Comprehensive Marketing Report: Thomas Cook Travel and Tourism

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing within the travel and tourism industry, using Thomas Cook as a focal point. It explores various marketing concepts such as production, product, social and selling concepts, alongside an analysis of customer needs, wants, and demands. The report examines the impact of the marketing environment, including micro and macro factors, and their influence on customer behavior and decision-making processes. Furthermore, it investigates the role of market segmentation, promotional mixes, and strategic marketing planning, with specific examples related to Thomas Cook's operations in Morocco and Egypt. The report also covers the influence of marketing on society and concludes with recommendations for effective marketing strategies in the travel and tourism sector. The report analyzes the impact of micro and macro environments, customer behavior, and economic conditions on the travel and tourism sector, with a focus on Thomas Cook's marketing strategies for destinations like Morocco and Egypt. The report also examines the integrated nature and role of the promotional mix and the integrated promotional campaign of Thomas Cook for the Morocco and Egypt.

MARKETING IN
TRAVEL AND TOURISM

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................3
TASK 1................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Core concept of marketing...................................................................................3
1.2 Impact of marketing environment........................................................................6
1.3 Factors affecting customer's demand and motivation...........................................8
1.4 Principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing.............................10
Task 2.................................................................................................................................11
2.1: Thomas Cook strategic marketing planning for Morocco and Egypt ..............11
2.2: Relevance of marketing research and marketing information to Thomas Cook
managers...................................................................................................................12
2.3: The influence of Thomas Cook marketing on society.......................................13
TASK 3..............................................................................................................................15
3.1: Covered in PPT..................................................................................................15
3.2: Covered in PPT .................................................................................................15
3.3: Covered in PPT..................................................................................................15
Task 4.................................................................................................................................15
4.1: The integrated nature and role of the promotional mix.....................................15
4.2: The integrated promotional campaign of Thomas Cook for the Morocco and
Egypt.........................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................................................................17
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Thomas Cook is UK based travel and tourism agency which has a large network
all across the globe. Thomas Cook is using ample of marketing strategies to stretch their
business and for the sake of more expansion of their travel and tourism services. As they
have already an important name in their area so they are looking to adopt marketing
strategies for two distinct destination Morocco and Egypt. Thomas Cook is planning to
launch a summer holiday trip to Morocco and Egypt. For making their launch more
effective Thomas Cook is using various marketing strategies by understanding the fact
that travel and tourism industry needs marketing strategies in order to attract more and
more people towards them. The service launched by Thomas Cook agency consists with
the concepts of marketing and also, they are getting help from the various marketing tools
such as marketing mix and promotional mix.
TASK 1
1.1 Core concept of marketing
The process of marketing revolves around some core concepts, which are;
a) Marketing Concepts:
These are the concepts which are used by the organization to meet the customer's
need, demand. These are further used to maximize the profit and to increase the sales.
There are 5 basic concepts of marketing which are described as follows;

 Production concept- This is one of the oldest concept, which is used in marketing.
The focus of this concept is to produce a product which is favoured by the
consumers (Buhalis and Foerste 2015). The product should be of the highest
quality and very easily affordable.
 Product concept- the main part of this concept is the product quality and
improvement in the existing product. This concept tells that consumer will only
buy that product which offers high quality, innovative features and high
performance.
 Social Marketing concept- the marketing should be done on various social
networking mediums. It is the easiest way to reach and to interact with the
consumers.
 Marketing concept- this focuses on achieving the goals set by the company and to
know the needs of the consumers.
 Selling concept- the idea of this concept is that to put extra effort in the promotion
of the product, so that the consumer will buy enough products.
b) Wants:
Illustration 1: Core concept of marketing
(Source: Core concept of marketing, 2017)

The main desire of the consumer is that the tour should be enjoyable, adventurous
and should have memorable experience. This desire is always arises from the needs of the
consumers.
c) Needs:
The needs can be related to either psychological or security. At the time of
travelling, the basic need is proper accommodation, quality food and transport facility
(Xiang, Magnini and Fesenmaier, 2015). The other needs would be the time which will
be allotted in travelling should be less and the stay on the place should be more.
d) Demands:
This occurs when the consumer has more needs, because it happens when he is
able to pay any amount of money for the services. In tours, they will demand for local
food or sometimes more security.
e) Products:
These can be anything which are fulfilling needs and wants.
f) Market:
This is not only related to the physical appearance of place, but it also includes the
person with their contact. Where the customers are and their detailed information.
Some core elements:
Thomas Cook can also design some attractive travel offers which will attract more
number of consumers. One concept is that they should offer such kind of services for
which the consumers are willing to pay. One example is that the economic class
consumers wants the travel budget to be in their limits, so the company have to offer
those special offers which will attract economic class consumers more.
Marketing offer: The offers which are offered by the organization in respect to
the products and services which are according to the demands and needs of consumers
and having high quality. Thomas Cook can design some customized travel packages
which are as per the needs of consumers.
Customer satisfaction: The company have to make sure that all the customer's are
getting satisfied by the travel offers and their prices. The values of such kind of services
provided by the company ca be determined by observing the job satisfaction of the
company.

Exchanges, transactions and relationship: The consumer have to pay the money
which is asked by the company. It is essential that the consumer should pay money to
money, means they have to pay more, if Thomas Cook is offering customized travel
packages as per the demands of consumers.
Changing emphasis of market: The market is having different consumers with
different view points. Thomas Cook is providing the services, which are valuable in the
domestic market as well as international market. The threats and opportunities must be
analysed in order to make effective decision. In Morocco and Egypt, there is a huge threat
of terrorist, so the company have to make their packages and plan by keeping all the
things into consideration.
Examples: Thomas cook is offering various tour packages of Egypt and Morocco
to fulfil the needs of the travellers. They are providing quality food at proper time for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. The transport facilities are also high class so that the comfort
level of the consumers is maintained. This is based as per the local region like camel
safari at desert area etc. Their holiday packages are developed with the facility of
insurance, like car accident or adventure tour insurance. Their offers developed are
having destinations and adventures activities.
Egypt: Sharm el-Sheih is one of the most popular attraction with opening at Red Sea.
Here you can enjoy the sun and the beaches. If you are an active person Sharm el-Sheih is
perfect for scuba diving.
Morocco: Marrakech is the perfect place for a sunny holiday because here the
temperature never goes under 28 degrees and the rain is very rare. Here also you can see
the Mosque Koutoubia.
1.2 Impact of marketing environment
a) Micro Environment
 Customers- the main impact of marketing is totally depended on the needs, wants
and the demand of the consumers. Sometimes it can happen that the consumer
wants more days of tour in less amount of money. This will impact the plans and
places which are already fixed.
 Suppliers- Thomas Cook is providing the facilities like accommodation, transport
and food facilities in their plan. If the supplier is providing the quality services

then they will gain the trust of the customers and more consumers will get
attracted towards their services.
 Competitors- Thomas Cook must aware of the competition and their competitors.
They will able to know what plans they are offering. This will help in organizing
their trips more economic and less expensive.
b) Macro environment
This can be easily understood by doing PESTLE analysis.
 Politics- The local government rules, regulation and policies can affect the
business (Hudson and Thal, 2013). The policies which are related to
securities, because for security purposes, Thomas Cook offers their
personal health and care insurance for each individual during the tour.
 Economic- Some economic conditions like bank and interest rates have
major effect on tourism. If the interest rates are high, the number of
consumer will be reduced and this can cause the loss in business to
Thomas Cook.
 Social- The local area and their social culture can also affect the tour. It
may happen that local people will not allow the customers to visit certain
part of the country where they want to go. This will put negative impact on
Thomas Cook.
 Technological- Thomas Cook must provide all the advanced technological
facilities, like TV in buses and free Wi-Fi facilities. This will attract more
number of consumers as they will always remain connected to the rest of
the world with the help of social media.
 Legal- Thomas Cook have to make sure that they will get all the legal
form and permission before travelling, so that while travelling, the
consumer will not suffer.
 Environmental and destinations- Thomas Cook must ensure that in their
tour, they are not doing any environmental damage. The destinations they
are offering must be environment-friendly, having a good view of nature
without pollution.

Demography- This is another external factor which can affect the business. Thomas Cook
should know the demographic trends which are present (Oromendía, Paz and Rufín,
2015), because this will cause the change in demand for the consumers and Thomas Cook
will have to change the entire plan.
Examples: The best example is their flexible tours of Egypt and Morocco. If the
consumer wants 6 days tour rather than 4 days, and they also want that all the natural
places should be covered, then it will direct impact the changes in their offers. If the
suppliers are giving the best quality services then Thomas Cook will be able to gain the
trust of their customers.
1.3 Factors affecting customer's demand and motivation
This can be understood by the change in customer behaviour, the models of
behaviour, their decision-making process etc.
a) Models of behaviour
There are 2 main models which can change the demand of the consumer.
I. Economic Man Model- this model is based on the maximum utility to the diminishing
marginal utility. This is based on some effects
 Price- if the product is having lower price, number of buyers will be more.
 Substitution effect- if the other substitute product is having lower price,
then the number of buyers for the original product will be less.
 Income effect- if the customer is having more money, the quantity of
buyer will be more.
II. Sociological Model- Customer is the element of society. So, his purchasing behaviour
is totally dependent on the environment of the society.
b) Decision making process
The decision making involves basic steps like
Desire to travel
Search of information
Selection of alternatives
Evaluation of alternatives
Take decision
Evaluate the decision

c) Buyer behaviour
This can also be referred as the ability of the consumers to buy the services
offered by Thomas Cook. The company have to ensure that the services should be under
the purchasing capabilities of the consumer. The firm has divided the base of consumers
according to their purchasing capacity, so that they will gain fruitful outcomes.
d) Personal preferences
This can be the personal likes, dislikes and their values etc. These can also play an
integral role while purchasing the services. Some consumer wants cruise to travel Egypt
and Morocco, so Thomas Cook have to make sure that they offer such kind of services
also, so that it will attract more number of consumers.
e) Consumer's value chain
The value chain is dependent on the quality services offered by Thomas Cook. If
the services can satisfy the consumer, then they will pass this information to other people
and so on, and the chain will keep on increasing resulting in the profit of business
(Schroeder and et.al., 2016). But if the services are not up to the mark, this will put the
negative impression and the business will be in loss, because less number of consumer
will be there to travel with Thomas Cook.
f) Economic conditions
The current economic conditions of market will also put an impact on the
purchasing decisions of the consumers. There was an increase in the disposable income of
UK citizen, so the individuals are able to spend more on the travel activities, this will
increase the sales of the company.
g) Consumer's value and satisfaction
Thomas Cook is providing the services which are based on the ethical and social
values of the consumer. They are offering quality packages and that too in economical
range. It will be helpful in the decision-making process of the consumers. This kind of
offers will certainly increase the consumer satisfaction.
Examples: According to the culture, Thomas cook is allowing Muslim people to
visit Hassan II and Koutoubia mosque, so that they can worship there. Social factor will
be dependent on the group of people who have visited Thomas Cook. The way they will

describe the services will have a high impact on other people. As for the personal factor,
if anyone wants to know the history of Egypt in more detail, then the company is
providing these services so that the consumers remain satisfied.
1.4 Principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing
Segmentation is strategy which categorize the broad market in smaller portions or
segments. There are few types of segmentation, like;
 Demographic segmentation, which is according to the age, family etc.
 Psycho-graphic segmentation, will include the present life style and area
of interest of the consumers
 Geographic segmentation, includes the particular region or country.
 Behavioural segmentation, is based on behaviour and the decision-making
processes of the consumers.
Marketing process is a vast process which includes some steps like strategy development,
tactical development, situational awareness, setting of objectives, actions and controls etc.
Thomas Cook uses segmentation, so that they can target the consumers according to their
age, gender, lifestyle, country etc. This process will help the organization to understand
the wants and needs of the consumers (Hays, Page and Buhalis, 2013). This will help in
making the plans which are the best for Egypt and Morocco tours. Another thing is the
strategy of marketing the tour, which will be done according to the segmentation.
Planning the tour for students, Thomas Cook is offering summer holiday packages which
will include educational places like museum and historical places for those students who
are interested in this. If they consider the factor of age and gender, then the people of age
in between 18-28 wants the packages which are more exciting and adventurous.
According to that, Thomas Cook can plan the tour by including various tours activities
like river rafting, mount climbing, paragliding etc. The best way of planning the tour for
people is to combine the market segmentation and marketing planning. Thomas Cook has
done that and are offering the tour packages for every type of people or group,
irrespective of their age, gender or country.
Examples: Thomas Cook will plan summer holidays packages which will include
all the educational places like museums and other places. Further, the packages are
provided based on the age and gender of the people. Like people from 18-26 years of age

want packages which are more adventurous, so Thomas cook will provide according to
that.
Task 2
2.1: Thomas Cook strategic marketing planning for Morocco and Egypt
Strategic marketing planning will surely be considered as a powerful tool for the
Thomas cook agency for launching their new holiday packages. Strategic planning will
provide them a conglomerate of clear marketing goals and various strategies to achieve
all of them. Before making the final strategic plan as an assistant manager I would
suggest that they should carrying out there marketing planning by keeping various factor
in their mind such as the environment of Morocco and Egypt, their target customer,
agencies network in these destinations, price and package plan and so on. The SOSTAC
model will be very effective for Thomas Cook to carry out the beneficial results out of
the strategic plan (Han and Hyun, 2015).
Situation analysis- A proper analysis of the current situation of the business will
clear the strategic path for the Thomas cook agency. There are various techniques
available for the situation analysis such as PESTLE and SWOT which will clarify their
present market, financial and economic conditions in order to making appropriate
decision regarding their summer holiday service package for Morocco and Egypt (Eid
and El-Gohary, 2015)
Objective setting- The agency has to set the objectives about what result they
want out of these offered package, and how much customer they want to make the trip
successful. Setting the objectives will helps the Thomas Cook to understand their goals
and objectives and they can make a prudent strategy out of it (Wu and et.al 2016).
Strategy development- After the objectives are set Thomas Cook have to look
upon making or developing the strategies which can be properly align with the set
objectives and goals. Strategy should be innovative and efficient enough to attract more
number of customer towards their planned holiday package (de Grosbois, 2016).
Tactical development- Collection of the required information is required for the
proper strategy planning. Thomas cook needs to know about the priority of the customers,
services for which target customer are looking for and so on (Zeng and Gerritsen, 2014).

Action and control- Thomas Cook have to take certain actions such as agreement
with the airlines and hotels and proper control over that by getting know that customer
are having the quality services or not (Eid, 2015).
The SOSTAC strategic marketing plan will be very important for Thomas cook as:
 It focused on deciding beneficial strategies and objectives
 The Employee of Thomas cook agency will get to know their roles and
responsibility
 Allocation of the resources will be in appropriate manner
 Tourist well are will be on the priority
2.2: Relevance of marketing research and marketing information to Thomas Cook
managers
Marketing research and information are considered as two different pillars for
Thomas cook managers to understand the potential of the new launch service (Gordon,
2015). The proper way of marketing research and information for Thomas cook describe
below:
 Thomas Cook needs to examine the problem area first which they are facing while
preparing the holiday package for Morocco and Egypt
 The agency needs to set the objectives and goals after the identifying the problem
 Then there is requirement to forming a research plan which will include the
potential of the package, target customer, services which need to provide and so
on
 After the research plan is complete than there is a need to collection of the
information on the basis of the research plan
 The collected information needs to be analysed by the use of marketing
techniques and tools
 The analysis will provide the findings to Thomas cook which will be helpful in
forming the appropriate strategy (Mistilis, Buhalis and Gretzel, 2014)
Thomas Cook can make their strategic planning more effective by using tourism
information system, as it will provide them related and interdependent information
channels. These channels can be target destination promotional message, regional tourist
association, travel information centres, Brochures and signs and so on. This information's