Marketing Principles and Strategies in Travel and Tourism

This report examines the application of marketing principles within the travel and tourism industry, using Prudential Hotel in Hong Kong as a case study. The report begins by defining core marketing concepts and principles, including needs and wants, products, value, satisfaction, and the importance of market analysis. It then analyzes the impact of the political, economic, and technological environments on travel and tourism businesses. The report further explores factors affecting consumer motivation and demand, such as age, gender, disability, and family life cycle. It also discusses the role of market segmentation in developing effective marketing plans. The second part of the report focuses on the importance of strategic marketing plans and the relevance of market research within the industry. It also touches upon the influence of marketing activities on society, including consumer protection and corporate social responsibility. Overall, the report provides a detailed overview of marketing strategies and their practical application within the travel and tourism sector, with specific reference to the Prudential Hotel's operations and market position.

Marketing in Travel and
Tourism

INTRODUCTION
In a business process, travel and tourism management is interlinked with managing
overall operations of tourism industry. It is one of the growing sector which is able to generate
high revenue along with high growth. Moreover it has been growing career opportunities to
event planners or to the travel agents or the companies who mainly provide travel packages
(Baker, 2014). In simple words it is mainly providing services to the clients who wants to travel
from one place to another. The company chosen for this report is Prudential hotel which is
situated in Hong Kong and was established in 2008.This hotel mainly deals in providing hotel
services to the customers who have visited Hong Kong for various purposes like business,
holiday, honeymoon and many others. In this report, things discussed will be about the concept
and the principles of marketing. Along with that role of marketing as management tool in travel
Industry and functions of the marketing mix and usage of promotional mix techniques in travel
Industry.
TASK 1
1.1 The core thought of marketing for the travel and tourism industry
Prudential hotel is one of the growing hotel industry in the Hong Kong. Various packages
are being provided by the company to their clients like summer packages for the family,
honeymoon packages and winter packages in which luxury services can be provided within
budget price.
While making the certain rules and policies of the hotel, cited hotel should analyse the
market trends and thus develop those policies so that growth and success can be attained in
desired time. Optimum utilisation of resources will make the company to remove the negative
elements so that prosperity can be obtained within organisational environment (Buhalis and
Foerste, 2015).
Basically marketing is a process which aids a business process to anticipate and determine the
needs of its targeted customer base and then taking effective measures to meet the needs and
wants of the customers. Furthermore, basic concept of marketing in travel and tourism consist of
five major elements:
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Needs and wants: Prudential hotel have a desire to attract large amount of customers by
satisfying them in maximum manner and thus other needs of social needs and wants of the
customer for rapid growth.
Products: The actual needs and wants of the customer is the basic and essential criteria
which needs to be fulfilled in maximum manner and thus that will attract large amount of
customers and thus automatic promotion can be observed in positive manner (Chon, 2015).
Values Satisfaction and Quality: The services which are being provided by the hotel to
the customers should be of quality and they should fulfil the criteria of satisfaction of customers.
Exchange of transaction and Relationship: Transactions taking place between hotel and
customers should not be complex in nature because that might create chances of issues rising.
Market: potential should be there in market place so that actual needs and wants can be
fulfilled in desired manner.
Illustration 1: Customer Relationship
(Source: Customer relationships, 2016)
1.2 Effect of marketing environment on individual travel and tourism concern
Basically there are three methods by which marketing environment of an individual travel
and tourism are described below: Political: It is one of the major aspect which affects the company's production and
profitability (Dickinson and et. al., 2014). There are some policies made by the Govt. of
Hong Kong which like the low tax policy which can directly affect the hotel and
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customers because prices of the services will be low and qualitative and thus the support
of the Govt. can lead to more attractive offers and customers attraction. Economic:Currency rate of a country plays a major role while making attractive offers
for the customers and from the aspect of the customer, currency rate can affect the
budget of the customer. So the more effective the currency rate, more customers
specially the middle class will be encouraged to visit Hong Kong.
 Technology: In order to promote the hotel and get the knowledge of the hotel specially
its reviews, social media is an effective tool which can reach to the customers from
another countries as well. So that is why it is said that social media is the best and
effective way to promote the business products and services (Dolnicar and Ring, 2014).
Thus by these it can be stated that above explained factors plays a major role in the productivity
and profitability of the company and moreover it also provides the way by which the actual
demands of the customers can be determined and fulfilled so that goals and objectives can be
obtained in effective manner.
1.3 Factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in the travel sector
There are various factors which affects the motivation and demands of customer and they
are described below:
Age: Age is the major factor and a key element of market segmentation in which customers are
divided according to the age and thus products and services are being structure according to the
group. Same age person should be classified into same group so that their needs and wants can
be justified and further there are chances that they will similar kind of tasks and activities
included in holiday packages.
Gender: Services which are offered to the industry should be classified into gender factor. This
can be further explained by the example like a group of male friends going out for holiday will
require different requirement and females group will have another. So this kind of difference can
bring varieties in product.
Disability: No discrimination should be present when it comes to a disable person and all the
facilities should be provided just like to a normal person. There should be additional services
provide to the handicap person so that they should not feel inferior (Gössling, Scott and Hall,
2015).
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Family Life Cycle: Another factor which can affect the choice of holiday Package is the family
choices. Due to the presence of different people with different mind set and age can affect the
decision making of selecting holiday package.
Tourism and Work: Travel Industry services should be time bound and according to that services
and products should be provided so that customers can be satisfied in effectual manner. There are
travellers who travel majorly needs best accommodations and satisfaction regarding services.
This can result in growth of services and the company as well.
1.4 Rule of the market segmentation and its utilization in the market plan
Market segmentation is a process in which market is divided in order to analyse the
market trend and actual needs and wants of the customers so that they can be classified and
satisfied in effective manner (Horner and Swarbrooke, 2016). It is an essential aspect of
marketing planning which can tap their target customers and this process involves three major
steps of target marketing and they are described below:
Step One: The first and major step is to divide the market into simpler parts so that analysation
and determination can be done in ease manner and also they can determine the actual needs and
wants of the customers. Classification can be done on the basis of gender, race, age and demands
and many others. Dividing the market into various distinct groups which may needs the separate
products and this might be obvious that variant products are required because it ain't necessary
that every group will demand for the same product or even similar kind of product. So it may
require different marketing mix from different groups which are divided into market segment.
Step Two: Now it comes to target the market for which the hotel will design the packages. There
are various sectors which will be targetted but before designing its should be analysed and report
should be made on the the groups want and needs. Each segment should be studied and thus
design should be made on the basis of the attractiveness of each segment. It is best to select more
than one segment so that large amount of customers can be attracted towards the packages of
Prudential Hotel.
Step Three: The final step comes of market positioning and developing the position of
competitive market fro the product and services which are being provided by the hotel and thus
applying the appropriate marketing mix will lead to achieve the desired aims and objectives in
effective manner (Mistilis, Buhalis and Gretzel, 2014).
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TASK 2
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing plan
It is an process in which operational and managerial staff of an organisation goes via it so
that implementation of effective marketing strategy can take place. It takes various aspects of
company marketing and promotion into consideration. This kind of process is highly essential
because it aids the Prudential Hotel to maintain their focus on the demands of the customer.
There are various advantages which a firm gets through it and they are described below:
 It helps to determine the idle customers who can be an useful source regarding company.
 Aims and objectives needs to be defined so that determination and study can be done fro
generating revenue.
 It is highly important in making plans and policies so that leading position can be taken
in the competition market and also to gain the sustainable growth and development of
the hotel.
 This not only focus on the external environment but also maintain the internal
environment of the cited company so that outcomes which are expected should be
obtained from the staff members. Modification of plans can be according to the changes
which are taking place in marketplace (Neuhofer, Buhalis and Ladkin, 2014).
 It also helps in determining the customer which needs to be targetted so that their
perception can be changed for making long lasting relationships.
2.2 Relevance of market research in travel and tourism industry
In order to collect data fro analysing the social and current trends in market and
accordingly the activities can be planed and thus can be obtained by the help of marketing
research. This is highly advantageous for the hotel so that they can provide their services to the
customers and thus can establish long lasting relationships and those stages are described below:
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 Defining the Problems: This is related to the determining the actual needs and wants
which directly or indirectly affects the activities Industry and accordingly solutions
should be applied.
 Developing Business Plan: There is research conducted and thus for that it is important
to gather the vital data from appropriate sources so that particular plans can be made for
running of operations in smooth manner. Various tasks are being included in developing
the business plan and they are online tests, surveys and interviews and many other.
 Implementation of Found Data: The data and information which is collected for the
research should contain no error and proper resources should be addressed so that
analysation can take place regarding the data collected. It should be ensured that data
which is being analysed should be reliable in nature so that it can be moved on next stage
(Pike and Page, 2014).
 Interpretation: This is the considered as the last stage of the data analysed because after
all the implementation work, there is need to keep track on the resources and operations
and thus all the required steps should be measured so that at the time of difficult
situations , certain steps can be taken.
2.3 Power of marketing on society
Activities of marketing has high influence on the society. Moreover, it is helpful in
collecting the vital information regarding the goods and services offered by the travel Industry.
 Consumer Protection: Prudential Hotel should also look out for the safety of their social
factors and thus they should regulate all the factors so that customer along with society
members. For that particular act was enforced by the Govt. so that rights of individual
can be protected and also company can acquire the growth and success within market
place.
 Corporate Social Responsibilities: Company has duties towards the social and
economical factor and for that they need to donate some part of their profit to society so
that development can take place and along with that can provide various elements which
can be beneficial for the society and thus in turn helps company to improve their brand
image (Schegg and Stangl, 2017).
 Consumerism: This includes various elements like providing education and efforts to the
employee so that qualitative production can be seen and thus services can be offered by
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company. Another way can be that various plans and policies can be made so that
products can be designed according to the actual needs and wants of the customers and
thus they can be satisfied in effective manner.
 Ethical and Social Responsibilities: It is a process in which the moral approaches which
are aidful in identifying the right and wrong for the society and thus Prudential Hotel are
conducting ethical task so that growth and development can take place in the society as
well as the organisation (Standing, Tang-Taye and Boyer, 2014). Responsibilities should
be determined and analysed by the hotel regarding the social factors and distribute their
profits so that development can take place.
TASK 3
3.1 Issues in product, price and place elements of marketing mix
Marketing mix is on of the essential tool which is used in frequently by the marketers. It
enables the organisation in determining its product or the offer of the brand. These are often
related with four P'S and they are described below:
 Production: It refers to the item which is being sold and thus it should produce
according to the demand of the market place . This is the basic and foremost step of the
company and the major issue which arise in this approach is that what to produce and
whether those elements are produced in that product or not which is used to attract the
customers in large amount. So if the performance is not meeting its minimum level then
even the work will not be considered in effective manner.
 Price: It refers to the value which is being set for the product and it totally depends on
the cost of production, segment which is being targetted and the ability of market. Now
the main issue which arises is to gain the competitive advantage and determining the
ways by which that can be done. Wrong pricing may leads to loss of target market and
the customer so pricing strategies should be effective in nature fro achievement of goals
and objectives (Webster and Ivanov, 2014).
 Promotion: It refers to the process in which all the activities are undertaken for making
the product known to the customers. The main issue which comes in the promotion
approach is that cost involved in marketing and promotion is mostly high according to
the business and even risky because sometimes it does not give output just as expected.
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So in order to get the best in budgeted price, effective strategies needs to be made so that
competitive advantage can be taken and acquire large amount of customers.
 Place: It refers to the point of sale and in every industry it is getting the attraction of the
customer and making them to buy the services. The main issue occurs is the area of the
operations where the Prudential Hotel deals. It may not attract the customer if it is
established in outskirts of the country. So the area of operations is the major concern
point in the marketing mix (Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015).
3.2 Importance of service sector mix elements
Marketing mix common tools are discussed above question and thus they are important
tool in the hand of marketer by which they can ensure that the product or service gets the proper
customers in the marketplace and related to service sector described below: People: People are considered as important part of the marketing mix and they are the
only one behind which the organisation is able to run properly and gaining growth.
Moreover the people are the reason behind the actual production of services and goods
and thus creating the brand image and attracting customers in large manner. This can be
mainly observed in the travel and tourism industry as there are lot of people who are
involved in this sector by providing services to the customers. Physical Evidence: It is a process in which the service is being delivered in an
environment and the place where the organisation and the customer meets and interact
and other tangible elements which facilitate the performance of the communication of
services. There are many examples regarding the physical evidence like buildings,
equipments, brochures, your website and many others.
 Process: It is an approach in which products are being offered with the certain methods.
Methods of handling sales, order procedure and its processing can be proved as essential
element of the marketing mix. Owner and managers should have the detailed knowledge
of the consumers behaviour and others services which are used by them.
3.3 The concept of total tourism product to an individual tourism business
Total tourism products is the package system of an organisation and it is based on target
customers to customise the services for the customers and which include tangible and intangible
things and they are described below:
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 Tangible: All the assets which are visible and can be touched are called as tangible assets.
In travel and tourism, tangible assets can be the products which are provided to the
customers in the services like for an example it can be said that products which are
provided while the accommodations are tangible like for example TV, AC, Bed and
many more. These are the parts of the services provided to the customers for their
maximum satisfaction level. Prudent hotel provide the same kind of tangible products to
their customers in order to provide the best services with maximum satisfaction level.
 Intangible: All the assets which can not be touched and seen are called intangible assets.
In the travel and tourism sector, intangible things are mainly the service which are being
provided to the customers so that they can be satisfied in maximum level. This can be
further explained with the example like environment of the services which are being
provided, behaviour of employees to the customers, free Wi-Fi and many others which
can be used to make customer feel comfortable (Zeng and Gerritsen, 2014).
TASK 4
4.1 Nature and role of Promotional Mix
There are 4 promotional mix techniques which are being used as techniques and they are
described below:
 Direct Marketing: It is a process which can be defined as the paid form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of idea and thoughts by a known sponsor. The most essential
element is the advertisement which effects an promotion tries to by directly
communicating with the consumers regarding purchasing it.
 Sales Promotion: it is an approach in which short term tools and techniques are being
used so that customers can be attracted towards the product and thus make them buy the
product. These are important because it gives effect on short term sales and they help
company to gain the competitive advantage.
 Personal Selling: personal selling is tool in which products are being sold personally.
This involves the interactions face to face between the buyer and seller with the motive of
selling. The main motive behind this kind of approach is to provide the customer
satisfaction in maximum level so that long lasting relationships can be created.
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 Public Relations: It is considered as n essential tool which helps to maintain the relations
with the people. The main motive behind creating good relations with public is to create
the goodwill and brand image and that is what the Prudential Hotel is trying to achieve.
Public relations include shareholders, suppliers, intermediaries, consumers and many
more.
4.2 Planning of promotional campaign for a travel and tourism business
In today's era, business process is very intense competition so an organisation will
integrate some promotion mix into some effective Idea in order to tap in lure the business
effective. Social media is aidful in products reaching to their customers and this is an essential
factor which helps in creating brand image for the company so that growth and development can
be obtained.
Social media crusades involve product advertisement via various ways like You Tube,
emails, Facebook and Twitter and other social media trends. All these are methods which are
effective tools utilised for promotions of the services provided by the Provident Hotel and
moreover it is aidful to improve and expand the business operations and attain the defined goals
and objectives resulting in growth of firms (Marketing In Travel And Tourism Industry. 2017).
Tools and techniques which are being used fro promotion are unique and most effective
and thus in results it shows the results by attracting large amount of customers. In today's era,
world and people are changing and are most active on social media and thus they can know
about products and services of the company. Therefore it can be stated that social media is one of
the most effective ways of the promotional techniques.
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