Marketing Tourism

Hillary Jenkins, Otago Polytechnic

Marketing Concept

‘Marketing is the management process

responsible for identifying, anticipating and

satisfying customer requirements profitably.’

(Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK)

The Traditional Marketing Mix

• Set of controllable variables blended by organisations for selected market segments

• The Price

• Place (distribution)

• Product

• Promotion

Queenstown

4P’s of Marketing

Product•Design•Quality•Range•Brand name•Features

Price•List price•Discounts•Commissions•Surcharges•Extras

Place• Distribution channels•Methods of distribution•Coverage•Location

Promotion•Advertising•Sales promotion•Salesmanship•Publicity

The Marketing Mix

Product

Tourism products and services are designed for and

continuously adapted to match changing needs,

expectations and budget of the target market

Place

Not only the location of the tourist attraction or

facility but the location of points of sale that provide

customers with access to tourist products

Price

• Used to achieve predetermined sales volume and

revenue objectives

• Price gives a product or service a perceived value

in the eyes of the consumer

Promotion

• The most visible of the 4p’s

• Promotional techniques aim to increase awareness and demand for products

Marketing Services

• Tourism is a service.

• Services differ from physical products,

– This needs to be taken into account when marketing them

Characteristics of Services

• Intangibility

• Heterogeneity

• Temporary ownership

• Perishability

• Inseparability

Intangibility

• Not the physical portion (tangible) of the product

– Performance or experience rendered by the

service provider to the service consumer

• Most tourism products are a mixture of tangible

and intangible

Inseparability

• Services are usually produced and consumed at

the same time

– Think of a restaurant meal

• This can make it difficult to separate the provide of

the service from the service itself.

Perishability

• Services cannot be saved or stores as they expire

during the simultaneous production and

consumption process

– Aircraft seat

Heterogeneity

• Standardisation

– Difficult to achieve in a people based service industry

• Quality control plays an important part

Ownership

• Service customers usually only have access to our

use a facility where a service is performed

– Use of a hotel room for a holiday – you occupy

the space only and have temporary use of the

facilities

How Tourism Differs

• Tourism is more supply-led than other services

All ready have the product then research which market might be interested in purchasing it.

– Dunedin the destination is already here who wants to visit.

• Tourism product might involve the co-operation of several suppliers.

e.g. Package holiday

How Tourism Differs

• Tourism is a complex, extended product experience with no predictable critical evaluation point.

Pre trip anticipation and post trip reflection

Every trip is different therefore may not be anything to evaluate it against.

How Tourism Differs

• Tourism is a high-involvement, high-risk product to its consumers

– Involves committing large sums of money to something that cannot be seen or evaluated before purchase.

• Tourism is a product partly constituted by the dreams and fantasies of its customers.

– Unlike banking and car repair, tourism is not consumed for rational, functional purposes.

How Tourism Differs

• Tourism is a fragile industry susceptible to

external forces beyond the control of its

suppliers.

– Tourism organisations sometimes have to make

rapid responses to crises in the form of product

redesign, price reductions or promotional

damage limitation.

7 P’s of Tourism Marketing

• Price

• Place

• Product

• Promotion

• People

• Process

• Physical Evidence

People

• Know who your target market is

– traveller or

– tourist?

http://flickr.com/photos/wolfgangstaudt/2242014640

People - Employees

• A tourism organisations most valuable resource

– Physical appearance, behaviour, knowledge and

attitude has a powerful impact on customers

perception of the tourism product

– Ensure uniform, grooming etc. conform to

branding and target market

People - Employees

• Ensure staff are trained to ensure the product is

delivered in accordance with the marketing

strategic plan.

• Employees physically embody the product and

are walking billboards from a promotional point

of view – Zeithaml & Bitner (1996)

Process

• Process is inseparable product

– If any part of the process is found to be

unsuitable by the consumer, it could result in a

negative evaluation of the whole product.

Physical Evidence

• Defined as the built environment owned and controlled by

a tourism organisation

• The tangible aspect of the tourism product

• May be used to facilitate the service delivery process e.g.

layout and signage

• Communicates messages about quality, positioning and

differentiation

Think about the layout, colours , furnishings, sound systems at an airport.

http://flickr.com/photos/jamespaullong/940934988/

Physical Evidence