Marketing Strategies for the Travel and Tourism Industry

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing within the travel and tourism sector, covering core concepts, environmental impacts, consumer motivation, and market segmentation. It assesses the importance of strategic marketing planning, including SWOT analysis and the tourist area life cycle, and discusses the relevance of marketing research. The report also examines the product, price, and place elements of the marketing mix, the service sector mix, and the concept of the total tourism product. Furthermore, it evaluates the integrated nature of the promotional mix and proposes an integrated promotional campaign for a travel and tourism business or destination, using Venice as an example to illustrate the practical application of these marketing principles. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of customer satisfaction and loyalty in sustaining the travel and tourism industry.

Marketing in Travel and Tourism
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Task 1:........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Discuss the core concepts of marketing for the travel and tourism sector......................4
1.2 assess the impact of the marketing environment on individual travel and tourism
businesses and tourist destinations.............................................................................................6
1.3 discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in the travel and tourism
sector..........................................................................................................................................8
1.4 analyse the principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing planning.............9
Task 2:........................................................................................................................................9
2.1 analyse the importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and tourism
business or tourist destination....................................................................................................9
2.2 discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to managers in the
travel and tourism sector..........................................................................................................11
2.3 assess the influence of marketing on society.....................................................................11
Task 3:......................................................................................................................................12
3.1 discuss issues in the product, price and place elements of the marketing mix..................12
3.2 Assess the importance of service sector mix elements to the travel and tourism sector....13
3.3 Apply the concept of the total tourism product to an individual tourism business or tourist
destination................................................................................................................................14
Task 4.......................................................................................................................................15
4.1 Assess the integrated nature and role of the promotional mix...........................................15
4.2 Plan and justify an integrated promotional campaign for a travel and tourism business or
destination................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion................................................................................................................................18
Reference List..........................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
Marketing is one of the most important factors which help travel and tourism sector and any
other business organizations to enhance their business activities. With the help of marketing,
business organizations can interact with customers and understand the needs of customers
and work accordingly to provide customer satisfaction. The learner is required to produce a
report, which will help the learner to understand the concepts of marketing regarding to travel
and tourism industry. The core concepts of marketing are discussed in this project report. The
impact of marketing environment on the tour and travel operators and on tourist destinations
has been discussed in this assessment. Furthermore, this project sheds lights on the role of
marketing mix and promotional mix in travel and tourism industry.
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Task 1:
1.1 Discuss the core concepts of marketing for the travel and tourism sector
The above diagram shows all the core concepts of marketing, which includes Needs and
wants, products, value, satisfaction and quality, Exchange, transactions and relationships and
markets. All these concepts are discussed hereafter.
Needs and wants:
The needs and wants regarding travel and tourism industry includes the following:
Relaxation: People travel to different destinations for the purpose of relaxation
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Figure 1: Core Concepts of Marketing
(Source : Your Article Library, 2018)

Social needs: Several people need to travel in order to spend time with family and friends.
Self esteem: There are many people who travel for developing their own self through culture,
environment and activities of different destinations.
Self realization: Most of the people travel all around in search of happiness.
Products:
The thing that business organizations offer to the market is referred to as products. In this
case, tourism can be considered as service product. Tourism is an experience. In this industry,
customer satisfaction depends on the delivery of services provided by any destination or by
any tour and travel operators. Package holidays such as mass tourism can be considered as a
product for large market.
Value, satisfaction and quality:
Value is the customer value of the products and services provided by travel and tourism
industry. Customers rather the visitors will be highly satisfied if the business organizations
regarding travel and tourism industry will provide high quality products and services.
Exchange, transaction and relationships:
According to the travel and tourism industry, exchange means the exchange of service and
money between business organizations and customers. For exchange purpose, transaction
between the two parties is mandatory. While conducting the process of exchange, tour
operators should have to maintain good customer relationship. Apart from maintain good
relation with customers, the organizations are also responsible to maintain good relation with
the employees of the organization, airlines and the retailers of hotels and different services
(Kotler, 2015).
Markets:
Markets are set of transaction between the buyers and sellers. Firstly, business organizations
in the travel and tourism industry need to search for buyers by understanding target
audiences. Then, the business organizations need to implement several strategies so that they
can provide quality services and can meet customers demand and also meet the objectives of
the organization (Bowie et al., 2016).
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1.2 assess the impact of the marketing environment on individual travel and tourism
businesses and tourist destinations
Marketing environment has a huge impact on individual travel and tourism business and
tourist destinations. Marketing environment can be categorised into micro environment and
macro environment.
Micro environment:
Micro environment consists of the internal factors that affect any business organization
related to the travel and tourism industry.
Suppliers: The suppliers regarding this industry are those who supply the products and
services such as raw materials for food to the tour operators, who in turn provides the
facilities of food and accommodation to the visitors.
Intermediaries: Travel intermediaries can be categorised as wholesaler and retailers. The
wholesalers of this tourism industry buys different types of products or rather services such as
accommodation, food and transportation from various suppliers in order to create package
and provide the facility to customers. The travel agents, tour packagers, automobile clubs,
tourist destination centres, convention planners and travel discount clubs are some
intermediaries of travel and tourism industry (Lin, 2016).
Customers: Customers of the travel and tourism industry refers to the travellers who visit
different destinations. They are the ultimate and important driving force of the travel nd
tourism industry. Visitors may visit destination for various purposes such as leisure and
relaxation purpose, business purpose, adventure purpose and many more. Tour operators need
to know their target audience and have to arrange tour for those individuals according to their
demand (Horner and Swarbrooke, 2016).
Competitors: A huge competition exists in this travel and tourism industry. The main focus of
hospitality market is to attract and satisfy the customers. Business organizations related to
travel and tourism industry has to understand the target market and then the business
organization ahs to identify the competitors in the market. Successful destinations are those
which offer something unique for visitors. One of the main factors to choose a destination is
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seasonality. Other destinations and hospitality enterprises is identified to be competitors.
Competition creates an environment which helps any destination or any tourism enterprise to
increase quality and effectiveness.
Macro environment:
Demography:
Figure 2: Demographics of Venice
(Source: Venipedia.org, 2018)
The above graphical representation illustrates the population of Venice and the number of
tourists accordingly. Venice has been one of the most visited cities in the world. From several
researches, it has been concluded that more than 50,000 tourists visits Venice per day.
Economy:
The present economy of Venice is mainly based on the travel and tourism industry.
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Figure 3: Contribution of Travel and tourism to economy of Venice
(Source: Worldfinance.com, 2018)

The above graphical representation illustrates the revenue that is contributed by travel and
tourism industry in the economy of Venice.
Politics:
The Government of the country invest a lot to maintain the rich heritage of Venice. The city
has been threatened to become a mere city of museum. The city is governed by magistrate
and mayor. Government of the country has already taken certain initiatives to preserve the
rich heritage and culture of the country, so that it can become one of the most famous and
most visited tourist destinations in the near future.
1.3 discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in the travel and
tourism sector
There are several factors, which affects the demand and consumer motivation in the travel
and tourism sector of Venice and all other tourist destinations. The factors are discussed as
follows:
Consumer decision process: The decision making process of consumers depends on several
factors Socio-economic factors, personality, attitude and perception of customers towards
tourist destinations. In case of travel and tourism industry, the consumer decision process
depends on the demand determinants. Safety and security is another most important factor
which is considered by customers while selecting any tourist destination. Understanding
consumer decision is considered as one of the most important things in creating marketing
strategy. Influence of family is also an important factor which helps in the decision process of
consumer while choosing destinations. Goffman’s and Cohen’s approaches are also based on
motivation, which helps in effective consumer decision process.
Customer satisfaction: Expectation plays one of the major roles in order to determine
customer satisfaction and loyalty of customers towards any tourist destination or any travel
and tourism operator. The future of travel and tourism sector depends on the level of
customer satisfaction. There are certain expectations that the customers have regarding any
destination before they visit and if they are facilitated according to their demands, then
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customers will be highly satisfied otherwise it will have a huge negative impact on the entire
travel and tourism sector. On the other hand, trust and loyalty are the two most important
tools, which help to build good customer relation. Trust and loyalty of customers are
dependent on the quality of services they receive from the industry and also depend on the
attitude and perception of customers.
1.4 analyse the principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing planning
Business organizations related to travel and tourism industry has to take certain approaches
such as mass market approach and market segmentation approach, which will help the
organization to achieve and implement proper marketing plan within the organization.
Marketing strategy is basically a marketing mix which can be used for a particular target
market. Business organizations regarding travel and tourism industry in Venice need to
consider certain steps which will be used for marketing planning of the business
organizations. The tour operators need to understand the market and target audiences at first,
then they have to examine areas where they are trying to provide offers and services to
visitors. In the very beginning, a proper demographic, geographic, psychographic and
behavioural segmentation is required (Liu et al., 2018). On the basis of these factors, tour and
travel operators have to recognize segments in the entire travel and tourism industry. They
have to look after the factor that the place where the accommodation facility has been
provided to the visitors must be accessible and recognized for everyone. This will also help
business organizations to expand their business. Companies also have to identify the buying
behaviour and trends of customers and provide services to the visitors accordingly.
Task 2:
2.1 analyse the importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and
tourism business or tourist destination
Importance of SWOT analysis:
SWOT analysis of any tourist destination such as that of Venice, helps to identify the
strengths, opportunities, challenges faced by the country and the weaknesses. SWOT analysis
helps tourist destinations and tour and travel operators to identify the directions which will
help in the improvement and development of the tourist destinations. It also helps to analyze
the environmental and the internal potential of Venice, as a tourist destination. This analysis
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also helps the travel and tourism industry to formulate alternative forces and select strategies
for development of the industry. This also helps to measure the effectiveness of implementing
strategies and provides information for another planning.
Importance of tourist area life cycle:
As compared to products, destinations also experiences life cycle.
The above diagram represents tourist area lifecycle of tourist destinations such as Venice.
The factors included in the tourist area life cycle are discussed as follows:
Exploration: When new services and products are introduced, then tourist are attracted
towards it and come to visit the destinations.
Involvement: This phase in the tourist area life cycle occurs when number of visitors starts to
increase in number.
Development: For the sustainable growth and development of the destination i.e., Venice
public policy and Government investments are required.
Consolidation: When the number of visitors start to increase, then the tour operators have to
provide suitable facilities in order to provide customer satisfaction.
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Figure 4: Tourist area life cycle
(Source: Journals.itb.ac.id, 2018)

Stagnation: This is a critical point. This happens when the number of visitors becomes
maximum and reaches the extreme peak. The visitors are attracted by various extensive
facilities offered by the destination. Promotion is needed and new product and market have to
introduced and adapted.
Decline: This stage occurs, when the visitor’s number falls and people do not visist the
destination. Promotion is required to meet the needs and requirements of customers and also
to maintain sustainable growth of the entire travel and tourism destination.
2.2 discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to managers in
the travel and tourism sector
Marketing research and market information are the most important factor which helps in the
growth of travel and tourism industry. Marketing research provides important and valuable
data. Marketing research also helps to study customer behaviour and also helps bsuienss
organizations in the travel and tourism industry to select appropriate sales and promotion
techniques. It also helps companies to evaluate their performance. It also helps companies to
understand the level of competition within the travel and tourism industry. Marketing
research and market information provides the travel and tour operators with several market
related information and also informs about present trends followed by people, which in turn
will help business organizations to provide high quality of services and meet the demands of
customers and also helps to enhance the attractiveness of Venice, as one of the most visited
and attractive tourist destinations.
2.3 assess the influence of marketing on society
Marketing has a huge influence on the society. It has several benefits, which are discussed
hereafter.
Providing customer satisfaction: Marketing helps customers to provide with valuable
information regarding the tourist destination and the products and services provided by
business organizations regarding travel and tourism industry. Marketing helps companies to
identify the market and helps companies to provide facilities according to the demand of the
customers and provide full customer satisfaction.
Economic benefit of country: Marketing helps to promote products and services to the target
audiences. According to the promotion, visitors get attracted towards the destination, which
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