Marketing Strategies and Eco-Tourism: A Case Study of TUI (UK Group)

This report analyzes the marketing strategies and eco-tourism opportunities of TUI (UK Group). It begins with an introduction to eco-tourism, its principles, and benefits, emphasizing its role in environmental conservation and community well-being. The report outlines the aim, objectives, research questions, and rationale, highlighting the researcher's interest in sustainability and the value of the study for academic and professional understanding. The literature review explores the framework related to eco-tourism, the impact of eco-tourism and marketing strategies on TUI's growth, and marketing strategies used by tour operators. The research methodology section details the research type, approach, strategy, data collection methods (primary data through surveys), and sampling techniques. The report also covers data analysis, results, discussion, and conclusions, offering recommendations for TUI. The structure includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis, and conclusion, providing a comprehensive overview of the research process and findings.

ECO TOURISM
Modified topic agreed on:
“Marketing strategies and eco-tourism opportunities of tour operators: A case
study of TUI (UK group)”
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
Aim..............................................................................................................................................4
Objectives....................................................................................................................................4
Research questions.......................................................................................................................4
Rationale .....................................................................................................................................4
Dissertation structure...................................................................................................................6
Chapter 2: Literature review start each chapter on a new page.......................................................9
Understand the framework related to eco-tourism.......................................................................9
Impact of ecotourism and marketing strategies on growth of TUI............................................11
Marketing strategies used by TUI or other tour operators?.......................................................12
Implementation of ecotourism...................................................................................................14
Chapter 3 Research methodologies................................................................................................17
Chapter 4 Data analysis.................................................................................................................22
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................45
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................46
Appendix........................................................................................................................................48
INTRODUCTION
Background
Ecotourism is mainly referred to as the tourism of endangered as well as exotic
environment for supporting the conservation efforts as well as research developments. In the
nutshell, ecotourism is responsible travel to the natural areas which mainly conserves

environment and thus sustains well-being of local people. This type of tourism mainly includes
interpretation and education. Ecotourism has become one of the major concern across the whole
world upon which the large number of people have started discussion. Ecotourism has basically
revolutionized the way of seeing world and have been considered as the most responsible
behaviour by people which helps to conserve the nature. Ecotourism is all about uniting the
conservation, communities as well as sustainable travel. This basically means that people who
participate in the ecotourism activities are required to rely on various principles. This type of
tourism primarily depends on various principles which are maintaining the physical, social and
psychological impacts, providing positive experiences to visitors as well as hosts, generating
financial benefit for local people and private industries etc. Ecotourism has emerged to be the
most imperative and extensive concept which has affected the overall ecosystem and
environment. Ecotourism is more like sustainable tourism and mainly is likely to affect the lives
of local people in a positive way. This type of tourism mainly contributes towards the climatic
change and thus helps to preserve integrity of earth as well as cultural integrity of the local
people. The major benefit of ecotourism is that it provide the financial benefit to local people and
various private industries. When people travel to natural areas like Wales, Devon, Scotland for
understanding the beauty of nature ten it often leads to the cash inflow in that destination as the
tourists spend huge amount on travel, hotels etc. This eventually increase the overall GDP of
destination and thus it becomes a great source of income for the local people. The increasing
GDP also increases the financial benefit for the private industries and also helps in the
empowerment of local communities. The major three destinations which are highly eco-friendly
for the people to travel are Wales, Scotland and Devon. These three destinations are considered
as the heaven which are full of natural habitats and great biodiversity. Another major benefit of
ecotourism is that it helps in conserving the cultural diversity as well as biological diversity and
hence helps in ecosystem production. When people travel to the natural areas and appraises the
fauna and flora then this eventually helps in the conservation of the biological diversity and thus
helps to promote the tourism in that places. Thus, ecotourism has played a great role in
protecting environment and maintaining balance between ecology and the planet. This is a very
long paragraph, which should be broken to at least in 2. No references so far and you have to
back up yourinterest in this area by providing references to other similar research in this area or
relevant information. No background of the chosen organisation was provided. Ecotourism is a

form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and relatively undisturbed natural areas,
intended as a low-impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial mass tourism.
It means responsible travel to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-
being of the local people. This aspect of tourism needs to be undertaken by large number of
travel organizations so that sustainability aspects can be created.
Aim
“To analyse marketing strategy and eco-tourism opportunity of UK Tour operators: A case study
of TUI”
Objectives
 To Understand the framework related to eco-tourism
 To analyse the impact of eco-tourism and marketing strategies on growth of TUI. This
should be broken in two objectives, one regarding eco-tourism and growth and second regarding
marketing strategies and growth.
 To evaluate the marketing strategies which can be used by TUI in order to grow.
 To determine the ways through which eco-tourism can be implemented by TUI?.
 Add another objective, which cover recommendations provided by you to TUI: To
provide recommendations to TUI …..
Research questions
 What does eco-tourism mean?
 What are the impact of eco-tourism and marketing strategies on growth of TUI?
 What are the market strategies that can assist company in growing?
 What are the ways of implementing eco-tourism?
Rationale
The major rationale of carrying out this study on ecotourism is the personal interest of the
researcher. The researcher have personal interest in ecotourism and remain cautious about
gaining the knowledge about various destinations and places which plays a great role in
sustainability. Besides this, researcher also has the interest in knowing about the various aspects
of nature and biodiversity. It is generally important to carry out this study as large number of
organizations have eventually shifted their focus towards sustainability and thus are now
contributing to a great extent for preserving the biodiversity. Thus, the personal interest of the

researcher in knowing about various organizations and about the nature is main reason of
carrying out this study.
Another main rational of conducting a well-through research on ecotourism is to help the
other researcher to gain a well-through information about this type of tourism on academic as
well as professional levels. This study will mainly help the other researcher to have a treasure of
information about various benefits of ecotourism, its principles, its implications, implementation
etc. This is the another main rationale of carrying out the study. Whether on academic level or on
the professional level, this report will provide a genuine and reliable information and data along
with statistic to the researcher on ecotourism and will help in gaining a deep insight of this topic.
This research will give in-depth information about eco-tourism so that more detail can be
gathered and future studies can be done on the same topic
Along with this, the third rational of conducting the research on ecotourism is to help
various organizations like TUI to understand the consumer behaviour and have a look on the
various aspects of sustainable tourism. This report will basically provide a great tool to the
various tourism organization to know how to grow and how to take their brand message among
the consumers and thus will enable them to attract large number of customers. Besides this, this
study will also help them to understand the perception of customers and traveler along with
placing a strong emphasis on the motivational factors of people to travel to different locations.
One more rationale of carrying out this study is increasing awareness among local
communities and help in job creation. As this report will enlighten the benefits of ecotourism to
local community thus this will help the people of community to become aware about ecotourism
and thus understand their roles as well as responsibility in its implementation. This is one of the
major reason of carrying out this study and thus is focused towards providing information to
members of communities as how they can provide their support and assistance for promoting it.
Along with this, it will also help the members of community by creating large number of jobs.
Dissertation structure
The dissertation structure mainly includes the various elements as well as components
which are mainly included in the dissertation. The main aim of designing a proper structure of
dissertation is that it provides and explains the way in which the overall research will be carried
out and thus helps in carrying out the study in sequential manner.
Abstract should not be included here.

.
Introduction you have already completed it, so there is not much value to describe it here.
Literature review
This forms the another most important and remarkable chapter of the whole dissertation.
This chapter mainly focuses upon reviewing past work of the various researcher and authors and
thus analyze their findings. The main aim of carrying out literature review in the research is to
study the work and funding of researcher as well as authors who have provided information on
the similar topic and thus exploring answers in one's own way. Literature review forms the major
part of work as this part is the only one upon which the whole study is based.
Methodology
This is another chapter which mainly describes the various research methods
which has been used for conducting the research. It provides reader with the justification that
what specific method has been used. It would be useful, in 1 sentence, to summarise what
method you are going to use.
Research type: There are basically two type of research one is qualitative and another
one is quantitative. Qualitative research only deals with theoretical framework. It means the data
is being collected through open-ended method. Other one is qualitative research which is fully
based on numerical aspect. For the present research both qualitative and quantitative research
will be used by researchers.
Research approach: There are two types of research approach one is inductive and other
one is deductive. Inductive approach can be used by researcher to analyse and interpret the
qualitative data. Deductive approach can be utilised in order to evaluate the quantitative data as
this approach is based on numbers. For the present research, researcher will make use of both the
methods in order to proposes towards the end of research (Goodwin and Chaudhary, 2017).
Research strategy; There are two type of research strategy which is a step to step action
plan that can be used by researchers in order to evaluate and interpret the data. Descriptive and
analytical research are the two type of research strategy. Descriptive is based on qualitative study
it is lays emphasis more in what than why. Analytical strategy is based on quantitative study it
assists researchers in analysing the facts and figures. For the present study both the methods will
be used.

Data collection: There are two type of method of collecting data one is primary and
other is secondary. Primary data collection method means is the raw data, it is the first hand
sources. In this the data is been collected through survey, questionnaire method. Other is
secondary method of data collection, in this information is been collected through journals,
articles, blogs. For the present study primary data collection method will be used.
Sampling: Snowball sampling is where research participants recruit other participants for
a test or study. It is used where potential participants are hard to find. For the present study this
sampling method will be used. This sampling can help researchers in analysing the qualitative
research.
Data analysis: It can be defined as transforming and evaluating the facts and figures
which has been collected form data. For the present research, researchers will make use of
thematic analysis, so that data can be analysed in more systematic and detailed way.
Results and discussion
After the literature review, results and discussion forms the another most important
chapter which mainly describes the results of primary investigations. This chapter explains
findings of the research done and thus helps the reader to understand that what result have been
drawn about the topic. The latter part of this chapter which is discussion mainly explains the
discussion which is done on the results being drawn from the various graphs and pie charts. This
section mainly interprets the results and helps to generate a sting relationship between various
variables.
Conclusion and recommendations
The first section of this chapter which conclusion provides overview of the literature
review and results and discussion and explains reader that what is main finding of research by
summarizing all the main points. The latter section which is recommendations usually explains
that what further improvement can be done and consists of the suggestions by researcher for the
best course of action within specific situation.
Significance did not come clear to the fore.
Chapter 2: Literature review start each chapter on a new page

As per the view of Lv (2018), eco-tourism can act as an opportunity for company who are
working in travel and tourism industry. It involves visiting of natural areas and carrying out
environmental friendly activities over there in order to make travellers feel like connected to
earth. This type of tourism when adopted by organization can assist them in developing local
communities and generating income for that area. It will support company in building up their
brand reputation and goodwill. Eco tourism has one of the most important role in sustainable
development. In this company needs to make sure that resources are been effectively utilised and
there is minimum amount of wastage which has been created by them. Thus, this type of tourism
can assist traveller in knowing more about flora and fauna. It also assists in developing of local
communities as it can become a source of income for them.
Company can also make travellers know about the culture and heritage which is been
followed by local communities. This can increase knowledge of travellers. Also by adopting this
type of strategy related to eco-tourism company can also increase their goodwill. In order to
make people aware about this type of tourism organization can also make use of various type of
marketing strategies like social media channels. This will help them in increasing liking of this
type of travelling.
Understand the framework related to eco-tourism
As per the view of Fletcher (2018), Ecotourism is basically the well-through form of the
tourism and is recognized by the variety of travel practices in order to encourage people to travel
to Eco-friendly destination. Eco-tourism is generally considered as the inseparable part of the
environmental conservation as well as understanding that are demands and needs of people and
how their quality of life can be improved. In short, ecotourism is responsible travel to the natural
areas for conserving the environment and for improving the well-being of people. The main aim
of eco-tourism is to educate as well as generate awareness among traveler and provide them with
the funds for the ecological conservation.
According to Stronza, Hunt and Fitzgerald(2019), This Eco-tourism contributes towards
the economic development to a high extent and thus helps to support the local communities by
providing them the employment opportunities. Ecotourism has become a great and hot topic
these days where large number of organizations are concentrating upon encouraging the people
to become responsible traveler. Ecotourism mainly deals with the interaction with the biotic

components of natural environment. Ecotourism mainly emphasizes upon socially responsible
travel as well as environmental sustainability. This type of tourism mainly involves traveling to
the destinations where the flora, fauna are the primary attractions. The main reason behind
promoting ecotourism is increasing the economic development of these areas and providing a
well-through knowledge to the people about natural attractions and natural habitats. Besides this,
ecotourism not only helps in improving the quality of life of large number of people but also
contributes towards protecting the planet. When travelers travel to the natural habitats and places
of natural attraction then this eventually reduces the overall environmental pollution and thus
helps in maintaining the proper balance between earth and ecology.
As per the view of Jamrozy and Lawonk, 2017, Sustainable tourism is generally
considered as the synonym of ecotourism which is mainly focused toward providing a deep
insight of the natural beauty to the people and making them understand the environmental
significance. Along with this, ecotourism also promotes the economic stability and thus helps in
economic development. TUI should focus upon ecotourism in order to encourage people to travel
to the natural areas. The main benefit of the ecotourism is that it minimizes and reduces the
negative impact upon nature and thus promotes safety awareness. Travelling to the natural areas
and habitats stimulates a greater understanding of nature among people and thus provides a great
knowledge to the travelers about the beauty of earth. Ecotourism generally safeguards integrity
of ecosystem and thus produces the economic benefits for the local communities. As
environmental deterioration has become a major concern thus in this scenario, it is essential to
incorporate ecotourism in order to protect the entire planet.
There are various ecotourism places as well as destination which attracts the large number of
people but the major are Wales, Devon and Scotland. These three destination are known to be
highly ecofriendly places due to their spacious protected areas. Wales as well as Devon are
basically covered with various islands as well as national parks like Pembrokeshire coast
national park which becomes the great spot for tourists to visit. Besides this, Scotland also is
considered as the highly ecotourism destination which consist of various landscapes as well as
parks. Scotland is mainly known for its beautiful parks covered with the shrubs.
Impact of ecotourism and marketing strategies on growth of TUI
According to Sinclair-Maragh (2019), Ecotourism has become of the hot topic nowadays
and a wide range of organizations are utilizing its for gaining the competitive advantage and for

contributing towards the beauty of nature. Ecotourism has proved to be one of the mots
successful aspect which has helped the tourism industry in its growth and development.
According to the report, it has been found that tourism industry generally accounts for more than
10.2% of global GDP and thus forms the inseparable part. In this changing scenario of
sustainability, ecotourism will help TUI which is one of the leading tourism company in its
growth and business. Ecotourism will act as a great momentum and a driving force for TUII in
boosting its overall performance in the market. Ecotourism will not only help in the growth of
TUI but will also become a great contributing aspect in taking its marketing strategies and brand
message to the wider audience. Ecotourism will eventually help the company to achieve its goals
and objectives.
According to Conwayand Cawley (2016), This type of tourism will help in the growth of
TUI in variety of ways. Firstly, when company will promote ecotourism and will engage in
educating the people about traveling to natural habitat and will make them aware about the
research developments within fragile natural areas then it will eventually increase the brand
reputation and brand awareness among the people fir TUI. People generally have the perception
that the organizations which are heavily engaged in providing a memorable experience to them
by making them realize the importance of environment are responsible in each and every aspect.
Thus, this perception of the people will eventually help company to increase its brand
recognition.
As per the view of Larm and et.al.,(2019), Secondly the most imperative impact which
ecotourism will have on the growth and marketing strategies of TUI is that it will help to take
their brand message to wider audience. When company will use various marketing strategies like
social media for increasing the awareness among people towards ecotourism then this will help
to take their brand message to wider audience. Besides this, ecotourism will also help the
company to make the people aware of the innovative practices which are being followed by
them.
According to Barrena, E and et.al.,(2016), Along with this, this type of tourism will not
help the company to attract people but will also enable them to entice trust-able investors and
sponsors who will invest in their business and will help in their growth. When TUI will engage
in ecotourism then their image in market will be seen as responsible citizens and company
contributing towards the sustainability, this will eventually attract the large number of investors

and sponsors who will like to invest in their company. This will ultimately help in their growth
and development. Thus, in this way, ecotourism will have a great impact on the overall
performance and productivity of the company and thus will help to gain competitive advantage
and establish position in market.
According to Ching and et.al.,(2019), The ecotourism at the three well-known
destinations which are Wales, Devon and Scotland will help TUI to grow as well as develop.
Marketing and advertising of these three places among the customers will help TUI to gain
competitive advantage. When TUI will promote wales, Scotland and Devon among people to
travel to these places due to their beautiful forests and national parks, then this will eventually
increase the goodwill of company among customers. Besides this, when people will travel on
these ecotourism destinations and will encounter memorable experiences then this will ultimately
increase the brand awareness as well as brand recognition and this will help TUI to grow its
business.
Marketing strategies used by TUI or other tour operators?
As illustrated by Zacarias and Loyola (2017), Although ecotourism has become a wide
concept which is revolutionizing the operations of large number of organizations but there are
still large number of people in the world who are not aware even about the term ecotourism due
to low marketing. Thus, in order to increase the awareness among people towards ecotourism
and make them realize the importance of nature, it is highly essential for TUI to incorporate
some major marketing strategies within their operations. There are various marketing strategies
which company can use in order to increase its growth as well as performance in the market.
Social media
According to Caday-Fillone and Villanueva (2019), This is one of the most remarkable as
well as foremost marketing strategy which company can utilize in order to take their brand
message to the wider audience and increase the awareness towards ecotourism among people.
Nowadays, people have become highly technology-oriented and thus their focus on social media
has eventually increased. It has been reported that more than 78.6% people across the whole
world are active on social media and frequently uses. Thus, Tour operators use this as a tool for
attracting people. Firm post various stories about ecotourism as well as the various events and
activities which will eventually increase their viewership and followers and thus will contribute
towards their growth.

E-mail marketing
As illustrated by Chun and Lim (2016), This is the another marketing strategy which can
be used by TUI for its growth as well as development. Company can send the personalized e-
mail to their target customers in order to increase the awareness among them regrading their
products as well as services. The main advantage of e-mail marketing is that it will help TUI to
concentrate on their target market segment and send the personalized message to them for
promotion of ecotourism. Besides this, TUI can send periodically remain in touch with their
loyal customers by periodically sending them the Eco-friendly destination by specifying the
features as well as natural spots. For example- TUI can send emails to their customers as well as
target customers about the beautiful places of Wales, Devon and Scotland and can promote
ecotourism which will also help them to enter the new market segment as well as attract the new
customers. This will serve as the major factor in their growth and development.
Search engine optimization
As per the view of Song (2019), This is the another way as well as strategy which can be
used by TUI for increasing its brand recognition as well as growth trajectory. Search engine
optimization is basically the strategy for increasing quantity as well as quality of the traffic to
particular website through organic search engine. TUI can bring innovation as well as increase
the quality of its website so that it the name of their organization appears on the firs when
customers search for best tourism organization. SEO will primarily enable this organization to
increase its website traffic and more the website traffic high will be popularity of the company.
Networking
According to Boley and Green (2016), This is considered as the offline marketing
channels as well as strategy which company can use for growing its operations in wide range of
countries. Networking is basically meeting the people and making face to face connection with
them in order to increase the brand awareness. TUI can use networking in order to grow the
business where it can meet people in various events as well as seminars and promote ecotourism
of Wales, Scotland and Devon. Not only does the online marketing strategy but offline marketing
will also help TUI to promote ecotourism and grow its business. Networking will basically allow
the company to know the expectations as well as needs of customers and thus will help in their
growth.
Print advertisement

Running the print advertisement is one of the another most effective and remarkable
marketing strategy which can be used by TUI for promoting the ecotourism of Wales, Devon and
Scotland. This print advertisement will basically allow the company to target the customer and
market segment and thus take their brand message to the wider audience. This, in this way print
advertisement will prove to be the successful marketing strategy which will not only help
company to increase its goodwill among customers but will also help in generating a high ratio
of profit.
Implementation of ecotourism
According to Yang, Yang and Zhang (2019), Just understanding ecotourism in depth in
not enough but formulating and implementing it in a highly successful manner is highly
essential. The implementation of the ecotourism is highly complex and thus requires a proper
management plan which will consist of the resources, funds required for the successful
implementation. Besides this, implementation also consider various strategies which company
can adopt in order increase the awareness among people regarding this. For its successful
implementation, TUI can seek the support of various agencies as well as entities in order to
increase the promotion of ecotourism of wales, Devon and Scotland.
Government
As illustrated by Cardoso, Sousa and Cunha (2016), This is one the major way of
successful implementation of ecotourism which company can adopt. TUI can seek the assistance
of government regarding the various resources, money which will go in its formulation.
Government will prove to be the most effective entity which will help company in properly
executing the plan of ecotourism. The government specifically ministry of tourism will play a
great role and will develop the policies which will eventually protect natural areas and habitats.
Along with this, government also have crucial role to play where through developing the
policies, they are bale to maintain the reputation of country.
Local community
As noted by OLEARNIK and BARWICKA (2018), Local community is the another
entity as well as way in which Eco-tourism can be implemented. The local community of Wales,
Devon, Scotland can provide the extensive support to the various organizations like TUI and
thus will help in the proper execution of ecotourism. The local community of these three
destinations through their participation can contribute towards the development of this type of