The Role of Marketing Research in International Tourism - Essay Example

International Tourism Marketing Tourism involves travelling for business, recreational, and leisurepurposes. According to the World Tourism Organization, tourists are people who travel and subsequently stay in places that are outside their usual environment for a period not more than twelve consecutive months for purposes related to business, leisure, and recreation among others. Today, tourism is a populous global leisure activity (Akehurst, 2009:51). There is increased growth in number of tourists taking their leisure activities in t different parts of globe. For instance, year 2010 witnessed a worldwide international tourist arrival, which amounted to over 940 million. This number represented a growth of 6.6 percent when compared to that of 2009. Receipts for international tourism grew by $919 billion in 2010, a number that corresponded to a rise in real terms of 4.7 percent (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:301). Many countries around the world used to depend solely on other means of generating income. Introduction However, as time went by and economic analysts realized what tourism and its related businesses could do for a country’s growth, they initiated measures that aimed at encouraging intensive investment in tourism. In contrast to those other economic activities, tourism bases on competitive advantages and has the potent ability of creating additional income, growth, and job opportunities for many decades to come (Au, 2010:4). Estimates depict that international tourist arrivals will be more than 1.6 billion in 2020. International tourism suffered a setback due to the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11 that pushed the US economy and indeed many others into recession. The September 11 terrorism attacks led to erosion of consumer confidence in travel (Akehurst, 2009:52). This traumatic blow delivered directly to the US tourism and leisure travel as well as domestic travel had no comparison even to the Kosovo or the Gulf War. As a result, the US economy took longer than projected as opposed to Germany and Britain (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:47). Given the tremendous results of international tourism as well as the possible challenges affecting its growth, this paper will seek to analyze the significance of social media in international tourism marketing. As of today, the behavior of consumers in tourism is different due to the hyperactive competition, digitization of the world economy, and the effects of globalization. This trend is becoming a multidimensional concept whereby people view it as an outcome of a dynamic system based on relations between the processes involved in motivation, attitude, effective manifestation, information, and perception (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:302). With this respect, to research certain dimensions those are congruent to consumer behavior in international tourism in order to determine the consumption and purchasing pattern of the respective customers is essential. This helps in tailoring and catering for the customers’ needs and wants, which in turn translates to return or repeat business (Akehurst, 2009:53). As this essay depends highly on international tourism market and the diversity ascribing to this market, this sector requires bidders to put much focus niche marketing. Simultaneously, market segmentation becomes a subject with an attractive strategy, viability, and high as well as potential rates of profitability in this framework. The role of marketing research in international tourism market segmentation With the main objective of every company being to satisfy their customers, companies with a strong orientation pay special attention to the behavior of consumers whereby they capitalize on the information that they obtain with the view of attracting new customers and retaining the existing ones (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:303). In this context, it is agreeable that the complexity of international tourism marketing puts more emphasis on the importance for market segmentation, based on the influences of consumers’ behavior. Cognitively, research in tourism marketing allows companies to have knowledge that is essential in differentiating the purchasing and consumption habits, perceptions, and attitudes of consumers with regard to a particular or distinct market offer (Au, 2010:6). With these dimensions of consumers’ behavior, companies dealing with tourists are able to understand the short-term needs of their consumers, which in turn help them, determine the most attractive tactics of bringing in more customers. Additionally, marketing research on international tourism provides measures that assist in assessing consumers’ long-term goals, which incorporate stability of the techniques, concerned with consumer loyalty and retention (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:391). The information provided by research based on consumer behavior with regard to international tourism and other services related to travel helps in understanding the five stages of identification of need to go on holiday (Au, 2010:7). The other stages involved include the consumers’ long-term goals, process of purchase decision, emotional evaluation of alternatives, exploration of destination information, and post holiday assessment. Research on international marketing patterns aimed at establishing the various needs and wants of tourists set forth policies that ensure continued growth of international tourist arrivals in order to meet the set projects within the specified period (Akehurst, 2009:54). Social media in international tourism marketing Notably, with the help of social media, international tourism marketing can soar to greater heights especially in developed countries like the US and the UK. Social media otherwise known as the Web 2.0 is fundamentally changing the means in which tourists and travelers search and find trustworthy information and collaboratively produce response regarding tourism destinations and tourism suppliers (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:307). The use of Web 2.0 such as social networks, collaborative trip planning instruments, and multi player online games provide a base that facilitates participation of all business functions and operations (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:56). These areas comprises of new service development and marketing. Consequently, through social media, travelers also become a helping hand towards tourism marketing, designing, producing, and consuming in travel experiences. In this case, social media enables travelers to coproduce and facilitate flow of huge information and knowledge in the form of user-generated content (UGC) (Bhatia, 2006:50). The center of social media is social intelligence, which is very useful and has a great effect on both processes of travelers’ decision-making and exploitation of information. Social media influences tourists’ behavior and has considerable information that can help improve the effectiveness of tourism operation as a business (Au, 2010:9). For instance, by use of user-generated content, Tour America can enhance the management systems of responding to customers’ complaints, improve the ability of scanning, and bring about new service development (Akehurst, 2009:55). Given the fact that, in this vein, tourism, hospitality, and travel firms are at the moment redefining and transforming their models of conducting business and their operational practices with the view of exploiting the business opportunities that social media is offering. In addition, this current trend is helping these companies generate measures for addressing future behaviors and expectations of the new generation of travelers (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:63). Following the wide and broad application of social media by travelers and tourists as well as the industry itself, there has been a boom in tourism market research in the last two decades. Nevertheless, in spite social media’s impacts and importance in this industry, there are very few documented books addressing this subject from an overall and holistic perspective (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:310). In search of a better way in which the US tour operators can use social media to aid their entry into the UK market, this paper established a basic stratagem. What Tour America can do, is to come up with ways that can transform the existing business operations and models in order to accommodate as well as exploit the UK market by applying social network interactions (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:395). With in-depth use of strategic instruments of social media, Tour America can make resourceful research on consumer behavior with regard to tourism services (Akehurst, 2009:56). With this analysis, this company can define and establish definitive relationship between travels related services and tourist, namely the positive results sought by a tourist while purchasing a particular service (Bhatia, 2006:69). From this analysis, this company can exploit the tourism market approach, in the bases of; needs, purpose of travel, motivation of a buyer to seek benefits, characteristics of tourists, and economic features determining tourism in the UK market (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:71). Social media has the ability to identify the demographic characteristics of UK tourism sector whereby with this information, Tour America can have enhanced mode of venturing into the UK market. The preliminary phase of tourism According to most econometrics, the preliminary phase of international tourism marketing research begins with identifying the problem. In this context, definition of the problem refers to establishment of a detailed understanding of the current changing trends in UK tourism market. In this view, there is also the transformation of tourists’ behavior in terms of consumption, purchasing, preferences (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:399). Social media can aid Tour America enter the UK market since market research conducting via the several instruments of social media can provide detailed and assertive reports regarding tourists and travelers’ needs and wants. Deeper market research using social media modes such as advertising can woe tourists from not only the US, but also the entire globe to visit the UK via the support of Tour America (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:312). This can only happen upon making efficient efforts aimed at altering the application social media in the context of researching tourism market in the UK. Currently, every country around the world is making its final preparations towards gearing in for Olympics in the UK. If Tour America can intensify its social media use in identifying which attractive areas to employ much focus, then, this company can realize huge economic and social benefits at a global level (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:82). Documented evidence points out that, using social media to carry out market research especially in the hospitality department has significant results. This is because, most travelers and tourists rely heavily on social media to access the information they want concerning a particular destination. Recent studies based on the role of social media in international tourism marketing research reveal that, the largest number of US tourists retrieve information regarding their destination of choice through the internet. Most of them access tourists’ data and other relevant information from adverts and catalogues posted on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Free Online Surveys (Bhatia, 2006:77). Social media and market research Social media plays a key role in international tourism research as it facilitates preparation and processing of statistical analysis that research teams put in place in order to establish cognitive results regarding the problem in definition (Bhatia, 2006:86). Social media makes it possible international tourist researchers to deploy factor analysis methods that are useful tools in obtaining preferences and analytical data concerning tourists’ information. Therefore, social media elements such as road shows and billboards can provide advent and vast majority of tourists within a very span of time (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:314). Time in tourism is a key factor determining the performance and reflection of tourism industry in almost every globe’s economic development. This is due to the need of obtaining the newly formed variables commonly referred to as preference for travelling seasons. As for the Tour America, social media can set forth embodied measures that can assess different attributes that tourists prefer while choosing their holiday packages. Using segmented social media tools, this company can evaluate factors that demanding tourists rely on (Beck, 2008:475). This enables distinguished identification of scores that different tourists record in terms of accommodation in most UK resorts and hotels. Furthermore, this analysis creates room for redefining considerable aspects of tourism regarding infrastructure and customer service. Marketing research in international tourism is essential as it helps determine various ways of attending different classes of tourists and travelers (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:94). As such, use of social media can clearly define different categories whereby tourists and travelers can make their correct choice depending on their needs and wants. This is sufficient in developing tourism demand since some tourists prefer travelling with their children (Bhatia, 2006:97). Social media and information Social media provides a foundation where tourists can access useful information regarding leisure, recreation, and business needs. For instance, Tour America can use social blogs to advertise the best places with the nicest accommodation services, the fantastic places with the top of the world food to eat, and the best hotels and resorts with the best customer service among other attractive services (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:402). With this respect, the essence of social media in international tourism marketing is vital and its impacts are numerous. Fact-findings set forth that, hotels that promote their products and services via online advertising television have unique and outstanding benefits brought about by international tourism marketing (Beck, 2008:479). By use of marketing mix, Tour America efforts towards realizing a comprehensive entry into the UK market whereby, this company can first set out prices that are unique, appealing, and affordable to the larger population of tourists (Corigliano and Baggio, 2004:316). As such, if services and products offered by Tour America have reasonable prices, then, most tourists will find it reasonable to purchase this company’s offerings. Following the basics of marketing, price acts as the overall determinant when purchasing a particular good or service. Thus, offering goods and services that are price friendly can establish a large pool of tourists hence help this firm gain easier access into the UK market (Beck, 2008:483). As a sensitive means of promoting competitive tourism, Tour America can identify viable ways of setting its presence in the UK market by use of social media elements such as promotion, advertisements, and market analysis. Carrying out immense promotion of products offered by Tour America can contribute through creating awareness, providing information, and attracting able tourists and travelers can set potential means of entering into the UK market (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:101). This is because; UK market is very competitive and requires more than just an intensive research in tourism, but advent participation by the incoming agency. Based on the outcomes of globalization, international marketing research in tourism is important the marketplace is diverse and comprises of many people with different backgrounds, perceptions, needs, wants, countries of origin, and behaviors among other factors. The relevancy of social media in international tourism marketing and research is evident since the acquisition and purchase of packages by tourists and travelers has emotional significance (Beck, 2008:486). Hence, marketing in this sector must posses a core role in the process of creating potential and additional value for prospective customers. In order to gain a relevant means of entering the UK market, Tour America must be able to achieve emotional significance of tourists but to do so; it must define its customers. Carrying out international tourism marketing can explore large extents of tourism dimensions and seek to establish reliable methods of contributing to the growth of tourism sector in the US and the world at large. Since international tourism marketing appeals to many people, social media can help drive the intended message to the right clientele via its appealing characteristics (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:112). Cognitively, social media presentation and address provides ways of identifying different classes of tourists. For example, social media platforms such as social network pages where people have an opportunity to comment on services and products offered by a particular company. The importance of these sites is to encourage improved and enhanced services as well as provide a system of providing feedback concerning tourists’ experience. In international tourism marketing, Tour America can establish social sites and web sites as well as blogs where customers can present their responses and claims in these social sites (Beck, 2008:489). Social media advertisement Moreover, with these network places, tour operators, and tour companies can put adverts of the products and services that they offer as a means of promoting them and as a way of attracting new customers. Social networks provide basis of uploading tour firm’s catalogues and brochures where different classes of tourists that include demanding tourists and price oriented adventurous tourists can access information regarding different packages offered by the company (Bhatia, 2006:109). Well presented information leads to attraction of different categories of tourists whereby in this context, a company can have an opportunity to identify and attract a particular category of tourists (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:126). From this step, there can be glorious, projective will of growth since making assertive decisions aimed at maintaining, and attracting more of these customers could result to increased demand in the company’s services and goods. In order to secure safe entry into the UK market, Tour America should resolve to make maximum use of the growing prominence of social media in different parts of the world. International tourism marketing can create extra ordinary results in economic development by use of social media following its recent gain of prominence (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:407). As an instrument of marketing destinations, social media can provide strategic modes of establishing greater value in terms of tourists’ budget expenditure. With social media, Tour America can employ tools of marketing that help in reaching or accessing global market at a limited cost and resource (Beck, 2008:491). Following this imperative essence of social media, it is agreeable that, international marketing can aid tourism development and sustainability in many parts of the globe. Arguably, social media strategies used in international marketing vary significantly and its impacts to tourist and hospitality firms are largely experimental. The evolution of social media and its elements led to fundamental transformation of how tourists and travelers access information. Through the creation and accessibility of the internet and other social media, instruments changed the way in which both international tourists and business people plan and book their trips (Beck, 2008:493). Additionally, the internet resulted to different and vigorous platforms for sharing travel experiences of different tourists and travelers. As a mater of course, it is easy for Tour America to access the UK market via intense deployment of the internet and its uses (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:134). Given the fact that most Americans and UK citizens have the largest number of people who have access to personal computers and the fastest internet providers, use of internet in researching and marketing UK products and holiday packages in the US can attract huge number of tourists (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:410). An increased number of tourists and travelers touring UK can help Tour America experiment several ways of entering the UK market, which in turn can present an easy breakthrough into the designated market. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that, this breakthrough cannot come cheaply (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:142). Tour America must revolve around incorporation of social media and the internet as well as its other platforms that can provide internet users with an opportunity to collaborate, polish original content, and communicate in order to big market awareness. With the help of social media platforms that compose of reviews, wikis, blogs, photos, and videos, Tour America can present its offerings to a large number of international tourists and travelers at a very low cost and resource (Bhatia, 2006:125). This aspect of social media helps in facilitating marketing and promotion of a firm’s products and services to bigger population by using the least amount of resources. Tour American can achieve success in entering into the UK market upon initiating the use of wikis, blogs, and vides as well as other social networks (Wachowaik, 2006:41). Online travelers and social media Online travelers make the largest use of online-generated content that is a component of social media to facilitate consumer collaboration and communication. Online travelers also make maximum use of review sites such as Tripadvisor.com to spread widely international tourism marketing processes, which undermines the authority of traditional groups of marketing like destination marketing organizations (DMOs) (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:413). This effect extents its results to reflect on conventional advertisements hence providing a populous means of tourism marketing. The widespread usage of social media happens to be the most crucial element with the ability of availing the possible ways of Tour America’s entry into the UK economy. Therefore, as this study reveals, social media is one of the most effective modes of accessing new markets (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:153). It also makes it possible for new entrants to set comparative policies aimed at attracting new customers and establishing a good company brand. With reference to the main objective of Tour America, which is to establish ways of attaining market, entry into the UK, social media has the highest degree of variation in the context of marketing UK as Tour America’s destination. It is agreeable that every nation around the globe views tourism as having a great on economic development. Indeed, it is the key developer of economy and a large accountant of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (Bhatia, 2006:138). Tourism is a direct employer of hundreds and thousands of employees and creates additional job opportunities to other citizens within its long chain of operation. It encompasses a broad and wide range of market segments whereby, all of them have breadth of needs and motivations (Liu, 2006:39). Considerably, tourism provides a more scope of investment in attractions, accommodation, tour operations, and transport. Given this perspective, venturing into the US market requires concern for needs and motivations of different tourists. Government’s role in international tourism marketing Government’s support and participation in tourism is crucial in areas of management, planning, and development in every country. The possibility of small businesses, private sector, and the community at large to benefit from the tourism sector depends highly on the underpinning part played by the government (Liu, 2006:44). In order to attain successful results, the government must integrate tourism into the local environment in a manner that encourages corporation, is sustainable, and coordinates improvement (Bai, Law, and Wen, 2008:416). In this way, it enhances the quality of life and existence for the local community and revolutionizes the experience of the visitors to the country. In this case, government’s investment in tourism is essential because it has the resources and capability to set out policies that are beneficial to the overall country’s population as opposed to a few (Hall, 2008:65). With reference to that, Tour America could make maximum use of the government’s support in order to market its services and offerings in the US and UK markets which in turn will lend a helping hand to the already deployed social media methods of marketing (Bhatia, 2006:147). Since the tourism industry is such an intensive sector, it provides part of the country’s largest pool of employment opportunities for people of all ages. Jobs created through tourism give special support to areas that are experiencing the consequences that come about due to structural changes. In tourism and recreations industries, there are more than 50 different categories of job opportunities and over 200 occupations respectively (Liu, 2006:53). Given these broad margins of job opportunities, it is realistic to point out that, governments fund the tourism industry in order to create employment positions for their populations. With adequate jobs for everyone, the country experiences economic growth as well as improving peoples’ standards of living. To do so, the government may chip to provide incentives for the tourism and hotel industry in form of partial exemption from the payment of income tax for a particular period (Wachowaik, 2006:72). In this context, tourism companies will have to pay just a mere percentage of its statutory income starting from its production day. Therefore, Tour America’s entry into the UK market can result to tremendous outcomes in which social media would be the main driver of these changes. Following the fact that tourism generates additional demand, it has the ability of improving the financial viability of a country and its cultural and recreational facilities, which comprise of sporting venues, museums, galleries, and clubs (Wachowaik, 2006:80). Consequently, growth and development in tourism leads to new and expanded facilities, services, and infrastructure. In turn, these developments benefit the surrounding communities and the country at large (Liu, 2006:70). Apart from benefiting the community, the government funds tourism in order to create new business opportunities. Tourism has the potential of creating new commerce opportunities via the establishment of new facilities, services, products, and expand the existing business whereby this would not be sustainable if left in the hands of the resident population alone (Hall, 2008:90). Conclusion In conclusion, these and many other reasons make social media aid in international tourism marketing whereby it provides immense support towards entry into new markets. Using Tour America as an example, this paper brought forward that social media is indeed a solid and beneficial factor in marketing tourism products and services internationally (Liu, 2006:84). In new destinations, social media provides basis for investment in tourism with the view of attracting tourists and setting up of new tourists’ attraction sites. As such, the country attains means of attracting tourists and making them stay longer in the country (Fayal and Garrard, 2005:188). In mature destinations, social media’s support in international tourism marketing and investment aims at attracting both new customers and retaining the existing ones which in turn leads to expanded business. Thereafter, this generates more income, which raises the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Bibliography Akehurst, G. 2009. 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