TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MARKETING

Marketing is the strategic process of selecting target markets and getting, keeping, and growing
customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value. 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.
To better manage its programs, the Department of Tourism (DOT) proposed the following
ethical guidelines when marketing tourism products and services.

 Festivals should be based on heritage e.g. historical facts, unique cultural features
 Souvenir products should not destroy the biodiversity and geological features of the
place.
 Decent and sensitive portrayal of women and children should be promoted
 Historical buildings should be preserved and restoration of building must be authentic
 Food served must be sourced locally using local cuisine

 FACTORS AFFECTING TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY MARKETING

SPECIAL INTEREST TOURISM

Hall and Weller (1992) used the phrase “special interest tourism” to describe “the emergence of
a phenomenon which marked a shift away from demand for mainstream tourist offerings that
were standardized and rigidly packaged…to forms of tourism that are more specialized and
unique.”
Special interest tourists are specific in their interests and are fully aware of its components.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Customers regularly check social media both to get initial information and prior to making a
purchase. According Visa Global Travel Intentions study, 83% of people use online sources to
plan for their trips in 2017. In the same period, 69% shared their experiences online, 41%
posted online reviews as compared with 60% and 37% in 2015. These patterns show an
increasing preference to use online platforms.
The Global Digital Report 2019 revealed the following statistics about social media which are
useful for marketing:

 There are 4.388 billion internet users worldwide

 There are 3.484 billion social media users worldwide
 There are 5.112 billion mobile phone users
The most popular social networking sites, as of July 2019, that are based on active users are
facebook, youtube, WhatsApp, Facebook MAssenger, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest
CO-CREATION
Tourists are looking for speed, customization, and convenience. Thus, marketing campaigns
now include self-check in at airports, availability of Airbnb properties near the convention venue,
as well as mobile applications to reserve seats at conferences. Even destinations such as the
Vatican provide “after-hours viewing” for guests who prefer private tours.

THEMATIC PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

To ensure that the visitors maximize their trips, travel agents and tour operators design
itineraries around themes that highlight the attractions at specific destinations. For example, the
Department of Tourism (2017) recommends the creation of destination themes to promote
tourist attractions. Among its suggestions are the following:

 Countryside Tour of Bohol

 Vigan Heritage Tour
 Walk this Way Intramuros Tour
 Binondo Food trip
 Ilocandia Church Tour
 Calaguas Beach Escapades

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, while ethnocentricism is the notion that one’s own culture or company
knows best how to d things.

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
Relationship marketing has become increasingly important because of intense competition.
Marketing strategists rely in relationship marketing to develop and maintain an ongoing
relationship with customers.

 KEY CONCEPTS
UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION- The concept if a unique selling proposition helps the
tourism product offering. It refers to a distinct characteristic, feature and/or benefits that
differentiates a product from the rest of the competition. Given the extensive range of
alternatives and substitute products. USP can achieve the following:

 Stand out from the crowded marketplace

 Position the products and services
  Target the right customer market
 Enhance its brand, image and reputation
 Highlight its major features
 Explain its benefits to users
 Gain market share
 Create, develop and maintain its niche
 Help customers remember the product and the brand
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE- This refers to the key strengths of your tourism products over
the rest. This has to be articulated to ensure that your target tourist markets clearly understand
what makes your product stand out from the competition.
TARGET MARKET SEGMENTATION- A target market is a specific group of customers for
which a product or service is being sold to. Segmenting can be done in several ways using
demographics; psychographics, geography, behavior, and benefits being sought by customers.

 DEMOGRAPHICS- These provides basic information such as age, gender, educational

attainment, ethnicity, religion, occupation, household size, and income.
 PSYCHOGRAPHICS- These refers to an in-depth analysis of a person’s lifestyle.
 GEO-DEMOGRAPHICS- This is the study of the population and its characteristics based
on where they live. It requires clustering statistically similar neighborhoods, cities or even
countries to find out their similarities.
 BEHAVIORAL-OCCASION SEGMENTATION- This is selecting tourist segments based
on knowledge, attitude, use or response to a product. While occasion segmentation
refers to the consumption based on key holidays and celebrations.
 BENEFIT SEGMENTATION- this is based on what value the target market is looking for.
This data helps organizations design specific product offerings and services depending
on the perceived and/or actual customer requirement.
 REFERENCE GROUPS- reference groups exert influence and pressure even in buying
decisions. Engel et at enumerate five roles that influence consumer behavior. These are
as follows: initiator, influencer, decider, buyer, and the end-user.
 POSITIONING- Positioning refers to the space occupied in a person’s mind vis-à-vis
other products. Positioning is the act of designing the organization’s actual and
perceived offering in such a way that it lands on and occupies a distinctive place in the
mind of the target market.
 BRANDING- branding refers to a symbol, color, slogan and/or an image that can evoke
the exact perception it was designed for. Reid and Bojanic (2010) describes the
attributes of a good brand name. first, it must be easy to pronounce, recognize and
remember. Second, it must describe the benefits of the products. Third, the name should
not have negative connotation in another country, dialect or language. Fourth, it can be
legally protected.

 MARKETING MIX
In a highly-competitive world, marketing must continuously seek to provide value recognized by
its costumers as superior over available alternatives. However, the final combination of
marketing variables will vary depending on the tourist interest. The marketing mix, often referred
to as the 4Ps, are used to achieve this objective.
PRODUCT
It is the item or service that are being offered to the market. It can either fill in a need or can
create a demand. A product can be tangible. It can also be a service, an experience, an event,
personality or information.
Tourism and hospitality products can be also defined as the combination of other travel-related
products and services positioned to satisfy and even exceed customer expectations.
Tourism products can also be viewed in two ways. First, it can be seen as a total product or a
set of complementary products which tourists see as a single purchase. It can also be viewed
as individual products selected by the customer.
According to the Department of Tourism, the Philippines possesses a broad range of natural
and cultural heritage tourism assets as well as a growing number of beach and urban leisure
and entertainment facilities that are competitive in the region.
The DOT has shortlisted nine priority products aimed at enriching the tourist experience and
boosting product diversification:

 Nature Tourism
 Cultural Tourism
 Sun and Beach Tourism
 Leisure and Entertainment Tourism
 M.I.C.E and Events Tourism
 Health, Wellness and Retirement Tourism
 Cruise and Nautical Tourism
 Diving and Marine Sports Tourism
 Education Tourism
Moreover, tourist destinations are seen as a composite of five factors, namely,
accommodations, amenities, accessibility, attraction, and awareness.
 ACCOMMODATION- this consists of available lodging facilities and meal choices
 AMENITITIES- these refers to the services provided in the destination, including but not
limited to parking, safety and security protocols, food establishments, and housekeeping
services.
 ACCESSIBILITY- this refers to the available transportation and infrastructure to get to
and from the destination.
 ATTRACTIONS- these refers to the natural and built environment landmarks, arts, and
culture, entertainment, and other points of interest.
 AWARENESS- tourists must be made aware of the destination and its attractions and
the local community must be willing to cooperate to make the experience memorable,
safe, and secure.

PLACE (DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS)

This refers to channels of products distribution that can best serve customers. These are either
physical locations, online sites, or intermediaries.
Online sites such as websites and social networking sites are now being used to sell products.
In addition, travel-related aggregators such as Agoda, Expedia, and TripAdvisor and food
delivery platforms such as grab and lalamove have become ubiquitous.
In another example, airlines rely on intermediaries and the internet to sell seats. They use
information and communications technologies to build relationships with partners, enable online
reservations and electronic ticketing, as well as enhance interactivity with customers.

PRICE
This is the amount of money a customer is willing to pay in exchange for the feature, benefit or
value of the product.

PROMOTION
These refers to the strategies designed to make customers aware of the products. These
includes sales and communication techniques designed to persuade customers to action as well
as advertising, sales promotions, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, and social
media marketing.
 ADVERTISING- This is any form of paid presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or
services.
 SALES PROMOTION- this refers to a short-term incentive to induce the purchase of a
product or service such as coupons, discounts, piggy-backing, and merchandising.
 PERSONAL SELLING- Direct sales and networking organizations rely heavily on face-
to-face presentations to close sales.
 PUBLIC RELATIONS- these initiatives are designed to generate a favorable corporate
image, goodwill with customers as well as deflecting unfavorable stories and negative
events. Public relations is aligned with the long-term marketing objectives of an
organization.
 DIRECT MARKETING- Direct marketing is used when an organization is interested in
selling to a carefully segmented group of customers.
 DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING- this technique uses internet-driven tools
such as websites, social media, mobile applications, blogs, emails, and other digital
platforms to engage customers through mobile gadgets, smart televisions, and other
digital devices.
 KIOSK MARKETING- as customers become increasingly comfortable with computer
and digital technologies, many companies will place more information and ordering
machines in kiosks in different locations.
 INTERACTIVE TELEVISION- interactive television is define as the opportunity to reach
targeted audiences on an interactive, more involving way where consumers use their
remote controls to select in demand samples, video contents, and other promotional
offers.
  EXPANDED MARKETING MIX
For the tourism and hospitality industry, there are three additional Ps that marketers use.
 PEOPLE- refers to the visitors, staff, management, host community and other
stakeholders involve in the creation, purchase and/or delivery of tourism products.
 PROCESS- this refers to the activities involved in both online and face-to-face
encounters between the customer and the organization.
 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE- it is based in the senses- sight, sound, smell, taste and touch
that represent the packaging of the tourism products.

 GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Aside from the Tourism Promotions Board and other attached agencies of the Department of
Tourism, there are other agencies involved in tourism marketing such as Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) and Center for International Trade, Exhibitions, and Missions (CITEM)
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY (DTI)
The DTI is mandated to foster the development of local products that can be promoted and
marketed internationally. It also helps enhance tourism-related business establishments, and
coordinate, promote, and facilitate trade, industry and investment activities.
CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE, EXHIBITIONS AND MISSIONS (CITEM)
CITEM is committed to develop, nurture, and promote globally-competitive small and medium
enterprises, exporters, designers, and manufactures by implementing an Integrated Approach to
Export Marketing in partnership with other government and private entities.