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Introduction

Assessment and illustration of the importance of marketing strategies, operations and processes

in travel and tourism sector is the main aim of the below provided study. Hence, the discussions

have been developed through considering the organisational scenario of Thomson Holidays (a

Germany originated multination travel and tourism organisation currently popular as TUI Group

across the world).

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Task 1

Introduction

The basic aim of this report is to shed light on the basic concept and principles of marketing in

the context of travel and tourism sector so that their application and importance could be

explained for the summer 2019 holiday packages Thomson Holidays to Turkey and Spain.

1.1 Discuss the core concepts of marketing for the travel and tourism sector

The basic elements and principles of marketing in travel and tourism sector are illustrated below

with respect to organisational context of Thomson Holidays.

Marketing
Concept
and
Orientation
Consumer
Exchange
Need
Process
Assessment
Principles of
Marketing in
Travel and
Tourism
Sector Services,
Customer
Products
Loyalty and
and
satisfaction
Markets

Value and
Quality

Source: Created by Author

Marketing Concept and Orientation: It could be referred as appropriate realisation of

consumer needs, buying behaviour and purchase trends so that the most suitable and market

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oriented packages could be developed and promoted. For example, Thomson Holidays needs to

select proper promotional mediums for individual summer holiday tourism packages to Turkey

and Spain so that the most potential consumer segments could be attracted, for example - social

media platforms, company website, PPC campaigns, hoardings, etc (Avraham, 2017).

Consumer Need Assessment: It is the most significant principle to be followed by every travel

and tourism company while planning marketing strategies. The success of travel and tourism

organisations is majorly dependent on the suitability of their offered tourism packages with the

exact consumer needs and expectations. Hence, it is necessary for Thomson Holidays to make

appropriate assessment of exact consumer needs and expectations from its summer holiday trips

to Turkey and Spain so that packages could be designed accordingly (Oromendía et al., 2015).

Services, Products and Markets: This principle defines the need for proper maintenance of

quality, variety and standard of services and products in accordance with analysed consumer

needs in specific targeted markets. For example, common expectations of tourists from the

summer holiday trip of Thomson Holidays could be momentous experience, visit to most popular

tourist attractions in Spain and Turkey, summer beach camps, quality foods and

accommodations, amusement arrangements, etc (Avraham, 2017).

Value and Quality: According to this principle, quality helps a brand to build value. It defines

that a travel and tourism brand continuously maintaining good quality of services and products to

its customers is better capable of building better brand values. For example, quality and brand

value of Thomson Holidays are major factors that will enhance the outcomes from its marketing

approaches and activities (Oromendía et al., 2015).

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Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction: This principle states that loyalty and satisfaction of

existing customers of a travel and tourism brand is essential for the success of its marketing

process and sustainability of the company as well. A travel and tourism organisation must gain

good reliability, reputation and brand values in the market through gaining better consumer

loyalty and satisfaction for ensuring success of its future marketing plans and activities. For

example, Thomson Holidays needs to maintain good relationships with its excising customers

through monitoring their satisfaction so that better brand reputation, reliability and values could

be achieved from positive feedbacks and word of mouth promotion from them (Avraham, 2017).

Exchange Process: According to this principle, convenience of customers with the process of

exchange also matters for their positive response towards marketing approaches of a travel and

tourism company. Hence, the process of exchange for the summer holiday trip of Thomson

Holidays should include facilities like online booking and payment facilities, post trip or

instalment payment facilities, clear description about provided services and accommodations,

description about targeted attractions, clear conveyance of policies and pricing, etc (Avraham,

2017).

1.2 Assess the impact of the marketing environment on individual travel and

tourism businesses and tourist destinations

Micro Marketing Environmental Factors

The positive and negative of micro environmental factors for Thomson Holidays and its summer

trip to Spain and Turkey are discussed below depending on the concept of Porter’s Five Forces,

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 Consumers

Substitute
Micro
Competitors
Services Marketing
Environment
Factors for
Travel and
Tourism Sector

Intermediaries Suppliers

Source: Created by Author

Consumers: In terms of international tourist arrival, Spain is the third most visited country in the

world with over 75.6 million visitors in 2016 (Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2017). On the other hand,

Turkey also acquires the 9th position in the world in terms of international tourist arrival due to

having more than 40 million overseas visitors in 2016. Hence, there would be no issues for

Thomson Holidays to gain valid number of potential customers for its 2019 summer trip to either

of these nations.

Competitors: Travel and tourism sector in both the targeted nations are well developed and

hugely popular around the world. Hence, severe market competition for Thomason Holidays in

both the markets is pretty natural. Bigger tour operators like Thomas Cook and others would be

the toughest competitors for Thomson in these tourist destinations (Tang &Ozturk, 2017).

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Suppliers: Travel and tourism industry in Spain and Turkey respectively contributes 11% and

10.9% of their national GDP (Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2017). Hence, major contribution of travel

and tourism sector in national GDP in both the targeted destinations represents the developed

infrastructure of the industry. Thus, there would be no issues for Thomson Holidays to get

reliable suppliers of hospitality and other tourism services and products in the both the nation for

conducting its summer holiday trip in 2019.

Intermediaries: Travel and tourism industry in Spain and Turkey respectively contributes 13%

and 8.1% in overall employment within their nation (Tang & Ozturk, 2017). Hence, it would be

easy for Thomson Holidays to get adequate and reliable intermediaries like tour and travel agents

in both the nations for conducting its holiday trip conveniently.

Substitute Services: Online tourism businesses and tour planning facilities are the main

substitute services that could adversely affect consumer availability in the summer holiday trip of

Thomson Holidays. Organisations like TripAdvisor and others are empowering tourists to plan

their trips and holidays on their own and that is a negative aspects for international tour operators

like Thomson Holidays (Avraham, 2017).

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Macro Marketing Environmental Factors

Demography

Tourism
System and Political
Destination Macro
Marketing
Environmental
Factors for
Travel and
Technological
Tourism Sector Economical

Social and
Cultural

Source: Created by Author

Demography: Needs and expectations of tourists from the summer holiday trip of Thomson

Holidays to Spain and turkey could vary in accordance with various demographic factors, for

example adventure experience needs of younger tourists, safer trip arrangements for elderly

people, amusement needs of family people, privacy needs of younger couples, etc. hence, it

could be an implicating factor for the organisation to plan and segment the packages (Tang

&Ozturk, 2017).

Political: Travel and tourism industry in Spain and Turkey respectively contributes 11% and

10.9% of their national GDP (Avraham, 2017). Thus, it is expected that Thomson Holidays will

get better cooperation from the governmental authorities in both the nations for conducting the

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trips due to better contribution of the tourism industry in national economic growth and

development.

Economical: Spain is currently in the 2nd position in the world as a tourist destination in terms of

international tourism receipts (US$ 60.3 billion in 2016). On the other hand, Turkish travel and

tourism industry also achieved overall international tourism receipts of US$ 31.6 billion in

2016(Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2017). Hence, the economic condition in both the targeted tourist

destinations is highly in favour of Thomson Holidays.

Social and Cultural: It has been mentioned before that travel and tourism industry in Spain and

Turkey respectively contributes 13% and 8.1% in overall employment within their nation (Tang

&Ozturk, 2017). Hence, major involvement of people in society in travel and tourism sector for

employment ensures highly positive social and cultural environment for tourists of Thomson

Holidays in both Spain and Turkey.

Technological: Increasing use of internet, rapid advancement of e-commerce and smartphone

technology, increasing use of social media platforms and other relevant aspects of technological

environment makes it easier for Thomson Holidays to promote and sell its summer holiday

packages to larger number of potential customers (Avraham, 2017).

Tourism System and Destination: Tourism system in both Spain and Turkey is well developed

which will ensure convenient stay and momentous experience of tourists participating in the

summer holiday trip of Thomson Holidays. As a tourist destination the most popular tourist

attractions in Spain which should be included in the package are Palacio Real, La Concha,

Aqueduct of Segovia, Cuenca, Mezquita of Cordoba, etc. On the other hand, the most popular

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tourist attractions in Turkey which should be included in the package are AyaSofya, Ephesus,

Cappadocia, Topkapı Palace, Pamukkale, etc (Kiráľová&Pavlíčeka, 2017).

1.3 Discuss the factors affecting consumer motivation and demand in the travel and

tourism sector

The most significant factors that could affect consumer motivation and demand in travel and

tourism sector are discussed below with respect to the summer holiday trip of Thomson Holidays

to Spain and Turkey.

Loyalty: It has been observed that a majority proportion of people around the world prefer to

buy tourism packages from specific preferred companies due to better reliability, previous

experiences, existing satisfaction and long-term relationships. Thus, it would be an implicating

factor for affecting the demand of summer holiday packages of Thomson Holidays (Brondoni,

2016).

Sociology: Changing social trends could have significant impacts on buying behaviour of

customers towards travel and tourism packages. For example, social media, online search engine

and other internet platform based research activities by tourists could provide Thomson Holidays

with greater opportunities for showcasing its unique services offered with 2019 summer holiday

packages (Tang &Ozturk, 2017).

Psychology: Psychology plays a significant role for diversifying needs and expectations of

tourists from tourism packages, for example knowledge gathering needs of educational tourists,

amusement needs of family tourist groups, privacy needs of business tourists, safety needs of

elderly tourists. Hence, Thomson Holidays needs to segment and diversify its tourism packages

accordingly (Attallah, 2015).

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Safety and Security: safety and security in a targeted tourist destination could also be a

significant factor for influencing tourist motivation, for example recent terrorist attacks in

Turkey could affect the demand of holiday packages of Thomson Holidays to this destination

(Brondoni, 2016).

Convenience: Convenience for availing services could also be a significant factor for

influencing consumer motivation and demand towards tourism packages of Thomson Holidays,

for example availability of online booking facility, availability necessary information, customer

query and assistive services, etc (Attallah, 2015).

Financial Abilities: Thomson Holidays also needs to consider financial abilities of consumers as

an influential factor for their motivation and demand to buy the summer holiday packages and

subsequently the packages could be segmented in different categories like premium, reasonable,

post trip payment, part-payment, etc (Kiráľová&Pavlíčeka, 2017).

1.4 Analyse the principles of market segmentation and its uses in marketing

planning

Market Segmentation: Market segmentation could be defined as the technique for dividing a

market into different segments or consumer groups according to specific characteristics of the

market or consumers (Attallah, 2015).

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Source: www.yourarticlelibrary.com

Approaches of Market Segmentation: Approach of market segmentation could be defined as

the criteria based on which a market is segmented. Approach of market segmentation could be

based on consumer characteristics, such as geographic, psychographic or demographic. On the

other hand, market segmentation approach could also be based on consumer response or

expectations from products or services, for example benefits, usage, loyalty, occasion, etc (Chon,

2015).

It has to be mentioned that process of market segmentation consists of three stages which are

segmentation, targeting and positioning.

 Segmentation: Segmentation refers to the process of dividing an entire market into

different segments with respect to different consumer characteristics or responses

(Brondoni, 2016).

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  Targeting: Targeting could be referred as the process for an organisation to target the

most potential market segments with respect to best possible profit making opportunity

(Attallah, 2015).

 Positioning: Positioning could be referred as the process depending on which an

organisation develops and positions its products in the market according to the needs and

expectations of its targeted consumer segment (Chon, 2015).

The use of different market segmentation principles for the summer holiday trip of Thomson

Holidays to Spain and Turkey is discussed below,

Demographic
Segmentation

Psychographic
Segmentation

Geographic Segmentation

Behavioural
Segmentation

Source: Created by Author

 Demographic Segmentation: This principle could be utilised by Thomson Holidays for

segmenting summer holiday packages in accordance with demographic factors, for

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 example safe accommodation for elderly customers, private accommodation facilities for

couples and amusement park visits for family holiday makers (Attallah, 2015).

 Psychographic Segmentation: Psychographic principle could also be utilised by

Thomson Holidays for developing different holiday packages like luxury and premium

packages, reasonable and discounted packages for family holiday makers, educational

visits of heritage and cultural sites for students and knowledge seeker tourists, etc (Chon,

2015).

 Geographic Segmentation: Thomson Holidays could segment its 2019 summer holiday

packages depending on this principle with the facilities for the tourists to visit any one

specific country between Spain and Turkey (Brondoni, 2016).

 Behavioural Segmentation: Considering purchasing behaviour of tourists, Thomson

Holidays could also segment its summer holiday packages, for example post-trip payment

options, instalment payment packages, discounted online packages, etc (Chon, 2015).

Conclusion

It should be mentioned that marketing operations in organisations also includes operations

market research and audits as well. The above report effectively shows that how effective

researches should be done in travel and tourism sector for the process of marketing.

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Task 2

Introduction

The below provided management report has been developed for illustrating the significance of

strategic marketing planning in Thomson Holidays for its 2019 summer holiday trip to Spain.

2.1 Analyse the importance of strategic marketing planning for a selected travel and

tourism business or tourist destination

Marketing Planning: Marketing planning could be referred as the process for an organisation to

prepare a strategic plan defining its current market position and marketing strategies to be

followed up to a specific time limit in future (Hsu et al., 2016).

Roles of Strategic Marketing Planning

The basic roles of strategic marketing planning are as follows, (Avraham, 2017)

 Analysing the current market position for an organisation.

 Identifying the most potential market and consumer segments in the present market.

 Selecting strategic approaches to conduct marketing operations for a certain period in

future.

The application of different strategic marketing planning tools has been shown below for

analysing suitable strategies for Thomson Holidays to conduct its summer trip to Spain in 2019.

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

 3rd position in the world in terms of  Sustainability threats for natural

international tourist arrival with 75.6 tourist attractions due to increasing

million foreign visitors in 2016 impacts of global warming and

(Brondoni, 2016). pollution (Hsu et al., 2016).

 10.3% growth in foreign visitor  Recent terrorist attack in Barcelona

arrival between 2015 and 2016 on 17 August 2017 killing over 13

(Avraham, 2017). people and injury of 300 others

 2nd position in the world in terms of (Avraham, 2017).

foreign tourism receipts with US$

60.3 Billion revenue generation in

2016.

 7.1% growth in foreign tourism

receipts between 2015 and 2016

(Brondoni, 2016).

 Good political support for tourism

activity due to 11% contribution of

tourism sector in national GDP and

13% contribution in national

employment (Avraham, 2017).

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  Wide variety of tourist attractions

with natural beauty, heritage

properties and cultural events.

Opportunities Threats

 Availability of large number of  Destruction of natural attractions and

potential tourists to visit Spain due to sea beach beauty due to global warming

massive global popularity as a tourist and water pollution could significantly

destination (Chon, 2015). reduce the appeal of Spain to

 Continuous growth of the Spanish international tourists.

tourism industry ensures longer  Recent terrorist attacks could deeply

sustainability of the market and long- affect foreign tourist arrival rate due to

term growth opportunities (Hsu et increasing security threats for them

al., 2016). (Hsu et al., 2016).

 Being one of the top ranked tourist

destinations of the world makes it

easy for Spain to attract larger

number of international visitors

(Brondoni, 2016).

Tourist Area Lifecycle Analysis (TALC)

The TALC Model is an effective help for analysing growth potential available for travel and

tourism sector within specific tourist destinations. It is used to compare number of tourist arrival

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in specific tourist destinations with respect to time so that availability of growth potential could

be analysed.

Source: www.researchgate.net

In terms of international tourist arrival, Spain holds the 3rd position in the world with 10.3%

growth in annual foreign tourist visits from 68.5 million in 2015 to 75.6 million in 2016.

Moreover, foreign tourist visits within the nation has increased by 12% till July 2017 which

shows growing state of the Spanish travel and tourism industry (Avraham, 2017).

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Source: www.tradingeconomics.com

Thus, the overall Spanish tourism market is in developing stage according to the TALC model

and it shows huge growth potential for Thomson Holidays with its 2019 summer holiday trip.

Conclusion

Hence, it could be concluded from the above analysis that Spain is the most potential geographic

market segment for Thomson Holidays to design its future tourism packages due to the massive

popularity and tourism growth within the nation.

2.2 Discuss the relevance of marketing research and market information to

managers in the travel and tourism sector

Market Research: Market research could be defined as the process for an organisation to gather

information about consumer needs, preferences and competition in the targeted markets. It also

helps an organisation to analyse the market position of its own products and services as well

(Hsu et al., 2016).

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Market Research Process: Market research process could be defined as the set of multiple steps

which defines the essential processes to be conducted for completing a successful market

research. The essential steps of market research process are discussed below, (Oromendía et al.,

2015)

 Problem Identification

 Development of an Approach to the Issue

 Research Method Development

 Market Audit and data Collection

 Data Analysis

 Report Preparation and Presentation

The relevance and importance of marketing research and information to managers in travel and

tourism companies like Thomson Holidays are explained below,

 It will help Thomson Holidays to realise diverse consumer needs and expectations from

its summer holiday trips to Spain and Turkey which will enhance package differentiation

process (Brondoni, 2016).

 Better realisation of competition and market situation enables Thomson Holidays to plan

better competition management strategies through making better utilisation of its internal

strengths and competitive advantages (Avraham, 2017).

 Assessment of existing services and tourism products could enable Thomson Holidays to

develop packages with more unique features in accordance with unsatisfied needs of

consumers.

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  Enhances the realisation about consumer buying behaviour and trends so that the most

effective promotional strategies and mediums could be selected (Chon, 2015).

 Appropriate risk assessment ensures better efficiency to avoid market risks and threats,

etc (Hsu et al., 2016).

 Market research could also help Thomson Holidays to improve quality of its tourism

products and services through analysing the changing consumer needs and expectations

from them (Avraham, 2017).

Conclusion

Hence, it could be concluded from the above discussion that market research is an essential

process for every business organisation to ensure appropriate marketing strategy selection, better

consumer satisfaction and effective market performance as well.

2.3 Assess the influence of marketing on society

Positive Influence of Marketing on Society

 Staff requirements in travel and tourism organisations like Thomson Holidays and also in

organisations in other business sectors helps to generate employment and also to improve

socioeconomic condition of people as well (Wu, 2016).

 Provides customers with wide range of choices of products and services to meet their

exact requirements (Oromendía et al., 2015).

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  Attracts larger number of foreign visitors within a nation and subsequent improvement of

economic condition in society (Hsu et al., 2016).

 Marketing also maintains better consumerism in the markets through prioritising and

promoting the interest of the consumers (Wu, 2016).

 Marketing activities could also be utilised for ensuring better environmentalism through

promoting environment friendly practices for product use and disposal of packaging

materials (Chon, 2015).

 Marketing also enhance consumer awareness regarding available legal considerations for

protecting basic consumer rights (Oromendía et al., 2015).

Negative Influence of Marketing on Society

 People could be influenced with biased marketing information.

 Inappropriate marketing approaches could affect reliability of customers on specific

business industries (Wu, 2016).

Conclusion

The above report is expected to deliver a better understanding of strategic marketing planning

process sin travel and tourism sector due to practical application of the tools for Thomson

Holidays and its summer trip.

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Task 3

Introduction

Marketing mix and the service sector mix are the two integral sections of the service sector

elements. These are required to be focused by the management of Thompson for their Spain and

Turkey summer trip in 2019. These elements will support the organization to meet the market

need and market demand by focusing on the customer preferences based on the recent trend and

also will make them satisfied.

3.1 Discuss issues in the product, price and place elements of the marketing mix with

reference to Thompsons summer 2019 holidays to Spain and Turkey

Out of the four important elements of the service mix, product, price and place elements have

been discussed here effectively. The descriptions are as below:

Product:

The intangible product offerings in terms of excellent service offerings to the travellers will be

supported by Thompson. These products can be categorised in to three sections as Core products,

Expected product and augmented product (Buhalis&Foerste, 2013). Core products can be

highlighted as the complete tourism package, expected product can be highlighted as the

excellent travel experience offered by Thompson and the augmented product can be highlighted

as additional tour service offered to the travellers as some special arrangements for the travellers.

It is with great important to check and analyse the effectiveness of the product portfolio offered

by Thompson. This is referred as the core products. The accommodation facilities, the

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transportation facilities in the destination point, the guide support, the support from the local

community and local stores, so that they will be able to offer the complete satisfactory service

offerings to their customers. The analysis of the product life cycle also is important to be

analysed to check its effectiveness (Buhalis&Foerste, 2013). Good hotel service, excellent

experience about tour guides, and others can be referred as the augmented products. At the same

time, customer care service offered by the travel tour company can be highlighted as the

expected service in taking care the needs of the travellers. Total product development is required

to be focused.

Figure 1: Marketing mix

Price

Product
Marketing
mix

Place

Source: (Created by Author)

Price:

Price can be highlighted as having the key role in marketing mix and is required be considered to

maintain the competitive advantage in an effective manner. Price sensitivity is the important

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aspect to be focused by offering the promotional activities to boost up the sales volume in an

effective manner. Further, it is also requirement by the management of the tour operator to

analyse the affordability and acceptance rate of the target customers to frame the pricing

strategy.

There are many pricing methods as value based pricing, cost plus and break even pricing. Out of

these three, cost plus pricing will be selected for the summer trip in 2019 for Turkey and Spain

(Xiang et al, 2015). With the help of this pricing method, Thompson management will be able to

make a perfect balance between the cost incurred in setting the service mix and the profit earned

to attain the breakeven point faster. At the same time, the nature of the expenditure also is

required to be focused by the management. Thus, some competitive cost pricing in addition with

some promotions are required to be set by Thompson (Xiang et al, 2015).

Place:

The channel or medium/ distribution channels through which the intended product mix will be

delivered to the target market are highlighted as place selection. The physical stores in terms of

travel agents and intermediaries, and online stores will be preferred to make the service mix

reach to the customers. The sales representative will have a good role to be played here. They

will also concentrate on the vertical marketing where all the retailers, whole seller will be in

collaboration to meet the demand of market. Apart from that the social media awareness

regarding this upcoming trip also can be highlighted as the prospect marketing strategy (Xu et al,

2016).

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3.2-Assess the importance of service sector mix elements to the travel sector

Promotion:

This is another important element to be considered as the service mix elements. The intended

promotional tools to be used have been mentioned as below:

 Cash back offers with some conditions as sales promotion

 Discounts displayed on social media as advertisements

 Discount offering for the future tour with Thompson (Xu et al, 2016). .

These discounts will support Thompson to attract more customers for their upcoming Spain and

Turkey Summer tour in 2019 and to attain the objectives set in an effective manner.

People:

Well skilled, well trained, and fair knowledge about the customer etiquette professionals will be

required to support the tour activities of Thomson (Xu et al, 2016). To make them more skilled,

required training session is required to be imparted to the people based on the detail of the tour

destinations and services offered along with some skills to make the customers satisfied with the

customer care service and also to reply their queries.

Process:

The integrated business process with the help of the effective communication building by

focusing on the customer focused approach will be preferred. The strong team work environment

is required to be maintained for the successfulness of the project by meeting the expectation level

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of the customers (Xu et al, 2016). The effective cost and budgeting also is required to be focused.

The roles of agencies also are important here.

Physical evidence:

Making the Thomson website attractive with the full display of the summer trip information, the

arrangement of the travel exhibition with the active involvement of Thompson with the perfect

display of the offerings and arrangement off customer service desk has been planned to execute

(Xu et al, 2016).

3.3 Apply the concept of the total tourism product to an individual tourism business

such as Thompson

Total tourism product is referred as setting the product range to cater the needs of wide range of

target customers. For the summer trip 2019, Thompson has planned to offer heritage and cultural

destinations package, leisure package, and adventurous package. Thompson also has planned for

individual service mix elements for the various tour packages to meet the needs and demands of

the targeted customers and to make the satisfied. Here, product differentiation should be focused

by the management of Thompson (Becker, 2016). The days to cover all destinations points for

Turkey Spain tour in 2019 will be for 14 days. Here, the primary and secondary product mix also

is the important aspect to be shared.

Primary product mix:

The heritage and cultural destinations package, leisure package, and adventurous package will be

recognised as the primary product mix with price range from £350 to £400 for the summer

trip(Becker, 2016).

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Secondary product mix:

Hotel accommodation service, food offerings, hotel booking facility, room service quality,

discounts as promotional tools, support of the tour guide, intercity transportation service, and

excellent customer service facility will be treated as secondary product mix(Becker, 2016).

It is required to focus on the customer service etiquette so that the needs and demands of the

customers will be attained and will be resolved to make them satisfied and become loyal

customer base. To execute the same, proper training on customer service etiquette will be

arranged for the employees. The local store collaboration also will be focused by the

management of Thompson so that customers will feel” home away home”. The close monitoring

on the entire service mix elements should be checked to assure the effectiveness of the package

offerings to meet the desired goals of the organization (Becker, 2016).

Thus, it can be stated that marketing mix is the planned mix whereas the service mix will support

the psychological needs of the customers (Becker, 2016). The integrated process approach, the

customer focus approach, and effective communication building approach between the

organization and customers will justify the total tourism product the best fit to attain the

objectives of the organization.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be stated that the marketing mix and service mix along with the proper plan for

total tourism product development Thompson will be able to become successful in Turkey Spain

tour project execution.

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Task 4

Introduction

The below report has been developed with an aim to apply promotional mix strategy for

selecting the most suitable promotional strategies for Thomson Holidays to promote its 2019

holiday trip to Turkey and Spain.

4.1 Assess the integrated nature and role of the promotional mix

Promotional Mix could be referred as one of the 4Ps of Marketing Mix strategy and this element

of the Marketing Mix is responsible for integrating different promotional and advertising

strategies in business organisations to achieve best possible popularity for designed marketing

contents (Hsu et al., 2016). The nature and role of different elements of promotional mix strategy

are explained below with respect to organisational context of Thomson Holidays,

Source: www.marketing91.com

Advertising: It refers to mass promotional approaches in business organisations for advertising

brands and their product or services. The most commonly used strategies and approaches are

mass media promotion, hoardings, etc.

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Personal Selling: It refers to marketing approaches in which products or services are soled based

on one to one communication with individual customers. Commonly used promotional strategies

in this regard are sales executive visits, lead generation from existing consumer base etc (Hsu et

al., 2016).

Direct Marketing: Direct marketing could be referred as promotional strategy that targets

prospective consumer groups only. The most commonly used strategies and approaches are

email marketing, SMS marketing, etc (Wu, 2016).

Sales Promotion: Sales promotion is the promotional strategy in which specific strategies are

applied for stimulating purchasing interest of customers. Commonly used promotional strategies

in this regard are demo view of products or services, etc (Kiráľová&Pavlíčeka, 2017).

Public Relations: This promotional strategy is responsible for maintaining the goodwill of a

company with its customers. Promotional strategies that could be utilised in this regard are

digital communities, social media communities, etc (Hsu et al., 2016).

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4.2 Plan and justify an integrated promotional campaign for a travel and tourism

business or destination

tuigroup@yahoo.co.uk

08701860144

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A suitable promotional campaign has been planned below for promoting 2019 summer holiday

trip of Thomson Holidays to Turkeyand Spain,

 Advertising: Thomson Holidays could utilise television advertisement as the main tool

of advertisement for promoting its holiday packages to Turkeyand Spain

(Kiráľová&Pavlíčeka, 2017).

 Personal Selling: Thomson Holidays could engage its customer service department for

contacting individual customers from its existing consumer base so that prospective leads

could be generated (Wu, 2016).

 Direct Marketing: Email marketing could be the most suitable promotional strategy for

Thomson Holidays in this regard for recommending specific consumer groups with

specific tourism packages according to their preference (Hsu et al., 2016).

 Sales Promotion: Thomson Holidays could offer beneficial discounts on purchase of

family tour packages to Turkey and Spain to attract potential family holiday makers.

 Public Relations: The recommended strategies for Thomson Holidays in this regard are

formation of dedicated customer query service regarding 2019 summer holiday trip to

Turkey, development of social media communities, etc (Wu, 2016).

Conclusion

It could be concluded from the above report that there are several strategic options in

promotional mix strategy for Thomson Holidays to promote its holiday trip to Turkey and Spain.

However, selection of strategies should be strictly made according to nature of targeted

consumer segments and type of tourist destination.

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Conclusion

According to basic perception, business activities that are performed for advertising and selling

products or services to the targeted consumers in targeted markets are generally referred as

marketing. However, the above study shows the vast concept and application of marketing in

travel and tourism sector. Thus the overall study is expected to meet its ultimate goals.

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