Marketing in Travel and Tourism: Thomson Summer Deals

This report delves into the core concepts of marketing within the travel and tourism sector, examining factors such as consumer motivation, market segmentation, and the impact of the marketing environment. It uses Thomson travel agency's Summer Deals for Spain and Turkey as a case study, analyzing the principles of market segmentation, the role of marketing research, and the influence of marketing on society. The report further explores the marketing mix elements (product, price, place, and promotion), including the service sector mix and the concept of the total tourism product. It also assesses the integrated nature of the promotional mix and plans a promotional campaign for Thomson's Summer Deals, offering a comprehensive overview of marketing strategies in the travel and tourism industry.

MARKETING IN TRAVEL
AND TOURISM
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................4
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA....................................................................4
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Discuss the core concepts of marketing for the travel and tourism sector..........................................4
1.2 Assess the impact of the marketing environment on individual travel and tourism businesses such
as Thomson and tourist destinations with reference to Turkey and Spain................................................6
1.3 Discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in the travel and tourism sector......7
1.4 Analyse the principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing planning at Thomson.......8
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................9
LO 2 UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF MARKETING AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL IN TRAVEL
AND TOURISM............................................................................................................................................9
2.1 Analyse the importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and tourism business
(Thomson) or tourist destination (either Turkey or Spain)........................................................................9
2.2 Discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to managers in the travel and
tourism sector with reference to Thomson..............................................................................................12
2.3 Assess the influence of marketing on society....................................................................................13
TASK 3........................................................................................................................................................15
LO3. TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF THE MARKETING MIX IN THE TRAVEL AND
TOURISM SECTOR...................................................................................................................................15
3.1 Discuss issues in the product, price and place elements of the marketing mix with reference to
Thomson Summer Deals 2019 to Spain and Turkey...............................................................................15
3.2 Assess the importance of service sector mix elements to the travel sector.......................................16
3.3 Apply the concept of the total tourism product to an individual tourism business such as Thomson
.................................................................................................................................................................17
TASK 4........................................................................................................................................................18
LO4 BE ABLE TO USE THE PROMOTIONAL MIX IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM...........................18
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.........................................................................................................................18
4.1 Assess the integrated nature and role of the promotional mix...........................................................19
4.2 Plan and justify an integrated promotional campaign for Thomson Summer Deals 2019 holidays. 19
Justifying a combined travel and tourism promotional campaign..........................................................21
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................22
Reference List..............................................................................................................................................23
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INTRODUCTION
The travel and tourism industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industry along with
hospitality industry. Though the sector consists of some fundamental and traditional elements of
operating and functioning over the years, there is immense number of advanced and newly
researched strategies added to the existing procedure. The eminent sectors of travel and tourism
industry, such as marketing strategies, operational and functional departments, advanced
resources and networking and knowing customer demands are required for improvement. In this
scenario, the Thomson travel agency has been selected in order to provide the case study with an
in-depth and comparably specific understanding of the tools and technique. The practical field of
travel and tourism sector has been explained based on the package of Thomson Summer deal
(2019) for Spain and Turkey.
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
TASK 1
LO 1. UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF
MARKETING IN THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR
1.1 Discuss the core concepts of marketing for the travel and tourism sector
The components of marketing are a vast field in travel and tourism industry. In the
opinion of Webster and Ivanovo (2014, p.137), there are core concepts involved in marketing
strategies. The main purpose of incorporating such strategies is meeting customer demands and
knowing consumer trends. The consumer trend is a constantly changing factor that has been
taking over the industry, in the recent years. The marketing principles and concepts basically
refers to the trading or exchanging of goods and services in terms of value or finance to fulfil or
satisfy the definite needs. Some of the core concepts in marketing are the macro and the micro
factors in business. These factors refer to the emerging marketing or business environment,
which has a large impact in the overall business growth. The factors can also be external or
internal, that affects the business environment by brushing the operations and functions taking
place in a company. Moreover, the above-mentioned principles and concepts are responsible for
the changes in the core decision making and working style of the functional department. In brief,
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the concepts in marketing also includes, consumer value, corporate social responsibilities (CSR),
employee consumer relationship, integrated marketing, which play significant role in the travel
sector.
According to Kotler and Armstrong, marketing is a social process that helps an
organisation to handle the wellbeing and growth of a business entity. It is a process that will
include various operations to promote the services and high-quality products and services. The
major concepts of the marketing within a tour and travelling firm involves the different factors
which will help an organisation to handle the different marketing activity that will help in
meeting of marketing needs and demands in a better way. The core ideology of marketing in
tours and tourism involves:
 Assessment of customers’ needs and demands: a good assessment of customer needs
and demands will help a travel and tourism entity like Thomas Cook to analyse the
requirements of their customers and thus will help in providing them with high level of
customer satisfaction. This will support the effective handling of the business operations
which will help in good management of the demand and supply of various goods and
services by a business organisation.
 Maintaining production: the assessment and the marketing process that is been carried
out will also help the firm, to integrate the effective production process that will help the
organisation to improve quality of services and goods that are been manufactured by
Thomas Cook. Increase in marketing will hamper the needs and thus the firm has to
increase the production.
 Transaction activities: this involves the effective handling of the exchange of money or
funds in return of the products and services that are been manufactured within the
organisation. The extent of transaction or the exchange process that is been carried out
within an organisation will help the firm to manage the revenue and have a good
productivity and profitability.
 Building and maintaining a good relationship with customers: an effective marketing
process that is been carried by an organisation in an effective and significant manner will
help the organisation to a significant level. For Thomas cook, it will help in effective
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assessing of high quality products and services and thus will help in handling of other
business operations.
In the travel and tourism sector, Thomas cook have to focus on the various core concepts if
marketing through which it can meet its determined objective. These concepts are discussed
below-
Relationship- By helps of this concept of Marketing, Travel and tourism organisation can easily
maintain healthy relationship with customers. It helps to company in identifying customers
actual needs and wants regarding product and services. With help of healthy relationship with
customers, organisation can easily develop effective image of business in the market.
Product concept- In this component of marketing, organization focus around the creation of
product and services. In this perspective, quality and amount of item and administrations is
critical in the travel and tourism area.
Customer requirement- This is the significant point of the promoting in travel and tourism
segment by which organization comprehend necessity of client and conveys product and services
in effective manner. By meet client prerequisite, organization can create amazing brand picture
in the market and pull in vast quantities of clients.
Exchange process- This is major important concept of marketing by which organisation can
exchange commodities with customers and its value is determined in terms of money. Travel and
tourism organisation can provide goods and services to buyers by use of this concept of
marketing.
1.2 Assess the impact of the marketing environment on individual travel and tourism businesses
such as Thomson and tourist destinations with reference to Turkey and Spain
The impact of business environment in travel and tourism industry is large on the
destination spots and the tourists. According to Becker (2016, p.86), the impacts of business
environment differs in case of tourists and travel spots. Not every individual or company is
affected in the same way. The impacts can vary from the following factors,
 Economic
 Geographical and demographic
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 Population
 Size and structure
 Micro and macro environment
In Order to focus on the impact of the environments, understanding the various
possibilities of business environment is required. For instance, there are many types of business
travel and tourism. The economic impact for an organization can provide a traveller or the
consumer with luxurious opportunities with standard and inexpensive tour fares and tickets. In
contrary, the tourist destinations, for which the travellers are the main source of income, can
acquire better scope in operating travel in volumes. On the other hand, the environmental factors
in business tours can lead to satisfying travelling environment and comforting equipments for the
individual. Whereas, travelling purposes like, launching of new events and products can have
high economic impacts on the traveller, such as large expenditure in a short time. Additionally,
the tourist destinations can go through various environmental impacts due to changing nature of
visitors and tourist spot maintenance factors. Precisely, the changes can occur in terms of the
micro and macro environmental factors. As stated by Mason (2015, p.130), the mentioned
factors are a large part of the micro and the macro factors in travel and tourism. These elements
also influence the unmanageable circumstances in business environment, such as the fiscal
policy, governmental regulations, changes in policies of authority, customer change, relationship
with the suppliers and even more.
1.3 Discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in the travel and tourism
sector
The tourist motivation is a huge conditional factor and of high importance to the business
seekers in travel and tourism. The basic concept of customer motivation in the travel industry
refers to the positive impression that a tourist destination creates on a tourist to keep the
enthusiasm intact and improvise tourist attraction, for better profit. The main factors responsible
for customer motivation are,
Cultural factors
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The word of mouth is an important part of the cultural factors. The tourists belong to different
places of origin and culture and have different tastes. In this case, the known people or
acquaintances are the best people to spread the word about a particular destination.
Family and age group
As stated by Sparks et al. (2013, p.1), the family structure of the recent times are mostly nuclear
and holds a single earning member. Thus, the nature of choices of the family members has been
different based on the criteria. The age
Global economy
The global economy is an ever-changing factor in travel and tourism and specifically influences
the entire chain of tourism business along with destinations and consumers.
Social media
The social media is one of the most effective tools and have increased business opportunities
possibilities by 75.2% in the last 5 years, increasing millions of traveller interest across the
globe.
Market
In the recent years, over 50.5% of the impact on consumer motivation has been responsible for
market circumstances, like political, economic changes and mostly changes in currency or
prices.
1.4 Analyse the principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing planning at
Thomson
The process marketing segmentation in travel and tourism helps a marketer in
subdividing the market types by dividing the similar kind of requirements in specific groups. The
reason being, there are less possibilities in a business to meet every consumer or employee
needs. Therefore, the particular method contributes to recognize the relevant tastes in tourism,
allocate the expenditures in the right manner and more. Some of the applicable segmentations
are,
Geographic segmentation
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As stated by Baum (2015, p.2014), the segmentation is performed on the basis of the place of
origin of the traveller and the specific likes and dislikes.
Psychographic segmentation
As opined by Mariana et al. (2014, p.269), the psychographic segmentation involves a number of
data collection and in-depth knowledge or research about the tourist’s mentality. The marketers
take into consideration, the points, lie, and the opinions, thought process of choosing, lifestyle of
the tourists.
Behavioural segmentation
The behavioural division involves the consumer behaviour and overall attitude that plays a key
role in impacting the business.
Demographic segmentation
As the name suggests, the behavioural segmentation involves, the traits and instincts of the
tourists, such as, marital status, age, gender, income status and more.
TASK 2
LO 2 UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF MARKETING AS A
MANAGEMENT TOOL IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM
2.1 Analyse the importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and tourism
business (Thomson) or tourist destination (either Turkey or Spain).
The procedure of marketing in travel and tourism is considered more of an effective tool
rather than a process, in the industry. Marketing is one of the key techniques, through which the
travel industry has been sustaining business over the years. Madrid is one of the most authentic
spots of tourist attraction in Spain. The destination receives more than 7.5 % of tourists among
entire Spain. The Tourism Association of Madrid (TAM) follows a basic marketing plan and has
been improvising the needs by assessing the current position of the business, reaching the
consumer's mind by using marketing as a tool and attracting large number of big spenders in the
destination. Some of the most important marketing strategies used in the development plan are,
 Establishing a combination of the rural and urban tours within the place
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 Increasing fooding and service quality, which has attracted visitors by increase in 30%
from last year, as per previous research.
 Highlighting the core Spanish way of living and promoting cultural events and sports
around the border of Madrid.
As per Liu and Park (2015, p.140), the mentioned factors of strategic marketing of the
TAM, aided in identifying the market positions and increasing competitions with neighbouring
tourist destinations. The strategic marketing and market research is highly powerful and acts as a
significant tool when it comes to establish strategic alliances and making contributions to new
developments and coping up with the expenses made in maintenance and services.
Figure 1: The basic structure of marketing technique in travel and tourism
(Source: Zhang 2013, p.213)
This will help in meeting the SOSTAC model, this will help in the meeting of the aims
and objectives that are been taken in consideration by the organisation. By use of SOSTAC
model, strategic marketing planning can understand in more effective manner-
 Situation: the firm will look after the ongoing economic and social factors in order to
maintain their operational functionality. By implement this model, organisation can
easily assess the existing condition if the business and develop effective strategy of
marketing planning.
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 Objectives: This includes the placing of targeted goals and actions that will impact the
performance of cited travel and tourism firm. This will help in earning a good profit and
stability in market. With help of this model, Thomas company can develop business
objective.
 Strategy development: this will involve the effective development of creative and
innovative marketing strategies that will help in meeting the summer holiday package.
 Tactical development: This will help the organisation to handle the priorities and
requirements of customers and maintain the strategies of their competitors.
 Actions: this involves the effective setting of various agreements with supportive firms
that will help the organisation to handle the business activities in a better way.
 Control: this will include the assessment by Thomas cook that the service's and quality
of product that is been offered by cited travel and tourism entity will help the firm to
handle the business actions and objectives in a better way.
As per the given case scenario, Tour operator Thomson is going to organise Summer 2019
holiday to Turkey and Spain. In order to organise this program, organisation have to focus on
strategic marketing planning. This activity helps to organisation in provide effective information
regarding future requirement. Following are importance of strategic marketing planning in the
cited venture-
 Organisation can establish clear marketing goal- With help of strategic marketing
planning, corporation can easily set clear marketing objective and goal. It helps to
company in identifying actual requirement of future regarding business activities and
services.
 Identify action that needed to achieve goal- Strategic marketing planning also helps to
company in identifying the activities and actions that needed to achieve set goal. It aids
to business unit to take a planned approach to actions that need to be completed in order
to achieve business goal.
 Evaluate the current environment- Strategic marketing planning helps to organisation
in assessing where the corporation is positioned and to complete a situation analysis. It is
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important to understand what the available resource are and how is the competitive
environment developing.
2.2 Discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to managers in the
travel and tourism sector with reference to Thomson.
The market research and data include quality information about consumer needs,
preferences and choices. For instance, the organizing of the entire tour arrangement for
accommodation, hotels, flight fares and more. The most important factor in travel industry is the
sales and promotion. Large number of travellers has different tastes and needs which is
researched and controlled in a detailed manner by the marketing management team. The
incorporation of the Local economic progress is one of the main development plans adapted by
the management in order to improvise unity of local employees and workers and keep them
motivated, for faster progress. The National economic progress affects the global economy in the
similar way by providing involving the techniques like, local economic development and
national economic development plans.
Other than this the market research will help the firm to maintain an action plan that will
help the organisation that will help a business organisation which will supporta good rise in
capability and thus will support cited business entity in an effective and better way. In has
certain implications and impacts that will help the organisation in order to manage the business
operations and activities in a better way. Some major benefits of market research process for
manager at Thomas Cook are as follows:
 It will help him find the scope and effectiveness of actions and processes that can emerge
as a good opportunity of growth and development for a business entity. It will help the
organisation to have a good and effective access to the business opportunities. Besides
this, it helps in improving the quality of products and services that will help in increasing
the organisation's revenue in an effective way.
 A suitable assessment of market conditions by a manager will help the organisation to
handle the different form of risks that are associated with the handling of business
activities and actions that will support suitable resources planning and meeting of
targeted operations and activities in a better way. It will also help in reducing the
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