Relationship of Marketing & Tourism
Tourism industry businesses use marketing to increase sales and establish awareness for their programs and services. Marketing enables airlines, hotels and boards of travel and tourism to attract travelers to specific cities and locations as a "destination site." Marketing serves an important role in developing ongoing relationships and partnerships to cross-sell services for transportation, lodging, dining, car rentals and more.
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Customer Relationship Marketing
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Customer relationship marketing (CRM) is a core tool and tactic used within the tourism industry. Companies gather demographic data (age, income, location, etc.) and "psychographic" information (interests, hobbies, lifestyle, etc.) from email list brokers, hotels, airlines and other tour service providers. The information is used to develop marketing strategies to target prospects and develop tour "products" based on travel interests like visiting the Caribbean, Europe, major cities in the United States and more.
Builds Repeat Business and Referrals
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Marketing is used to gain preference by travelers to generate repeat business. Companies market awards and loyalty programs to allow travelers to earn points for each time they stay at a hotel, buy a ticket on an airline, rent a car, or use a travel company sponsored credit card. This marketing tactic increases the likelihood of tour participants to return again and recommend others to tour the city or destination they visited. Marketing tactics are also used to provide travelers with incentives and rewards for repeat visits and referrals.
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Leverages Niche Marketing Capabilities
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Marketing is used by tourism industry businesses to promote their ability to provide special, customized services. A harbor cruise tour operator in San Francisco or New York might use marketing to promote services to travel agents who specialize in tours. A travel agent uses marketing to promote city tours and provide restaurant recommendations with hotel concierges. A hotel may use marketing to promote the availability of "pet-friendly" rooms and accommodations for disabled guests or elderly people to increase the number of people who might tour a certain city or destination knowing that their special needs can be fulfilled.
B2B Marketing
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Business-to-business (B2B) marketing is an extremely important function for every business member of the tourism industry. Marketing strategies are developed for airlines to form B2B relationships with hotels, government convention and tourism agencies, and local points-of-interest like museums, zoos, and historic sites.
Identifies Competitive Pricing and Service Offerings
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Companies assess pricing and services provided by tourism industry competitors to develop a unique point-of-difference to use in marketing efforts. An airline that does not charge for carry-on baggage can use that distinction in marketing efforts to gain business for travelers to promote vacation tours to the islands. A hotel could market free airport shuttle transportation services as a strategy to attract businesses travelers as a competitive offering versus other hotels.
Reduces Inventory
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Companies in the tourism industry rely on marketing to reduce their inventory of unsold seats, rooms, and other related services like seats on shuttle transportation vans, taxis and buses. For example, tour package brokers can sell a surplus of unbooked hotel rooms and unsold seats on airplanes and cruises on "last minute" websites. This marketing strategy provides companies with opportunities to sell space at discounted prices versus losing revenue entirely.
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References
- Photo Credit business travel image by Albert Lozano from Fotolia.com
