| Tourists | | | | used to influence future decisions. |
| The origin of the word "tourist" date back to 1292 | | | | The marketing concept for the travel and tourism |
| AD. It has come from the word ‘tour’. A | | | | industry is profit driven and customer centric (unlike |
| number of experts have defined the term: | | | | sales which are volume driven and target centric). |
| "Tourists are the voluntary temporary travelers, | | | | Service Marketing Triangle |
| traveling in the expectations of pleasure from the | | | | Service marketing is unique in many ways in the |
| novelty and change experienced on a relatively and | | | | travel and tourism industry. There are 3 players in the |
| non-current round-trip". | | | | transaction process:- |
| "Tourist is a person who makes a journey for the | | | | - Company: A travel and tourism company listens to |
| sake of curiosity for the fun of traveling". | | | | the customers and evolves/develops the travel/tour |
| Tourists are: | | | | package and it communicates the attractiveness and |
| -Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic | | | | the utility of that very tour package directly to the |
| reason. | | | | customers. Here it (the company) performs external |
| -Persons arriving in the sea of sea cruise. | | | | marketing. The company makes promises to the |
| -Persons traveling for convention. | | | | customers. |
| Tourism – the first commercial venture. | | | | - Providers: They are a travel company’s internal |
| A religious Englishman called Thomas Cook in 1841 | | | | customers constituting employees and agents. The |
| arranged, for a fee, a one –day rail excursion | | | | company does internal marketing with the providers |
| from Leicester to Loughborough for 540 members of | | | | educating and motivating them about the idea of the |
| a temperance league. Thus the first bona fide travel | | | | particular tour package which they can offer to their |
| agent was Thomas Cook. | | | | customers. This is done to enable the providers to |
| While Cook himself did not make a profit on this first | | | | effectively carry out the service transaction process. |
| venture, he was a man of vision and was convinced | | | | The providers make provisions for office space, |
| that there was a need for a skilled "travel arranger". | | | | accessibility and connectivity. The company enables |
| So by 1845 he had become the first full-time travel | | | | promises to be kept by this infrastructural association. |
| agent, operating train excursions from Leicester. The | | | | - Customers (Travelers): The customers are the |
| next year he chartered a train and steamer for an | | | | reasons that the travel company exists and for |
| excursion to Scotland for 330 people. In 1851 Cook | | | | whom the company has designed the traveling and |
| arranged ocean steamship travel and | | | | touring package as well as set up the infrastructural |
| accommodations for more than 1,50,000 visitors to | | | | facilities and spent money on employee development |
| the World Exposition in London and in 1856 he | | | | programmes. Here the providers are the only ones |
| operated the first escorted "grand tour" of Europe. | | | | who interact with the customers, like the travel |
| Tours to Europe and Middle East were also | | | | agents interact with the customers and not the |
| conducted and, in 1872, the first around the world | | | | company. The agents perform interactive marketing |
| tour was conducted. | | | | which is on-time, all-time, every-time. This is the most |
| Tourism as a Service Industry | | | | crucial aspect of service marketing in the travel and |
| Tourism as a service industry comprises of several | | | | tourism sector. Those agents have the responsibility |
| allied activities which together produce the tourism | | | | of ‘keeping promises’ made and enabled by |
| product. Involved in the tourism product are three | | | | the company. The providers (agents) are responsible |
| major sub-industries. They are: - | | | | for the perceived quality level of the service |
| 1. Tour operators and travel agents. | | | | transaction. This underlines the uniqueness of service |
| 2. Accommodation sector (hoteling and catering) and | | | | marketing. |
| 3. Passenger accommodation. | | | | Tourism Products: |
| According to international estimates, a tourist spends | | | | 1. Accommodation |
| 35% of his total expenditure on transportation, about | | | | • Hotels |
| 40% on lodging and food and the balance 25% on | | | | • Motels |
| entertainment, shopping and incidentals. | | | | • Boatels |
| The product in this case is not confirmed to travel | | | | • Flotels |
| and accommodation but includes a large array of | | | | 2. Destination |
| auxiliary services ranging from insurance and | | | | • Natural Scenes |
| entertainment and shopping, demand generation, in | | | | • Historic Excellence |
| addition to the consumer motivation, is also heavily | | | | • Artificial Beauties |
| dependent upon powerful persuasive communication | | | | • Social Cultural Excellence |
| both at the macro (country) level and the micro | | | | 3. Transportation |
| (enterprise) level. The participants in the process of | | | | • Infrastructurali. Airwaysii. Railwaysiii. Roadwaysiv. |
| this service business can be illustrated by the figure | | | | Waterways |
| below. | | | | • Locali. Local transport |
| Some of the pointers to nature of tourism as a | | | | 4. Tour operators |
| Service Industry | | | | • Travel companies |
| 1. Tourism accounts for nearly 6% of world trade. | | | | • Travel agents |
| 2. Bulk of tourism business is located in Europe and | | | | • Guides |
| North America., with 1/8 of the market being shared | | | | 5. Shopping |
| between the other regions. | | | | • Handicrafts |
| 3. The highest growth rate in tourism in recent years | | | | • Handloom |
| has been in the third world. | | | | • Books |
| 4. Tourism, like most pure services, because of the | | | | Marketing mix for tourism product: |
| character of inseparability, exemplifies a product, | | | | The designing of the marketing mix variables in case |
| which cannot be sampled before purchase; the | | | | of tourism is significant as it helps the marketer in |
| prospective consumers have to travel to a foreign | | | | conceiving the right ideas, particularly to raise the |
| destination in order to consume the product. | | | | acceptability of the tourist product by stimulating and |
| 5. The major players in the tourism market include a | | | | penetrating the demand. Framing of a proper |
| number of intermediary companies. Some of them | | | | marketing mix is significant because it helps the |
| transnational in character, some of them | | | | tourist organization in accomplishing the objective and |
| exhibitvertical integration, both backward and | | | | projecting a fair image. |
| forward, acquiring interests in all major sectors of this | | | | Product Mix: |
| service industry. | | | | Tourism is a composite product with components like |
| The Tourism Product- Factors Governing Demand. | | | | attraction facilities and transportation. Attraction |
| Because of the unique nature of the nature of | | | | deserves an intensive care. It includes natural site, |
| tourism product- it being an amalgam of the | | | | places of historic interest, events and cultural |
| characteristics of a destination and the infrastructural | | | | attraction. |
| as well as managerial efforts of the promoter, the | | | | The facilities compliment attraction. The facilities |
| determinants of tourists demand emanate from both | | | | include accommodation, food, transportation and |
| individual tourist motivations and the economic, social, | | | | recreational facilities. The transportation component |
| technological factors. Some of these are: | | | | includes the vehicles and infrastructure. Innovation in |
| • Income Levels | | | | the tourism product helps raising the sensitivity. The |
| In the last 30 years, disposable incomes around the | | | | users of the service are looking forward to better |
| world have shown upward trends, thus allowing more | | | | and improved product. |
| money for activities like leisure travel. Smaller families | | | | The provider of the tourist is a travel agent or the |
| have meant higher allocations per person in the | | | | package tour. A well conceived and designed |
| family. More and more women are entering the | | | | package tour, covering a wide range of tourist |
| workforce and in real terms the cost of travel has | | | | attraction at an economic price, helps in attracting the |
| fallen. The dramatic rise of tourism in the last 50 | | | | potential tourist. |
| years can be attributed in a large measure to the | | | | The travel agent performs numerous activities such |
| combined effect of more leisure time and rise in both | | | | as hotel arrangement and accommodation, site seeing |
| real and disposable incomes. | | | | arrangement, domestic transport arrangement, air |
| • More Leisure time: | | | | travel arrangement etc. |
| Increasing unionization of labour right from 1930 | | | | In a true sense the tour agents and the travel |
| onwards has reduced the number of working hours | | | | agents are the vehicles who can give a fillip to the |
| per week. Changing managerial orientations towards | | | | tourism industry, provided they are well trained. |
| human resources have increased the levels of pay | | | | Pricing: |
| and paid vacation time in most developed countries. | | | | Pricing of the tourist product is complex. Geographical |
| Now people have longer periods of leisure, which | | | | location of the destination, seasonality and varying |
| could be allocated to travel. | | | | demand affects the pricing decision. |
| • Mobility | | | | In India the pricing strategies become important for |
| Better transportation and communication services | | | | promoting or contracting the tourism industry, since |
| have made the world a smaller place, and have | | | | more than 40% of the total population are below the |
| brought both exposure and awareness of distant | | | | poverty line. In order to develop the tourism industry |
| lands to larger sections of potential tourists across | | | | more and more potential users are to be |
| the world. Faster modes of transport have cut down | | | | transformed into actual users. |
| on travel time, making it easier for people to | | | | When a tourist proposes to visit a particular place, |
| economically plan and execute trips abroad. | | | | the total cost of his traveling also include the |
| • Growth in Government Security Programmes | | | | expenses incurred on transportation, accommodation |
| and Employment Benefits: | | | | and communication. |
| The growth in government security programmes and | | | | Liberal pricing strategy is found to be a productive |
| well entrenched policies of employee benefits mean | | | | pricing decision, particularly in case of tourism industry. |
| that quite a large number of families may have long | | | | The pricing strategy which includes low income group |
| term financial security and may be more willing to | | | | people, student and retired persons can be more |
| spend money for vacations. | | | | effective. This is possible if the government |
| Tourist Classification:- | | | | concessional and subsidized infrastructural facilities to |
| Tourists can be classified into the following seven | | | | the potential tourist below the average income. |
| demand categories:- | | | | The different pricing methods generally used are cost |
| 1. Explorer: - Very limited in number, these tourists | | | | based pricing, demand based pricing and competition |
| are looking for discovery and involvement with local | | | | based pricing. |
| people. | | | | Promotions: |
| 2. Elite: - People who favour special, individually trips | | | | The promotion mix includes advertising, publicity, sales |
| to exotic places. | | | | support and public relations. |
| 3. Offbeat: - These are filled with a desire to get | | | | The purpose of promotion is to make available the |
| away from the usual humdrum life. | | | | information to the user. Advertising the sales |
| 4. Unusual: - Visitors who are looking forward to trips | | | | promotion can be effective when supplemented by |
| with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or | | | | publicity and personal selling. |
| isolation. | | | | Radio, TV, newspapers, cinema and printings are |
| 5. Incipient mass: - A steady flow, traveling alone or | | | | some of the important vehicles for traveling of |
| in small-organized groups using some shared services. | | | | messages. Effective slogans raises the effectiveness |
| 6. Mass: - The general packaged tour market, leading | | | | of advertisement. |
| to tourist enclaves abroad. | | | | Another important component of the promotion mix |
| 7. Charter: - Mass travel to relaxation destinations, | | | | is public relation. It helps in projecting the image of an |
| which incorporate as many as standardized, | | | | organization. Public relation and publicity include regular |
| developed world facilities as possible. | | | | articles and photographs of tour attraction, use of |
| The Travel Decision:- | | | | TV and travel journalists to promote editorial |
| The average tourist is faced with considerable | | | | comment. |
| uncertainty regarding the decision and may have only | | | | Public relation officer plays an important role. He |
| scanty ideas about distant destinations. His evaluation | | | | should be efficient, active, impressive, intelligent and |
| of alternatives is also limited to the extent of this | | | | well-behaved. |
| awareness about possible destinations. The stages of | | | | Good image projection can be made if the PRO |
| travel decision can be described as: - | | | | manages the affair like a professional. It is said that |
| 1. Travel Desire:- | | | | word of mouth is the best form of publicity. The |
| The first step where the need to travel is felt and | | | | word of mouth promotion is an important tool in |
| the pros and cons are thought about. | | | | tourism marketing. |
| 2. Information Collection and Evaluation:- | | | | Place: |
| This stage involves the process of finding out the trip | | | | The tourist centers should be located at suitable |
| from travel agents, books and acquaintances | | | | points if the tourists spots are natural there is no |
| .information so collected is evaluated against criteria | | | | question of selection. In a vast country like India with |
| of cost and time constraints, alternative possibilities, | | | | a divergent socioeconomic and cultural patterns, the |
| relative attractiveness of destinations, perceived | | | | promotion of domestic tourism encourages unity in |
| ‘safety’ o the alternative destinations etc. | | | | diversity. |
| 3. Travel Decision:- | | | | Infrastructural facilities, transport and communication |
| This is the decision phase involving selection of | | | | are important for development of tourist centres. |
| destination, travel, mode of accommodation and | | | | The site selected should have natural surroundings, |
| activities to be undertaken. | | | | increased accessibility and improved amenities. At the |
| 4. Travel Preparation and Experience:- | | | | same time it is also important that the ecological |
| This involves tickets, bookings, travel, money and | | | | balance is not disturbed. Since growing ecological |
| documents arrangement, clothing and undertaking of | | | | imbalances leads to pollution, some important steps |
| the travel. | | | | like promoting afforestation, promotion and |
| 5. Travel Satisfaction Evaluation:- | | | | beautification may be undertaken in countering the |
| The whole tourism expenditure is constantly | | | | side effects of atmospheric pollution and maintaining |
| evaluated before, during and after the experience is | | | | ecological balance. |