The Tourism Industry and It's Success - Term Paper Example

Marketing to Local and Regional Initiatives for Tourism Organizations Number Word Count: 2078 Table of contents 0 Introduction 3 1.1 Locale and Regional Operations with Success 3 1.2 Change and Tourism 4 2.0 The Challenges of Seasonality and Perishability 5 2.1 Product 6 2.2 Price 7 2.3 Place 8 2.4 Promotion 9 3.0 Conclusion 10 References 11 1.0Introduction The tourism industry plays a significant role in the socio-economic background of any country that promotes tourism as a productive alternative for revenue or foreign exchange. This report, in fact, will look firmly in to the principles and practices of a responsible marketing to develop and maintain an impactable tourism industry with the involvement of the locale community. Evidently 'The tourism industry is very resource and land intensive. The introduction of tourism will imply an increased stress on resources available'(UNCSD NGO Committee 1999). It is important understand the different roles between state, regional, private and state tourism organization, thus one would better realize the initiatives of marketing undertaken by those bodies to local and regional markets. 1.1 Locale and Regional Operations with Success 'The private sector comprises individual tourism enterprises that operate in a competitive, commercial environment using a business ethos and private sector capital. The public sector comprises the State Tourism Organizations. Funding is provided by taxpayers and ratepayers' (Advance Tourism 2005). The private sector operates as small regional or locale unites with strategic marketing plans. However, tourism needs to be marketed effectively aiming at the regional and local tourist. This paper will render a supportive hand to the local and regional tourism initiators. There are number of factors that need to be at the back of ones head while sketching and implementing a tourism marketing project. 'Tourist activities involve an amplified utilization of vulnerable habitation and this utilization often leads to a degradation of resources' (UNCSD NGO Committee 1999). The above stated words only prove how tactful one needs to be while compiling marketing strategies to influence the locale community. 1.2 Change and Tourism Tourism brings forth swift changes in the host community. While the international tourists bring in a rapid evolution in the local cultures and behavioral patterns, it is important for the state owned and private service providers to let the locale and regional people feel that their traditions and values are safeguarded and exhibited before the world. This confidence must be encouraged and cultivated by the local and regional marketing strategies (Poon A 1993). Tourism is the system of leisure or holiday travel, away from home for the day or overnight. The components of tourism include activities, facilities, transport and (when overnight) accommodation as well as local and international tour operators' (Bruce D. & Hoctor Z. 2001). This statement beyond any doubts can be considered as an affidavit for the seriousness of influencing the local flock towards successful and sustainable tourism program and activity. It elucidates the hidden aspects of the domestic market for the success and existence of a tourism industry. 2.0 The Challenges of Seasonality and Perishability 'World tourism has grown rapidly over the past 50 years, so much so that it is now considered to be the world's largest industry, contributing over 10% of world gross domestic product and employing more than 10% of the global workforce' (Hoyt E. 2000). At this point the marketing strategies of tourism business has necessarily turned out to be focused on the enjoyment and appreciation of nature, involving local participation in planning and management; more evidently, sustainable management with environmental protection as the key priority; appropriate interpretation and education of the natural environment; a judicious mix of formal and voluntary management measures; collaboration among stakeholders; responsible marketing to local and regional markets; and appropriate monitoring and evaluation (Weaver, D.B. 2002). Marketing tourism in fact help the tourists to come closer to each other and therefore to be more natural. Thus any activity or practice that causes even a slightest harm or displeasure to one of the tourist can bring out great damage to the entire tourism industry. So any marketing plan implemented by the private or the public sector needs to be well organized and aimed at the satisfaction of domestic and international tourist at the same time. 'Good tourism marketing dictates that the tourism be designed in such a way that tourists receive a satisfying experience - one that they will pay for - while respecting the natural environment in which such activities take place and on which such activities depend' (Lindberg K. 1991). Tourism marketing needs to recognize certain general peculiarities of tourism. It can therefore also be about regulating and managing rather than simply stimulating demand and sales. Tourism as a product has been described as 'intangible', 'heterogeneous', 'perishable' and 'inseparable' (Holloway J.C & Robinson C. 1995). The intangible aspect of tourism must make me aware of the fact that 'tourism usually has to be bought before it can be experienced and it is a service rather than a physically product based'. Tourism is also heterogeneous as it cannot be branded according to the qualities of the service as can be done in the case of a product in other words 'no holiday experience is exactly like another as is the case with a branded physical product or commodity'. Moreover, unlike in many business 'the unsold transport seats, unsold beds in an hotel or unsold places on group tours become instantly worthless'. In spite of all these the tourism industry in inseparable as 'it has diverse elements - transport, accommodation, activities, with many different people involved, each of whom can critically affect the quality of a holiday'. Marketing practices and skills can be dutifully applied to tourism. The advantages of the marketing philosophy can be garnered without putting at risk the resource, which is all the inseparable aspect of tourism industry if due care is taken (Fuller D.1999). 2.1 Product Formulating of a tourism product can be a crucial aspect in the tourism marketing. 'Product decisions with all their implication for the management of service operation and profitability influence not only the marketing but also the long term growth of a firm and policies for investment and human recourses' (Middleton 2001). Accurate formulating of tourism product helps in a direct business to consumer marketing. For tourism, consumer marketing, which is directly aimed at attracting the actual tourist has the advantage of keeping the activity under the control of the tourism providers. 'Where consumer marketing is going to be most important is in the local area itself. Local publicity material from providers and from their associations can be highly effective in encouraging marine ecotourism experiences as part of a holiday and can have an important role in demonstrating the commitment to the principles of marine ecotourism, for example by stressing adherence to codes of practice' (Paul Brunt 1997). In usual terms the products are the destinations attractions and environment. The destinations attractions and its environment along with many other facilities the customer is going to pay for in the trip. They are the inseparable aspect of tourism and they need to bring the effect of all individual partners being together to co operate rather than complete and to pool resources towards developing an integrated marketing and delivery system' (Buhalis 2000: 104). A marketing group must be formed to promote the product/service i.e. the tourism of the region. This group should consist of the local stakeholders who are directly involved in the industry e.g. activity, accommodation and transport providers. This will also allow recognition of the interests and role of those local people not automatically beneficiaries of tourism but affecting the environment (Font, X and Buckley R.(Editors) 2001). 2.2 Price Pricing is the element of the marketing mixes that directly produces profit to the organization (Doyal 2000: 257). Tourist organizations are often lead to pursue a number of pricing objectives simultaneously. Most of the time many different pricing strategies need to be applied at anyone time. Organizations need to understand the dynamics of the pricing marketplace. Frequency of purchase, degree of necessity of a product. Organizations need to be aware of alternatives to changing prices, and to avoid profit cannibalization when pricing new products in the portfolio (Davidson 1997). Target markets are people who are willing to spend, possess purchasing power and have identified needs. Analysis of the information gathered by the marketing group should determine what the market buys, why it buys, who are the main buyers and in what way do they buy. The target market may vary under different circumstances e.g. if the tourism product is being marketed as part of a general regional tourism package, the target market may be the general holidaymaker who may want to experience some tourism as part of his overall holiday; while if the product is being marketed as part of a joint marketing venture between different regions offering a total tourism experience the target market will be a more defined 'tourist'. (Bruce D., Jackson M. and Serra C. A. 2001). 2.3 Place The place element of marketing in fact is the rout of exchange through which a tourists accesses, books and confirms for a tourism product (Clark 2000). Place is in fact that element of marketing which needs to managed with a group dynamism. Number of distinct roles in the tourism industry is performed by distinct intermediaries. The distribution channel in tourism is deferent to most other services in that it enables the customer to be enticed to the destination (Lumsdon 1997). When the target market has been established, along with the recognition one makes with the location, competitors are also being identified at regional, national and international levels. These are businesses that are offering the same type of tourism service. Information can be located in public and business directories, through tourism industry contacts and from local information. When identified, their marketing mix and competitive edge should be examined i.e. what they are selling, how they are selling it, who are they selling it to and at what price. When this information has been uncovered it can be used to help the marketing group to design a marketing mix for their own service that will distinguish it from the competition. Uniqueness in the product is likely to be enhanced by building in such assets as the local cultural heritage (Marine Institute1999). 2.4 Promotion If the modern tourism has grown up to be one of the most thriving industries, promotion is the only element in the marketing that helped tourism to have this immense growth. Through a market research process the competitive edge for the tourism product of the region will have been identified. That should then form the basis from which a brand image and promotional tools are developed. Promotional literature should be designed with future costs in mind e.g. a logo using variations on two colors is much cheaper to print than one having a greater number of colors. Logos should be designed so that they are equally effective in black and white as in color. While unit costs of printing decrease with volume, print run numbers should be selected to suit both budget and distribution methods. Overproduction can lead to stocks of out dated material in future seasons. When designing brochures, leaflets or flyers, their purpose should be clearly determined. Are they being designed to motivate, inform, remind or build up a relationship with the customer The design should reflect the identified marketing mix aimed at the target market. In terms of size will they need to be a standard size for envelope, postage or literature holders Decisions on distribution methods must be made. The key is to build traffic flows to the site and then to convert this to business. Inclusion of a guest page will help to monitor reactions to the site and act as a tool for the promotion of the areas attractions. Monitoring of the business web site is important to determine how many hits it is receiving, from where, by whom and how many bookings result (WCED 1987). Promotion in fact gives a fulfillment to all the other elements of tourism marketing. It helps the industries to reach the local and regional customer directly and quickly. 3.0 Conclusion Today's world cannot ignore that cultural heritage along with and in the form of tourism industry is already at the heart of economic development and makes up a major resource to strengthen a global village identity. But the new economic circumstances that entrust to heritage a greater role, can also be lead to devastating effects, not only with regard to access to a culture, but also in the requisites of cultural conventionality that compresses and degrades the inherent affluence of cultural heritage on cultural, spiritual and intellectual levels. There the promotion of this industry can effectively be done by influencing the local and regional tourist round the year. References 1. Advance Tourism (2005) Tourism Operations at Local and regional levels. Advance tourism MT Waverly Victoria. 2. Bruce D. & Hoctor Z. (2001) Genuinely sustainable marine ecotourism in the EU Atlantic area. A blue print for responsible marketing: University of the West of England Bristol. 3. Bruce D., Jackson M. and Serra A. (2001) PREPARe: A model to aid the development of policies for less unsustainable tourism in historic towns, Tourism and Hospitality Research 3:1,21-36 4. Buhalis (2000) Global managing alliances in the tourism and hospitality management: The Haworth Press New York. 5. Devidson H. (1997) Even more offensive Marketing: Penguin books ltd UK. 6. Doyal P (2000) Value based marketing: Marketing strategies for corporate growth and share hold value: John Wily and sons. 7. Font, X and Buckley R.(Editors) (2001) Tourism Ecolabelling: certification and promotion of sustainable tourism CABI Publishing, Wallingford 8. Fuller D. (1999) Sustainable Marketing: Managerial Ecological issues. Sage Thousand Oaks CA. 9. Holloway J.C & Robinson C. (1995) Marketing for Tourism Longman Harlow, UK. 10. Hoyt. E. (2000) Whale watching 2000: World wide tourism number expenditures and expanding socioeconomic benefits. International fund of animal welfare, Crow borough UK 11. Lindberg K. (1991) Policies for maximizing ecotourism's ecological and economic benefits. World resource institute. 12. Lumsdon (1997) Tourism Marketing: Thomson Learning. 13. Marine Institute (1999) Special Interest Marine Tourism Study for Marine Institute, Shannon Development Corporation and West Clare Council 14. Middleton (2001) Marketing in travel and tourism. Butterworth Heinemann EAN: 9780750644716 15. UNCSD NGO Committee (1999) Sustainable Tourism: A Non-Governmental Organization Perspective. Commission on sustainable development, seventh session, New York. 16. Paul Brunt (1997) Market Research in Travel and Tourism , Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford details the issues involved. 17. Poon A. (1993) Tourism, technology and competitive strategies. CAB international Wallingford. 18. Serra R (2001) The culture of Marketing: Princeton Campus. 19. Weaver, D.B. (2002), "The Evolving Concept of Ecotourism and its Potential Impacts", International Journal of Sustainable Development (special edition on ecotourism), Vol.5, No.3, forthcoming. 20. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987) Our Common Future, OUP, Oxford p168. Read More