Considering Pakistan as a Country Attracting the Tourists, Developing Strategies - Research Paper Example

Service Product Marketing – A Report on Tourism across Frontiers Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 2 Introduction 3 Marketing Strategy and Plan 5 Target Market 5 Expectation of the Target Market 6 Marketing Mix 6 Product Element and Physical Environment 6 Place 8 Promotion 9 People and Process 9 Recommendation 10 Conclusion 11 Works Cited 12 Executive Summary This report is to be presented to the general manager of the tourism venture in Pakistan. For this purpose information has been collected from a conglomeration of sources including government documentation, newspaper, web articles and also online survey with the help of facebook.com. After all the information was gathered it was combined and integrated and analysis along with the basis plan made on the basis of that. For a developing country like Pakistan, we need a strategy to first increase the inflow of people from all around the world, before we move on to invest in the sectors which are needed to increase the ease for the travelers and to make their experience memorable. This will be the secondary mission. The strategy that we think suits Pakistan the best is to attract tourists on the basis of the adventurous spots. This is because there are many out there in Pakistan and all they need is a bit of development and proper marketing techniques. Now once the potential market has been explored it is important to decide will it be mass marketing or niche marketing. As far as this industry is concerned it will be wide spread marketing but niche in the way that only for those who have the wish to indulge in adventurous activities. However, the struggle does not end here and a perfect marketing strategy including the most suitable marketing mix should be formed in order to carry out the plan successfully. This means deciding on the seven Ps of marketing. Once the various spots of adventures have been selected the whole package should be determined as to what all facilities will the tourists receive once they come and visit. After this promotion and education are important to answer when and how and all similar questions that can arise in the minds of prospective visitors. Apart from this in every service that is provided there are individuals involve who are representative of the company and interact directly with the consumers. They play a crucial role and thus it is important to determine a strategy related to them even. The right combination of all the factors can bring about a package that would be attractive to all and will increase the flow of tourists in the country which will in turn bring several benefits to the overall economy. Introduction Tourism is an industry through which a country can earn fortunes and do wonders for the economy. The inflow of tourists not only promotes the tourism industry but many other related industries such as cottage industry, various cultural shops, and also the local designers in various different fields. Therefore, the government is always interested in investing in projects related to this industry because they are usually a source of foreign currency. This becomes more important for a developing country like Pakistan that should try to avail all the earning opportunities that come in its way. This paper has exclusively touched upon the finer aspects related with the tourism industry and studied the same in the light of the service/product marketing ideological settings and domains. There are many different segments of tourism industry and every sector has its own relevance and importance however, the importance varies from country to country. As far as Pakistan is related the tourism rate is really low, people come here mostly for business purposes not for leisure. So the first step to developing the tourist sector is to attract people from all around the world to come and visit the country at least once (Cooper 2001). People usually do not go to a country because they have good transport systems or luxurious resorts and spas. They tend to go because they want to visit sites that are not available anywhere else. This does not mean that hospitality is not important it means that it is not the area that needs to be developed in Pakistan first. For this reason we have selected that firstly the adventure sector of Pakistan should be developed further. According to the statistics collected by the world tourism organization back in the year 2004 the number of people traveling for the sake of adventure increased to 760 million. This number would have increased further in the last five years. Moreover, most of these travelers visited Asia and Pacific for this purpose thus Pakistan being located in Asia would be a suitable spot for attracting these people. Before we move on it is important that we clarify that what we mean by adventure tourism People usually take it as going to places that involves a great amount of risk for instance, mountain climbing. However, the scope of adventure is not that small it involves ecotourism, rural visits, wild life tourism and many others. When it comes to Pakistan it has all the spots that come under the heading of adventure spots but they are not very well delivered neither very well documented and thus they fail to attract the number of tourists they have the potential too. Here we are going to design a suitable business and marketing strategy for developing the adventure sector of Pakistan’s tourist industry. Thus the big idea here is to develop a committee or an organization that would help improve and manage the adventure tourism sector of Pakistan. Marketing Strategy and Plan In the previous section we already narrowed down our scope and decided that we will be focusing on developing the adventure sector of Pakistan. This is the time of being marketing focused, that is you try to find to find out that you are going to sell your product or service to and what are the expectations of your potential target market. Once this has been determined you alter or cater your product or service in the way that it better meets the needs of your market then constantly keep track of the changing needs and keep updating your product and services to the altered requirements. Target Market Therefore, the first step is defining your target market, the market you want to sell your service to. As the name implied it is clear that it is for those people who want to experience nature in its natural most form and the people who want to boost up there hormones by carrying out exciting things. This group usually involves youngster falling in the age bracket of 20 to 45 years, however there is no hard and fast rule and people outside this bracket also indulge in such activities. Moreover, there is no geographical restriction and people from all around the world are welcome to Pakistan to experience the beauties of the land and water. Expectation of the Target Market Now once we have decided who our target market is, it is very important that we discuss the various things they will expect when they come to visit. First of all they will want the basic product which is the spot or place. Further, they will require safety and security measures, further they will want accommodation near to those spots along with proper transportation. In addition to all these they will not mind other tourist benefits such as food outlets, bars etc along with that. Further, different tourists travel with different budgets and thus they will require all these facilities at different rates and standards, so there is also a need for variety in the facilities. Apart from this many dimension has to be altered to meet the needs of different individuals. This is what we will discuss in detail in the next segment which is the marketing mix. Marketing Mix Usually when we talk about marketing mix the four basic Ps come to our mind however here we will discuss the extended marketing mix which encompasses of 7 Ps of marketing. Product Element and Physical Environment This part will discuss the entire package of activities that will be offered in this country and those that can be availed in one trip or sometimes multiple trips. Along with this we will also discuss some of the facilities and services that will be provided alongside to make the experience of tourists memorable. Due to the nature of the product we are dealing with product, service and physical environment in one go only. The geographical area of Pakistan is such that it has a variety of different landscape and climate across the nation. People can enjoy rock and mountain climbing in the northern areas to sand dune riding in south. Apart from this the Arabian Sea along with the various rivers provides an opportunity to all experience activities such as crabbing, fishing, scuba diving, river rafting and many others. So here we can divide the activities into four broad categories, mountain related, water sports, dessert and safari adventures and finally the rural visits. There are many different sub divisions in each of the above mentioned categories but it will be redundant to list them all. But we can state few examples here to give a better understanding. For instance, for skiing the best spot in Pakistan is Malang Jabba and for jeep safari there is Skardu, Sustt and Hunza. And then obviously there is the K2 which is the second highest mountain on the world and thus a major attraction for mountain climbers all around the globe (Werner 2003). Apart from the landscape which is present there naturally there are other products and services that are included in the whole facilitation package. First of all there is a need for sports gears, instruments and goods. For instance in Jeep Safari there are jeeps needed for fishing there are fishing boats, rods and other equipment required. Further there is accommodation required. As people coming from abroad need a place to live along with decent food that suits their taste. This means hotels, resort and restaurants are needed. Many foreigners even consider a bar a necessity. Therefore all these basic facilities are required. It is not necessary to have five star hotels because it is only a secondary thing and people are there more for the adventure than the luxury of the room, but it should still be acceptable and provide all the basic necessity. In addition to the points mentioned above, other things are also required, such as trainers and guides, who can take tourists on the tour of the place, give them a basic guideline about the rules and regulations that need to be followed there and provide primary training if it is required. Apart from this lifeguards and other rescue teams are also required that should include basic medical facilities, rescue squad, fire extinguishing team and other similar experts. These are the combination of products and services that are required to ensure a regular flow of tourists for experiencing the adventures of the land and water. Place Adventures require particular landscape and physical feature along with some effort from the sides of human to develop it in a way that it becomes suitable for the desired sports. It is also important to choose the safest option to reduce the chances of any sort of accident. Moreover as there are weather factors involved thus most of the sports cannot be carried out throughout the year and have particular months in which they can be done with minimum risks. For instance skiing is only possible in the winters whereas crabbing is not practical during summer with the high tide. Promotion Extensive promotion is required because very few people all around the world know about the various adventure opportunities that exist in Pakistan. Moreover, they will definitely not know about the advancements made in this field. Therefore there is a need to deliver the message all around the world about the variety of opportunity that exist along with the various benefits that come in the package. This should be done through a conglomeration of media. There should be advertisement on the televisions on channels such as National Geographic. Apart from this flyers should be handed out to all travel agents both local and foreign and also posted on the various websites of tourist guides. In addition to that it will also be a good idea to do some below the line promotion. This can be done in the form that those people who have already visited their interview can be taken and their experience recorded and then broadcasted on television. Apart from this, another way to create excitement and awareness is to start a reality show that would have local celebrities and their experience can be broadcasted on international television. This will be an indirect promotion and will be successful in creating hype and starting the word of mouth. People and Process This is part of the extended marketing mix that moves beyond the 4 fixed Ps of marketing. This basically refers to the human factor involved in the product and services. As already mentioned in the first P which is the product and services there will be many different experts required including trainers, doctors, firemen and many others. There is a need for them to be properly trained as life of many will be their responsibility and will be at their stake. Apart from this they should be equipped with people’s skill so the tourists feel welcomed and their need for belonging is fulfilled. Further, they need to be well managed because they need to do their job on the required time, if they are late or if their mismanagement of some other kind lives can be lost and goodwill spoiled forever. Therefore people in this field play a vital role like in all other professions, but they cannot even do many marvels if a proper and most efficient system is not developed. This means high class communication without any delay so as to be helpful in the case of emergencies. Therefore people and process go hand in hand and jointly they can achieve the desired target. Recommendation If all the above mentioned strategies cannot be applied at once it is a better idea to pick up some plans from each of the four Ps and apply it instead of catering to each and every P at one time. This can be explained as one sport should be picked up at once and fully developed and advertised and then move to the next one. This way one sector will start off and start thriving and earning money which can be invested in another sector. This is the same as how companies come up with one product at a time even if they have many creative ideas at one time. Moreover, once people start coming in for one adventure they will most probably try out other activities even and thus the overall sector is interlinked and will thrive simultaneously. It is best advisable to make use of strategies that would take into consideration the proper usage of the important factors that have been mentioned and talked about in the paper above. This will give the tourism industry the much needed encouragement within Pakistan and also the tourists would feel more I inclined to visit places which have a general feel of brotherhood, peace and love for all and sundry. Conclusion In the end, it would be adequately sound to state here that the tourism industry of Pakistan has always focused on attracting foreign tourists on the basis of their culture and heritage and has failed to focus on the adventure aspect although the latter one is more widespread and has far greater potential of growth and development. There is no doubt that this can be judged by the figures and statistics gathered by different research agencies and units where the same show that the listing for heritage was 390 million years whereas that of adventure was 770 million years old. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize again that developing the physical infrastructure is not enough it is equally important to deliver the message to the mass population of the world about the opportunities that awaits them and that too in an enticing way so as to lure them to come down here to experience the wonders themselves. If all the above mentioned strategies are adopted there is a high probability that Pakistan will become the biggest adventure tourism destination because it naturally has all the qualities that are desired by the tourists. Works Cited Cooper, C. (2001). Tourism in the Age of Globalization. Routledge Werner, C. (2003). The New Silk Road: Mediators and Tourism Development in Central Asia. Ethnology, Vol. 42 Word Count: 2,777 Read More