3. The product of individual producers
The hotel product is a 'bundle' which may be itemized
as :
1. Initial experience and reactions in selecting
from a brochure
2. Experience of the booking process
3. First impressions on entering hotel
4. Reception process on arrival
5. Standard of room and suite facilities
6. Checking out process
4. Components of the overall tourism
product
There are five main components in overall product
,which are:
1. Destination attractions
2. Destination facilities and services
3. Accessibility of the destination
4. Images and perceptions
5. Price to the customer
5. Components of the overall tourism
product
Destination attractions and environment
Natural: Landscape, seascape, beaches, climate
Built Attractions: Buildings and tourism infrastructure
including historic and modern architecture,
monuments
Cultural attractions: History and folklore, religion and
art, theatre
Social attractions: Way of life of resident or host
population, language and opportunities for social
encounters
6. Components of the overall tourism
product
Destination facilities and services
Accommodation units: hotels, apartments, villas,
farms, guesthouse
Restaurants, bars and cafes: Ranging from fast food
through to luxury restaurants
Transport at the destination
Sports/activity: Ski schools, sailing schools, golf
clubs
Retail outlets: Shops, tract agents, souvenirs
Other services: Hairdressing, information services,
equipment rental, tourism police
7. Components of the overall tourism
product
Accessibility of the destination
Infrastructure: Roads, airports, railways, seaports,
marinas
Equipment: Size, speed and range of public
transport public
Operational factors: Routes operated, frequency of
services, prices charged
Government regulations: The range of regulatory
controls over transport operations
8. Specific products-the producer's view:-
Marketing managers 'need to think about the product on
three levels'(kotler:1984)
These three levels are:
*the core product, which is the essential service or
benefit designed to satisfy the identified needs of target
customer segments.
*the tangible product, which comprises all the forms of
added value producers may build into their tangible
product offers to make attractive to intended customers.
9. Historical Development
Origin of travel organization traced back to 1841 with
Thomas cook as pioneer
By 1845 Cook started operating longer overnight
tour
In 1871, Cook organized the first round the world
tour
Skiing was popularized in 1880s by Sir Henry Lunn
In 1930s coach tour operators introduced a new
dimension of tour
10. Role of packaging
Overall tourism product was introduced as a
package and defined in terms of five components:
1. Destination attractions
2. Destination facilities and services
3. Accessibility of the destination
4. Images and perceptions
5. Price to the customer
11. Defining inclusive tour and product
packages
Inclusive tour and product packages include
1. The nature of the product itself, which is always
a package
2. The business relation between the operator and
main product elements
3. Dominant method of distribution to the
customer
4. Nature of the product
12. Defining inclusive tour and product
packages
Product packages are:
Standardized, quality-controlled, repeatable offers
comprising two or more elements of transport,
accommodation, food, destination attractions, other
facilities and services.
Business relation between the operator and main
product elements
This consideration distinguishes between a category
of operators that conduct their business as
independent contractors, and a category owned by
or closely linked with producers.
13. Defining inclusive tour and product
packages
Distribution method:
Relates to the form of marketing used to sell the
package. Some operators specially those in the
producer rather than contractor category have a split
strategy.
14. Functions of tour operator
1. Overcoming the inherent inefficiencies in the
markets for leisure travel tourism
2. Ensuring product quality
3. Delivering price advantage
4. Facilitating and simplifying the process
15. The nature of the marketing task for tour
operators
For tour operators as for other producers in the
travel and tourism industry, it is appropriate to divide
the discussion of the marketing task between
strategic and tactical consideration.
Tactics are required to survive in a fiercely
competitive market place. The strategic dimensions
are nevertheless very important. Strategic
partnerships between the operators and airlines,
retailers and significantly, direct response tour
operation companies.
16. Strategic marketing
Five elements are noted in this section
1. Interpreting the strength and direction of change in
the external environment.
2. Strategic decisions on volume and pricing.
3. Choices of product
4. Positioning and image.
5. Choice and maintenance of distribution system.
Overcoming the inherent inefficiencies in the
markets for leisure travel tourism
17. The external environment
External influences are essentially powerful in their
implications for tour operators reflecting both the non
essential character of most leisure products and
international nature of much of the business. level of
wages and real income and impact of international
exchange-rate movements on prices. tour operators
have influenced and in turn been very much
influenced by the rapid introduction of new
information technology.
18. Strategic decisions on volume and pricing
For hotel visitor attractions and transport operators
annual decisions on capacity and average price
levels are essentially tactical decisions in the light of
previous strategic judgments and investment in
buildings and equipment.
The two decisions are of course closely related
because of the influences on pricing policy of what
the market will bear at any point in time.
19. Product/market portfolios
The third and related strategic consideration for
operators is concerned with the content and balance
of the product portfolio as represented in their
programmes. A product portfolio is a mix of
destinations. Accommodation types and range of
elements to be included in the product such as
excursions. To give two examples there was a
massive switch to self-catering apartments and
villas.
20. Positioning and image
Competition between tour operations has tended in
the last decade to focus primarily on price and on
product portfolios. Image and positioning although
not ignored have very clearly taken second place to
price competition.
This probably reflects the strong growth trends that
low prices stimulated in a highly price-elastic market.
21. Distribution
The fifth strategic issue to be noted in this section is
that of distribution or providing access for customers.
For all tour operators the cost of distribution is
normally the largest item of their total marketing
expenditure. A part from the basic variable costs of
commission paid on sales there are heavy
essentially fixed costs incurred in distribution
including the printing and distribution of brochures.
Installing and maintaining computer links with retail
outlets regular sales promotion and merchandising
efforts to maintain display space and educational. A
sales force may also required in the continuous
process of motivating distributors in competitive
conditions.
22. Tactical marketing
Strategic decisions will determine the product market
portfolio the product images and positioning the capacity
of the programme to be offered. The price range in the
brochures and the structure of the distribution system to
be used. All the four Ps are essentially strategic
decisions and principal role for marketing tactics is to
secure a continuous flow of booking for programme from
the day it is offered for sale.
Because of the long lead times in getting a programme
from initial planning to the point of sale and especially
because competitors prices and the capacity of their
programmes can not be known in advance.
Tactical responses are a function of the rate at which
bookings are achieved over the selling period for each
programme.
23. Tactical marketing
It is of course very much a matter of judgment as to
when any additional promotion starts.
Consolidated flight lead to cancelled accommodation
allocation and are understandably unpopular among
customer as well as hoteliers.
The operators link with retailers especially where on-
line computers can be used to communicate.
Sets out a deliberately broad view of marketing
inclusive tours and product packages .
All packages are intended to solve the natural
infflciencies inherent in matching demand supply
especially in the leisure sector.
The pressure on marketing manages to sell their
programmes is enormous and put great emphasis on
tactical sales management of demand.
24. Tactical promotion
For tour operators the choices for tactical promotion
are
1. Increased advertising weight.
2. Sales promotions aimed at customers such as
competitions.
3. Sales promotion aimed at retailers
4. Price-cutting to stimulate sales for targeted
weeks.
