Marketing Essentials for Travel and Tourism: Thomas Cook Report

This report analyzes the marketing strategies of Thomas Cook, a major player in the global travel industry. It begins by comparing Thomas Cook's marketing mix (7Ps: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People, and Process) with that of Topdeck Travels, highlighting differences in their approaches to pricing, promotion, and customer interaction. The report then focuses on the development and evaluation of a basic marketing plan for Thomas Cook, including an overview of the organization, its mission, and its marketing objectives, which are defined using the SMART framework. It covers STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) analysis, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, and PEST (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) analysis to assess the external and internal environments. The report proposes a marketing mix for a new application launch by Thomas Cook, outlining product, price, place, and promotion strategies. Finally, it includes a marketing budget estimation for the initial four years of the application's launch. This comprehensive analysis provides valuable insights into Thomas Cook's marketing practices and strategic planning.

Marketing Essentials
for Travel and
Tourism

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
(Completed in PPT)................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix for achieving
business objectives ................................................................................................................3
P4. Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation...................................5
Conclusion :.....................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the essential tool for the organisation as this allows organisation to increase
sales and profitability. It is the business activity which influences buyers to the buy the products
and services and also helps in the promotion, advertising and distribution of the product.
Marketing is the term which helps in forecasting the demands of the customers and also focuses
on maintaining relationship with the customers. In this project, the organisation which have been
taken is Thomas Cook which is the second largest British global travel operating company
established in London. This company operates and owns number of tour operators in the UK.
This reports undertakes the study about the duty and responsibilities of the marketing and also
their linkage to different operative sectors. Furthermore, it also take into consideration about the
marketing plan and marketing mix which helps the business to achieve their targeted goals and
objectives within a specific period of time.
TASK 1
(Completed in PPT)
TASK 2
P3 Compare the ways in which different organisations apply the marketing mix for achieving
business objectives .
Marketing Mix: It was developed by marketing professor and author E. Jerome McCarthy in
1960s. It is course of actions or tactics of putting right product or service in right place at right
time and at the right price. It is associated with 7P's model of marketing, stated as Product, Price,
Place, Promotion, Physical evidence, People and Process. Companies uses this model to set
objectives, conduct SWOT analysis, achieve competitive advantage and evaluate their existing
business(Gardiner, Grace and King, 2014).
Different ways in which Thomas Cook and Topdeck travels formulate their marketing
mix:

7P's Thomas cook travels Topdeck travels
Product
(it is tangible or
intangible item that
meets customer's
needs or wants. These
are goods or services
that companies offers
to target market.)
It is combination of products
comprising of attraction, facilities
and transportation. It provides
Airline flights, Car hire, Coach
travel, holiday package, hotel
facilities, cruises, etc.
It offers wide range and features of
travel or tourism products as
specialist company. It gives safe,
reliable and efficient services which
meets industry standards. More or
less products that they provides are
same.
Price
(it is that amount
which is expected to
pay in exchange of
product or service in
market from
customers.)
They adopted discounting pricing
by reducing to basic price. It is
form of sales promotion which
brings rewards for company.
They hold big share of market
and thus earn higher
revenues(Kastenholz, Carneiro
and Marques, 2012).
Variable Pricing is adopted by
company in order to add price
according to feature or variation they
offer. They target specific segments
and earns higher profits.
Place
(it includes all efforts
of company to make
their product
available in market to
target customer).
It attracts customer by providing
attractive, accessible and creative
destination with all facilities they
need to visit and stay. It earns
profits for whole year by
maintaining regular cash flow.
They allow tourists to explore places
full of activities with basic facilities
and skilled workforce for assistance.
Customer loyalty is what they starve
for and following this strategy, it
make impact on customer.

Promotion
(all those activities
that inform about
goods or services to
large audience
through promotional
tools.)
They have adopted advertising
and distributing promotional
material like brochures, small
items as their marketing activities
that is cost effective and
impactful in nature.
They invest in sponsorship, website
and promotes their brand in local
fairs which allows them to market at
large scale. Reaching to large
audience creates positivity results for
company by higher sales and profits.
Physical Evidence
(it is that physical
place where firm and
customers interact to
communicate for
services provided.)
Company provides comfortable
seats, design of resort, natural
services, all information of rules
and regulations, etc. for customer
comfort(Ghaderi, Som and
Henderson, 2012).
They provide printed brochures that
contains all important information to
make their holiday qualitative,
valuable and meet their wants. This
avoids any unwanted incidents.
People
(all those who
participate in delivery
and influence buyers
in environment are
considered as people.)
Their employees are trained in
interpersonal and knowledge
skills to interact with tourist
patiently. This creates customer
satisfaction and avoid any kind of
confusion for customer.
Their personnel attends tourists with
proper interaction, good sense of
humour, linguistic skills and good
knowledge of places to turn
occasional customers into habitual
ones.
Process
(the flow of
activities, procedures
and mechanisms by
which products are
produce or delivered)
It operates on series of steps in
delivering their services to
potential customer to make sure
about quality and standard of
tourism industry.
They distinguish their offering from
others by adding special process that
can meet customer preferences in
addition to standard service.
Evaluate different tactics in order to accomplish business objectives and goals:
The business of Thomas cook must consider the use of distinguish techniques , tactics
and tools to attain their desired goal so that the company can sustain for a longer duration of time
by competing with its rival firms. The company like Thomas cook have focused more on the

strategies of pricing of their products and services and their customer's preferences. The primary
objective behind the use of these tactics and strategies is that the company can look into the
matter of their customers needs and desire which consists of what is the product which customer
seeks to buy and how it can be distributed to them without the consumption of more time and
money. Along with this, they precede assorted marketing channels which aids them to take
competitive advantage, solve strategies mistakes, increase profits and achieve great success.
P4. Produce and evaluate a basic marketing plan for an organisation.
Marketing plan is the one which serves as a mind map to the business for operating their
marketing strategies which would enable business to use tactics that are beneficial for them in
the current as well as future time(Suhartanto, 2018)(Pike,2017). Thomas cook must give an
emphasis on developing the marketing plan as it would help them in determining opportunities,
uncertainty which a company may face in the near future.
Overview of the organisation Thomas Cook : Thomas cook is the largest British global travel
company situated in London . The company was formed with the aim to render travels and
tourism services to their potential customers across the globe. The company has now planned to
launch a new application which would help the customer to generate their own score so that they
can get benefits from that score during their next trip as a voucher. By the launch of this new
application company tends to increase their profitability(Yin and Poon, 2016).
Mission of the company : The company aims to maximise their profitability by launching this
new application..
Vision of the company : The vision of the company is to pursue excellence in everything which
the company do for providing better quality services to their customers.
Marketing Objectives: SMART objectives has been established by the company so that the
company can cover large customer base.
 Specific : Company seeks to sustain their business by competing to the other travel
company.
 Measurable: More emphasis is given on the increment of customer base from 70% to
90%.
 Achievable: Thomas cook fosters a large mass who are skilled and knowledgable for
attaining their goals.

 Relevancy: the business of Thomas cook tends to become renounced across the
economy.
 Time-bound : After introducing new application the company aims to achieve their goals
within a period of 7 months.
STP for the business :
Segmentation : The business of Thomas cook will be a beneficial if they focus on the segment
which is more curious and has a great zeal to travel the worlds . The new application will help
the targeted segment to enjoy the benefits which the new application provides.
Targeting: After segmenting the market the business of Thomas cook will focus more on the
youth as they are flexible and are keen to adopt all those new technologies and application which
have been developed by the company(Matikiti, Kruger and Saayman, 2016).
Positioning : Through the launch of new application the company can achieve their sustainable
position by competing with the competitors.
Swot analysis :
SWOT analysis would help the business of Thomas cook in evaluating their own
strengths and weaknesses and would also support them in identifying opportunities and threats.
Strength Weakness
 The business of Thomas cook provides
variety of services in the field of
travels, airlines etc.
 Due to the huge competition in the
market the company is not able to cover
large market share.
Opportunity Threats
 The company has the opportunity to
become the world wide known by
rendering the services like free holiday
trips to their regular customers.
 Frequent changes in the policies of the
government is a threat for the business
of Thomas Cook.
PEST analysis of Thomas Cook :

Political factor : This factor consists of government interventions, rules and regulations. As the
policies and rates over UK economy does not change frequently the business of Thomas cook
can enjoy the benefits of reduced VAT rates.
Social factors : The business of Thomas cook must focus on all those factors which affect the
decision of their customers. As this consists of customer belief, trust, taste and preferences and
should avail the products as per the requirement of the customers(Eletxigerra, Barrutia and
Echebarria, 2018).
Economical factor : As the economy of the UK is of developing nature the business have the
advantage to grow their business and survive in the UK economy for longer duration of time by
the launch of new product.
Technological factor : it is related to the new introduce and application. Thomas Cook can
reduce their expenditure and enhanced their profit by rising the uses of cyberspace.
Marketing Mix of the New Application :
The business of Thomas cook can focus more on the marketing mix in order to evaluate whether
the business is on the right path or not.
 Product: The company must ensure that the new product and services which are
provided by the company are of excel quality so that the company can maximise their
sales by the new application launch.
 Price: the company must ensure that they adopt the strategy of pricing which is price
penetration for capturing the market at initial level.
 Place: This factor helps them to introduce more customers about their services. For this
they can use their own websites and others social websites to attract more customers
towards their services(Aziri and Nedelea, 2013).
 Promotion: The business must focus on adopting the different promotional tools such as
online business and direct marketing through the emails about their services to the
customers.
Marketing Budget
Estimated budget has been created by the company :
Particulars 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year

Initial
money
20000 10000 5000 8000
Investment 60000 15000 5000 2000
Total 80000 25000 10000 10000
Marketing
outlay
20000 6000 5000 2000
publicity 5000 3000 5000 2000
Direct
selling
5000 3000 7000 4000
Total 30000 12000 17000 8000
Monitor and control :
This is the continuous step that has to be followed by the company. Regular monitoring
will help the business to evaluate whether they are performing well in the market or not if not
then the company will adopt effective measures in order to sustain their business of tour and
travels.
Conclusion :
From the above undertaking report, it has been outlined that advertising drives business
association to accomplish solid market position among their opponents through improving
association with the unwavering clients. There are loads of jobs and duties showcasing office
need to perform, for example, statistical surveying, recognizing objective clients, utilizing
limited time instruments and so on which certainly builds the marketing projection and income
of organization. The promoting administrator need to refresh their current showcasing plans and
techniques by contrasting the advertising blend of their association with their adversaries and as
needs be set up a powerful promoting arrangement to execute new choices and showcasing
exercises in a compelling and productive manner.

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