Strategic Marketing Planning for Travel and Tourism: Thomas Cook

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing strategies within the travel and tourism sector, using Thomas Cook as a case study. It explores core marketing concepts, the impact of the marketing environment, and factors influencing consumer motivation and demand. The report delves into market segmentation principles and their application in marketing planning, emphasizing the importance of strategic marketing planning for travel and tourism businesses. It also examines the relevance of market research, the influence of marketing on society, and the integrated nature of the promotional mix, culminating in a discussion of promotional campaigns. The report highlights the need for businesses to understand consumer behavior, adapt to market changes, and employ effective marketing strategies to achieve success. The report also touches upon the application of the product life cycle and Ansoff Matrix as strategic tools.

Travel Tourism Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Core concept of marketing in travel and tourism sector.......................................................3
1.2 Impact of marketing environment.........................................................................................4
1.3 Factors affection consumer motivation and demand in travel and tourism..........................4
1.4 Principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing planning................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and tourism business.......5
2.2 Relevance of market research and market information to managers....................................6
2.3 Influence of marketing in society..........................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Covered in PPT...........................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Integrated nature of promotional mix...................................................................................7
4.2 Promotional campaign for the travel and tourism sector......................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is necessary in every sector whether it is travel or tourism or in retail sector as
it helps in promoting the products and services or different tourists destinations which assist in
attracting large number of consumers so that they can generate more revenue. In attaining the
success of the tourism business, all the things depends on the marketing experts so that they can
link to the potential consumers by providing the best products and services(Dahl, Eagle and
Ebrahimjee, 2013). Marketing for travel and tourism, the employees of the company have to do
proper and appropriate operations which includes the designing of the advertisement as well as
different promotional offers which helps in drawing or attracting best consumers towards a
business related to travel and tourism. The present report is based on Thomas Cook which is a
British global travel company and provide the best services to the consumers. This company is
listed under the London Stock Exchange. In the below mentioned report, discussion based upon
the core marketing concept under the travel and tourism sector. Along with this different factors
which affect the consumer motivation along with the demand in the sector related to travel and
tourism has to be discussed.
TASK 1
1.1 Core concept of marketing in travel and tourism sector
In the travel and tourism sector, marketing is important as it helps in promoting the
different tourist destinations. Marketing orientation is a business model which helps in focusing
on delivering the products and services and that are made by the company according to the needs
and wants of the consumers which denotes the product functionality as well as product
efficiency. The employees of Thomas Cook have to use the appropriate exchange process which
helps them in providing the facilities as well as accommodation according to the needs and wants
(Dill and Mohr, 2010). They have to deliver the services at the reasonable and affordable price
which helps in providing or fulfilling the satisfaction level of tourists. The employees of Thomas
Cook have to maintain the public relations, at the time selling as well as marketing of the
services which they are offering to the consumers they have to maintain good relation which is
necessary (Sorensen and et. al., 2011). It assist in raising the loyalty of visitors towards the firm.
When consumer of Thomas Cook has the wants and they are willing to pay for that then this will
converts into demand and according to that they can expand the consumer base.

1.2 Impact of marketing environment
Marketing environment refers to the distinctive factors along with the forces that affect a
firm's ability so that they can build as well as maintain the successful relationships with the
consumers. Micro environment is the immediate of the small scale environment of the
organisation as it is a part of the organism as it is a distinct part of a larger environment. They
have to use upgraded technology while providing and offering the services to them. They have to
develop the different tourist destination and on that places they have to provide the correct
facilities so that they can attain the success and generate more revenue. In Egypt, the challenges
occur in front of tourist due the differences whether it is political or cultural. The employees of
Thomas Cook have to create positive and best environment for tourists (Kandil, 2015). But on
the other side, Morocco is a safe country but in this country tourists face so many difficulties due
to the attack which was done by terrorists. So, at a time of marketing they have to do the
protection of the visitors whether their health or any type of attacks so that they can not face any
issues and by that Thomas Cook can improve the performance in the market.
Micro environment
Micro environment have the direct impact on the operations of an organisation and to
make it success. While making the strategies it is important to have the analysis about the micro
environment as they are directly impact on it.
 Customers:- All the business needs to have an good customers connected with them
which would make them to earn. The organisation should be an customer oriented. The
plans for the marketing purpose that should be mainly aimed to the customers.
 Employees:- In an organisation it is important to have an skilled people working over
their which will make them achieve an proper amount of success which they are needed.
 Suppliers:- The behaviour of an buyer is directly have an impact on the business which
they do.

Macro environment
These factors does not affect directly to the business but some of the things make some
kind of effects to them.
 Economic:- it is an external factor, but this make affect on the business mainly form the
outer side.
 Political:- it is little difficult to for the business to take care about all the societies and to
their different structures.
 Technological changes:- It plays an important role as it is necessary to be upgraded in
today world as their an many change have to done by the time other wise it would make
problematic for the organisation.

1.3 Factors affection consumer motivation and demand in travel and tourism
In the industry of travel and tourism they have to make appropriate plans so that they can
fulfil the demands of the consumers. The manager of Thomas Cook have to provide the
motivation to their employees so that they can provide the best services to their visitors (Nguyet,
2011). There are various factors which affect the consumer motivation along with the demand of
the consumers are:
Purpose: The purpose for travel is the main reason which is to be considered by the tourism
industry so that they can evaluate as well as analyse the travel pattern of the consumers.
Internet: The extensive use of the Internet has made by the consumers which having a wide
variety of the options so that they can provide the best possible offers so that they can attain the
success in the competitive market.
Safety and health: They have to provide the proper health and safety to their consumers. They
have to provide the affordable services so that they can attain the goals and objectives. They
have to attain the best experience and share with everyone which help in improving the
performance in market.
Consumer markets: It helps in pertaining to the buyers who purchase the goods and services for
consumption rather than resale. The employees of the business entity have to provide the

motivation and also provide proper facilities to them which will help company in reaping the
success and generate more revenue. The staff members of Thomas Cook have to keep in mind
the behaviour of consumers as it is the study of how people can make the decisions about what
they buy, needs and wants and in regards to a products and services of a company. The manager
of the business entity have to upload some experiences of the different visitors on the company's
website which help them in making the correct decision by seeing the reviews. The employees
have to take the feedback from the consumers that services which they are providing to them
from that they are satisfied or not which helps Thomas Cook in attracting large number of
consumers.
1.4 Principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing planning
Market segmentation refer to as the process which helps in dividing the entire market into
different number of customers. The basic purpose of use this approach is just to identify the
nature of different number of customers and their needs. Hence, through this function all work
become easy to done (Mirvahedi, 2014).
In travel and tourism sector market is divided in people who have different level of in
come. So an organisation have to use such techniques and planning which aid them in attracting
different group of customers in an appropriate manner.
According to the principle of market segmentation the market is divided into number of
groups where they divide all of their customers into divisions. Hence the segmentation have
different number of process which are as follow:
Demographic: By consulting this approach market is divided among on the basis of
different age group, person occupation etc.(Nguyen and Nguyen, 2011). This is helpful just for
the purpose to differentiate them and make packages according to them.
Operating consideration: It refer to as the technologies which are use in operating all the
projects in a proper and significant manner. Hence, Thomas cook have to use all the principle of
market segmentation through which they can provide effective services to their clients. It enables
them to operate their business so all objectives get archived.

TASK 2
2.1 Importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and tourism business
Strategic marketing planning is the process which helps in doing the operational as well
as managerial staff so that they can create the effective marketing strategies. It helps the
company in doing the appropriate promotion of the products and services. This marketing
planning help Thomas Cook in expanding the growth as well as reaping the success in the
competitive market. This strategic marketing planning helps in identifying the direction so that
they can make the plans on the basis of that and attain the goals. Along with this they can divide
the work in the small segments so that the employees along with the managers of Thomas Cook
can achieve the targets(Nguyen and Nguyen, 2011). The staff members have to forecast the
business activities which helps in focusing the goals and objectives which are pre-decided by the
owners of the firm. For doing the strategic planning by the employees of Thomas Cook, it
requires the good knowledge along with the skills so that they can target the market and on the
basis of that they have to provide the best facilities in the different tourist destination whether it
is Morocco or Egypt (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2012). The employees of Thomas Cook have to put
more efforts along with the time which helps in improving the performance and productivity.
The employees of Thomas Cook have to use concept of product life cycle so that they can
manage the work or providing the services accordingly. This model is classified into four stages
which includes market introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage as well as decline stage.
In the introduction stage the size of market, sales of the company along with the sales growth are
small. In the growth stage, Thomas Cook have to build the brand loyalty by providing the best
services and on the basis of that they have to expand the market share. In the maturity stage,
when the merchandise of Thomas Cook reach to maturity then sales growth of the firm
decreases. This stage help them in generating more revenue. In the declining stage, when
products and services into this stage then sales and profits start to fall and also assist in reducing
the amount of profit which is available to Thomas Cook in the industry.
Another strategic tool which they can use is Ansoff Matrix which help Thomas Cook in
determining the products and market growth strategy. This matrix is classified into four parts that
is:

Market penetration: It helps the firm in maintaining the market share of the current products
which can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising as well as
sales promotion by using proper resources.
Product development: It is a strategy where the business aims to introduce the new products into
the existing markets. It assist in attaining success by the research and development along with the
innovation.
Market development: It is a growth strategy where the business sells its existing product in the
new product. It is helpful in the new geographical markets as well as new product dimensions or
packaging.
Diversification: This strategy is used where business markets sell new products in the new
markets and this strategy is very risky in nature.
2.2 Relevance of market research and market information to managers
Marketing research is a important and essential tool which helps in identifying and
analysing the needs and wants of the consumers. They have to provide the appropriate services
which helps in fulling the needs and desires so that they can not face any issues in attaining the
goals and objectives. The employees of Thomas Cook have to make proper plans so that they can
do proper and appropriate functioning which helps in managing the cost and by that they can
attract large number of consumers. By conducting the research they have to collect or gather the
accurate data and have to use that in developing the products and services which helps in hinder
the growth of the business. All the information which is collected to be analysed as well as
interpreted so that they can draw the appropriate conclusion. Activity related to marketing
research helps in making the correct decision and on the basis of that the employees of Thomas
Cook can devise the different marketing strategies. Managers of the company use the appropriate
process and according to that they can collect the information and provide the services to visitors
so that they can attain the targets (Nguyen, and Nguyen, 2014).
2.3 Influence of marketing in society
Marketing as well as society are to be work in the same place and the employees of the
firm can not do marketing without the assistance of the society. Marketing is a process which
helps in managing all the business activities and it includes the forecasting, identifying along
with the different ways which they can use in fulfilling the needs and wants as well as desires of
the consumers. there are distinctive tools and techniques of the marketing which includes

advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion along with the public relation. By doing the
marketing and in that they have to adopt or choose the effective communication channels so that
they can maintain the relation between the consumers and employees (Nguyen, 2015). By doing
the marketing they can create the brand image as well as awareness of the different tourist
destination. The employees of Thomas Cook have to put proper efforts in developing or
improving the places for the visitors and also have to provide the appropriate facilities to them so
that they can not face any obstacles. They have to advertisements on newspapers along with the
magazines. They can also do the promotion on the different social networking sites by uploading
the images and videos.
The employees of Thomas Cook have to fulfil the social responsibility as well as ethics.
Social responsibility is an ethical theory in which individual person are accountable and they
have to fulfil their civic duty along with the actions of the consumers which helps in attaining the
maximum benefits for the society. Moreover, it helps in doing the proper balance between the
economic growth as well as welfare of society and environment. In the society, marketing have
negative as well as positive impact. The negative impact is that they are passed from the
subsistence company to a trade economy as they having a challenge of marketing the products
and services to others. It they want to increase their business then they have to provide the
services at a low price but they are providing at a high price. The positive impact is to use
updated technology which is directly related to sales of these items as well as they have to use
the downward pricing which is caused by promotion of computers, cell phones etc.

TASK 3
Covered in PPT

Notes:Product: They can provide the tangible as well as intangible merchandise and services to
their consumers. They have to use appropriate strategy so that they can make the decisions.

Notes: Place:If Thomas Cook is select the right market then they have the chance of increasing
the sales.
Notes: The employees have to do different type of marketing whether it is internal or interactive.
Internal marketing is a ongoing process which helps the firm in doing the proper functions so

that they can motivate as well as encourage the employees at all the management levels which
succour in earning or delivering the best consumer experience.

Notes: The concept of service marketing mix includes the qualitative services which is provided
by them to their service users so that Thomas Cook accomplish the success in the competitive
market.
Notes: It includes the distinctive merchandise as well as services other than travelling which
includes the accommodation, site seeing tours, recreational activities as well as sports and leisure
activities. Travel and tourism industry helps in focusing the needs and wants as well as desires of
the consumers and they have to provide the services on the basis of that so that employees of
Thomas Cook can improve the performance.

Notes: Moreover, Thomas Cook is providing high class along with the superior services so that
they can maintain the privacy throughout the whole world. Along with this employees of
Thomas Cook have to take care as well as protect the health and safety of their consumers.

TASK 4
4.1 Integrated nature of promotional mix
Promotional mix is a term which helps in describing as well as determining the set of
tools which helps them in doing the proper and appropriate communication and on the basis of
that they can develop the products and services along with the different tourist destination to the
consumers. This promotional mix is a combination of the different packages of the distinctive
tools and techniques which is used by the employees of Thomas Cook which assist in increasing
the market share. To do advertising they can use sales promotion, advertising and personal
selling. It helps them in conducting the summer holiday tour in Egypt and Morocco. Some
factors which are covered in promotional mix includes:
Personal selling: The employees of travel and tourism sector have to provide the best
products and services which helps in doing the traditional selling of the products and services.
They have to do effective communication with the consumers so that they can sell the products
and services. This tool is very effective in nature.
Sales promotion: It is a tool which helps in doing the public place so that they can give
their best performance on the internet. It helps in increasing the sales as well as increasing in the
number of consumers for the firm.

Public relations: The employees have to maintain the relations with the public and
provide the best services in the different tourist destinations. It helps in creating the positive
image among the consumers and also assist in increasing the name of Thomas Cook in the
competitive market (Concept And Meaning Of Tourism Product, 2017).
4.2 Promotional campaign for the travel and tourism sector
The managers as well as employees of Thomas Cook have to make a proper plans for the
summer holiday for Egypt and Morocco and for that they have to make best promotional
campaign which helps in attracting large number of consumers by using the suitable method.
Some are:
Advertising and public relations: The employees of Thomas Cook have to target the
service users and for that they have to do proper advertising of the tourist destination. Along with
this they have to use effective communication channel so that they can provide correct
information to them(Standing, Tang-Taye and Boyer, 2014). The company have to target the
college students for these tourist destinations as these destinations having historical places and
contemporary trends.
Sales promotion and personal selling: They can use sales promotion and personal selling
also as it helps in creating the awareness about the different tourist destination and on the basis
of that they can attract large consumers.
The employees of Thomas Cook have to use appropriate communication channel which helps in
providing the correct and appropriate information about the places of Morocco and Egypt. They
have to determine the objectives and in each trip they have to use approx 150 tour members
which helps in attaining the advantage and on the basis of that the managers can increase the
investments. Along with this they can use proper tool of promotional mix so that they can focus
on the promotions of tourist destinations so that they can boost their visitors by using social
media. They can use Facebook, Twitter etc.(7 Ways to Create a Successful Integrated Marketing
Campaign, 2017). which helps in raising the awareness of the different places so that they can
increase the profits.
CONCLUSION
From the above carried out analysis it has been interpreted that marketing is important as
well as necessary in promoting the different tourist destination whether it is Egypt or Morocco.

The employees of Thomas Cook have to use appropriate tools and techniques so that they can do
the proper promotion of tourist destination. The staff members have to provide the tour packages
according to the needs and wants of the consumers this will help them in attracting large number
of service users and on the basis of that Thomas Cook can increase the sales and generate more
revenue.

REFERENCES
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Online
7 Ways to Create a Successful Integrated Marketing Campaign. 2017. [Online] Available
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Concept And Meaning Of Tourism Product. 2017. [Online] Available Through
<http://marketinglord.blogspot.in/2012/10/concept-and-meaning-of-tourism-
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