Strategic Marketing in Travel and Tourism: Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing strategies within the travel and tourism industry, using Thomas Cook as a case study. The report delves into core marketing concepts, including customer needs and wants, market segmentation, and consumer behavior, focusing on the impact of the marketing environment on the travel and tourism sector. It explores the importance of strategic marketing planning, marketing research, and the influence of marketing on society. The report examines the elements of the marketing mix, the significance of service sector mix elements, and the concept of the total tourism product. Furthermore, it analyzes the nature and role of the promotional mix, and discusses integrated promotional campaigns. The report also covers the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand, and the principles of market segmentation and marketing planning, with specific reference to Thomas Cook's marketing initiatives for travel to Egypt and Morocco. The report concludes with an overview of the key findings and recommendations for effective marketing strategies in the travel and tourism industry.

Marketing of Travel and
Tourism

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Discuss core concept of marketing for travel and tourism...............................................1
1.2 Impact of marketing environment on travel and tourism.................................................2
1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand........................................................3
1.4 Principle of market segmentation and marketing planning..............................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing planning.....................................................................4
2.2 Relevance of marketing research......................................................................................5
2.3 Influence of marketing on society....................................................................................5
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Elements of marketing mix..............................................................................................6
3.2 Importance of service sector mix elements .....................................................................7
3.3 Concept of total tourism product .....................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Nature and role of promotional mix.................................................................................8
4.2 Integrated promotional campaign.....................................................................................9
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Most of people like to visit beautiful place as trip. Success of tourism in business is based
on promotional activities and sales. Millions of people take part and fond of visiting tourist place
which increase business. This industry focuses on fulfilling customer needs and it helps them to
succeed which rely on marketing field. In the present report, the firm, Thomas Cook has been
chosen that is one of the world's leading leisure travel groups in terms of sales (Hall, Timothy
and Duval, 2012). They focus to deliver trust and personalised their experiences through high
tech strategy. It would consider that impact of marketing environment in travel and tourism.
Marketing segmentation which relates trip of Egypt and Morocco and thier employees work
effectively.
TASK 1
1.1 Core concepts of marketing for travel and tourism
Marketing is a concept of human activity which satisfies the needs and wants of
customers. According to Thomas Cook, marketing is the system of management which organises
and controls all activities of business. (Hudson and Thal, 2013). Marketing is based on concept
such as customer needs and wants, value, customer satisfaction and exchange process which are
stated as below:
Customer needs and want – According to scenario, it is important to understand the
needs and wants of customers. Thomas Cook designs their package which satisfy customer needs
and fulfil their desires (Buhalis and Foerste, 2013). As per the given case study, management
wishes to generate summer holidays to visit Morocco and Egypt, Thomas Cook has developed
their scheme. Thomas Cook design their package according requirements of customer
Customer demand – The cited firm considers benefit if they focus on understanding the
customer demand (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012). It is the most important factor which
affects business in travel and tourism. It helps to increase purchasing power of customers.
Marketing Orientation – As per the case, firm is based on research which considers
empirical analysis of hotel industry that draws market orientation, strategy, benefits of
differentiation strategy and capabilities which focuses on competitors. In this report, relationship
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management is the key which drives growth of sales in Egypt and Morocco. They are highly
competitive instead of promotional tactics which grow revenues.
Customer Satisfaction – In this context, Thomas Cook provides satisfaction to customers
and they overcome according to the expectations of customers. Positive attitude always influence
guests for joy and take their visit.
Exchange Process – It identifies to clear communicate with other visitor which plays
role on exchange rate with different countries.
1.2 Impact of marketing environment on travel and tourism
Thomas Cook is one of the most famous organisations in industry of tourism. External
factors include political, social, environmental, economical, technological and legal
consideration. Without market segmentation, organisation fails to develop plan as per customer
needs and wants (Turner, 2012). Cited firm considers several issues which influence
environment of market in travel and tourism. It is essential to understand issues according to
trends of different countries. Marketing strategy is selected for the development in niche market
which lead to growth of whole market (Buhalis and Foerste, 2015). To identify proper strategy
which helps to convince customers, it leads towards gaining customer’s loyalty and their trust.
Thomas Cook considers few impacts which are described as follows:
Competitors – There are large number of competitors in hospitality sector. In this
context, management of Thomas Cook designed promotional tools while visiting Egypt and
Morocco. Through advertisement and socila network it works as competition to all other related
company.
Customer – It is one of the most important factor which determines growth of
organisation. In context of the cited firm, it focuses on customer needs and wants. They provide
all services which satisfy their needs (Goodall and Ashworth, 2013). In tour of Morocco and
Egypt, Thomas Cook covered all the aspects which would satisfy the needs of customers.
Supplier – Thomas Cook considers many suppliers which come under travel and tourism.
They include services like travelling, lodging, hospitals, etc. By providing these services, it
minimises the price and maximise number of visitors.
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1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand
In this context Thomas Cook have to resolve their issues on priority and need to fulfil
customer needs (Sigala, Christou and Gretzel, 2012)
 Technology Improvement – This is one of the important factors which help in
developing skills and understanding needs of customers. Travel and tourism uses many
instruments which measure the strategic plan of marketing that attracts customer to visit.
It helps to increase the demand of customers which satisfy and encourage (Hays, Page
and Buhalis, 2013). In this case, Thomas Cook does improvement in technology which
develops summer tour of Egypt and Morocco. If customers will be offered with services
as per their needs and requirements then employees of the cited firm will get motivated.
 Providing option – According to this case, Thomas Cook offers summer tour for a week
in Egypt and Morocco (Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015). According to budget of
visitors, Thomas Cook can easily attract more customers. This is an instrument which
helps to motivate them and increase their business.
1.4 Principle of market segmentation and marketing planning
Market segmentation is recreation of tourism business and communities which causes
issues oftenly (Park and Oh, 2012). It helps to invest in market effectively.This forms stargtesgy
which effect business in hospitality department. Benefits in market segmentation of Thomas
Cook are considered as follows:
 They focus on the needs and wants of customers.
 Develop their services
 Allocate marketing expenses efficiently
Market segments are divided in various categories which are as follows:
 Geographical Segmentation – According to case this process of market segmentation
which is spreaded over cities and countries. As well Thomas Cook also arrange their
tour package according to demand of visitors.
 Behavioural Segmentation – In this process, classification is done on the exchange
rate, positive attitude and their image. According to scenario, to visit Egypt and
Morocco, visitors should make research on destination which helps to understand the
preferences of customers (Thakran and Verma, 2013). In this context, Thomas Cook
develops package according to the requirements of customers which can satisfy them
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effectively. The way of designing package of summer tour of Egypt and Morocco which
is helpful to attract more customers.
TASK 2
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing planning
Egypt and Morocco plays an important role for tourist strategic marketing plan . They
consider competitive advantage with India and other countries Thomas Cook needs to
communicate identification of destination and their position which highlights their specicific..
There are some tools to measure performance of marketing strategy such as SWOT analysis and
Mind maps which are detailed as below:
SWOT analysis – It is an instrument which is used to measure strategic plan that
identifies their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In Egypt and Morocco, their
position of geographical destination is their strength. Presence of people as per ministry of higher
education is high. According to Thomas Cook, if they wont attract more and more customer
tourist industry may decline and forms threats. By this instrument, they can easily identify and
design their package (Medlik, 2012). According to this tool, Thomas Cook can develop their
marketing strategy in Egypt and Morocco.
Mind Maps – It is a tool which helps to make changes on their service which they
provide. It is a diagram which presents their ideas. Thomas Cook includes their importance by
use of mind maps (Impact of Marketing in society, 2017). Tourists feel easy to visit by getting
their instruction on Egypt and Morocco.
2.2 Relevance of marketing research
Marketing research focuses on collecting various information from customers such as
according to their requirement and their feedback. In this context, visitors are customers which
increase their strength by improving their service quality. It is an essential instrument which
easily fulfils the needs of customers. Managers were benefited through managem,ent work on
high level. (Hall, Timothy and Duval, 2012).
 Evaluation of Performance – Managers work on the feedback and requirements of
customers. In Thomas Cook, they assure visitors to provide all facilities according to
customer needs.
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 Data Analysis – According to the case, Thomas Cook analyses and overlooks that
whether employers are working well or not. They focus on visitor’s need which increases
their business. Their different packages are applied for visiting Egypt and Morocco which
many people like to visit. Packages are like cruises market, airline ticket, hotel and
accommodation as well as travel currency. This method describes the difference between
collection and methods. It helps to provide excellence service and manage visitors of
Egypt and Morocco.
2.3 Influence of marketing on society
To build a brand, strong marketing strategy is essential which attracts new customers and
maintains loyalty. According to case, the impact of trip such as follows:
Positive – They monitor areas of Egypt and Morocco in a significant manner and ensure
continuous change on strategy (Buhalis and Foerste, 2013). Thomas Cook facilitates the cross
department input into policies of government for development of rural areas. Customers get
proper information regarding their destination with facilities. Responsibilities of marketing raises
sales and increases hike in revenues.
Negative – According to case, when visitors visit a destination, they make the
environment polluted as they spread waste materials such as wrapper of crisps, bottle of cokes on
floor and many other things.
TASK 3
3.1 Elements of marketing mix
Thomas Cook is a widely recognised business in tourism industry. According to case,
most of them like to visit once trip of Egypt and Morocco. There are several issues considering
such as product, price, place and promotion as follows:
 Product – They provide facilities such as accommodation, entertainment as well as
transportation.
 Price – According to the case, visitors have to pay for other services like bus and railway
travel. It is an essential factor that depends on season. Thomas Cook responded to their
high complexity with pricing which operate two level (Huang, Backman and Moore,
2013). Firstly, it considers the positioning of product and investment. Secondly, it
considers the marketing tactics to operate with pricing factor.
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 Place – It is based on the choice of visitors which may be historical attraction or natural
beauty. Uniqueness of Thomas Cook is predominant position of intermediaries. In
context, Managers should facilitate and purchase the service in advance. The range of
tourist product which is operated by tour operator such as sightseeing, accommodation
etc. while visiting Egypt and Morocco.
 Promotion – Generating awareness which people get informed about their facilities
(Turner, 2012). According to case, Thomas Cook supports to maximise the duration and
frequency of visitors. Advertising is the best way to acknowledge people and they attract
customers to visit such as summer tour of Egypt and Morocco. It increases the publicity
by positive impact through newsletter, magazines and stories.
3.2 Importance of service sector mix elements
It is vital which represent their segments and perceive target on market. According to
case, Thomas Cook needs to make marketing mix to provide effective services which are as
follows:
 Services were offered through providing products.
 Cost of other facility such as recharge, travelling through bus become comprehensive.
 Place where to deliver the service to visitors such as summer tour of Egypt and Morocco
were planned according to needs of customer.
 Promotion is direction to enlarge and attract more and more customer through banner,
outlets and advertising.
According to case, Thomas Cook give importance on production department while
manufacturing it takes place. Visitors must be completely aware about services and products they
were providing and compare from other tourism industry (Buhalis and Foerste, 2015). Name and
brand image of an organisation always affects on visitors and by providing different services
they would advise other to visit and themselves visit twice due to good services.
3.3 Concept of total tourism product
Tourism sector is classified into two categories such as primary and secondary. Primary
is considered as the main or original product which is offered by an organisation to buyers.
According to the case, Thomas Cook designs tour of holiday package such as summer trip of
Egypt and Morocco (Goodall and Ashworth, 2013). It is examined that Thomas Cook has
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arranged a trip in summer which destination of golden trip is of Egypt and Morocco and that
sounds very interesting. Thomas Cook provide all facilities to visitors which they knew as best
tourism industry. Most of the people are visiting this trip to enjoy every moment. The cited firm
also provides facilities such as travelling by bus or flight and food by receiving extra payment.
This organisation provides services which are complementary in nature and customers will
appreciate and suggest others about their services. Cited firm designed tour package according to
mind set and requirement of customer. There are various services which support Thomas Cook
to achieve success in their business with brand image such as: Travelling – Thomas Cook provide facility for travelling from airport to home by
themselves. According to case, visitors of Egypt and Morocco can hire a car to reach
their hotel for their comfortableness.
 Hotel and Accommodations – In context, Thomas Cook select best hotels and resorts
according choice of customer. In summer tour of Egypt and Morocco, they provide top
and best hotels for visitors.
TASK 4
4.1 Nature and role of promotional mix
. Thomas Cook applies promotional mix for specify their intention by providing
marketing services. There are various roles played by the firm according to promotional mix
which are detailed as below:
Public Relation – Thomas Cook provides important role to simplify market campaigns
which help to understand the requirement of customers. In context the cited firm design their
package facility as comprehensive range of service to visitors. Thomas Cook delivers their
services effectively and increases awareness of their brand which develops new identification of
firm.
Direct Marketing – It is the medium which increases their productivity with
awareness(Hays, Page and Buhalis, 2013). There are various ways for direct marketing such as
booklets and brochures, business cards, magazine, inserting in newspaper and advertising
through banner.
Online Marketing – It is a medium and new advanced technique which is focused on
online communities and social media. According to case, Thomas Cook advertises their blog
with traditional media. They represent their facilities through unique method which attract
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people and most of them take interest.(Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015). It dedicates the
summer tour of Egypt and Morocco and spread information with the growth of skills. There are
various ways to attract customer to visit Egypt and Morocco by designing interesting
advertisement, facilities were provided in trip as marked in blog. Thomas Cook applies these
promotional mix which supports them to involve their potential effectively and present their
values.
4.2 Integrated promotional campaign
Development of strategies is necessary for the firm to share their scheme effectively to
their customers. According to the case, Thomas Cook identifies all sources which help to
organise and share information related to their customers. Cited firm considers promotional
activities by marketers according to the choice of customers (Park and Oh, 2012). They organise
few promotional activities in summer tour of Egypt and Morocco like:
Advertisement – According to case, Thomas Cook develops their strategies by making
attractive banner to which customers attract and like to visit and overlook on various schemes
provided by the firm.Advertisement of summer trip is advertise on regional
channelsAdvertisement would be shown and listen in travel channel either on television or radio
either on television or radio (Impact of Marketing in society, 2017). Thomas Cook would
advertise their trip on the most watchable channels of people so they get easily acknowledged.
Sales Promotion – According to the case study, summer trip of Egypt and Morocco
provide customers with special scheme such as food services and transportation (Thakran and
Verma, 2013). They provide lucky draw contest and those who win, the cited firm provides 80%
discount for the trip to them.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, traveliing a tour of Egyopt and Morocco describe benificial for
customer and employees for making tour in market. Thomas Cook follows market mix strategy
which easily achieve success . For promotion of this summer trip they generally use to advertise
so people get attract and take a chance to visit trip.Report has assessed various ways to promote
their seasonal trip by attractive advertisement such as by banner and sales promotion. Thomas
Cook needs to access the needs and requirements of travellers which are being offered to
generate maximum revenue.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Publishing.
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creation of value. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 4(3). pp.151-161.
Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. and Campbell, D., 2012. Strategic management for travel and
tourism. Taylor & Francis.
Goodall, B. and Ashworth, G. eds., 2013. Marketing in the Tourism Industry (RLE Tourism):
The Promotion of Destination Regions. Routledge.
Hall, C. M., Timothy, D. J. and Duval, D. T., 2012. Safety and security in tourism: relationships,
management, and marketing. Routledge.
Hays, S., Page, S. J. and Buhalis, D., 2013. Social media as a destination marketing tool: its use
by national tourism organisations. Current issues in Tourism. 16(3). pp.211-239.
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worlds in travel and tourism marketing. Tourism Management. 36. pp.490-501.
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Implications for tourism marketing. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 30(1-2).
pp.156-160.
Medlik, S., 2012. Dictionary of travel, tourism and hospitality. Routledge.
Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Park, J. and Oh, I. K., 2012. A case study of social media marketing by travel agency: The
salience of social media marketing in the tourism industry. International Journal of
Tourism Sciences. 12(1). pp.93-106.
Sigala, M., Christou, E. and Gretzel, U. eds., 2012. Social media in travel, tourism and
hospitality: Theory, practice and cases. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Thakran, K. and Verma, R., 2013. The emergence of hybrid online distribution channels in
travel, tourism and hospitality. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. 54(3). pp.240-247.
Turner, L., 2012. Beyond" medical tourism": Canadian companies marketing medical travel.
Globalization and health. 8(1). pp.1.
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