Marketing Essentials for Travel and Tourism: Marketing Analysis Report

This report analyzes marketing essentials in the travel and tourism industry, using Topdeck as a case study. It covers key marketing roles and responsibilities, promotional strategies, customer satisfaction, and marketing channels. The report examines how marketing relates to the wider organizational context, including interactions with HR, finance, production, IT, and sales departments. It then compares how Topdeck and Contiki apply the marketing mix to achieve business objectives, evaluating product, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical evidence. Finally, the report proposes a basic marketing plan for Topdeck, aiming to achieve specific marketing objectives.

Marketing Essentials for
Travel and Tourism
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within an organisation. ................3
P2 How roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context.......5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Compare the ways in which different tourism organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.......................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P4 Produce a basic marketing plan for the organisation to achieve marketing objectives.......10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the process of sale, advertise and publicity of the products or
services which company is trying to sell. Marketing approach begins with the designing
of product or services, production and being ready of the product for the sale to the final
customer. Marketing approach focus on certain things like right customer segment,
developing and designing of product, pricing of product which is to be required by the
customers. This increase customer satisfaction of the organisation and increase in
profits and revenue of the company (Adeyinka-Ojo and Nair, 2016). The travel and
tourism company which is taken in this report is Top deck company as this company is
a tour operator company which was founded in the year 1973. company provides tours
to the age group of 18 to 40 years of age people throughout Europe, North America,
Asia, Egypt, Australia etc. it provides 330 different tours in 65 countries. This report
covers key roles and responsibilities of marketing functions within a Topdeck company,
discussion of how these roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider
organisational context. Then it covers comparison of ways in which different tourism
organisation applies marketing mix to the marketing planning. At last it produces
marketing plan for a tourism and travel organisation.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
P1 Key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within an organisation.
Marketing is the process of sum of all the activities performed by an organisation
to promote their products and services. The marketing department of Topdeck performs
various function for the marketing of their tours and travels so that customers are
satisfied. There are various roles and responsibilities of marketing department of an
organisation. These are discuss below:
 Promotional strategies: Marketing department main role and responsibility is to
formulate promotional strategies for the company. As this is done for the
promotion of products and services company is providing while analysis of
potential customers in the market (Avila-Robinson and Wakabayashi, 2018).
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Promotional strategies involves various types of methods that are budget
collection, targeting customers, identification of promotional strategies etc. In
context of Topdeck travel and tour company, marketing department of company
promotes their tours to the potentials customers who are willing to travel at
different destinations in overall world. They promote through various platforms
these are TV advertisement, banners, hoardings, social media marketing, search
engine optimization and print advertisements etc. these strategies helps the
company in attracting more customers and increase in their satisfaction.
 Attainment of customer satisfaction: The next role and responsibility of
marketing department is satisfying customer needs and wants. Marketing
department focuses on the fulfilling customers needs and wants and provides
them support while travelling. Topdeck company marketers take feedback from
the customers who are travelling with them. And if customers are facing any
issues or problems then they try to improve those issues (Becker, 2016). This
helps them in increasing customer satisfaction and working on their problems.
Marketing department of company also focus on the changes are to be made
according to the dynamic environment. Topdeck company takes feedbacks from
various Questionnaire, online surveys and direct interactions with the customers.
So that this ca help them in knowing about shortcoming in the tours they are
providing and this helps the company in knowing about the improvements which
are to be needed.
 Marketing channels: Marketing channels refers to the systems that are to be
used at the time of distribution of products and services to the customers.
Marketing department decides the number of intermediaries that are coming in
between distribution of products and service to the customers. This mainly
depends on the size of the company. In context of Topdeck company, it is a
multinational traveller company organises 330 different tours and travels in about
65 countries in all over the world. They are using both direct selling and agencies
services.
 Brand building: Brand building is the development of the image and making
reputation of the company in front of customers. Marketing department is
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responsible for this as they provide quality of products an services to the
customers so that they can increase customers loyalty and satisfaction (Cooper,
2020). Brand building is the most important part of any organisation because it
helps the company in retain and sustain in the market in front of its competitors
for long time. In context of Topdeck company, organisation focus on the building
strong brand image in front of customers. They are doing this by providing quality
of services to their customers who are travelling with them.
 Identification of target market: Marketing department also plays important role
in identification of target market by analysis of the potentials customers who are
willing to buy their products and services. This can be done by using STP
approach. STP involves segmentation, targeting and positioning (Cowan, 2019).
This helps the company in segmenting the market and development of marketing
strategies. In Topdeck company, marketing department focuses on target
market, the customers who are willing to travel with them. They generally focus
on the age group of 18 to 40 years of age group. Because these are the only
customers that are to be travelled in over the world. They are one who loves to
travel at many destinations. Also they are the one who are physically fit to travel
around the world.
P2 How roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context.
Topdeck is the multinational tour and travel company that provides tours for the
customers who are willing to travel around the world. Marketing department of the
company performs various functions very effectively and efficiently. But there are
several other department sin the company which also performs their function very
effectively. These department are interconnected with marketing department. There is
the discussion of how various department of an company are interconnected with each
other:
 Marketing and HR department: HR department is the major department of an
organisation. As they are one who formulates all policies and rules in the
organisation. They are one who provides training to the employees and evaluate
the performance of employees. They make policies and rules which are to be
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followed by every employee working in the company. HR managers of the
company needs to hire those candidates for the company who brings new ideas
and innovations. So that they can make new strategies of marketing to promote
their products. By providing training to the marketing employees they work
efficiently in the market and in front of customers (Dimanche and Andrades,
2015). Mangers also evaluate the performance of employees is that if any
employee is facing any issues or problems so they can work on the improvement
of those issues.
 Marketing and Finance department: Then the next is Finance department
which is very essential for every organisation. As it is the one which has to
maintain all budget and check quality of the product or service which is provided
to the customers. Marketing department role is to promote and advertise the
products that are to be sold by the company so that their sales will be increase
and they customers will get satisfied. For performing all the activities, finance
department of the company neds to maintain proper budget. So this is the
responsibility of finance department is to provide proper budget to the marketing
department so that they can perform there activities efficiently (Dioko, 2016).
Finance department of Topdeck tour an travel company involves accounting,
auditing and controlling segments. They needs to focus on the organising an
planning of the budget. Marketing department needs to advertise and promote
products and services provided by the company. This all needs proper budget to
perform. For this finance department needs to maintain budget and check quality
of the products and services. In context of Topdeck company, managers make
sure that customers will receive all the basic facilities in very effective manner so
that customer will be satisfied with them.
 Marketing and production and quality department: Production department
role is tom convert raw material into the finished goods. For this company
requires effective planning and quality procedure to check the products and
services. Production and manufacturing department needs to ensures that every
products should be produced in effective manner with good quality. This involves
correct quality of products and services and correct amount of products. If quality
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will good then then it will be easy for the marketers to understand the product
specifications and they can confidently show or promote a product in front of
customers in the market. If company is providing good quality then there will be a
chance that its prices will be higher than other products (Dodds and Jolliffe,
2016).
 Marketing and IT department: There is an interconnection between marketing
department and IT department. As marketing department needs to promote and
advertise their products on TV ads, company websites etc. so this all can be
controlled by IT departments of company. To mange all the activities in the
organisation, IT department is necessary. As it is necessary for online payments,
software updates, upgrade firewalls and mange voice-over IPs etc. It is also
necessary for communication with customers for taking feedbacks and
interviews. In modern days, these activities are done online through telephonic or
companies websites.
 Marketing and sales department: There is very important relation between
sales and marketing department. As marketing department task is to promote
products and services and sales department is to sell the products and services
to the customers. So as much marketing team promote or advertise the products
or services, the more sales department will be able to sell company's products
(Eisenstein, 2018).
TASK 2
P3 Compare the ways in which different tourism organisations apply the marketing mix
to the marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.
Marketing mix is a set of various marketing functions that helps in setting
guidance for the company. Marketing mix is a set of marketing tool which is used to
pursue marketing objectives in target market. There is a use of seven elements in
marketing mix. In this report the company which is taken as a comparison is Contiki
travel company. There is the marketing mix of both the companies:
Elements of marketing
mix
Topdeck travel Contiki travel
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Product- Product is
basically a good or service
that is sold to the customers
in order to satisfy their
needs. It may be tangible or
non- tangible (Kannisto,
2018).
Topdeck is tour or travel
company which provides
various tours to customers
in all over the world. Like it
provides tours throughout
Europe, Australia, New
Zealand, North America etc.
also company introduces
smaller group trip under the
banner of “Explorer”.
Contiki is a tour and travel
company as it is the biggest
competitor of Topdeck
company. Company
provides short trips for
festivals goers. For example
company provides
Discoverer, Campaign and
Sailing tours, high energy
tours for the customers who
are willing to travel.
Price- This is the second
element as it is the amount
which consumers willing to
pay for the services he
received.
Topdeck company provides
valuable and affordable
prices of its tour to the
customers. Company is less
costly than Contiki travels
because entrance fees and
museums charges are not
included in overall prices.
However, its Explorer series
is a premium prices
because it provides
imitative local experiences
to the customers.
Contiki is costly as
compared to Topdeck
company because it
provides free time on tours.
Promotion- It refers to
marketing communications.
It involves some of the
strategies for advertising,
publicity and direct
marketing etc (Lee and
Topdeck adopts social
media campaigns for
promoting and advertising
their services. They use
many campaigns that can
attract customers towards
Contiki travels also uses
social media campaigns to
attract customers. They
make advertisements and
sponsor charitable events
that attract customers
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et.al)., 2018). their tours. towards their tours of all
around world.
Place- It refers to the
location where the products
and services are to be
offered so that they can be
easily reached to the
customers.
Topdeck travel provides
tours for various countries.
These are Europe, Egypt,
North America, Australia,
New Zealand etc.
Contiki provides tours for
Latin America, Canada,
Middle east, Australia and
Northern Asia etc.
People- Employees who do
direct contact with
customers and also who do
service delivery of services
and products (Van der
Wagen, 2015).
Company hire those
employees who brings new
innovative ideas and can
handle customers
feedbacks efficiently. There
is a proper uniforms of the
employees working in the
organisation.
Company provides proper
training and development
needs to the employees so
that they can work efficiently
and effectively in the
organisation.
Process- It is a
mechanism, flow of
activities in the business
organisations.
Company promises the
schedule of tour to the
customers and works on
that.
Company book tickets of
they customers instantly
and do not waste time. Tour
and activity of company
runs too smoothly.
Physical evidence- It is
mainly a business
environment in which
activities performed and
where the customers and
employees interact (Lima,
Lima and Seyfried, 2018).
Company provides physical
evidences of the tickets
they books via online or
offline mode.
Company make sure that
their vehicles, gear and
other parts works properly
so that customers do not
face any problems while
travelling at a tour.
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TASK 3
P4 Produce a basic marketing plan for the organisation to achieve marketing objectives.
Marketing plan is basically a identification and outline of marketing strategies that
are used by an organisation to increase its customers base. It helps the company in
identifying smart objectives of the company, SWOT analysis, Pestle analysis, porter's
generic and marketing mix and identification of target market.
Smart objectives: Smart objectives is the objectives that is provided by the
company. It provides motivation and direction to the employees working in the
company.
 Objective is to introduce new tour of Germany to its customers within next
few months to increase its customer base and profitability.
SWOT analysis: Topdeck company analyse itself with SWOT analysis by identifying its
strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. Is is discuss below:
 Strength: Strength is the positive qualities which a company have:
 Strong reputation: Topdeck company is having very good reputation in London
market. As it has large customer base with very effective marketing strategies.
This helps them in building brand image.
 Adequate financial resources: Company has adequate financial resources to
conduct promotional strategies that attract more customers and increase their
profitability (Seraphin, 2020).
 Weakness: The performance of activities are very slow. As there are various
competitors of company like Contiki, Butterfield and Robinson etc. applies strong
promotional strategies to attract customers.
 Opportunities: Topdeck provides various tours to the customers at lower prices
this has create an opportunity for them to attract middle class people. At the time
of new introduction company this will help them in attracting more customers.
 Threats: As company is a tour and travel company so there are various
competitors of this. So customers have various other options to shift to another
company if company not providing them proper facilities and affordable prices.
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Porter's generic strategies: These are the strategies that are used by the company to
achieve competitive advantage in the market. There are three stages that are discuss
below:
 Cost leadership strategy: This is the first strategy used by the company to
minimise the cost of operations and production (Seraphin, 2020). Because this
will helps the company in increasing their revenues and profits for long term
goals. In this company starts minimizing the cost of transportation, manufacturing
and labour cost.
 Differentiation strategy: In this company made unique products which is different
from its competitors. This helps the company in attracting new customers and
providing them some unique product.
 Focus strategy: In this company focuses on only one area, this can be cost
strategy or differentiation strategy.
From the above strategies, Topdeck company uses cost leadership strategy to minimize
its cost. By making new tour to Germany they can increase their customer base.
Marketing mix: It consist of 4Ps to target customers.
 Product: Products which is provided is tour to Germany to its customers so that
they can increase their customer base and profits.
 Price: Prices will be affordable to the customers so that even middle class people
can travel with them.
 Promotion: Promotion needs should be effective as they can attract more
customers and at the same time increase profits.
 Place: Company wants to introduce the tour to Germany so that customers who
are willing to go there they can travel with them.
Budget
PARTICULARS First Year
Second
Year
Third
Year
Fourth
Year Fifth Year
Opening capital 2000 0 1200 1700
START-UP CAPITAL 6000
INVESTMENT 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000
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TOTAL 16000 12000 10000 10000 10000
MARKETING OUTLAY:
MARKETING 7000 5000 3600 3200 2800
PUBLICITY 7000 7000 5200 5100 4800
TOTAL 14000 12000 8800 8300 7600
Closing capital 2000 0 1200 1700 2400
Monitoring and controlling:
Monitoring is done after the introduction of new tour to Germany as company
needs to evaluate whether customers are coming or not. Also at the same time they
needs to control over the issues and problems that are to be faced by customers or
employees working in the organisation (Wu and Shimizu, 2020). Company will focus on
the issues or deviations and take corrective measures to solve those issues. This will
help them in knowing their deviations and results in increase in profitability and
customer base.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that Topdeck tour and travel
company is well established in London UK. It has a strong customer base and they are
also satisfied by the facilities company is providing to them. Because company focuses
on needs and demands of customers. Marketing department performs various roles and
responsibilities to satisfy customer demands. Marketing department has a
interconnection between various functional department of a company like IT, HR,
finance department etc. they helps the company in building strong image and provides
various marketing strategies to attract customers. Then company uses marketing mix to
identify target customers. Company has various competitors such as Contiki, Butterfield
and Robinson etc. for that it as introduced new tour to Germany to attract new
customers.
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