Marketing in Travel and Tourism Sector: A London-Focused Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing within the travel and tourism sector, focusing specifically on London. It begins by discussing core marketing concepts and their application to promoting London as a tourist destination. The report then analyzes London's tourism marketing environment, considering both micro and macro factors and their impact on travel businesses. Consumer motivation and demand for London, for both business and leisure travelers, are also examined, alongside principles of market segmentation and their use in destination marketing planning. Furthermore, the importance of strategic marketing planning and marketing research is critically analyzed. The report also assesses the positive and negative influences of marketing on London's society and visitors, considering social responsibility and ethics. Finally, it identifies elements of the marketing mix, discussing the issues of designing and developing product, price, and place elements, using Expedia.com as a case study and highlighting the promotional mix used by the organization.

MARKETING IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM SECTOR
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1 for LO 1................................................................................................................................4
Task 2 for LO 2................................................................................................................................8
Task 3 for LO 3..............................................................................................................................10
Task 4 for LO 4..............................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
Reference list.................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
Marketing is the most important aspect of tourism industry assist allows the tour operators offer
creating awareness about the services and products that. This assignment will evaluate about the
core concepts of marketing for London based tour operators. The micro and macro environment
analysis helps in understanding the importance of the business environment for the tourism
industry. The market segment will elaborate about the suitable market segment required for
London. The marketing mix of Expedia.com has been discussed in this report. The various
promotional mixes that are used by the organization in order to enhance their business have been
mentioned in this assignment. A promotional camping for Expoedia.com has been developed.
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Task 1 for LO 1
A. Discuss the core concepts of marketing and apply to your selected destination of London
(consider the selected destination as the product to be promoted) [P1.1].
Introduction
This report will evaluate about the core concepts of marketing that helps in understanding about
the business environment prevailing in London.
Tourism industry is one of the fast growing sectors that are beneficial for the economy of the
country. The Tourism sector in London can enhance their business by conducting market
research that will help them in understanding about the needs and wants of the consumers. The
managers of tourism industry can develop products and services that will assist them in
satisfying the requirements of their consumers and in return, the business of the industry will
increase (French and Russell-Bennett, 2015).
Figure 1: Core concept of marketing
(Source: French and Russell-Bennett, 2015)
The exchange process in case of tourism sector refers to the process by which the tour operators
offer packages and discounts to their customers in return of monetary benefits (Sharpley, 2014).
The tour operators or marketing manager conducts analysis so that they are able to develop
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packages and offer that the demanded products in order to enhance the sales. The core concepts
of marketing allow the tourism operators of London to work as per the needs and demands of the
customers and provide the consumers with quality products that increase the turnover of the
sector.
B. Briefly analyses the tourism-marketing environment of London and assess its impact on
the travel and tourism businesses and destination itself [P1.2].
Micro Environment of tourism sector:
Tourism marketing environment prevailing in London has a major influence on the tourism
industry and the business. The tour operators are required to look after the needs of their
consumers and ensure that their consumers have a satisfying experience. Hence, in order to
ensure regular flow of services, the operators interact with suppliers’ of specific destinations for
arranging accommodation, food, transportation and other such essential services for their
consumers (Koo et al., 2016). The tour operators appoint representatives such as tour guides in
order to assist their customers with the tour destinations and enhance their travel experience. The
tourism industry is growing at a rapid rate in London and the presence of several organizations
increases the competition within the sector. The tour operators in London provide consumers
with a number of options to chose from as per the offers and services offered by the different
operators.
Macro environment that effects the tourism of London include
Economy: In 2013, the tourism industry in London contributed 36 billion British pounds to UK’s
GDP. The stable economic condition motivates the visitors to visit the country as they can easily
avail updated services provided by the operators in London (statista.com, 2018)
Technology: Technology in London is advancing helping the tour operators of London to
provide modern facilities to the consumers. The technological advancements help operators in
reaching out to potential clients.
Political: Stable political conditions help London in attracting a number of tourists. As visitors
like visiting places that are politically stable, the government tries to provide security to their
visitors.
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C. Discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand for London as a tourist
destination, for both business and leisure travelers [P1.3].
London attracts a business as well as leisure travellers due to a number of reasons such as
Tourist motivations: Due to increase in business, it was observed that 3.7 million visitors visited
London in the year 2015 for business purposes such as meetings, business events etc, while 31.5
million leisure tourists visited the country in the year 2015 in order to enjoy the scenic beauty
and the culture of London (londonandpartners.com, 2018).
Consumer behaviour: Consumer behaviour is one of the determinants that influence the tourism
business of London. The creative advertisement attracts consumers towards London, influencing
their choice of destination. The culture tourism of London attracts visitors interested in heritage
tourism (Solomon et al., 2014).
Figure 1: Model of consumer behaviour
(Source: Citeseerx.ist.psu.edu, 2018)
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Buyer’s decision process: The purchasing decision of the consumers is based on the need
recognition process. The buyer’s decisions are based on the price of the package, the services
that are being offered in the package, and the destination to be visited (Viio and Grönroos, 2016).
D. Analyse the principles of market segmentation and discuss how you can use these in
destination marketing planning for London [P1.4, M1].
With the help of market segmentation, the tourism operators of London divide a broad consumer
group into smaller sub-group based on certain criteria (Liu et al., 2018). The basic segmentations
used by tour operators have been discussed below:
Psychographic segmentation: This segmentation divides the visitors as per their interest’s
attitude values, lifestyles and traits.
Behavioural segmentation: This segmentation segments the visitors based on their buying
behaviours.
Demographic segmentation: This segmentation divides the visitors based on their age, gender,
religion, income, education and ethnicity (Schlegelmilch, 2016).
The most appropriate segmentation that should be considered by the tour operators in London is
the demographic and psychographic segmentation, as it will help them in categorising their
travellers based on age, so that they can organize various tours such as cultural tourism or
adventure tourism as per the age of the visitor. This segmentation will also allow the operators to
segments their visitors based on income, as London is very expensive country.
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Task 2 for LO 2
A. Critically analyse the importance of the strategic marketing planning for London as a
tourist destination and discuss the importance of marketing research in the planning
process (critically analyse the plan) [P2.1, P2.2. D.1].
The tour operators in London make use of certain strategies and tools that allows them to
understand about the business environment. Tools such as SWOT analysis, allows the operators
to understand about the internal environment (Culp III et al., 2016). The PLC helps the tour
operators to understand that London is currently in the growth stage as demand of visiting the
country is increasing among the visitors. These techniques allow the marketing manager to
understand about the business environment of London. The marketing manager conducts market
research in order to understand the trends of the visitors. After collecting all the important
information the marketing managers of the tourism sector develops an accurate strategic
marketing plan. The strategic marketing plans allow the operator to set clear objectives that helps
them in increasing their business (McDonald and Wilson, 2016). It will help in understanding the
steps that should be followed in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the tourism
company. With the increasing competition in the tourism industry, the tour operators working in
London need to analyze the customer demands so that they can create a plan for attracting
customers towards London. The planning would help the tour operators to meet the demands of
the consumers in a structured manner.
B. Discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to travel and
tourism sector managers at London Tourism (www.visitlondon.com) [P 2.2].
Marketing information and market research helps the tour operators of London to interact and
communicate with the consumers and allows them in building a meaningful relation with the
consumers (Sarstedt and Mooi, 2014). The marketers gain insights about the wants and needs of
the consumers. The managers of the travel and tourism industry can understand about the current
trends that can help them in enhancing their business. For example, sustainable tourism is in high
demand among the visitors as the concern about protecting the environment is rising. Most of the
marketing managers are using the marketing information system that consists of equipments,
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people and procedures in order to analyze, sort, gather, and evaluate about the current market.
The system helps in making accurate decisions within the defined time (Fesenmaier, 2016).
Marketing research help the tour operators of London to explore the market for various
opportunities and helps them in identifying problems, competitor strategies, current and future
market trends and opportunities available. Marketing managers conducts surveys, online
interview and discussions with focus group to understand about current trends about tourism in
London.
C. Assess the positive and negative influence of marketing on the society (of people of
London and the visitors). Consider elements such as responsibility and ethics, regulations
and public policy,
Marketing activity has major impact on the people of London as well as on visitors visiting
London. Some of the negative and positive impact of marketing has been discussed below:
Social responsibility: The tourism sector of London ensures that the information that is provided
by them with the help of promotional advertisements is reliable and authentic. This helps them in
increasing their customer base and enhances the experience of their customers. However, if the
tourism operator’s are not socially responsible then the consumers will not trust on the
organization and will not be interested in their services (Bowie et al., 2016).
Environment: The marketing manager of the tourism sector should ensure that their marketing
activities and promotions do not have any negative impact on the environment. If the
environment is damaged by their activities then they will start losing customers as visitors are
concerned about the environment and like to associate with operators that follow sustainable
tourism. Sustainable tourism promotes message to protect the environment of the country.
However, marketing activities generates a lot of pollution.
Ethics: The tour operators of London should ensure that they follow all the ethical codes and
must stay true to their words and promises so that they can gain the trust and loyalty of their
customers. The unethical behavior of tour operators reduces the customer base of the
organization and people avoid travelling with unethical firms.
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Task 3 for LO 3
A. Identify the elements of marketing mix and discuss the issues of designing and
developing the product, price and place elements for your chosen UK tour operator [P3.1,
M2].
Marketing mix is a process that is used by organizations in order to understand the business
policies and strategies of a company.
Marketing mix of Expedia.com
Product: Expedia.com is a very well known website that provides airline-booking services,
reservations in hotels, cruise booking services, vacation packages and car rental facilities. The
company offers a number of email products such as travel alerts - this is sent due to, price
Matcher- Price: They are able to attract clients from both luxury and reasonable segments. The
company uses penetration-pricing strategy. The in-depth research conducted by the company
allows them to understand that most of the travelers belong to the middle class economy, so they
adopted several pricing strategies on the basis of its target customers. For middle class section,
they provide reasonable pricing policy (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014).
Place: Expedia enjoys global presence and is also acceptable through localize sites in China,
United States, Belgium, BRAZIL, Germany, Hong Kong, France, Austria, Malaysia, Argentina,
Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Mexico, Italy,
Japan more. The company has targeted every section of the society. They use the system of
Sabre and Amadeus reservation for booking flights and hotels.
Promotion: This is an online brand, so they follow a vivid marketing policy. The website of the
company regularly updates their consumers with the best offers and prices that are available.
They also advertise about the services on social media. The company also promotes their
services with the help of Google ads, newspaper and television commercials. The company uses
bulk email method to create awareness about their packages.
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B. Using your chosen UK tour operator, assess and discuss the importance of service sector
mix elements [P3.2].
The service sector mix is essential in order to understand about the business of an organization.
The service sector mix of Expedia.com
Process: The Company has a wide customer base, as there are a number of brands associated
with Expedia.com that contributes at increasing its customer base. Some of the most common
brand of Expedia is Egencia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, Elong.com, Media solutions and more. The
company has a number of quality suppliers that help them in improving their brand image. The
company has more than 1000 travel industry experts that help in increasing the revenue of the
company.
People: The Company is spreading over more than 60 countries and the company has employed
more than 150000 employees. The company has a mix of diverse group of people coming from
different cultural backgrounds (Expedia.co.uk, 2018).
Physical evidence: The Company is one of the world’s largest travel companies that have more
than 30 companies. The online website of the company is one of the most important physical
evidence for customers. The company has app and consists of subsidiary organization.
C. Apply and discuss the concept of the ‘total tourism product’ using your chosen company
to illustrate the various components that are integrated [P3.3, M3, D2]
The total tourism products comprises of a combination of the different elements that are required
by the tourists during their trips. This encompasses of a bundle of tangible and intangible
components that are based on the offerings of particular destinations. Expedia.com is a
worldwide operating website that is visited by a number of customers inquiring about the
vacation offers and other such services. The company can develop a platform that would help
them in understanding the reviews of their existing customers about the tours that has been
organized by them. The platform to be designed should allow the company to understand the
number of people viewing their site and reading about the experiences of their customers this
would help the company in improving their services and expanding the consumer base.
Moreover, through the reviews of the customers, the people would get insights on the experience
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of the people who have already visited that place, the transportation, accommodation and food
services offered and the price charged. Furnishing of complete information would create
transparency between the company and the customers (Butzmann and Job, 2017).
Task 4 for LO 4:
D. Assess the integrated nature and role of the promotional mix with reference to your selected tour
operator [P4.1].
Expedia.com makes use of promotional mix tour in order to improve their services. The promotional mix
of Expedia.com:
Public relations: The public relation is the process by which company tries to interact with the
public to understand their opinions (Theaker, 2017). Expedia.com interacts with their consumers
through their online platform as well as recruits individuals in order to enhance their public
relation so that they can create awareness about their brand among the people.
Advertising: The way by which organization promotes and creates awareness about their
products and services. Expedia.com uses a number of methods such as newspaper, Google ads,
television commercials, social media and others in order to advertise their services.
Internet and online promotion: Majority of organizations use the internet and online platforms
as it allows them to reach out to large number of customers. Expedia.com uses their website to
advertise about their services, they promote their products with the help of social media
platforms.
Sales promotion: In this, companies offer special discounts and offers in order to attract
consumers. Expedia.com offers their customers with great discounts during summer or any
vocational seasons. This allows them to attract a huge number of tourists during the peak
seasons.
Direct selling: Organizations recruit candidates to sale their services in the process. Expedia.com
has representative who visits their consumers, informs them about the various services, and
offers that are offers by the company (Ragland et al., 2015). The representative persuades the
customers in order to purchase their services. The representative of Expedia.com is well
experienced and skilled that allows the company in enhancing their sales.
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E. Plan and justify an integrated promotional campaign for your selected UK tour operator [P4.2,
D3].
Integrated promotional campaign for Expedia.com has been elaborated below:
Internet and online promotion: The Company can use online promotional method in order to
promote about their new product. Most of the individuals are available on one of the other social
platform, if Expedia.com promotes their services on social media they will be able to reach out to
a wide range of consumers. Social media will also be helpful in gaining the reviews and
feedbacks of their consumers that will help the organization to improve their services and
increase their business. The company can use the internet in order to promote about their
services, they can advertise of Google ad that will help them in getting customers that are
searching for services that are offered by them, they can also use bulk e-mail to create awareness
regarding their services.
Public relation: The Company can also make use of public relation to create awareness about
their products. The company can recruit individuals that will help consumers in understanding
about the various vacation packages that are offered by them the new services that is launched by
them can be explained to their consumer in a detailed manner.
Sales promotion: Expedia.com could offer discounts and offers in their new services, so that
customers can be attracted towards their new services. The company should try to align their
new service with the seasonal discounts that are offered by them this will allow them to attract
more customers towards their service.
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Conclusion
This assignment helps in understanding the impact of core concept of marketing on the business
of tourism sector in London. The tour operators of London make use of psychographic and
demographic segmentation so that they are able to provide services to their customers as per the
requirements of their consumers. The marketing mix of Expedia.com helps in understanding
about the services and procedures that are followed by the company. The internal as well as
external environmental analysis helps in understanding about the business environment of
London. The assignment helps in understanding about the promotional mix that is used by
expedia.com and the way marketing campaign can be enhanced for expedia.com in order to
increase the awareness.
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