Marketing In Travel & Tourism

Deutsch Link

In this report I aim to cover five main points which are:

The core concepts of marketing for travel and tourism and the influences that marketing has on society.

The impact of the marketing environment on travel and tourism businesses.

The relevance of marketing research and marketing information to managers in the travel and tourism industry.

The relevance of tourist markets compared to business markets for the specific destination.

The market segments that would apply to "Deutsch Link" and how they can be targeted through marketing activities.

Marketing For Travel and Tourism

The core concepts of marketing can be broken down into different categories.

Depending on the customer profile will depend on the customers needs, wants and demands. For example people of different ages are likely to want and need different styles of holidays. Currently Deutsch Link sells 70% of its businesses to people wanting to take city breaks although the other 30% are likely to have different needs, wants and demands. Many people see value and satisfaction in different ways is it depends on how the perceive value and satisfaction depending on the individual. People often define what they see as value based on the price, place, product and promotion. Most importantly if customers see your prices to be 'good value for money' they are likely to buy your product or service. Depending on the location both of where they are purchasing the product or service and where their destination is, in the case of holidays, will also determine if they see it to be as good value. For example the cost of living in large cities such us London is much higher than in a small town in Cornwall so you would expect to pay higher prices. In the case of Deutsch Link the value will also be increase or decrease depending on where abouts the customer is staying and in what level of accommodation. The product must also be seen and good value. It is important for the company to meet the customers needs, wants and demands so that they are willing to buy their product or service because it meets they criteria, or customer profile. Finally the promotion is the communication between the organisation and the customer. This is the time when the organisation can promote their product, price and place to the customer to try to win them over and see that their product is good value.

The customers satisfaction will be based upon the whole experience from, in this case, researching the holiday or business travel until they return home following the trip.

Buyer behaviour will vary according to the type of buying decision and the main influences relate to the differences between the brands available to the customer and the degree of personal involvement in the decision.

Below shows the four types of buying behaviour.

Low involvement, low price, low risk

High involvement, high price, high risk

Few differences between brands

Brand loyal, repeat purchasing influenced by price and sales promotion offers.

Buying process is relatively quick because of the limited differences.

Significant differences between brands

Brand switching but with limited information gathering.

Information gathering and processing is important. Purchase decision is significant.

Sighted in Kirby D et al 1998. Adapted from Assael (1985) and Kotler (1988)

It is important for a company to market their products correctly in order to meet the needs of the consumer. "The psychology of each individual considers the product or service on offer in relation to their own culture, attitude, previous learning, and personal perception. The consumer then decides whether or not to purchase, where to purchase, the brand that he or she prefers, and other choices."

(http://marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_consumer_buying_behaviour.htm)

Moving on from buyer behaviour leads onto market segmentation. Once the need, wants and demands of the consumer have been established the market can be broken down into different segments, or market segmentation. "Segmentation is essentially the identification of subsets of buyers within a market who share similar needs and who demonstrate similar buyer behaviour." (http://marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_segmentation.htm)

Market segmentation is an evaluation of the current market by the organisation to see whether they will be able to penetrate the current market with a new product or service. It is important to research the specific segments in order to market the product correctly to each segment.

Below I have adapted a versions of Cohen's Matrix Business Battlemap.

Youth Market

28-49 year old's

Third Agers

Culture/History

Frieburg Jazz House

St Mary's Cathedral & St Michael's Church in Hildesheim

Deutsch Opera

Festivals

Stuttgart Beer Festival

Cologne Carnival

Long Night of the Museums

Business Tourism

Berlin

Frankfurt

Hamburg

Shopping

CentrO Oberhausen

KÐ"¤the Wohlfahrt Shop

State porcelain factory in Meissen

Culinary Tourism

Cologne

Frieburg

Munich

Health Tourism

Lower Saxony

Lower