Marketing Tourism and Hospitality

This chapter explores some of the key issues and principles of tourism and hospitality marketing. The terms “tourism” and “hospitality” are defined and then the concepts of marketing and tourism marketing are examined. The chapter discusses how marketing applies to the field of tourism and hospitality. It also described the core principles of marketing. These include information gathering, the marketing mix, marketing planning, and customer relationship management. Further, this chapter presents some of the reasons for studying tourism and hospitality marketing. Finally, the chapter’s in-depth case study examines the concept of marketing orientation and its application to Warner Bros Studio Tour, London: The Making of Harry Pot ter.

This chapter explores the characteristics of tourism and hospitality marketing. It begins with a discussion of the difference between services marketing and manufacturing marketing. The chapter then reviews the characteristics that make the marketing of these services different from the marketing of other products. These include intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. Further, this chapter looks at the various marketing management strategies for tourism and hospitality businesses. It examines some of the marketing approaches, such as the to address the unique challenges facing the marketer. Finally, the characteristics of tourism and hospitality marketing are applied to low cost carrier Wizz Air.

This chapter looks at the role of marketing research in tourism and hospitality marketing. It begins with a discussion of the importance of research to the tourism and hospitality marketer. The chapter then provides a definition of marketing research, and an explanation of the differences between marketing research and market research. Further, it discusses the reasons for doing marketing research and outlines different types of marketing research commonly used in tourism. The chapter then discusses the stages of the marketing research process. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the marketing research activities carried out by East Coast Rentals, a small car-rental company based in Australia.

This chapter examines the tools used in tourism and hospitality marketing planning. It begins with a definition of marketing planning and an explanation of why planning is important to both the tourism marketer and the organisation. The chapter then discusses the differences between a firm’s strategic marketing and its tactical marketing. Further, the chapter examines the stages of the marketing planning process. These stages are analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Within the stages of this process, the various strategic analysis tools, such as the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and General Electric Company (GEC) grids are briefly discussed. Next, several techniques for making strategic choices, including Porter’s generic strategies, the price/quality matrix, and the Ansoff matrix are introduced. Finally, the elements necessary to construct a marketing plan are outlined. The chapter’s case study applies the principles of marketing planning to Marine Dynamics Shark Tours in South Africa.

This chapter explores the business environment in which tourism and hospitality marketers and their organisations operate. It begins with a review of the internal environment. Here tourism and hospitality organisations have a much stronger degree of influence. The internal environment consists of the company itself as well as its resources, its processes, and the policies it uses to achieve its goals. Next the chapter examines the performance environment, which concerns the consumers, suppliers, intermediaries, and competitors. Further, this chapter covers the external environment that affects all individual tourism and hospitality organisations. These include the political, economic, socio-demographic, technological, ecological (natural), and legal factors. The main national, regional, and global tourist flows are then analysed. Finally, environmental scanning as a method for responding to these factors is considered. The chapter’s in-depth case study analyses the business environment in which a cruise liner company, MSC Cruises, operates.

This chapter explores how marketers design and manage tourism and hospitality products. It begins with definitions for the terms “product”, “offering”, and “product mix”. It the chapter explains that the product is a complex concept that should be considered on three levels. These are the core, expected, and augmented product. Next, the product life cycle concept is discussed and how it is used by the tourism marketer to assess the development of tourism products. Next, the steps involved in the process of developing a new product are considered. In the second section of the chapter, the role of branding in the tourism and hospitality industry is discussed. The third section of the chapter considers the price component of the marketing mix. The factors that affect the pricing of tourism and hospitality products and the various pricing strategies available to the tourism and hospitality marketer are analysed. Next, several pricing approaches used in the tourism industry are considered. The chapter concludes by outlining the characteristics of tourism and hospitality products in relation to price. Last, the chapter’s in-depth case study demonstrates the principles of pricing as applied to medical tourism company MakeOvertour, based in Turkey.

This chapter explores distribution channels and their role in the international tourism industry. It begins with a definition of the role of distribution channels in the tourism industry. The chapter then outlines the benefits of using marketing intermediaries (the middlemen who sell offerings within the tourism industry). Further, it explains the concepts of commission and horizontal integration. The chapter then focuses on the activities of key marketing intermediaries such as the tour operator, the travel agent, and the online travel retailer. Next, the various direct intermediaries such as the multimedia kiosks, video conferencing, virtual reality, and global distribution systems are discussed. This technology is changing the role of distribution channels in the industry. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the factors that influence the selection of an appropriate distribution channel. The chapter’s in-depth case study applies the principles of distribution (or place) to Reality Tours and Travel: Slum Tours, in Mumbai, India.

This chapter discusses the communication methods that are used to promote tourism and hospitality offerings. Marketers must communicate these offerings to consumers (including the travel trade). Promotion is used to communicate information about offerings to target markets. The chapter begins by explaining the relationship between promotion and marketing communications. Next, each of the seven stages of the promotional campaign, from determining the marketing objectives through to assessing the impact of the promotional techniques are discussed. Further, this chapter presents the concepts of integrated marketing communications (which involves the use of the promotional tools in combination with each other), convergence, and below-, above-, and through-the-line marketing. In the second half of the chapter, the role of advertising, which is considered to be the most dominant tool of the promotions mix is discussed. Major advertising decisions such as assigning objectives and a budget, designing, and evaluating an advertisement, and selecting various types of media are considered. Finally, the role of media agencies in tourism and hospitality marketing is discussed. The chapter’s in-depth case study examines the principles of marketing communication and advertising in the context of Matchbox Hostel, a backpacker hostel located in Singapore.

This chapter discusses the communication methods that are used to promote tourism and hospitality offerings. Marketers must communicate these offerings to consumers (including the travel trade). Promotion is used to communicate information about offerings to target markets. The chapter begins by explaining the relationship between promotion and marketing communications. Next, each of the seven stages of the promotional campaign, from determining the marketing objectives through to assessing the impact of the promotional techniques are discussed. Further, this chapter presents the concepts of integrated marketing communications (which involves the use of the promotional tools in combination with each other), convergence, and below-, above-, and through-the-line marketing. In the second half of the chapter, the role of advertising, which is considered to be the most dominant tool of the promotions mix is discussed. Major advertising decisions such as assigning objectives and a budget, designing, and evaluating an advertisement, and selecting various types of media are considered. Finally, the role of media agencies in tourism and hospitality marketing is discussed. The chapter’s in-depth case study examines the principles of marketing communication and advertising in the context of Matchbox Hostel, a backpacker hostel located in Singapore.

The second section in the chapter discusses relationship marketing. We outline the different levels of relationships and discuss the importance of relationship marketing. The third section of the chapter focuses on service quality delivery, and discusses the link between service quality and customer satisfaction. The various techniques used to measure service quality, including the SERVQUAL model and the importance–performance analysis (IPA) model are examined. The chapter’s case study examines the customer service policy and internal marketing activities of Hays Travel.