The tourist industry is one of the fastest-growing segments of the economy. According to researchers, in the past twenty years, the average annual growth rate of foreign tourism was 5.1%, and the average annual growth rate of foreign exchange earnings from international tourism was 14%; in 1993 international tourist arrivals were 576 million and international tourism receipts reached $372 billion.
Many highly developed countries, such as Switzerland, Austria, France, have built a significant share of their wealth on tourism income. In Western countries, tourism is recognized as a profitable sector of the economy, which is supported by the state.
Destination marketing representative research is due to the fact that in the process of intensive development of the tourism industry and the ever-increasing role of tourism in the global economy, there is a need to generalize various scientific developments in the field of tourism, experience and methods of work of entrepreneurs in the field of tourism. The rapid expansion of the tourist services market, which nowadays is characterized by internationalization, integration, and regionalization, as well as dynamic changes in tourist demand and supply, determines its importance.
Attitudes towards the role of marketing consultant in tourism companies are gradually changing due to the development of the tourism market in the country and, as a result, rapidly increasing competition. Strategic tourism management describes the long-term structure and activities of various organizations. Increased attention is being paid to sustainability and lifestyle solutions that will positively impact tourism in the future.
Tourism is a very competitive industry with specific characteristics. The tourism industry is defined by a high level of contact with consumers, matching consumption and production through various distribution channels.
Hospitality marketing consultants consider the promotion and development of the product not only based on the interests of tourists, but also of territories.
Specificity and complex nature of tourism marketing.
The activity of promoting goods and services from the producer to the customer is known as marketing. Marketing is defined as the process of guiding the flow of goods and services from the producer to the consumer or user, according to several definitions. Marketing encompasses more than just sales and advertising. Marketing encompasses more than just sales and advertising. Marketing is a planned, strategic, and managed activity that spans all stages of a product’s life cycle, from development to market promotion to sale and after-sales service. The entire process of transporting items and services from manufacturer to customer is referred to as marketing.
Marketing is the management activity of planning and implementing choices linked to the production and sale of specific goods and services in order to suit the demands of a specific group of individuals who have established a specific goal in any company. The standard of living in today’s culture is marketing.
Marketing plays an important role in the activities of all organizations, whether they are non-profit educational institutions, resorts or manufacturers of tourist goods and services in order to extract their own profit. The essence of marketing is to provide the right product or service at the right time and in the right place at the right price.
The action of planning and producing tourist goods and services, selling, advertising goods and services, stimulating demand for them, and pricing are all examples of marketing in tourism.
This activity aids in the promotion of goods or services from the producer to the consumer in order to maximize profits while serving the demands of the target group of visitors to the greatest extent possible.
The qualities and particular characteristics of the tourist product (in relation to other consumer products and services), as well as the characteristics of customers and producers of tourist goods and services, influence the specific nature of tourism marketing.
A tourist product is a set of tangible (physical goods) and intangible (in the form of services) consumer values necessary to meet the needs of a tourist that arose during his trip. Tourist product consists of three parts: tour (tourist trip along a certain route); tourist and excursion services (accommodation, meals, transportation, excursion programs and other services on the route related to the purpose of travel) and consumer goods.
Tourist services have 7 distinctive characteristics:
- Failure to store. If there is no demand for seats in a hotel or on a flight right now, they cannot be stored with the intention of selling them later. Therefore, managers need to make an effort to stimulate demand for these services in the short term.
- The intangibility of services. There are no measured values for evaluating a tourism product: it is impossible to have an idea of the quality of a product before it is purchased and consumed. In this sense, the company’s market image, as well as the prestige of its goods (services), are extremely important to consumers when making purchasing decisions.
- Seasonal changes are a risk. During peak season and off-season, the travel agency’s marketing activities will fluctuate. Extra steps to generate demand in the off-season are required: low costs, a variety of additional services, and a variety of tourism types (diversification of supply).
- Static character, attachment to a specific location (hostel, airport, since they cannot be moved to another place).
- Inconsistency in the timing of the tourist service’s selling and consumption. The purchase of goods (services) of tourism is made weeks or months before the start of their consumption.Advertising printed materials play a key function in this situation, delivering visual information about the tourist product purchased and letting you to imagine the future benefits that can be received from its usage. When it comes to selling a tourist product, the degree of information reliability, as well as the product’s reliability, are both quite important (correspondence of the quality of the product to its price).
- In the tourism market, there is territorial disunity between the customer and the producer.
- The buyer, not the seller, overcomes the distance between the product and the point of consumption.
