Marketing Management in Travel and Tourism

Marketing Mix
The right combination of elements that will
produce profit.
The marketing mix is composed of every
factor that influences the marketing effort.
Calls upon markets to decide on the product
and its characteristics, set the price, decide
how to distribute their product, and choose
the method for promoting products.

Marketing Mix is a term describing the key

elements used by an organisation to help it
meet its marketing objectives.

Timing
Holidays, high season, low season, upward
trend in the business cycle
Brands
names, trademarks, labels, logos and other
identification marks all assist the consumer in
identifying and recalling information about
your product.

Packaging
Packaging is the enclosing of a physical object,
typically a product that will be offered for sale. It
is the process of preparing items of equipment
for transportation and storage and which
embraces preservation, identification and
packaging of products.
Packaging is an important part of the branding
process as it plays a role in communicating the
image and identity of a company.

Pricing
Price is the amount of money charged for a
product or service or the value exchanged for
the benefits of the product or service.
Affects the sales volume but also the image
of the product.
Channel of Distribution
Accessibility of the product to the consumer

Product
The physical attributes of the product help to
determine its position against the
competition and provide guidelines on how
to best compete.
Image
The consumers perception of the product
depends to a great extent on the important
factors of reputation and quality.

Advertising
Paid promotion
Selling
Internal and external selling are essential
components for success, and various sales
techniques must be incorporated in the
marketing plan.
Public Relations
The process by which we create a positive image
and customer preference through third-party
endorsement.

Service Quality
Outstanding service
Research

PRODUCT
A product is anything that can be offered to a
market for attention, acquisition, use or
consumption that might satisfy a want or
need
whatever is being delivered to satisfy
consumer needs. It is much more than the
good or service you provide.

The product is what the customer buys to

satisfy a want that he has. The want could be
adventure, a gift, a learning experience or
food in the stomach.
The first step in marketing your tourism
product is to understand the want which you
can satisfy.

Includes physical objects, services, places,

organizations, and ideas

Product Levels
Core Product
Facilitating Products
Supporting Products
Augmented Products

Core Product
What the buyer is really buying
Marketers must uncover the core benefit to
the consumer of every product and sell these
benefits than merely selling features.
EX:
Mobile Phones call and text

Facilitating Products
Goods or services that must be present for
the guest to use the core product
One important aspect is ACCESSIBILITY
EX:
Mobile Phones sim and load/ post paid line
Hotels facilities are open 24/7; front desk

Supporting Products
Extra products offered to add value to the
core product and help to differentiate it from
the competition
EX:
Mobile Phones GPS / Navigator
Hotels Business Center / Health Spa

Augmented Product
The augmented product includes
accessibility, atmosphere, customer
interaction with the service organization,
customer participation, and customers
interaction with each other.
Ex:
Hotel service
Airline in flight service

PRODUCT CONSIDERATIONS
Accessibility
This refers to how accessible the product is in terms
of location and hours of operation.
Atmosphere
A critical element in services. It is appreciated
through the senses. Sensory terms provide
descriptions for the atmosphere as a particular set
of surroundings.
Sensory Channels sight, sound, scent and touch

PRODUCT CONSIDERATIONS
Customer interactions with the service
system
Managers must think about how the
customers use the product in the three
phases of involvement: joining, consumption
and detachment

PRODUCT CONSIDERATIONS
3 PHASES OF INVOLVEMENT
Joining stage is when the customer makes the
initial inquiry contact ; make it easy for the
customers to learn the product; sampling of
products
Consumption phase takes place when the service is
consumed
Detachment phase is when the customer is
through using a product and departs

PRODUCT CONSIDERATIONS
Customer interactions with other
customers. Customers become part of the
product you are offering. Hospitality
organizations must manage the interaction
of customers to ensure that some do not
negatively affect the experience of others
Ex:
Airline J/C pax seated next to upgraded Y/C
pax; maximize revenue; proper attire

PRODUCT CONSIDERATIONS
Participation
Involving the guest in service delivery can
increase capacity, improve customer
satisfaction, and reduce costs.

BRANDING
Brand is a name, term symbol, design or a
combination of these that is intended to
identify the goods or services of a seller and
differentiate them from those of
competitors.

Conditions that support branding:

A. Identifiable by trademark
1. It should suggest something about the
products benefits and qualities.
2. It should be easy to pronounce, recognize, and
remember.
3. It should be distinctive.
4. The name should translate easily for foreign
languages.
5. It should be capable of registration and legal
protection.

Conditions that support branding:

B. The product is perceived as the best value for
the price.
A brand name derives its value from
customer perceptions.
Brands attract customers by developing a
perception of good quality and value.

Conditions that support branding:

C. Quality and standards
If the brand is successful, in developing an
image of quality, customers will expect
quality in all outlets carrying the same brand
name.
D. The demand for the general product class is
large enough to support a regional or
national chain.

New products are generally developed to

serve a particular market niche.
Original niche may grow in market size until it
is a huge market share product.

E. There are economies of scale

The company promoting a brand name has to
develop standards, systems and quality
assurance.
Reduced promotional cost

New Product Development

Product Life Cycle
Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline

Introduction
- a period of slow sales growth as the product
is being introduced into the market.
- profits are nonexistent at this stage due to
high product introduction expenses.
Growth
- a period of rapid market acceptance and
increasing profits.

Maturity
- a period of slowdown in sales growth
because the product has achieved acceptance
by most of its potential buyers.
- profits level decline due to increased
marketing outlays to defend the product
against competition.
- stage to modify the product

Decline
- the period when sales fall off quickly and
profits drop.
- Due to the following reasons:
1. Technological advances
2. Shifts in consumer tastes
3. Increased competition

- Companies must decide whether to maintain,

harvest or drop it.

New Product Development Strategy

Product life cycle presents 2 major challenges:
1. All products eventually decline and should
replace the new ones
2. Must understand how its product age and
change marketing strategies.

Idea Generation - ideas are gained from

internal sources, customers, competitors,
distributors, and suppliers.
Idea Screening - the purpose of screening is to
spot good ideas and drop poor ones as
quickly as possible.
- Companies should proceed only with ideas
that will turn into profitable products.

Concept development and testing surviving

ideas must be developed into product
concepts.
- these concepts are tested with target
customers.
- The task is to develop an idea into
alternative product concepts (determine
good versions of the product), determine
how attractive each is to customers, and
choose the best one

Marketing Strategy - includes information

such as the target market and product
positioning as well as both short and long
term projections in terms of sales, profits and
costs.
Three parts:
1. Target market
2. Products planned price
3. Planned long-run sale (period)

Business Analysis - business analysis involves a

review of the sales, costs, and profit projections
to determine whether they satisfy the
companys objectives.
Product Development - if the product concept
passes the business test, it moves into product
development.
The prototype (model or sample) must:
- Have the key features described in the product concept
statement, as perceived by the customer
- Performs safely under normal use
- Be produced for the budgeted costs

Test Marketing - The product and marketing

program are introduced into realistic market
settings .
The following are evaluated in Market testing:
1. Product
2. Positioning strategy
3. Advertising
4. Distribution
5. Pricing
6. Branding
7. Packaging
8. Budget levels

Commercialization - In launching a new

product, a company must make four
decisions:
- When? is it the right time to launch?
- Where? single location, region, national market,
international market
- To whom? must target distribution to the best
prospect groups
- and How? action plan