Application of 7ps in Tourism sector Vikas Mehta-341

Kalpesh chauhan-363Ankita vyas-303

– Shilan shah-337

• Tourism Products is different from most other products because what is being sold is consumption of an experience rather than a tangible product, the product is primarily service based. This means that customer often walks away from the tourism offering with only a memory or experience.

7 P’s of tourism

Process

Price

Place

PromotionPeople

PhysicalEvidence

Product

PRODUCT• In planning its market offering, the

marketer needs to think through five levels of product. Each level adds to the customer value Attributes such as room, transport, conference facilities.

• Benefits which are what the consumer achieves as a result of buying the product such as relaxation, learning and exploration.

The levels of the product that the travel and tourism industry offers to its customers are as follows:

1) Core product The core product offered by Travel and Tourism industry is the destination. It is core because the main aim of the tourist is the destination where he has to reach

2) Basic product The basic products offered by Travel and Tourism industry are ticket booking, transport, sight seeing, hotel booking.

3) Expected productThese are the products that the customer expects the organization to offer.

4) Augmented product

These are the products that are offered by the companies to distinguish itself from others. These products become expected products in the future.

5) Potential products

These are the future products that the companies will offer to its customers. These can be underwater tourism, hovercraft for traveling. Also Virgin Atlantic airlines are thinking of adding a casino and a shopping mall in the airline.

PRICEIn pricing decisions, the product or the service mix of the tourist organization is important. They have to set prices in line with the quality of services to be made available to the customers and the type of customers they are targeting.

Pricing decisions are influenced by internal factors like pricing policy of the company, and external factors like the destination itself. They are required to think in favor of discounting price. These may include discounts for cash payments, seasonal discounts, trade discounts etc. But while offering the discounts, it is not to be forgotten that it may also create image problem since some of the value sensitive tourists may doubt the quality.

PLACEMost tour operators sell their services through travel agents, however some deal directly with the consumers and eliminate middlemen. For example, Thomas Cook has its own branches situated throughout the country so they are easily accessible. The customer, in the travel and tourism industry, has to go to the service provider. Hence strategic locations are very important for Thomas Cook.

Location:Transport also plays a major role in the tourism industry. It makes the destinations accessible to people from around the world. Also, in the case of tangible products in tourism such as souvenirs and cuisine, transportation becomes a major logistical component.

PROMOTIONThe marketers need to use the various components of promotion optimally so that they succeed in increasing the number of habitual users. The various dimensions of tourism promotion are as follows:

Advertising: Advertisement gives important information to the actual and potential tourists. Its coverage is wide. Advertising is aimed at the public to create awareness of the travel offers available .

Publicity: It focuses attention on strengthening the public relations measures by developing a rapport with media people and getting their personalized support in publicizing the business.

Sales promotions: Sales promotion measures are the short-term activities seeking to boost sales at peak demand periods to ensure that the firms obtain its market share and are used to help launch a new product or support an ailing or modified one.

Word-of-mouth Promotion: Most communication about tourism takes place by word-of-mouth information, In the tourism industry it is found that the word-of-mouth promoters play the role of a hidden sales force, which help the process of selling.

Personal Selling: Personal Selling is based on the personal skill of an individual. The development of travel and tourism has been possible due to well-educated and trained sales personnel.

Telemarketing: It is a method of selling in which a professionally sound telemarketer markets the business.

Exhibitions The participants include state and national tourism promotion boards, travel agents and tour operators, airlines, car rentals, cruise liners, holiday financiers, technology providers, hotels and resorts, education institutions in the field of hospitality and tourism.

PROCESS• There are different type of processes involved in running

a tourism business. i.e administration, training, planning, and strategizing, recruitment, distribution, purchasing and service delivery. It is important to ensure that these processes are planned and carried out properly so that operations run smoothly and problems are rectified quickly.

• It is the way of undertaking transaction supplying information and providing services on a way, which is acceptable to the consumer and the effective to the organization. Further to realize what are the critical moments in the considered process a concept of blue printing is introduced.

PEOPLE• Like other industries, the tourism industry depends

substantially on management of human resources. The tourism industry is an amalgam of the services of a lot of people and hence this industry cannot work efficiently if the travel agents, tour operators and travel guides lack world class professional excellence.

• In the tourism industry the travel agents and the travel guides are the two most important people who speak a lot about the industry. Hence it is imperative that they have to be at their best at all times. Travel guides especially, are expected to have a lot of patience, good sense of humour, tact to transform the occasional tourists into habitual ones, thorough knowledge of the places, linguistic skills etc.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCEIt is a very important factor for the travel and tourism industry. This marketing p is important in 2 distinct ways:1) as the environment in which the sales takes place2) the environment where the product is consumed

The environment in which the sales takes place when the purchasing of the product is taking place, however the customer cannot be sure whether they will enjoy the product or not. In the mean time their expectations and emotions are influenced by factors like layout of the room, the furniture, noise level, temperature, lights and other factors like the brochure of the company. In case of customers who by electronically the appearance of the website is the physical evidence.

The environment where the product is consumed In The travel industry where the product is being experienced s particularly important in securing repeat business thus extensive facitilities that prove to be physical evidence are provided to lure and woo the customerThe tangibles include flat beds in business class, Wi-Fi connection in hotels, customized meals on board, tele checking hrs booking in hotels, hotels providing laptops on request, internet access as complimentary for the corporate packages.

The critical incidences in this process are:

Understanding the customers needs and expectations from the holiday or business tour which ever he or she is opting for

Making an apt travel plan and route adhering to the requirements of the customer

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