Ambo University Marketing Management

Chapter One: Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism Marketing

Introduction to the course
In the first unit of this module, we will discuss the fundamental concepts of tourism and
hospitality marketing. The discussion will move on starting from providing the definitions of
tourism and hospitality marketing, explaining some of the important terms related to hospitality
marketing plan. We will also try to thoroughly discuss the various elements of hospitality
marketing mix marketers will apply. Included in this chapter also are different strategies
marketers pursue to implement the marketing approach.

Activity 1.1
How do you define and understand the term tourism and hospitality marketing?

1.1 Marketing in hospitality and tourism

Marketing must be understood in the sense of satisfying customer needs. If the marketer
understands customer needs; develops products that provide superior customer value; and
prices, distributes, and promotes them effectively, these products will sell easily. Here is the
definition of marketing: Marketing is the process by which companies create value for
customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from the
customers in return.
Marketing also has been defined as ‘the process of planning and executing the conception,
pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that
satisfy individual (customer) and organizational objectives. The marketing concept is a
business philosophy that defines marketing as a process intended to find, satisfy, and retain
customers while the business makes a profit. Central to both these definitions is the role of the
customer and the customer’s relationship to the product, whether that product is goods, a
service, or an idea.

The tourism and hospitality sector, like other service sectors, involves a combination of
tangible and intangible products. A hotel is a mixture of goods (beds, food, telephone, and
communication systems) that are linked with a range of services (front desk, housekeeping,
room service, finance, and accounting). A tourist attraction such as a national park is a
combination of facilities (hotels, shops, visitor centers) situated within a physical attraction
(the mountains, forests, or rivers, for example), offering a range of services (guided tours,
interpretation, education, etc.). This whole package of tangible and intangible products is
perceived by the tourist as an experience, and represents the core of the tourism product.

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In the hotel industry, marketing and sales are often thought to be the same, and no wonder: The
sales department is one of the most visible in the hotel. Sales managers provide prospective
clients with tours and entertain them in the hotel’s food and beverage outlets. Thus, the sales
function is highly visible, whereas most of the non-promotional areas of the marketing function
take place behind closed doors.

In the restaurant industry, many people confuse marketing with advertising and sales
promotion. It is not uncommon to hear restaurant managers say that they “do not believe in
marketing” when they actually mean that they are disappointed with the impact of their
advertising. In reality, selling and advertising are only two marketing functions and often not
the most important. Advertising and sales are components of the promotional element of the
marketing mix. Other marketing mix elements include product, price, and distribution.
Marketing also includes research, information systems, and planning.

The four-P framework calls on marketing professionals to decide on the product and its
characteristics, set the price, decide how to distribute their product, and choose methods for
promoting their product. For example, McDonald’s has a fast-food product. It uses quality
ingredients and developed products that it can sell at prices people expect to pay for fast food.
As part of its distribution plan, McDonald’s must have restaurants that are conveniently located
to its target market. Finally, McDonald’s appeals to different market segments and have many
units throughout a city. This allows McDonald’s to make effective use of mass media, such as
television.

The marketing mix must be just that a mix of ingredients to create an effective product/service
package for the target market. If marketers do a good job of identifying consumer needs,
developing a good product, and pricing, distributing, and promoting it effectively, the result
will be attractive products and satisfied customers. Peter Drucker, a leading management
thinker, put marketing in this way: “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The
aim is to know and understand customers so well that the goods or service fits them and sells
itself.”

This does not mean that selling and promotion are unimportant, but rather that they are part of
a larger marketing mix, a set of marketing tools that work together to produce satisfied
customers. The only way selling and promoting will be effective is if we first define our target
market, understand their wants, and then prepare an easily accessible and available value
package

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1.1.1 International Marketing

International marketing is defined as ‘the business activities designed to plan, price, promote
and direct the flow of a company’s goods and services to consumers in more than one country
for profit (Cateora and Graham, 2005). The important difference between this definition and
the one given earlier is that international marketing activities take place in more than one
country. The uniqueness of foreign marketing comes from the range of unfamiliar problems
and the variety of strategies necessary to cope with different levels of uncertainty encountered
in foreign markets.

Figure 1.1 illustrates the environment of an international marketer. The inner circle depicts the
domestic controllable elements that constitute a marketer’s decision area, such as product,
price, promotion, distribution and research decisions. The second circle encompasses those
environmental elements at home that have some effect on foreign operation decisions, and the
outer circles represent the elements of the foreign environment for each of the foreign markets
in which the marketer operates. As the outer circles illustrate, every foreign market in which
the company operates can present separate problems involving certain uncontrollable elements.
Examples of uncontrollable include political instability, economic climate, cultural problems,
and the level of technology. To adjust and adapt a marketing program to foreign markets,
marketers must be able to interpret effectively the influence and impact of each of the
uncontrollable elements on the marketing plan for each foreign market in which they hope to
do business.

Figure 1.1: The international marketing task.

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Key obstacles facing international marketers are not limited to environmental issues. Just as
important are difficulties associated with the marketer’s own self-reference criteria (SRC) and
ethnocentrism. SRC is an unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values, experiences, and
knowledge as a basis for decisions. Closely connected is ethnocentrism, which is the notion
that one’s own culture or company knows best how to do things. Both limit the international
marketer’s ability to understand and adapt to differences prevalent in foreign markets. A global
awareness and sensitivity are the solutions to these problems. In recent years, Americans have
been accused of ethnocentrism, and this has led to the country developing a poor image
overseas. This in turn has adversely affected tourism to the country.
1.1.2. Understanding the market place and customer needs
As a first step, marketers need to understand customer needs and wants and the marketplace
within which they operate. We now examine five core customer and marketplace concepts: (1)
needs, wants, and demands; (2) marketing offerings (tangible products, services, and
experiences); (3) value and satisfaction; (4) exchanges and relationships and (5) markets.
➢ Customer needs, wants and demands
Needs The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs. A human need is
a state of felt deprivation. Included are the basic physical needs for food, clothing, warmth, and
safety, as well as social needs for belonging, affection, fun, and relaxation. There are esteem
needs for prestige, recognition, and fame, and individual needs for knowledge and self-
expression. These needs were not invented by marketers, but they are part of the human
makeup.

Wants human wants are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and
individual personality. Wants are how people communicate their needs. A hungry person in
Papua New Guinea needs food but wants taro, rice, yams, and pork. A hungry person in the
United States needs food but wants a hamburger, French fries, and a Coke. Wants are described
in terms of objectives that will satisfy needs. As a society evolves, the wants of its members
expand. As people are exposed to more objectives that arouse their interest and desire,
producers try to provide more want-satisfying products and services. Restaurants were once
able to serve generic white wine by the glass. Today, customers are more sophisticated;
restaurants now serve several varieties of white wine by the glass. Today’s restaurant customers
want and expect a good selection of wine.

The $725 billion U.S. restaurant industry is facing a dramatic shift in the way customers
purchase meals. The National Restaurant Association research shows that about one-third of

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consumers say that purchasing restaurant takeout are an essential part of their lifestyle. In
addition, nearly half (46 percent) of adults—and 61 percent of millennials—say an important
factor in choosing a table service restaurant is the availability of takeout or delivery options.
Many customers want the restaurant to prepare the meal, but they want to eat it in their own
home.

Many sellers often confuse wants with needs. A manufacturer of drill bits may think that
customers need a drill bit, but what the customer really needs is a hole. These sellers suffer
from “marketing myopia.”15 They are so taken with their products that they focus only on
existing wants and lose sight of underlying customer needs. They forget that a physical product
is only a tool to solve a consumer problem. These sellers get into trouble if a new product
comes along that serves the need better or cheaper. The customer will then have the same need
but want the new product.
Demands People have almost unlimited wants, but limited resources. They choose products
that produce the most satisfaction for their money. When backed by buying power, wants
become demands. Outstanding marketing organizations go to great lengths to learn about and
understand their customer’s needs, wants, and demands. They conduct customer research.
Smart companies also have employees at all levels including top management stay close to
customers. For example, at Southwest Airlines, all senior executives handle bags, check in
passengers, and serve as flight attendants once a quarter. All Disney World managers spend one
week per year on the front-line taking tickets, selling popcorn, or loading and unloading rides.

Understanding customer needs, wants, and demands in detail provides important input for
designing marketing strategies. The city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has a beautiful and historic
opera house, but only a small percentage of the population participated in operas. As Catherine
Zacher, former president of Santa Fe Economic Development, Inc., said, “Most Americans
don’t enjoy being yelled at in Italian.” However, they did want other forms of entertainment.
When the opera house was made available for a variety of musical concerts, the demand created
for this contemporary entertainment sold all available seats.
➢ Market offerings: Tangible products, services and experiences
Consumer needs and wants are fulfilled through a market offering: a product that is some
combination of tangible, services, information, or experiential product components. We often
associate the word product with a tangible product or one that has physical properties (e.g., the
hotel room or the steak we receive in a restaurant). In the hospitality industry, the intangible
products, including customer service and experiences, are more important than the tangible

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products. Managers of resorts realize that their guests will be leaving with memories of their
stay. They try to create experiences that will generate pleasant memories. At a Ritz-Carlton
resort every evening at sunset managers set up chairs on the beach, hires a cellist to play
relaxing music, and serve champagne to guests.

They realize this event not only creates value for the guest, but it is also an experience that will
create a lasting memory of their stay. Marriott provides dolphin safaris at its Newport Beach
property and a water rafting trip at its Utah property. Marriott uses the resources of the
destination to create guest experiences that the guest remembers for a lifetime. A market
offering includes much more than just physical goods or services. Consumers decide which
events to experience, which tourist destinations to visit, which hotels to stay in, and which
restaurants to patronize. To the consumer these are all products.

➢ Customer Value and Satisfaction

Customer value is the difference between the benefits that the customer gains from owning
and/or using a product and the costs of obtaining the product. Costs can be both monetary and
nonmonetary. One of the biggest nonmonetary costs for hospitality customers is time. New
electronic forms of registration through smartphones will make the hotel registration
redundant. One of the challenges for hotel managers will be to replace the welcoming reception
guests received from front desk clerks with another form of welcoming, perhaps through a
lobby ambassador. Domino’s Pizza saves the customer time and provides convenience by
delivering pizza. Limited-service hotels provide value to the overnight traveller by offering a
free continental breakfast. One of the biggest challenges for management is to increase the
value of its product for its target market. To do this, managers must know their customers and
understand what creates value for them. This is an ongoing process, as customers and
competition change over time.

Customer expectations are based on past buying experiences, the opinions of friends, and
market information. If we meet customer expectations, they are satisfied. Marketers must be
careful to set the right level of expectations. If they set expectations too low, they may satisfy
those who buy but fail to attract new customers. If they raise expectations too high, buyers will
be disappointed.

In the hospitality industry it is easy to set high expectations because guests will not be able to
judge the product until after they have consumed it. For example, an owner can advertise that
his or her restaurant serves the best seafood in the city. If this is not true, many customers will

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leave dissatisfied; the experience did not meet their expectations. However, if one sets
expectations too low, there will be no customer demand. We would not want to advertise that
we are an average seafood restaurant. We must understand how we create value for our market
and communicate that to our customers and potential customers. For example, we might
specialize in fresh locally caught seafood. Customer satisfaction depends on a product’s
perceived performance in delivering value relative to a buyer’s expectations. Smart companies
aim to delight customers by promising only what they can deliver and then delivering more
than they promise.
➢ Exchanges and Relationships
Marketing occurs when people decide to satisfy needs and wants through exchange. Exchange
is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.
Marketing consists of actions taken to build and maintain desirable exchange relationships with
target markets. Beyond simply attracting new customers and creating transactions, the goal is
to retain customers and grow their business with the company. Marketers want to build strong
relationships by consistently delivering superior customer value.
➢ Markets
The concept of transactions leads to the concept of a market. A market is a set of actual and
potential buyers of a product. These buyers share a particular need or want that can be satisfied
through exchange relationships. Marketing means managing markets to bring about profitable
customer relationships. However, creating these relationships takes work. Sellers must search
for buyers, identify their needs, design good market offerings, set prices for them, promote
them, and deliver them. Activities such as product development, research, communication,
distribution, pricing, and service are core marketing activities.

1.1.3. Importance of Marketing

As we have seen, the hospitality industry is one of the world’s major industries. In the United
States, it is the second-largest employer. In more than half of the 50 states, it is the largest
industry. In this module, I focus on the hospitality and travel industries. Marketing has assumed
an increasingly important role in the restaurant sector of the hospitality industry.

Marketing today in many ways is the same as it was 20 years ago. We must understand our
customers and develop a service delivery system to deliver a product they want at a price they
will view as being fair. And do all this while still making a profit. In other ways marketing is
ever changing and is changing very rapidly. Social media has given the customer a powerful
voice; dashboards track comments customers are making about our product on social media;
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millennials are replacing baby boomers as the most important travel segment, and their wants
are very different than the boomers.
The hotel industry is undergoing a consolidation, with companies such as Accor, Hilton, and
Starwood buying hotel chains and operating different brands under one organization. The
marketing expertise of these large firms has created a competitive marketing environment.
While the director of marketing is a full-time marketer, everyone else must be a part-time
marketer. All managers must understand marketing. By applying the principles of marketing to
your job search, you will be able to enhance your career opportunities and hopefully end up in
a job that you will love.

Activity 1.2
Get hold of a hard copy of an annual report of a hospitality organization or try to access the
company’s annual report via its website. Based on the report, would you say the organization
has made an effort to change its business to fit the environment?

1.1.4. Tourism Marketing

Evolution of the concept of Tourism marketing can be associated with the various business and
social changes which have occurred since the introduction of industrialization. Industrialization
had brought about the need for holiday and travel even in its early stages as the workers felt
the need for temporary rest and relaxation after long hours of work. The marketing mix-the 4
Ps, target audience, segmentation, objectives and evaluations, these and other terms are all used
in the process of "marketing." In tourism and tourism related industries, success means
understanding this process.
Tourism is a powerful economic force providing employment, foreign exchange, income and
tax revenue. The tourism market reflects the demands of consumers for a very wide range of
travel and hospitality products, and it is widely claimed that this total market is now being
serviced by the world’s largest industry. Players in this industry are increasingly operating in a
global environment, where people, places and countries are increasingly interdependent.

The globalization of tourism has cultural, political and economic dimensions. Cultural
globalization is characterized by cultural homogenization as Western consumption and lifestyle
patterns spread throughout the world; a process facilitated by the flow of travellers from the
West to the developing world. Travel also enhances friendships between peoples and facilitates
cultural exchange. Political globalization involves the undermining of the roles and importance
of nation states as borders are opened up to free trade and investment. Economic globalization

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has both positive and negative effects. On the one hand, it could be argued that a key aspect of
economic globalization has been the increasing power in the hands of a small number of travel
organizations, leading to oligopolistic control in the industry. On the other hand, tourism brings
with it economic rewards and opportunities for host communities in particular, which benefit
from foreign exchange and enhanced livelihood options.
Marketing is a subject of vital concern in tourism because it is the principal management
influence that can be brought to bear on the size and behaviour of this major global market.
Figure 1.2 shows the vital linkages between demand and supply in tourism, which is
fundamental to an understanding of the role of marketing. The figure shows the relationship
between market demand, generated in areas of origin, and product supply, mainly at visitor
destinations. In particular, the model shows how the main sectors of the tourism industry travel
organizers, destination organizations, transportation, various product suppliers combine to
manage visitors’ demands through a range of marketing influences.

The marketing mix is in the center of the diagram. However, it is important to note that the
influence of this marketing activity is likely to vary according to visitors’ interests and
circumstances. For example, domestic visitors’ travelling by car to stay with friends or relatives
may not be influenced by destination marketing in anyway, whereas first-time buyers of
package tours to exotic destinations may find that almost every aspect of their trip is influenced
by the marketing decisions of the tour operator they choose. In between these two examples, a
business traveller will select his or her own destination according to business requirements, but
may be influenced as to which airline or hotel he or she selects.

Figure 1.2: The systematic links between demand and supply: the influence of marketing.
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Knowledge of the customer, and all that it implies for management decisions, is generally
referred to as consumer or marketing orientation. A detailed understanding of consumer
characteristics and buying behaviour is central to the activities of marketing managers.
1.1.5. Hospitality Marketing
Hospitality marketing is unique because it deals with the tangible product, like a bed in the
hotel or food in the restaurant, but it also deals with the intangible aspects of the hospitality
and tourism industry. It is about the experience in a trip and social status it brings eating in a
fine-dining restaurant. Hospitality marketing is very critical in the success of any hospitality
and tourism product, organization and tourist destination. Proper marketing effort promotes a
product or service that fills the needs and wants of the consumers and at the same time, bring
profits to the organization or country that features it. Hospitality marketing is a distinct
specialization that promotes leading hospitality services and industries such as motels, bars,
clubs, resorts, restaurants and luxury hotels.
Hospitality marketing is a relatively new concept compared to other marketing plans that have
been established and widely used for promotional products and major retail companies. For
many years, hotels, spas, and restaurants were primarily satisfied with their business if they
had high occupancy rates, paying customers and a busy establishment. Today’s hospitality
industry is highly competitive and booming with new venues competing to be at the top of the
list. The hospitality businesses want to win the hearts of certain demographics, as well as attract
specific crowds and clientele.
What Does a Hospitality Marketing Plan Involve?
Hospitality marketing has some similarities to general marketing strategies when it comes to
the strategy involved, except it involves five components. These five components include:
1. What is the product and service? (If the product and/or service are being described,
what words would be used, and what is its main purpose?)
2. What does it look like to its consumers? (This describes the “look and feel” of the
service and/or product.) For example, a spa service might look as though it exists for
the sole purpose of relaxation and rejuvenation. It may appear tranquil, serene and
somewhat like an escape.
3. How is it communicated to the audience you are trying to reach? (Is the service and/or
product communicated by means of promotional advertisements, online discounts, or
email marketing campaigns?)
4. What is the actual price of the product and/or service?

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5. How are the product and/or service distributed to the public? (How will your audience
find the service and/or product? Will it be offered through the internet or web page?
Will it be presented in print and media sources, or will it be offered to the public through
a physical location?)
To be successful, hospitality-related companies should know who to target for their set product
or service and how to get the word out about their services. This focus and exposure will attract
customers and help the companies establish valued reputations.

Activity 1.3
1. Visit two restaurants in the same class, such as two fast food restaurants or two casual
restaurants. Observe the cleanliness of the restaurants, in-house signage, and other
physical features. Then order a menu item and observe the service and the quality of the
food. Write up your observations, and then state which restaurant you feel is more
customers oriented. Explain why.

1.2. Hospitality Marketing Mix

This topic defines what marketing mix is and it explains the core components of the marketing
mix concept in the hospitality industry.
In essence, marketing mix is a combination of elements that require a company’s attention
when bringing a product or service to the market. For instance, we will need to consider the
types of promotional efforts that are effective for our newly introduced spa services in the hotel.
In this example, decisions about our promotional efforts are one important element of the
marketing mix strategies. Apart from promotion, what would you consider to be important
when addressing strategies for the hotel’s spa services? Yes, you may also want to price the
services carefully so that you are not over or undercharging the customers, and we refer to such
pricing decisions as the price mix strategies.
1.2.1. Expanding 4 Ps to 8 Ps in the Marketing Mix
Traditionally, companies need to formulate their strategies around the following marketing
mix:
1. Product mix;
2. Price mix;
3. Place mix; and
4. Promotion mix.

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We also call these the 4Ps (the “P” refers to the first syllable of each word). Essentially,
addressing the marketing mix is synonymous to making decisions about selling the right
product/ service (product mix) at the right price (price mix) in the right location (place mix)
using the right promotional tools and messages (promotion mix). The four Ps were developed
initially for the marketing of retail goods like cars and shoes, at the time when our economy
was fuelled predominantly by manufacturing industries. The traditional 4Ps are considered
adequate when we are trying to market a specific, tangible product - something that the
consumers can touch and feel, and take home with after they purchase it. However, as the bulk
of our GDP now comes from the service industries, such as the hotel, restaurant, banking,
financial institutions and airlines, where the products offered are mostly intangible, marketing
them becomes difficult if we only rely on the traditional 4Ps in the marketing mix.

For this reason, there is a need to expand the 4 Ps to what is now the 8 Ps. This is to
accommodate the unique characteristics of the service industry. Thus, marketing mix for the
service industry like hospitality and travel are expanded to include the additional 4Ps: People,
Packaging, Programming, and Partnership. The 8Ps framework (Figure1.3) calls upon
marketing professionals to decide on the product and its characteristics, set the price, decide
how to distribute their product, and choose methods for promoting their product. They also
need to consider people (employees and customers) who are involved in the service delivery
process, how to package the product and service, and what kind of programming to offer to the
customers, and who you would like to partner with to generate more sales (Table 1).

Figure1.3: The hospitality marketing mix

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Table 1.1: The 8 Ps in hospitality marketing mix

Example: Let us illustrate 8 Ps by using an example of the food service industry. Café de Coral
is the largest local grown fast-food chain in Hong Kong. The company claims to use premium
ingredients in their food product and quality control so it can sell at affordable prices. There
are 120 restaurants around Hong Kong, so most people can dine in the Café de Coral outlets
that are convenient located (Place). Through all these restaurants, over 300,000 customers
(People) are served daily. As the company puts it in their campaign advertisement: “To serve
you better, you can almost find a Café de Coral branch in any busy district all over the territory:
from crowded commercial district and shopping malls to well-populated estates. You can get
our best food and service no matter when or where you want it”
([Link]
The company regularly launches Promotional campaigns to feature new food items/themes,
e.g. Chinese hot pot, Korean theme, etc. The company also does a good job in packaging the
outlet, from the design, decor, to tables and chairs, food display, to give the overall impression
of value for price, and away from a standard fast-food outlet. Café de Coral using
Programming technique by promoting "Club 100" where customers can enjoy non-stop
marvellous rewards provided by the “Bonus Point" Program. Café de Coral also has a limited-
time Partnership agreement with the customers that if you ride it 10 times consecutively in a
week, you would be entitled to a complimentary breakfast at its outlets. From this example,
you can see that marketing mix is a combination of key ingredients to create an effective
product/service package to reach its target market.

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1.2.2. Components of the Marketing Mix (8 Ps)

We will discuss each of the 8 Ps in the marketing mix in the following section. We will spend
more spaces to examine the first P, Product because this is the most important element in the
mix: you will need a product or service that fills the needs and wants of the consumers. Without
it, the rest of the marketing mix would not be able to carry their functions effectively.
First P: Product

In the manufacturing industry, once a product is made in the factory and shipped to the retail
shop, there is always not much of contact between the customers and the manufacturer after
that. However, in the hospitality industry, it is not so clear cut. We involve customers in the
process of service delivery and sales transaction. For instance, we make the food when the
customers waiting in line at the McDonald’s ring up the sales and they take away their food to
find seats.

Customers to fast food outlets like McDonald’s is expecting a meal that is consistent in its
quality, fast service, clean environment and affordable. Essentially, this is an example of a food
service company offers customers a combination of product, service and facilities to its target
customers to fulfill their needs and wants.

Customers have different expectations with products and services in different settings (i.e.
Place, Packaging, Programming, People, etc.). For instance, consider these two scenarios: 1)
Selling a cup of milk tea in a local diner for $7 to a construction worker on his tea break or a
housewife on her way to the market versus 2) Selling a cup of Earl Grey tea in the Peninsula
Hotel lobby for $40 to a Japanese tourist. Both set of customers in the two different settings of
food outlets would consider they are getting what their money worth.

The construction worker quenches his thirst and gets a boost with the caffeine and do not expect
too much from the atmosphere of the diner for that price. On the other hand, the Japanese tourist
gets what he pays for the tea (Product) plus the pleasant experience of “to see and to be seen”.
The doorman, the fleet of Rolls Royce outside, the hotel ambience (Packaging) and the live
band (Programming) in the lobby make his visit very memorable.

All products have tangible and intangible aspects. The tangible part of the product is the
physical object that you can touch and feel and take it with you, such as buying a pair of shoes
from a department store or a plasma TV. When you buy a car, you are getting the tangible part
of product, the car. So, you look for the product features primarily. But you may also look or
go for certain brand because of its good after-sale service aspect as an add-on (or peripheral)
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feature. So, a reputable car manufacturer, like BMW or Porsche, is known to provide good
service to its car owners.

However, in the service industry like hospitality and tourism, what we offer in terms of product
is largely intangible. In fact, in the hospitality industry, our products are mainly in the form of
services, which make the product of the industry quite unique as compares to other industries.
This is the experience and service that you have paid for, for example, taking a vacation trip to
Europe. Once the trip is over, you are unable to take the product away except the pleasant
experience that lingers on. This is the same when you go to a fancy restaurant in the IFC
(International Finance Centre) Mall or having high tea in the Peninsula lobby, you are not only
buying the meal (Product) but also experience, the ambience, decor and the service that are
provided by the restaurant.

In the discussion of the concept of Product, we will also differentiate the core product from
the supporting product and facilitating product; examine brand name as a guarantee of product
and service quality and image; and point out that analogy of product to human beings that it
also goes through different stages of the product life cycle.

The core product, supporting product & facilitating product – As core product is really
what customer is getting, supporting product is extra products to offer the add value to the core
product itself and to help to differentiate it from the competitors. Facilitating products are the
goods or services that must be present for the guest to use the core product. To put it in another
way, not only that we sell a core product like the computers, but in the hospitality industry, we
also feature supporting product and facilitating product.

In fact, customers come to us for an expectation of a wonderful experience that combines all
these elements. For example, Starbucks’ core product is selling coffee that will satisfy the
consumer’s need for a beverage with caffeine. The facilitating product of a Starbucks will be
the convenient locations which make it easy for consumers to buy their coffee. In this case,
Starbucks is mainly available at CBD (Central Business District) areas. This is where its major
target client, the white collars, works as compares to some other suburban districts. The
supporting product for Starbucks will be providing free magazines, newspapers and the Wi-Fi
system for its customers to access the Internet using personal laptop computers or mobile
phones.

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Table 1.2: Different target markets have different product/service/ needs

Brand Name as a Guarantee of Product and Service Quality and Image
When we talk about the concept of product, we must mention the term, brand. In the service
industry like the hospitality where the product we offer is largely make up of intangible
elements, brands are especially important in a marketing mix. Customers rely on the brands of
the product and service to give them a clue of the consistency in quality. Brands are defined as
unique elements which can be identified easily with a product and set the product apart from
the other competitors.

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Branding is considered as a product characteristic because the brand is used to attract the
awareness of the product in the consumer’s mind. Nowadays, brands have become increasingly
important for a company’s marketing strategy, mostly because having a well-known brand
tends to create brand identity. Many hospitality companies are easily recognized by the brand
name for their products and services.

A hamburger purchased in McDonalds at Beijing supposedly to taste the same if you buy it in
Johannesburg, South Africa. In the hotel industry, we have brands like Marriott, Shangri-la,
Inter Continental, Sheraton, Hilton; each creates a different image in the travellers’

mind. Often, different companies have different target markets. Consumers of these brands
have different expectations of the products and services the companies offer. For example,
people who choose McDonald’s are mainly looking for quick meal and economical price. Their
expectation would be different if they patronize a fine dining French restaurant like Caprice in
Four Seasons Hotel.
Product Life-Cycle

Another key concept that we would like to introduce is the concept of product life-cycle,
because this will also have impact on how we put together the right marketing mix. Let us
visualize that a product is like human being that also has a life-cycle. In other words, every
product or service goes through various stages of product life-cycle from the time it is
conceived, developed and introduced to the market.

During the product lifetime, it requires different marketing mix in terms of strategies and
tactics. For example, when a hotel enters a decline stage of the product life-cycle, normally
there will be major renovations for the hotel and also by adding new facilities to the hotel to
regain the popularity and bring a new growth stage. Some fast-food chains may be able to stay
in the mature stage for a very long time. This is because every couple month they introduce
new products to their menu, change store design, and innovative marketing strategies in order
to maintain their popularity.

For instance, Maxims and Café de Coral are successful in coming up with new food campaigns
every several weeks to spark the interest in consumers to try. For example, Café de Coral latest
menu promotion offers are Summer Cool drink and sizzling New Zealand Sirloin Steak. As it
becomes a popular item, when the market is saturated, the sales slowdown and eventually
people not interested in it anymore and the product ceased to exist.

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Let us take a look at each of the five stages of product life-cycle: product development,
introduction, growth, maturity, and decline, as shown in Figure 1.4 and Table-3.

Figure 1.4: Product life cycle

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Table 1.3: Different stages of product life cycle

Activity 1.4
Go online and find a hospitality company: a hotel, a restaurant, or a travel agency. Think
about the company’s target market and its brand image that it sets out to create. Does the
company emphasize its brand image? Why or why not? The company is currently at which
stage of the product life cycle? What are your recommendations for the company to enhance
its product image?

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Second P: Place

After the Product, Place is another important aspect in the marketing distribution channel. Once
a product is made and is available for sale to consumers, ‘where to sell’ becomes a critical
decision. Imagine this: You may have the best product in the world, but nobody can access to
the remote Place where the product is sold, you still would not have any transaction. Thus,
Place is where an organization selects to place its product and service so that its target
consumers can easily get hold of it.

In the hospitality and tourism industries, one would often hear the expression of “location,
location, location” which is critical to the business’s success. Take a guess: Where is the most
expensive rental for a shop in Addis Ababa? You guess it! It is a small shop in Causeway. The
owner pays a premium-plus rental monthly because it locates in the intersection of a street with
a very heavy pedestrian traffic. After paying the high rental cost, he still makes a good profit
because of the businesses that brings in by this superb location.

The decision on the Product and Service to sell determines the location that you select. For
example, you would only find Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in major gateway cities around
the world. Why? This is because only these cities can afford enough rich clientele that
appreciate its product and services and willing to pay the premium. Similarly, for a restaurant
that locates in a prime “A” location is definitely attracts more foot traffic than a “B” location
on a side street.

On the other hand, there are also times that location determines the product or service that you
would offer. Hotels built as center city hotel, resort hotel, airport hotel or a motel along the
highway are pretty much determined by the locations that they are on. This in turn dictates the
type of clientele that these hotels will attract.

There are many factors to consider when we determine the right location for our hotels,
restaurants or theme parks. These factors include, accessibility, traffic pattern, supporting
infrastructure establishments (e.g. Hospitals, schools, office buildings, residential and etc.) in
the vicinity, demographics and income distribution of the people living in the area. If you
choose to put your restaurant next to an office building, a factory, a hospital or even a school,
you are guaranteed to have businesses from these establishments. We also need to consider
number of direct competitors in the radius where you want to draw your customers. For
example, picture an exotic resort locates at a remote area where there is no good infrastructure

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to support it. People cannot get to it easily, surely it will not be as crowded as it wishes to
attract.

Moreover, location does not mean that it has to be stationary and permanent. We need to
remember that a good location at the time when you open for business may not be a good
location for ever. You must constantly monitor trends in the town planning to keep track of any
changes that may affect you. Take the example of Regal Hotel at the old Kai Tak Airport. Built
across the old airport, the hotel was established to target to the tourists that used the airport and
did a good business then. As soon the new airport at Chek Lap Kok opened in 1997 and the old
airport at Kai Tak stopped operation, Regal Hotel has lost its competitive advantage and is
forced to change its target market to survive.

Activity 1.5
In Ethiopia most of the five-star hotels such as Sheraton and Hilton are found only in Addis
Ababa, what do you think is the reason?

Third P: Promotion

Now that we have the product that the consumers want and good location to sell it, we need to
consider the third P in the Marketing Mix: Promotion. A company has a good product is not
enough; it will not generate any sales unless the consumers are aware of the product’s existence
and also can access to the product. This is where Promotion comes to play its part. Promotion
helps to get the message of the product out so consumers are aware of it and want to purchase
it.

There are many promotion tools that you can consider to market your product. These tools
include: Advertising, sales promotion and merchandising, personal selling, and public relations
(you will discuss these promotion tools in chapter five). Each of the tools has its functions,
cost and disadvantages. Hospitality organizations can consider these tools to match their
product nature, the brand image and the stage of life cycle.

Activity 1.6
Tourism and hospitality companies often run advertising, sales promotion and public
relations efforts at the same time. Can their efforts be separated? Discuss how a company
might evaluate the effectiveness of each element in this case.

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Fourth P: Price

How much do you want to sell your product and service? Or put it another way: how much
should you charge that you think your customer would pay and yet you still make a profit?
Price is the monetary value that you charge to cover the cost of the product plus the other costs
associated with the product, such as labor cost, promotional cost, etc., plus a profit. The
decision on pricing would make or break your business. Consider this: If your price cannot
even cover the cost to produce it, you will operate in a loss and eventually go out of business.
On the other hand, if the price you charge is so high that it may drive you out of the market.

Price also conveys the message to the consumers that indicates the price-quality relationship:
The higher the price, the better the quality. You also pay for the brand name rather than just the
product itself. There are some companies that choose to mark up their product slightly than the
cost in order to go for the volume in sales. For example, consider a $200 hotel room per night
versus staying in a hotel room that charges $2000. What is the difference of expectations for
the customer who pays for the $200 hotel versus the one who pays $2000 a night? Often times,
customers are willing to pay premium for a product that they perceive to be of good value. The
closer the price to value relationship, consumers are more likely to be satisfied and likely to
have return purchase. For example, a Valentine’s Special for a romantic dinner at a five-star
hotel’s restaurant is often fully booked even though the price is several times higher than in
regular time.

Pricing Methods: How much to charge for a product or service is an art and a science. It is a
science because you can charge the price based on the cost calculation and mark up accordingly.
It is an art because the price is more than the cost of the product, it is a combination of company
philosophies on its image, competition and customer demand which determine what the market
would bear. You can consider using any of the several pricing methods in Table 4.

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Table 1.4: Different pricing methods

To find the optimum pricing for your product or service is not an easy task. In addition to the
material cost and other costs that associated with it, you must find a price level that the market
would bear. In other words, pricing will depend on the competition and also the supply and
demand situation of the market.

Activity 1.7
Please give your own explanation for price.

Fifth P: People

Picture this: With the right product, superb location and a price that is right for the target
market, an effective promotional tool to reach the market with the right message, customers
are at your door to buy your product or services that you have to offer. This is a scenario every
merchant and company would like to see. Here comes the moment of truth. Customers come

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with their expectations of the product and services. How their expectations are met, whether
customers enjoy their visit, have a good experience and vow to return to your property will
entirely depend on one thing: your employees. We all know that hospitality industry is a people
business, where service is provided by employees within the organization to their customers.
People in the hospitality marketing mix means employees as well as customers.
In the tourism and hospitality sectors, employees must do two things:
1. Provide good product to customers such as: meal, room, airline seat, holiday package,
rental car and etc.
2. Provide good service of a standardized service quality.
The quality of the product is very important but the quality of service is equally important. For
5-star hotels, Grand Hyatt Hotel and InterContinental Hotel may have similar hardware in
terms of facilities (fancy lobby and elegant ballroom, swimming pool and spa, diverse food
outlets, etc.), however, what makes it different between the two hotels may lie in the
personalized service that its people deliver.

Nowadays companies consider People to be its human capital, rather than a cost. For this
reason, a company has to commit to training of employees and develop them professionally.
Employees come from a diverse background so the company needs to provide standardized
operating procedure to ensure consistency delivery of product and service every time. The
company also needs to provide a comfortable working environment for their employees to learn
and grow.

People in the hospitality industry also mean customers. In the service industry, customers are
partial employees where they are part of the service delivery system. Just like employees, they
come with different family, educational and religious background, and even nationality. They
have different expectations and the company’ job is to manage that expectation and make sure
customers are satisfied with the products and services.

Front-line employees give customers first impression of the company. If customers are happy,
they will tell their friends by word of mouth, but if they are not happy with their experience,
they also would not mind to repeat the unpleasant incident with their friends. Thus, there is a
need to ensure the service encounter between the two parties (employees and customers) meets
the company standard. For example, to ensure good service, a telephone operator must answer
his phone within three rings.

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Sixth P: Packaging

Packaging “epitomizes a marketing orientation. It results from finding out what people need
and want and then assembling various services and facilities to match these needs. It is the
combination of related and complementary hospitality service into a single-price offering”
(Morrison, 2002,). To provide good product and services is a must; however, good packaging
is equally important, so it will appeal to consumers’ needs and wants. The elegant design of a
box of Godiva or Agnes b chocolate denotes high quality and luxurious status that consumers
are willing to pay premium price to enjoy themselves or as gifts.

Similarly, the blue color of the Tiffany’s jewellery box becomes its signature color and
consumers around the world associate it with high quality, brand, status and willing to pay for
high price. Japanese are known for their aesthetic packaging of food products. Customers not
only find the food taste good but also pleasing to the eyes.

For service industry like hospitality and tourism, where we offer products that are largely
intangible, packaging is also seen as overall presentation. We need tangible items to give
consumers a sense of the quality for the intangible service that we offer. In other words,
tangiblize the intangible, so to speak. Travelers equate the sharp and neatly pressed uniform
that flight attendants wear and their smile the feeling of a pleasant journey.

A mint left in the pillow by the room attendant after the turn-down service is also a reminder
of the personalized service a 5-star hotel provides. A hotel chain in the United States,
Doubletree would give their customers, upon check-out a bag of home-made chocolate chip
cookies to take home, to remind them of the pleasant stay they have in the hotel. The packaging
gives consumers an indication of quality standard and reduces the uncertainty that is associated
with purchasing product and service that are mostly intangible, that you cannot touch or feel.

Good packaging entices customer’s desire to purchase. However, in the hospitality and
tourism industry, a customer’s total experience of the product and service that you offer would
not be complete if there is no good programming.

Seventh P: Programming
Your family just booked a cruise ship for a family reunion. You will be spending 7 days in a
ship. What is your expectation with this type of travel? Non-stop food offerings, clean cabins,
swimming pool and yes, lots of programming on the ship. Programming in a cruise journey is
very critical because the guests are basically captive audience while on abroad between ports

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of call. The seventh P, Programming deals with the development of special function activities,
events, or programs that stimulates customer spending or give added value to a package or
other hospitality service as an incentive.

If Packaging entices a tourist to visit a destination, then Programming provides him a pleasant
experience and makes him wants to stay longer or even return for the second time. To boost
sales, there are many packages that one can develop and offer. For example, Star Cruises offers
the cruise ride to the guests and also offering them live entertainment such as musical shows
and magic shows as their packaging and programming techniques.

Similarly, in promoting Hong Kong as a tourist destination, Hong Kong Tourism Board works
hard to offer different activities, parades, events and festivals to give tourists a reason to visit
all year round. Some programs are suitable for tourists who only has one day to spare, some
with longer period of time. Some activities and attractions may be suitable for tourists that are
interested in cultural heritage or eco-tourism, while the other may go for golfing, hiking or
other recreational sports. Shopping malls in Hong Kong attract a bigger crowd with theme
programming to celebrate Christmas, New Year and major festivals like Valentine’s Day,
Easter, etc. In Asia, many people go to the Philippine for snorkelling activities or riding
elephants in Thailand.

Eighth P: Partnership

What is partnership and why is it important as part of the marketing mix? Partnership is
cooperative promotions and marketing efforts by two or more hospitality companies to enhance
sales of their products. Again, this is important in the service industry because of the mostly
intangible nature of its businesses. By partnership with other tangible products or with
companies with proven reputation of good quality, it would reduce the perceived uncertainty
by customers and they would be more willing to try your offering. Often times, it is one
company forms a closer relationship with its operator-customer, in order to increase the profit
and awareness.

In airlines industry, partnership can be seen in the form of loyalty or frequent flyer program.
To encourage travellers to fly more often with their companies, this type of program allows
travellers to accumulate their air mileage. Eventually they can use these mileages to redeem a
free ticket or receive free gifts. To be attractive to travellers and share operating costs among
companies, a group of airlines join partnership in the program. United Airline has its own
frequent flyer program for its loyal customers while it also belongs to the Star Alliance

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Program. Its counterparts, Asia Miles are popular among Asian travellers. Some Asia Miles
members include: Cathay Pacific Airways, Finn air, British Airways, Dragon Air and etc. Star
Alliance members include: Air Canada, Thai Airways, Air China, Lufthansa and so on. These
are examples of such program where different airlines join partnership in one program so they
stay competitive. Moreover, many hotels form partnership with airlines in their frequent flyer
program. If you become a member for the Asia Miles, a loyalty program where Dragon Air and
other Asian airlines belong to, you may also earn mileage if you stay in designated hotels. You
can also earn airline mileage each time you use certain credit cards to pay for your purchases.
Essentially, you want your customers to feel that you are offering them more value for their
money, or give them more reasons to purchase your product or services.

As you can see, each component or P in the marketing mix has its functions and is equally
important to the overall success of bringing your product and service to the market. Marketing
Mix is about a series of critical questions you have to consider regarding your product and
services. These include: Choosing what to sell (Product and services), where to sell it
(Place), how to tell customers about your product (Promotion), how to sell it
(Packaging), how much you would sell it for (Price), who will sell it for you and who
your target customers are (People), what kind of activities you will offer associated with
your product (Programming), and finally, who you would invite to be your business
partners to create more value for your customers (Partnership).

1.2.3. The Importance of the Hospitality Marketing Mix

When opening up any kind of business that provides services, the marketing mix will be an
important part of that process. However, the hospitality industry has its own mix called the ‘the
hospitality marketing mix’. What many businesses don’t realize is how important planning
and forecasting is. Businesses don’t just go bankrupt for no reason. To achieve success in
marketing a hospitality operation, a manager must closely examine and understand all of the
components of the marketing mix.
“Many hospitality operations fail because they are not able to combine the elements of the
marketing mix into effective marketing programs, or they fail to implement them properly”.
So, in conclusion, all these components for the hospitality marketing mix are very important.
They can either make or break you!

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Activity 1.8
Select a company in the hospitality and tourism industry: e.g. hotel, restaurant, airline,
cruise line, theme park, convention center, tourist agency, tourist destination, etc. Trace the
company and discuss the 8 Ps of the Marketing Mix used by this company. You may have to
use different sources, company website, company annual report, newspaper or other form of
advertisement, newspaper articles, etc. to piece the information together.

1.3. Implementing the Marketing Approach

After undertaking the situational analysis and identifying potential opportunities, threats,
strengths, and weaknesses, operational strategies are used by marketing managers to implement
actions that will move an organization from its current position to where it wants to be. Such
strategies allow the organization to match its products and services to the relevant target
markets, to the goals of sustainable tourism, and to allocate resources to generate consumer
demand for such products. Translating sustainable tourism development goals and objectives
into marketing terms is a major undertaking that will affect the entire organization. This
involves determining any modifications that should be made to the organization’s existing
marketing activities and processes in order to ensure that day-to-day activities are performed
in a manner consistent with sustainable tourism objectives.
The key operational marketing strategies used during the implementation stage include:
➢ Target market strategy
➢ Product strategy
➢ Competitive strategy
➢ Market strategy
➢ Positioning strategy.
The principles of sustainable tourism can be incorporated into each of these strategies in order
to influence consumer behaviour to being more sustainable.
1.3.1. Target Market Strategy
Effective forms of visitor management commence by targeting appropriate and desirable
market segments that exhibit characteristics compatible with the goals of sustainable tourism.
According to Middleton and Hawkins (1998), two guiding principles of sustainability should
drive any marketing initiatives aimed at changing the existing practices of an organization or
overall destination, in order to incorporate more sustainable tourism practices in the day-to-day
operation. These guiding principles relate to the need to:

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➢ Understand the nature of market segments at any given destination and target those that
maximize environmental benefits and minimize environmental damage (including
physical, social, and cultural environments)
➢ Develop specific management techniques to achieve the optimum sustainable balance of
segments at the destination. These must respond to the known behaviour patterns of the
particular segments that visit specific destinations for particular purposes at specific times.

Marketing activities should consider customers’ needs regarding sustainability. This will
require changes to the organization’s market research efforts. This feedback can affect the way
products are designed, produced, packaged, marketed, and promoted. In some cases, new
markets may be added or existing markets redefined (IISD, 1994).

1.3.2. Product Strategy

The essence of marketing is to design a product to fit the market. A product strategy is
“concerned with the offering of different products and services to satisfy market needs” (Lewis
et al. 1995). Research suggests that there is a growing demand for quality tourism products that
are sensitive to their surrounding cultural and physical environments. Therefore, product
strategies should be directed at developing more sustainable tourism products that cater for this
demand.

As many sectors of the travel and tourism industry are faced with increasing competition it will
become necessary for firms to develop products that are differentiated from their competitors’
offerings. One way to do this is to identify the unique attributes of the local environment in
which they operate and capitalize on them in a way that maximizes benefits for the local area
without degrading the physical, social, and, cultural environments.
1.3.3. Competitive Strategy
In developing a competitive strategy, the firm chooses its competition including when and
where it will compete. Based on objective situational analysis of where it is now, where it wants
to be and how it can get there. In order to succeed, it is important to find a market where there
is clear advantage and matching the product strengths with the chosen market (Lewis et al.
1995).
In choosing where to compete, tourism firms should adopt a long-term view. There are
numerous examples of firms that have opted for a short-term view, focusing on attracting the
maximum number of visitors and associated expenditure in the shortest period of time. Such a
short-term outlook has resulted in many firms contributing to the degradation of the attractions

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at the destination that appealed to tourists in the first place leading to a decline in tourist
visitation and revenue in the long term. Such an outlook is incompatible with sustainable
tourism operations.
Porter (1980) suggested that firms compete using one of three generic strategies: cost
leadership, differentiation, and focus or niche marketing. In marketing for sustainable tourism,
firms need to consider how each of these strategies might impact upon the achievement of
sustainable tourism objectives.
Cost leadership
Cost leadership is a strategy commonly used by tourism firms aimed at reducing operating
costs and in turn product prices in an attempt to increase the volume of tourist visitation. To
ensure that such a strategy is consistent with the sustainable tourism objectives of the business,
managers should consider how their pricing strategy will impact not only on tourist demand
for their products but also on the environments at the destination. Issues for consideration here
include:
✓ The volume of tourist flow that is deemed appropriate
✓ The types of tourists being attracted
✓ The activities undertaken by such tourists&
✓ The compatibility of these factors with the goals of the local community.
A strategy to be a cost leader involves reducing operational costs through the identification of
suitable suppliers, which offer competitive prices, so that such savings can be passed on to the
consumer. Therefore, it is important that a firm’s procurement procedures adhere to the overall
sustainable tourism objectives of the business. As such, suppliers with sustainable tourism
objectives of their own should be chosen over suppliers that demonstrate little concern for
sustainable tourism.
Differentiation
Differentiation means differentiating a product or service from those of other firms in the entire
potential market (Lewis et al. 1995). If a business can distinguish its product or service from
that of its competitors, then it is assumed that the customer will perceive greater utility, better
price/value, or better problem solution in the firm’s product, and this will result in increased
demand for the product.
Tourism firms can differentiate their product by offering a sustainable alternative to existing
products on the market. Differentiation may be through attributes of the product itself such as
environmentally friendly features, or through advertising and promotion, which emphasizes
the benefits of using sustainable alternatives.
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Focus/niche marketing
This strategy involves a business seeking out a unique market niche so as to avoid confrontation
with other large competitors. Here the firm dedicates itself to serving one tourist market or
focusing on one specific tourist activity so as to reduce the amount of overall direct
competition. Ongoing market research can allude to emerging sustainable tourism markets and
associated needs and demands upon which individual firms can choose to focus their marketing
efforts so as to create new products.
1.3.4. Market Strategy
Market strategy is concerned with reaching the market with the product. This can be done by
taking the product to the market or by getting the market to the product. A market strategy is
important because if a business cannot reach the desired market, then even the best product and
most well-defined strategy will fail (Lewis et al. 1995).
Taking the product to the market
Incorporating sustainable tourism principles into this strategy would involve using the
distribution system to take the sustainable tourism product to the market. Once appropriate
markets have been identified, this strategy involves making the new more sustainable tourism
products more accessible for these markets and, as such, location is an important factor here.
It may involve a business forming new cooperative relationships with travel intermediaries to
distribute the new products.

In developing countries, in particular, tour operators are a powerful influence over the type of
tourist attracted, when they visit and the activities they undertake. Therefore, it is important
that the objectives of these tour operators are in accordance with the sustainable tourism
objectives of the business.
This strategy may also involve using new or different types of distribution channels such as the
Internet, which involves a reduced level of resource consumption and enables the business to
be accessible to a greater number of potential tourists irrespective of where they are located.
Getting the market to the product
This strategy involves marketers choosing appropriate tools from the promotional mix to reach
potential tourist markets with relevant images, messages and information about sustainable
tourism product alternatives. Increasingly this will involve taking advantage of new
technologies such as the Internet, to increase the awareness of potential tourists of new
sustainable tourism products, allowing them to make online reservations, and to disseminate

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pre-trip information aimed at educating potential tourists about the benefits of choosing a more
sustainable tourism product.

1.3.5. Positioning Strategy

Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct
and valued place in the target customer’s minds (Kotler, Ang, Leong, Tan, 1996).

It involves the company deciding how many differences and which differences to promote to
the target customers. Many of the demand patterns in tourism reflect the unsustainable lifestyles
of industrialized consumer societies. The over consumption of resources by tourists and
tourism infrastructure is incompatible with sustainable tourism development.

Tourists often lack information and awareness about their impact in a different culture and
environment, about their impacts on socio-economic and socio-cultural development and about
the environmental costs of tourism. Firms are often unaware of inappropriate behaviour and
have little guidance on how to improve them. This is where tourism marketers have a role to
play in increasing awareness of sustainable tourism principles. The mass media are increasingly
influential on travel decisions and consumer behaviour in the destination region. Consumer
behaviour can and must be influenced by addressing unsustainable forms of tourism, and
promoting tourism activities and behaviour that is sensitive to the principles of sustainable
development. Marketing managers can assist this process by creating tourist awareness of
responsible behaviour and promoting examples of best practice in this area.

Buyers tend to remember “number one‟ messages or positions, such as “best quality‟, “best
service‟, and “lowest price‟. At a time when there is increasing consumer concern for the
environment firms can also position themselves in the minds of their target customers by
emphasizing “best environmental practice‟. If a tourism firm continues to reinforce this
position and convincingly delivers on it, it will probably be best known and recalled for this
strength.

Activity 1.9
Discuss the role of the above five strategies in achieving sustainable tourism development in
practice.

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