved
monuments.
Social factors: The social factors such as family, friends and relatives have a huge impact
on the choices made by a consumer. The experience of others can also affect an individual's
demand and preferences (Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015). The family of a person
influence the choices as they are involved in the process. People also have to maintain a status in
the community and tourism can be a status symbol for them. Thomas Cook should plan offers
and deals for different class of people as per their choices and social environment.
Behavioural factors: The factors consisting of lifestyle, age, occupation, economic
conditions etc. are behavioural factors. These factors can impact the personal choice and
preference of a person. The age, lifestyle and occupation of a person creates different demands
for the products. If the economic condition of a person is sound he is likely to spend more on the
travel than others. Thomas Cook needs to have a plan to drive these customers also to create
demand. The marketing strategy of the company should focus on different sections and factors
that guide the demands of a customer (Molina, Gómez and Martín-Consuegra, 2010).
Psycholographic: The lifestyle and personality of a person also affects the choices and
demands. The company can segment the market as per class and status of customers and create
different products according to their needs. These factors can help Thomas Cook to create offers
and deals according to the class and living status as they have different purchasing powers and
preferences.
TASK 2
2.1
Strategic marketing planning involves creating effective and accurate marketing
strategies and implementing them in a sustainable manner to increase the efficiency and
productivity of the company. Thomas Cook, the tourism group needs to apply tools of strategic
marketing to increase the customer base. SWOT analysis is the main tool used to identify the
internal as well as external environment of the company (Tsiotsou and Ratten, 2010).
Strength: For Thomas Cook, the strengths are the corporate image and loyal customers
for the company. It provides an advantage to the company to retain the customers and attract new
ones. The special services provided by the firm on demand adds to the brand image.
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Weaknesses: The company while expanding is employing a lot of new people which
adds to the cost of training and recruiting. If not trained properly the new employees can
downgrade the brand image by not providing satisfactory services to the customers.
Opportunities: Thomas Cook, as created by merging two tourism firms adds to the
customer base of the company. The company has a long experience in the tourism industry and is
expanded over many countries (Dasgupta, 2011).
Threats: The company when expanding globally needs a large amount of investment and
will have to face a tough competition internationally with established companies in the field.
This increases the risk factor and affecting the profits of the company.
Product life cycle is the life span of any product in the market. It explains various stages of the
product life and its impact on business (Turner, 2012).
Stage 1: Introduction stage is the first stage of the product and is considered as most
expensive for the company as for introducing new product in the market. The tour introduced by
the tourism company Summer 2017 holidays, is in it's initial stage
Stage 2: The next stage of a product life cycle is Growth. For Thomas Cook company the
growth stage is expanding with new offers such as Summer 2017 holidays to Morocco and
Egypt. This will help in acquiring new customer base and introducing new services (Hall, 2013).
Stage 3: The maturity stage is where the product of the company is fully grown and
matured. The tour package designed by the company will be in the maturity stage when the
tourists will be at the destinations i.e. Morocco and Egypt.
Stage 4: Decline is the last stage for any product. When the tour will come to an end will
be the decline stage for this package of the company (How to start a … tour operator business,
2016).
2.2
Marketing research is a process of collecting information from customer and market
regarding the products and services of a company. It involves collecting data and evaluating it to
obtain information. The data can be collected by two types:
Qualitative technique: This technique includes collecting data from surveys and focus
groups. It involves questionnaire for feedback on any product or services. This helps the
company to analyse the customer reactions and comments on the product.
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Quantitative technique: This method involves applying techniques to obtain the data.
The customers are asked to give feedbacks in quantitative form and in evaluated to obtain results.
This technique uses mathematical formulae and techniques (Garín-Muñoz and Pérez-Amaral ,
2011).
The main objective of this research:
 To provide accurate base for marketing planning.
 To search the best and cost effective methods for every function.
 To search new markets for the product.
 To ascertain the preferences of the customers.
 To access the market strategies of competitors (Hays, Page and Buhalis, 2013).
The data for market research can be collected through different sources such as, primary and
secondary source. The primary source involves surveys, interviews, questionnaires and published
reports. These are considered as reliable and valid source of information as they are collected for
a specific purpose. Whereas, the secondary source of data namely online surveys, census by
government, etc. are not considered reliable and valid source as these are collected for a general
purpose and cannot be used for a specific purpose (How to become a Tour Operator Manager,
2016).
2.3
Like everything, marketing also has positive and negative impact on the society. The
positive impacts helps in creating a better society by providing public service advertisements,
social benefits, economic benefits and options to choose from. The negative impacts creates
instability in the society by misrepresentation, creating unrealistic expectations, and false images
in the society (Park and Oh, 2012).
Positive impacts
 Public service advertisements are the major positive impact on the society. Marketing
helps in creating awareness and public messages in the society for betterment of the
people.
 Social benefits by traditional advertising methods of public speaking and interactions
helps to develop the society and individuals. Economic benefits of marketing includes promotion of brands in global markets resulting
in increase in foreign investment (Thakran and Verma, 2013).
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Negative impacts
 The companies can present a low quality product in the best way possible to attract
customers and increase sale of the company.
 The grand presentation of a product and its effects can create an unrealistic expectation in
the customers.
 A visual can give a false presentation of the product when it is a one sided promotion of
the product as it does not provide any means to the customers for verifying the actual
product (Xiang and Pan, 2011).
TASK 3
3.1 covered in PPT
3.2 covered in PPT
3.3 covered in PPT
TASK 4
4.1
The promotional mix is having significant role to make promotions of a product and
service, as the Thomas Cook Group is launching a new tour in summers for Morocco and Egypt,
they have to use these promotional mix appropriately to maximize the number of customers. It
has several types of tools to communicate about the product and services in their target
customers (Kayar and Kozak, 2010). Here is some of them;
Advertising; The Thomas Cook group have to use effective medium which have the potential to
convey their thoughts and views in their target zone. In the first, they have to use print media, so
they have to make brochure and pamphlets to promote their plans and tourist destinations in
their target area. As the company is targetting on the young generations and college going
students, they have to distribute their brochures and pamphlets in colleges and other educational
institutions (Saraniemi and Kylänen, 2011). They can attract customers towards him by
distributing these
Sales promotions; It is a tools which is having significant role on product promotions, it helps to
make direct lead on the customers in buying process. It has focus to increase sales by motivate
customers. The marketing team of the Thomas cook can make some fun activities, contest to
give discount coupons to their target customers. By this company can make lead on their target
customers like; college going students. They can give special discounts on first 1000 bookings of
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this trip which motivates their target audience to book a trip on these tourist destinations (Hahm
and Wang, 2011).
Public relations; This is a another tool of the promotional mix, by this they can establish a
relationship with their target audience. It leads on them for their future needs (Gertner, 2011). As
they are having a tour in summers, peoples which are having relations with the company
motivates to go on this. By this company can make a positive image in the public which helps
them in the sales and success.
4.2 covered in poster
CONCLUSION
In the above report, taking Thomas Cook a travel and tourism company as an example
the features of marketing in the tourism industry is explained. The process of marketing with
regard to travel and tourism companies and its importance in the organisation is described. The
effect of marketing planning and research for tourism destinations is also evaluated taking
Morocco and Egypt, African countries as examples. The effect of tourism on the country and its
people is also explained. The role of marketing mix as 4P's of marketing in the service sector is
explained with examples. It also shows the role and impacts of promotional mix for the company
and the society. The impacts of marketing, similar to other things can be positive and negative on
the society and same are evaluated. Thus, the report shows all aspects of marketing as a process
in the organisation as well as for tourism places.
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REFERENCES
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Hall, C.M., Timothy, D.J. and Duval, D.T., 2012. Safety and security in tourism: relationships,
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160.
Buhalis, D. and Foerste, M.K., 2013. SoCoMo marketing for travel and tourism. In Information
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Publishing.
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Crooks and et.al, 2011. Promoting medical tourism to India: Messages, images, and the
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Thakran, K. and Verma, R., 2013. The emergence of hybrid online distribution channels in
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Xiang, Z. and Pan, B., 2011. Travel queries on cities in the United States: Implications for search
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Kayar, Ç.H. and Kozak, N., 2010. Measuring destination competitiveness: an application of the
travel and tourism competitiveness index (2007). Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management, 19(3), pp.203-216.
Saraniemi, S. and Kylänen, M., 2011. Problematizing the concept of tourism destination: An
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Hahm, J. and Wang, Y., 2011. Film-induced tourism as a vehicle for destination marketing: is it
worth the efforts?. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28(2), pp.165-179.
Gertner, D., 2011. Unfolding and configuring two decades of research and publications on place
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Sotiriadis, M.D. and Van Zyl, C., 2013. Electronic word-of-mouth and online reviews in tourism
services: the use of twitter by tourists. Electronic Commerce Research, 13(1), pp.103-124.
Stankov, U., Lazic, L. and Dragicevic, V., 2010. The extent of use of basic Facebook user-
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Online
How to become a Tour Operator Manager. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.hotcourses.com/careers-advice-uk/leisure-sport-hospitalities/tour-operator-
manager-careers/>. [Accessed on 14th February, 2017].
How to start a … tour operator business. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2015/jun/25/how-to-start-tour-
operator-business>. [Accessed on 14th February, 2017].
The Content Express: Success Tips for the Travel/Tourism Industry. 2016. [Online]. Available
through: <http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/06/travel-industry-tips-for-content-
success//>. [Accessed on 14th February, 2017].
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