Marketing in Travel Tourism: Scotland Tourism Marketing Analysis

This report examines marketing principles within the travel and tourism industry, specifically focusing on VisitScotland.com, the Scottish tourism board. It delves into core marketing concepts, analyzes the marketing environment of Scotland, and assesses factors influencing consumer motivation and demand. The report also explores market segmentation strategies, strategic marketing planning, and the importance of marketing research in managing Scottish tourism. Furthermore, it discusses the influence of marketing on society, identifies marketing mix elements, and evaluates the application of the total tourism product in Scotland. The integrated nature of the promotional mix and the planning of an international promotional campaign are also assessed. The report provides a comprehensive overview of marketing practices in the context of Scotland's tourism sector, highlighting key strategies for attracting visitors.

Marketing in Travel
Tourism

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Core concepts of marketing in Scotland...........................................................................4
1.2 Analysis of marketing environment of Scotland and its impact on Travel and Tourism
sector.......................................................................................................................................5
1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in Scotland.....................................6
1.4 Analysis of Principles of market segment and their use in marketing planning..............6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing planning and marketing research for Scotland..........7
2.2 Relevance of marketing research and market information to manage Scottish Tourism.8
2.3 Influence of marketing on Society...................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Identification of marketing mix elements and issues related to designing and developing
them in Scotland.....................................................................................................................9
3.2 Assessing The importance of Service Mix Elements.....................................................10
3.3 Application of total tourism product in Scotland.............................................................1
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................1
4.1 Assessing the integrated nature and role of promotional mix in Scotland.......................1
4.2 Planning an international promotional campaign in Scotland..........................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is considered as one of the most important activity that is required to be
conducted in every organisation. Here the needs and wants of the customer is satisfied by the
company. Travel and tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the economy.
They are also dependent on the marketing principles for its effective working. There are various
types of factors that are present in the environment that affect the travel and tourism business
(Battour and et. al., 2017). So, it becomes very important for the companies to focus on their
marketing strategies so as to achieve competitive advantage in the market. The organisation
referred here is VisitScotland.com which is the Scottish tourism board and is also a national
tourism agency for Scotland. It does the work if attracting the customers to visit Scotland. They
do this through advertising, promotional campaigns etc. This report will discuss about the core
concepts of marketing used in travel and tourism sector, analysis if marketing environment of
Scotland as a Tourist Destination. Along with this, factors affecting the consumer motivation and
demand for Scotland and the analysis of principles of marketing segmentation will also be
studied.
TASK 1
1.1 Core concepts of marketing in Scotland
Marketing is an important activity that is conducted in an organisation so as to know the needs
and wants of the customers and then fulfils it by providing them services as per that (Becker,
2016). Therefore as a management trainee, it was very important to understand the requirements
of the customers exactly so that they can be approached to visit Scotland. Through this, the cited
company (VisitScotland.com) gets to identify their target market and understand the customers
as well.
So, the core concepts of marketing that can be used by the referred company to promote the
tourism of Scotland are:-
 Needs, wants and Demands – If the company wants to be in competition then they will
have to concentrate on the need, wants and demands of the customers so that they can
design the products accordingly. This will tell them that what the customer wants exactly.
Maslows’s need theory can be used by the companies.
Marketing offer – it refers to the products and services that ae offered to the customers as per
their demand in regard with the price, quality, quantity also. Visit Scotland should offer the

products and services in diversified range so that the customer gets attracted towards it
(Buonincontri and et. al., 2017).
 Customer value and satisfaction – Through this concept, the company tries to gain the
trust of the customers and also try to satisfy them by providing them goods as per their
choice. So the value of the referred company can be determined by the kind of goods they
will produce in the market.
1.2 Analysis of marketing environment of Scotland and its impact on Travel and Tourism sector
Marketing environment can be defined as that type of environment who are having direct
or indirect impact on the activities of the business. The business does not have any control in
these forces and they have to take their decisions as per these factors only. If Visit Scotland has
to promote Scotland tourism than they will have to promote various places associated with it.
Scotland is very famous for the beautiful locations they are having like Edinburg,
Glasgow, Loch Ness etc. Visit Scotland will have to include all these places too so as to increase
the promotion. Their lifestyle and culture should be highlighted so that the people gets tempted
towards it and plan a vacation there.
The impacts of Micro Environment on Business are:-
 Customers - Whatever will be needs and demands if the customers in the market, Visit
Scotland will have to make goods and services as per them only. While designing the
tour plan for Scotland, they can cover all the beautiful places.
 Suppliers – The suppliers are required to provide various types of services to the
customers like accommodation, food service, transport service etc. The referred
company will try to provide all types of services to their clients in the best possible way
so that they can gain the trust of the customers.
The impacts of Macro Environment on business are:-
 Technological factors - It is having a very impact in the business of Visit Scotland
because company can use of it so as to attract large base of customers like designing a
mobile application etc.
Political and legal factors – This factors affects the business in the form of policies and rules that
are designed by the UK government for the travel companies (Choe, Stienmetz and Fesenmaier,
2017). So, the referred company should follow all the rules and regulation so that they maintain a
healthy work practice in the company and this will help them in attracting huge customers.

1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in Scotland
Consumers play a very important role in marketing. They are being considered as a king of
market. By understanding their behaviour, the company can easily motivate them to purchase the
products and services offered by them (Cvelbar, Grün and Dolnicar, 2017). The various factors
that can motivate the customers and have an impact on their demand are:-
 Group Behaviour – Here, groups means family , friends etc. It is the human behaviour
that they get influenced with the people they connect with. If any of the people in a
group visits a place and then come and describe about its beauty then it motivates others
also to go and visit such places. So, this factors acts as a motivation for the customers.
 Purchasing power of customers – Since the company knows that they have to sell their
product to the customers of the target market only so they have to make sure that t he
products are under the purchasing power of the customers because then only the
customers will be only to purchase it. So, Visit Scotland.com should make their travel
package for all types of customers.
 Personal preferences – This factor is related with the personal likes and dislikes of the
customers. The referenced company should make sure that they include all the activities
and services as per the customer’s preference only so that they do not have any issue in
future.
 Economic Conditions – Sometimes the customers choose a product after seeing the
economic condition of the market. Since the disposable income of citizens in UK is
around £1500 so from this it can be depicted that the customers can afford to travel once
in a year.
1.4 Analysis of Principles of market segment and their use in marketing planning
Segmentation can be defined as a method in which the whole market is classified into small units
as per the needs and interests of the customers (George, 2017). They make use of various
strategies so as to attract the target customers. Through this, the company tries to focus on all the
small as well as large segments of the business.
Visit Scotland can also use it to attract the customers of UK to go and visit Scotland.
Segmentation of market here is follows:-
Types Explanation
Geographical Segmentation In this, the whole market is divided on the basis

of geographic criteria and the target customers
also. This factor is very much used by the
tourism companies.
Behavioural Segmentation Here, the market is divided on the basis of the
behaviour of the customers like their attitude,
knowledge and information etc. This helps
them in connecting with the right customers
who can become a loyal customer too.
Psychographic Segmentation In this type, the market if bifurcated on the
basis of life style of the individuals, their
interests etc.
Demographic Segmentation In this , the customers are divided on the basis
of their age, education, gender etc. Visit
Scotland.com can plan adventurous trips for its
clients so that they get attracted .
TASK 2
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing planning and marketing research for Scotland
The factors that highlight the importance of strategic marketing planning are as follows:-
 Providing help in refining the value proposition:- Through these panning it can be known
very easily that what is the exact aim of the company. Another thing which is associated
with it is that how it is different from other travel companies.
Helps in understanding Target Customer’s Requirements – In the current situation, more than
80% of the e-commerce companies is based on travel nd tourism. From this, it can be depicted
that the people are now taking more interest in travelling and so they are searching more about it
on internet (Leung, Au and Law, 2015). So, through strategic planning, company can make use
of this and understand the demands of the target customers.
 Enable the company to save crucial money –Visit Scotland.com has used 20% of their
total operating budget on the marketing only. Through strategic planning, the referenced
company will allocate their resources carefully so that they can do cost saving and
achieve more efficiency.

 Helps in identifying opportunities – If visit Scotland.com will implement good strategic
planning then they will be able to find numerous opportunities in the market. They can
make use of these opportunities and offer it to their clients who may get attracted towards
it. The project manager should know very well how to make use of these opportunities.
2.2 Relevance of marketing research and market information to manage Scottish Tourism
Marketing research can be defined as a process which is used by the company to gather
the information about the market where they can sell their products (Lim, 2017). It is very
important for every company to carry out a marketing research before starting their business so
that they can achieve success in the market. Also, if the company wants to sustain and survive in
the competition for the long run , then research is a must. The relevance of marketing research is
as follows:-
 Marketing research is a customer centric approach – While conducting the marketing
research , visit Scotland will focus on the unsatisfied needs of the customers so that they
can satisfy them and enhance their brand loyalty. This will help the managers in making a
sound relationship with the customers.
 It enhances growth opportunities – The research which is conducted will help in
providing a direction to the manager. It will tell that the areas where they can grow and
develop. Managers can make use of the research to satisfy the customers and generate
large revenue for the company.
2.3 Influence of marketing on Society
Marketing is considered as one of the important activity that is conducted in an
organisation (Magno and et. al., 2017). Its impact is not only in just company but it impacts the
outside environment as well. Since VisitScotland.com are having their target customers in
society itself so, they have make use various promotional and marketing campaigns tools which
has a direct as well as indirect impact on the society. The influence of marketing can be seen as:-
 Psychological Influence – Whenever a company does a marketing campaign, then it
leaves a psychological impact on the minds of the customers . There are many times that
various live events are organised by companies so as to promote the product in the
market. It creates brand awareness in the consumer's mind and diverts the customer
towards the organisation.

 Impact on purchasing power – Through marketing, purchasing power of the customers is
known. The campaigns that are organised by the company have the power to induce the
customers to come and buy the product.
 Possible negative impact – There are many times that the marketers fails to design an
effective strategy which can cause into negative results to the company. Therefore, it is
told to the marketing manager that they have to design the strategies very
carefully(Mazor-Tregerman, Mansfeld and Elyada, 2017).
TASK 3
3.1 Identification of marketing mix elements and issues related to designing and developing them
in Scotland
In a marketing mix, basically four elements are involved which are Product, price, place and
promotion. These elements are very useful for the managers to effectively frame the strategies of
marketing so as to achieve the target audience (Mossaz and Coghlan, 2017). Since Visit
Scotland.com is planning a summer holiday trip to Scotland so they need consider all these
elements very carefully so that they acn use them. It is stated as follows:-
Product – It is in the form of tangible or intangible form that is offered by the company so as tto
satisfy their ustoners.VisitScotland.com is offering effective services to its customers and in their
new package of summer holiday 2018, they are providing many benefits to them which will help
them in generating high revenue and profitability.
Price – It the price that will be paid by the customers in order to avail the services offered by the
company. It totally depends on the company that how they shape their prices as per the life cycle
of the product. In this case, Visit Scotland is making use of price skimming strategy as it will
help them in charging high prices from its prospective customers.
Place – it defines the location or the area where the company is providing its services (Ponnam,
2017). Visit Scotland.com is providing its services through the social media or from their
established offices which are located at various locations in the city. Scotland is still facing threat
of terrorists’ attacks so it can be assumed that the population will not come to such areas where
they have fear of life so company will have their offices at safe places only.

3.2 Assessing The importance of Service Mix Elements
The service marketing mix elements consists of factors like promotion, people, process,
packaging etc. All these elements play a very important role in the travel and tourism sector
(Truong and Hall, 2017). For promoting its tour, visit Scotland.com is using various types of
promotional tools like advertising, publicity, sales promotion, word of mouth promotion,
telemarketing etc. All these methods help in influencing the people very much so that they can
join the trip. This will also induce them to increase their stay duration and the visiting frequency
will also increase.
The people who are given the main attention are the localities who are residing in the same
location. It includes customers, employees, agents, hotel staff etc. Employees are given proper
training by the company so that they can perform better and help in achieving goals and
objectives of the company. The travel guides that are selected by the company should be skilled
and knowledgeable so that they can guide the passengers in an effective way (Xu, Buhalis and
Weber, 2017).

3.3 Application of total tourism product in Scotland
Total tourism product consist of all the aspects of travelling which starts from planning
the trip covering various types of destinations and planning the whole trip keeping in mind the
budget that the customer is willing to pay and also the destinations they prefer. It also takes care
of the transportation that will be required by the customers to travel at various locations around
the whole city (Yüksel, 2017).
Individual Tourism business covers one of the important aspects of tourism like
accommodations and Visit Scotland.com is also offering such services to its clients. On the basis
of total tourism product, the individuals decide that whether their tour was good or not. This
outcome will definitely help them to decide that whether they can trust the same company or not.
The quality of tourism product used by the company will represent their image in the market
among the individuals. So it is always advised to these types of companies that they maintain a
good image in the market and good relationship with the customers so that they come back
again.
TASK 4
4.1 Assessing the integrated nature and role of promotional mix in Scotland
Promotional mix can be defined as a combination of all the methods of promotion which
can be used as a single product. The various elements are as follows:-
PERSONAL SELLING – In this method, the company tries to establish personal connection
with the customers so that they can influence them to use the services of the company.
ADVERTISING – Through this, Visit Scotland can increase the awareness among the customers
about the tour packages offered by them. It is a kind of a paid communication.
INTERNET PROMOTION – It can be one of the most effective promotional tool as now-r-days,
people are spending much time on internet so it can definitely help the company in gaining more
and more customers (Battour and et. al., 2017).
DIRECT MARKETING – Through this, the company can directly communicate with the
customers of their target market so as to generate the transactions. It is the fastest growing
element through which company can attract more and more customers.
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4.2 Planning an international promotional campaign in Scotland
In a promotional campaign, advertising is done by the company by using various types of
marketing tools and it also includes various ideas that are related to tour packages of Visit
Scotland.com. These tools help the company in attracting the target customers towards the
company. The planning steps are as follows:-
STEP 1 – The company will have to reach the target market so as to identify the need of target
market and the demands as well.
STEP 2 – After identifying the target market and the customers, the company will try to create
the products that can satisfy the customers.
STEP 3 – Identification of the customers is done so that effective marketing strategies can be
designed.
So, the above steps are to be followed by the company if they want to attract large no. of
customers towards the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that travel and tourism is one of the most
important sectors in the economy. They also take help of the marketing strategies to achieve
success in the market. They apply their marketing strategies very effective so that they achieve
competitive advantage. The manager who makes these strategies should be very effective and
make the policies as per the environment only. The application of these strategies is done by the
marketing manager so that they can achieve good position in the market. This report discussed
about the various concepts used in marketing and as well as in the travel and Tourism industry.
The main focus of this report was to study the tourism of Scotland and how can the customers be
convinced so as to make them visit Scotland.
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