1. Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Prof. Ramnath Subramanian, Mr.
Rajesh Talwar, (CEO – Bhakti Vendata Hospital), Mr. Kishore Shrivastava,
(Marketing Consultant) for their guidance and support.
I would also like to thank all others who were directly or indirectly supportive in
completion of the project.
1

2. Preface
From ancient times, India has been looked upon as a place full of mystique. In the
olden times travellers like Huen Tsang came a long way with great difficulties just to
have a feel of the place. But now in modern times, with supersonic jets, the world has
become a smaller place and has been named as a 'global village'. With the destinations
becoming so much closer the tourists' are pouring into India from all over the world
leading to a fast development of tourism industry and yet it has not grown to its fullest
potential.
India is a dynamic and mystic tourist destination where something always remains to
be explored, discovered and unveiled. India offers every type of tourism ideas like
Historical & Heritage Tourism, Adventure Tourism, Nature & Wildlife Tourism,
Religious Tourism, Rail Tourism, Cultural Tourism and some new ideas are also in
the front like Medical Tourism, Health, Yoga & Rejuvenation (Ayurveda) Tourism,
Rural Tourism and Special Interest Tourism and much more.
The future opportunities and challenges in store for this industry have attracted me to
select this industry for my project.
The objective of the project was to identify opportunity and challenges to promote
Indian tourism industry in world market and develop a marketing plan to explore this
opportunity.
For this purpose, project includes studies on World trends in travels and tourism,
guidelines for tourism marketing, and for Indian tourism.
A marketing plan for Medical tourism is accompanied, in the project which aims at
exploring global markets for Indian tourism.
2

3. Tourism – the concept
By tourism society, “Tourism is deemed to include any activity concerned with
the temporary short– term movement of people to destinations outside the places
where they normally live and work, and their activities during the stay at these
destinations.”
The definition pulls together three main elements of all travel and tourism products:
1. Visitor activity is concerned only with aspects of life outside normal routines
of work and social commitments, and outside the location of those routines.
2. The activity involves travel and, in nearly every case, some form of
transportation to the destination.
3. The destination is a focus for a range of activities, and a range of facilities
required to support those activities.
Before studying other dimensions, we go through concept of tourism.
• Tourism is a temporary and short – term movement of people.
• Tourism is the totality of relationship.
• Tourism is an activity involving a complex mixture of material and
psychological elements.
• Tourism is the activity concerned with the utilization of leisure hours.
• Tourism is a composite industry consisting of various segments.
3

4. Tourist the concept
“Tourists are the voluntary temporary travelers, traveling in the expectations of
pleasure from the novelty and change experienced on a relative and non- recurrent
round – trip.”
Tourists are:
• Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic reason.
• Persons arriving in the course of sea cruise.
• Persons traveling for the business purpose.
• Persons traveling for convention.
Not to be tourist:
• Persons arriving without a work to take up an occupation.
• Persons coming from the rural areas to the urban areas.
• Students in boarding.
• Persons domiciled in one country and working in adjoining country.
• Persons passing through a country without stopping.
4

5. Tourism Marketing – The Concept
A clear perception of tourism marketing requires a brief analysis of marketing. We are
well aware of the fact that there have been fundamental changes in the traditional
concept of marketing which has been influenced by multidimensional changes in the
business environment.
We consider marketing a human activity directed at satisfying the needs and wants
through exchange processes.
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the performance of
business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to
consumer or users.”
Kotler finds marketing a social and managerial process by which individuals and
groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and
value with others.
Krippendorf says, “Marketing in tourism is to be understood as the systematic
Co-ordinated execution of business policy by tourist undertakings whether private or
state, owned at local, regional, national and international levels to achieve the optional
satisfaction of the needs of identifiable consumer groups and in doing so achieves an
appropriate return.”
Burkart and Medilick opine “Tourism marketing activities are systematic and
coordinated efforts extended by National Tourist Organaisation and/or tourist
Enterprises at international. National and local levels to optimize the satisfaction of
tourist groups and individuals in view of sustained tourism growth.”
5

6. In the view of the above, the following points emerge regarding tourism marketing:
• Tourism marketing is a process of creating a product or providing a service.
• Tourism marketing comprises fact findings, data gathering, analyzing
( marketing research), communication to inform and promote (promotion),
ensuring and facilitating sales, selection of marketing planning (distribution),
coordination, control and evaluation ( marketing plnning And auditing),
developing professionally sound personnel (people).
• Tourism marketing is an integral effort to satisfy tourist and more so, it is
device to transform the potential tourist into the actual tourist.
• Tourism marketing is the safest way to generate demand, expand market and
increase the market share.
• Tourism marketing is a managerial process to promote business.
6

7. Users of Tourism Services
We find different categories of users availing the services of tourist organizations.
Classification of different categories would help the tourism professionals in studying
and identifying the level of their expectations vis-a vis their behavioural profile.
Non-users: Persons not interested in using the services are known as non – users.
They lack willingness, desire and therefore, the level of income or even the
availability of leisure hour is not to influence them.
Potential users: Also called as prospects or the prospective users. They have
willingness but the marketing resources have not been used optimally for influencing
their impulse. Thry bear the efficacy and the marketing professionals are supposed to
capitalize on their potentials by using creative promotional measures.
Actual Users: persons already using the services generated by the tourist organisation
are known as actual users.
Occasional Users: users availing the services occasionally but not forming a habit to
travel are known as occasional users.
Habitual users: users forming a habit and availing the services regularly are known as
the habitual users.
It is right to mention that the men and women, kids and teens, youth and grey, rural
and urban, poor and rich, white collar and blue collar personnel, executives and
technocrats, professionals and intellects, literate and illiterate are the different
categories of users availing the multidimensional services of tourist organisations. It is
quite natural that the behavioural profile of all the users can’t be identical. This makes
it essential that professionals study and understand their changing behavioral profile.
7

8. Behavioural Profile Of Users
For the successful and cost-effective execution of the marketing strategies or for
translating the strategies into meaningful purposes, we realize the significance of in
depth study of the behavioural profile of different categories of the users. The tourist
organisations need to understand their behavioural profile which simplifies their task
of creating and stimulating the demand. Users have values, perceptions, preferences,
expectations which are the result of environmental influences. There are number of
factors influencing the behavioral profile, such as race, ethnicity, religion, nationality,
leisure habits, health factors, life styles, ag, life cycle stage, occupation, level of
incomes, advances in communication technology or so.
It is in this context that we find it important to asses the behavioural pattern and users’
characteristics. In the recent years, the usres have become more discriminating in their
using habits and therefore we find their needs for different services, products and
brands changing constantly. This makes it essential that the marketers analyse their
behavioural profile and come to know the levels of their expectations.
Classifying travel Motivations
Motivation for travel and tourism can be categorized as follows:
• Holiday travel
• Business travel
• Health travel
• Visiting friends and relatives
• Religious travel
• Travel for economic benefits (e.g. shopping)
• Travel for educational purpose (study tours, etc)
• Sports and activities travel (participation or observation)
In fact, we can summarise allm of these activities under five basic needs:
1. physical
2. cultural
8

9. 3. interpersonal
4. status and prestige
5. commercial.
Although there will be some overlap of motives between these categories, it will be
useful to see how these needs are met by tourism facilities or destinations, and how
they relate to levels of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy.
The demand for business travel is quite different from that for leisure travel, since it is
by nature less ‘discretionary’, that is, less a matter of personal choice. Business people
travel because of demands of their business. As a result, such travel is les price
sensitive, since the company rather than the individual will be footing the bills.
Business people tend to make frequent short – duration trips, which are generally
taken at mid-weeks rather than at weekends, and travel is not subject to seasonal
fluctuations. Travel decision often have to be taken at short notice, so that they need
regular scheduled flights available and a fast and convenient reservations service.
At a basic physiological level, travel can sometimes be essential for health as in the
case of treatment overseas for complex surgery, or the need to travel to warm, dry
climates to recover from illnesses such as asthma and tuberculosis. These are then
survival-related needs. Many people in stressful occupations also need a break from
the mental or physical strain of their work to avoid a breakdown in health, and this
“cathartic” travel is no less necessary for survival. Even business travel, usually only
thought of in terms of economic need, may be required for the survival of the
organisation in the face of overseas competition- but we must also recognize that
quite a lot of business travel is in fact taken for prestige purpose – the requirement for
first class travel and top – price hotels, for instance – while conference travel may be
ascribed to competence needs.
Our social needs for loving and belonging are often met through package holiday
programmes, since many tourists find group tours an excellent way to make new
friends or seek romance. Cultural travel provides opportunities for self – actualization,
the process of achieving or fulfilling one’s potential.
9

10. These examples will be sufficient to show that travel satisfies many physical, social
and psychological needs. They will also have shown us that travel motivation can be
both general and specific. We experience the general drive to get away from our
present environment, to escape from routine and seek new and different experiences,
while at the same time we demonstrate individual motivations to see specific activities
while on holiday.
10

11. Product Planning And Development
The tourism is a multi- segment industry. The essence of marketing is bringing
together the mix of products, possessing the efficacy of satisfying the users.
The tourism products are an amalgam of different tangible and intangible elements.
The products have some salient features, e.g., the products are highly perishable, used
for pleasure or speeding up the learning cycle and the users, a heterogeneous group of
people who are required to come to the spot. The products can’t be transported to the
users and in no case the providers can store or preserve the products. The demand is
highly flexible and the products need world class superstructure and infrastructure.
The three basic elements of the products are attraction of the destination, facilities at
the destination and accessibility to the destination. To the different members of the
tourism industry, the tourism products are different, e.g., to the hotel industry, it is
guest – nights; to the airline, it is the seats flown and the passengers miles that result;
to the museum, art gallery or archaeological site, the product is the number of visits.
In a true sense, it is a complete experience which complicates the task of careful
planning and optimal development.
The development of tourism is the development of the process of social
industrialization. In a competitive market where the leading tourism generating
countries of the globe have been successful in speeding up the process of
socioeconomic transformation through social industrialization, it is essential that the
developing and the less developed countries assign an overriding priority to the
planned development process. Moreover when unplanned and haphazard
developments pave avenues for the atmospheric pollution, this dimension of
management needs a transcendental priority. The World Bank warns., “ In many areas
of the world, tourism development has produced great disparities in the standards of
amenities provided for the visitor and for the local population. This can’t be entirely
denied that in the long run, the improvement to standards for the local population is
probably a condition of successful tourism development. The development of a new
11

12. resort by the provision of infrastructure costing perhaps millions of dollars has a great
impact on land values in the area affected.”
Thus it is important that the tourism planning whether at national or at regional level
must be regarded as an integral part of country’s overall economic and social
planning. A plan for tourism can only serve its desired goal. The main target to such a
plan would be to arrive at an optimum harmonization of the inter – relations between
the two places of market while avoiding the creation of serious economic, social and
territorial imbalances. The key steps in the planning are assessment of tourist demand
and paving ways for an optimal supply. Thus in addition to other benefits, the tourism
planning makes an assault on imbalances. The tourist organisations and the
professionals find it convenient ot have a fair blending of social and commercial
considerations.
12

13. Market Segmentation For Tourism
The behavioural scientist feel that appeal, strategy and tact vary from segment to
segment which in a natural way necessitates a change in the strategic decisions. The
modern marketing theory prefers the formulation of marketing policies and strategies
for each market segment which an organisation plans to solicit. It is natural that
different segments react in a different way. Segmentation makes possible tailoring of
products and marketing programmes uniquely segment for each sub-segment. A
market is not only an aggregate demand for a product but the sum of demands of
different market segments. For getting a positive response in the market, it is pertinent
that the marketers or the tourist professionals are well aware of the different market
segments. It is against this background that we need to study market segmentation for
tourism services.
At the outset, it is essential that the tourist organisation select a suitable base for
segmentating the market. The selection of base has a for reaching ipact on studing the
target market. Thogh there are a number of bases for segmentation, we find lifestyles
an important base since the traveling decisions are fantastically influenced by the
changing lifestyles. The emerging trends in the level of income, the availability of
leisure hour of course influence the process but the main thing is the lifestyles. This is
supported by the logic that if we earn more, we spend more. We prefer to utilize our
leisure time for gaining pleasure or for enriching the knowledge bank. This
necessitates an indepth study of like style for making segmentation proactive. The
living styles of Americans and Indians can’t be identical, the decision making of both
of them are to be different. The Americans prefer to travel and therefore they assign
due weightage to the traveling decisions while scheduling or ordering their
engagements. The Indians avoid to travel albeit we find them earning more or
sufficient leisure time or holidays in their constituting a place of outstanding
significance.
13

14. The segmentation benefits tourist organisations in different ways. An optimal
marketing plan, a balanced development of marketing resources, true gauging of the
level of expectations, formulation of creative strategies for getting a positive response
make it clear that the tourist organisations assign due weightage to segments. They are
supposed to select a suitable base for segmentation out of numerous bases like holiday
base, purpose base, demand base, geographical base, psychological base, demography
base, socio economic base, sex base, age base or so.
The bases help professionals in studying and understanding the changing behavioral
profile of users. In the figure (Anx ) the market segmentation bases make it clear
that geographic, demographic, psychographic and socio – economic aspects can’t be
underestimated to have a clear picture of the tourism users.
The holiday base focuses our attention on the fact that long-distance tours requirwe
availabity of more leisure hours. The holiday market is classified in terms of demand.
The different categories are, the mass market, the popular market and the individual
holiday market. The mass market involves largest number of vacationists who
generally travel in long groups. They prefer all inclusive tours. The users belong to
the conservative group in which we find skilled and semi-skilled workers, blue –
collar employees as the potential users. The popular market involves smaller groups
going on inclusive or semi-inclusive tours. The users are generally class one and lass
two groups, pensioners and retired people. The individual holiday market involves
“social-group –A” like corporate chairman and senior executives. We find an apparent
change in the behavioral profile of different categories in the holiday base. Another
base is purpose in which we find business travel market, cultural tourism market,
common interest tourism market and conference and convention. The demand base
classifies markets into primary tourism market, secondary tourism and opportunity
tourism. The geography base includes lifestyles, personality, motives, product and
knowledge. The demography base covers age, sex, occupation, class and religion. The
socio-economic base makes classification like rich, poor, rural, urban, literate and
illiterate. The age – base classifies markets for kids, teens, youths, young married and
old people market.
14

15. The aforesaid small segments simplify the task of tourist professionals. They know
about the changing needs and requirements of different marketing resources in tune
with the changing levels of expectations make the way for the stimulation of demand
and simplify the task or marketers. It is in this context that we need to segment the
market for the different allied industries helping the tourism industry in many ways.
15

16. Marketing Information System For Tourism
Knowledge is supposed to be the power. Of late to manage a business is to manage
the future, it is essential to manage the information. It is against this background that
the tourist organisations assign due weightage to the MIS. The sophistication in the
process of communication technologies has paved avenues for the development of a
technology driven MIS. In the age of information explosion, it is pertinent that an
organisation develops and institutes MIS to have an easy access to information needed
for planning, problemsolving and decision making. The co- ordinated, systematic
continuous information gathering are the important purposes of manging the
information related to the marketing activities.
The MIS would help the tourist organisation in many ways, such as the formulation of
scientific and intelligent plan would be possible which would make it easier to
balance the demand and supply position. The emerging trends in the market can be
identified and the marketing decisions can be made creative. The designing of
package tour, innovation in the promotional measures, a change in the pricing strategy
or using it as a motivational tool, the management of tourist organisations, tour
operators, transport operators, travel agents would be made prouctive. Thus it is
essential that the tourist organisations take support of technology-driven MIS which
would make the marketing decisions innovative.
In the management of information, we find project planning playing an important
role. There are different steps of project planning such as setting the research
objectives, planning the required information to accomplish the organizational goals,
identifying the sources to be tapped in seeking the information, employing the
research design, sampling the procedures and selecting the method for analyzing the
data. Such a scientific project planning in addition to simplify the process of research
also makes the result effective. In the tourism industry, we find different categories of
users and an amalgam a of different products which make it a multi-segment industry.
This in a natural way complicates the task of a researcher. A researcher while
16

17. collecting data and helping system analysts in managing the information is supposed
to design the questionnaire consisting of tourist sites, users, products, promotion an
competition. The following questions need an appropriate answer:
• Who are the users and where do they live?
• Who are the potential users and where do they live?
• What are their likes and dislikes?
• What are their travel preferences and interests?
• What do they prefer to buy while traveling?
• Where do they prefer to stay?
• Where do they prefer to take their foods and drinks?
• What are their transportation preferences?
• What are their entertainment preferences?
• What are the strategies of leading competitors?
• What type of marketing strategy would be suitable in the existing market?
We can’t deny the fact that if there is one thing certain in the present world, it is
change. We can’t check the flow of change. This necessitates dynamism in our plans,
policies and strategies to make possible necessary changes as and when the
circumstances necessitate so. The multi- dimensional changes in the environmental
conditions influence our lifestyles, living habits, taste preferences or so. Of late
almost all the leading tourist generating countries of the world have been found
promoting research for innovating the process of making decisions which has been
found making ways for value engineering. It is against this background that the MIS
in general and the marketing research in particular has been found drawing due
attention of the tourist organizations. In an age of information explosion, it is
pertinent that the communication gap is bridged over. It is felt that the gap between
the providers and the users has proved to be a major constraint in making the
marketing decisions creative. A well designed, technology-driven, supported by world
class professionals MIS would be beneficial to all the allied industries contributing
substantially to the development of tourism industry. An easy victory on the time-gap
is the result of a well developed MIS.
17

18. Formulation of Marketing Mix For the Tourist Organisation
The marketing mix as defined by Kotler, “The mixture of controllable marketing
variables that the firm uses to pursue the sought level of sales in the target market.”
The Product Mix
Like the manufactured product, the potential tourists can’t feel, taste, touch or sample
a package tour. The tourism product is a non-material intangible thing. Every product
is aimed at some market and its non-marketing success depends essentially on its ‘fit’
with the market. This makes it essential that the tourist professional must continually
strive for improving the effectiveness and increasing the profitability. More so when
we find it a multi-segment industry, the task of formulating a sound product mix for
the tourist organisations is found a bit difficult and challenging. The challenge for the
marketers it to transform the dreams into the realities. We accept the fact that selling
holiday is selling dreams. It is essential that the product offered to a target market
must satisfy the users. Thus the formulation of a sound product mix covers a wide
range of activities like designing a package tour, branding, credit delivery services, or
so. Thus the formulation of a sound product strategy focuses on the formulation of a
sound product mix that makes possible designing of a profitable product portfolio by
including and eliminating the core and peripheral services in the face of results
received from the product portfolio.
The framing of product mix, a challenging task since the marketing professionals are
supposed to blend the core and peripheral services optimally. In the tourism industry,
a deeper product line is found a must. This is due to the fact that needs, expectations,
preferences of different categories of users can’t be identical. The tourism marketers
are required to be captive to deepen the product line so that the products match to the
18

19. expectations. The extent to which the marketers are found successful in deepening
and innovating the product line have a telling impact on the net gain or satisfaction.
Innovation in the tourism product helps raising the sensitivity. There is nothing fixed
and fundamental about the tourism product. The users of the services look forward to
quality product.
In the figure (Anx )we find the product mix for the tourism industry, the multi –
dimensional services included in the mix are attraction, accommodation,
transportation, recreation, restaurant, shopping.
The tourist belong to varied cultural patterns, divergent desires, needs and
requirements, different socio-economic strata or so. This makes it essential that the
tourist organiations while manging the different services are careful to the emerging
trends. Since all the tourists need the same core services, the width of the product is
almost fixed. It is essential that the tourism marketers are captive to deepen the
product line. The success of tourism business depends considerably upon the extent to
which the marketers develop and make available the services.
While formulating the product mix for the tourist organisations, it is pertinent that the
tourist organisations are familiar with the strategies of leading tourist organisations
and promote innovation to the extent it is possible.
Salient Features of Tourism Product
For making the marketing decisions effective, it is pertinent that the tourist
professionals are aware of the salient features of the tourism product. This would help
them in many ways.
1. Tourism Product is highly Perishable: perishability is an important factor that
influence the decision making behavior of the tourist professionals. The
product is used just when it is offered and therefore, if it remains unused, the
chance is lost, the business is lost. If the tourist don’t visit a particular place, if
the seats in hotels, aircrafts remain vacant, the business is lost. This makes the
product highly perishable and makes it essential that the tourist professionals
19

20. make the best possible efforts to promote the services in such a fashion that
opportunities never remain untapped.
2. The Tourism Product is a service Product: we find services the only product
used and sold in the tourism industry. This makes it essential that the tourist
professionals assign due weightage to creative marketing strategies which are
found proactive. The levels of judgment and knowledge possessed by the
individuals and related to tourism reflect on the satisfaction derived by the
tourists after visiting a place. In this context, the marketers need to be high
performers, personally – committed, imaginative and so. This helps them in
capitalizing on the opportunities optimally.
3. Intangibility Complicates the task of marketers: we are well aware of the fact
that tourism is a multi-segment industry in which the transportation and
accommodation services constitute a place of outstanding significance. The
tourist professionals find it difficult to persuade the users by displaying the
seats in the aircraft and bedrooms in hotels. The users first use and then come
to know about the quality.
4. The services are for pleasure: It is right to mention that the tourism services
are used by the tourists to enjoy. By visiting tourist resorts, spots, sites,
beaches, they get pleasure. We also find the services instrumental in the
knowledge bank of tourist or the crazy persons use the services to taste the
enriching flavour of adventure. This makes it significant that the tourist
organisations make the centres attractive by adding additional attractions.
5. Users are supposed to visit the centre: For availing the services of the tourism
industry, it is pertinent that the users visit the place physically. The users are
supposed to come all the way to the spot. This necessitates setting of product
features in a right way.
6. Adequate infrastructural facilities for the tourism product: No doubt that
almost all the industries need infrastructural support, but the tourism industry
can’t exist if hotels, transportation services are found non-existent. Thus we
find infrastructural facilities essential to improve the quality of services.
Efficient transportation facilities, hygienic hotel accommodation, sophisticated
communication services are some of the key infrastructural facilities, adding
attractions to the tourism services.
20

21. 7. The users are a Heterogeneous group of people: It is important to mention
that the tourism users come from different regions, income groups, sections,
age groups, genders, professions or so. This makes it essential that the
marketers are familiar with the different groups of people sing the services.
Designing a Package Tour
In the process of formulating a sound product strategy, there are a number of
factors to be given due attention. The designing of a package tour occupies a place
of outstanding significance. For the profitable marketing of tourism services, it is
pertinent that the different components of product are managed in a right fashion.
This gravitates our attention on the offering of a package holiday product which
necessitates management of the following factors.
Destination: the development of destinations or tourist sites has a reaching impact
on attracting the tourists. It is essential that destination or the tourist sites are
easily accessible. This necessitates safe, fast and reliable transportation facilities
hither and thither the tourist sites. To be more specific for promoting world
tourism or attracting the foreign tourists, it is essential that the flying time is made
proportionate. The site should be clean, the beaches should be sandy, sun-shine
should be certain, the entertainment facilities at the site should be of quality the
site should be safe to walk about, the local people should be friendly, the tour
operators, the travel guides and others should have competence of speaking
English and other regional languages. These facilities at the destination would add
attractions.
Management Of Airports: While managing the tourism product, the airports are
required to be managed carefully. The airport should be local and convenient. The
arrangement for car parking should be safe and adequate. It should not be
congested but it should be specious. In addition, the shopping facilities should be
duty free. The airport should be clean and vehicles should be available so that
tourist don’t face any trouble. Besides, the security arrangement should be tight to
protect the passengers and their valuables. The aesthetic management occupies a
place of significance in the very context.
21

22. Airlines: The flights should maintain the time schedule otherwise a dislocation
may invite multi-faceted problems, not only to the tourists but even to the airport
authorities. The services should be reliable, good and polite. The sophisticated
modern aircrafts of new generation should be included in the fleet to attract the
tourists. The safety record should also be upto the mark to remove the fear
psychosis or psycho – fobia.
Road And Rail Transportation: For the tourists preferring to travel by buses of
railways, it is significant that the stations are well managed.
Hotels: For managing the hotels services, it is essential that we are all careful to
the hotel accommodation facilities. It is pertinent that hotels are easily accessible
to the tourist sites or beaches or shops. The hotel personnel should be trustworthy
and competent enough to speak English and other regional languages. They are
supposed to be friendly. The management of facilities at the hotels need due care.
Though the standard of services, amenities and facilities depend upon the grade of
hotels still it is essential that hotels offer the promised services to the users.
Resort Representatives: Regarding representatives of resort, they should be
knowledgeable, friendly, accessible and competent.
Tour Operators: The tour operators should be reliable where the guaranteed
services are made available to the guests without making any distortion. The price
should reflect good value for money.
Tour Agents: The tour agents should be competent, friendly and conveniently
available. They should also provide extra services to the tourists. The incentives
need due weightage. Free transfer to airport and free insurance facilities induce
tourists.
22

23. Miscellaneous: In addition, the fellow travelers should be like- minded. The main
thing is to make tour pleasant and memorable. If the tourists have companionable
fellow travelers, the journey would ofcourse remain memorable.
Promotion mix
The marketing manager has four distinct ways of communicating the promotional
message to the public:
1. By advertising the product through a selected medium such as television
or the press.
2. By using staff to engage in personal selling, either behind the counter,
over the phone, or calling on clients as sales representatives.
3. By engaging in sales promotion activities, such as window display or
exhibitions.
4. By generating publicity about the product through public relation
activities, such as inviting travel writers to experience the product, in the
hope that they will review it favorably in their papers.
It should also be recognized that much communication about products actually takes
place by word of mouth recommendation. The benefits of a satisfied customer
suggesting your product to another potential customer cannot be over emphasized.
This ‘hidden sales force’ costs a company nothing, yet it is most highly effective of all
communication modes, since the channel has credibility in the eyes of the potential
customer, and will be judged as objective in the assessment.
The converse is also true, of course, an account of a bad experience relayed by word
of mouth has a very strong negative influence on purchase. And human nature being
what it is, research shows us that consumers tell ten times as many people about a bad
experience as they do about a good one!
Recognition of the importance of influencing those who can in turn influence others
to buy new products has led to the concept of the two step flow of communication, in
23

24. which messages are directed by the company to the opinion leaders in the society,
rather than to the general public. Opinion leaders include representatives of the mass
media as well as those most likely to initially purchase new products. A travel
company with a limited promotional budget might be the best advised to concentrate
its expenditure on influencing travel writers, by providing study visits to view their
products at first hand, since a favourable report on television or in the press will have
a huge impact on sales.
Factors influencing the choice of the mix
What determines the mix of these four promotional tools in the marketing plan? In
some cases, companies will choose to employ only one of these elements in the mix,
while other companies will use a combination of all four. There are no right or wrong
answers about such choices, although guidelines based on the following criteria can
be helpful.
1. The nature of product : It will be difficult to sell a complex or technical
product without personal sales advice. Many in the holiday trade would argue
that, although resorts are often thought of as homogeneous and
interchangeable, a customer actually needs quite a sophisticated level of
knowledge to make a decision about what resort or hotel to choose. A
brochure can spell out in cold print what kind of beach the resort offers, or the
facilities the hotel provides, but more subjective issues are difficult to put
across in print. Questions such as the ambience of the resort, the quality of the
food served in the hotel, what kind of fellow holidaymakers the client will
encounter in the resort can properly be answered only in a direct face-to-face
sales situation, where the salesperson can help to match the customers needs to
the products on offer to ensure customer satisfaction.
2. The target at which the communication is aimed: A decision will be made
on the mix of communications directed to the consumer and to the trade.
Communications aimed at the trade employ what is known as a ‘push
strategy’, that is, the aim of the company is to encourage dealers to stock the
product, and to push it to their customers. This will often involve direct
selling, supported by trading advertising, or sales promotion techniques such
as the payment of bonuses for achieved targets. A ‘pull strategy’, on the other
24

25. hand, is designed to generate consumer demand for the product, pulling
customers into the shops and forcing retailers to stock the product through the
sheer level of demand. Here, the emphasis will be on extensive national
advertising, with perhaps some sales promotion support. No intelligent retail
travel agent can afford to ignore the products of major tour operators such as
Thomson, airtours or First Choice Holiday to concentrate on selling smaller
companies, because of the sheer popularity of the biggest companies, which
would mean turning business away.
3. The stage in the life cycle in which the product is to be found: The
communication task for a new product is to make customers aware of its
existence. This means informative messages, usually carried by mass media
advertising, with some sales support, to let as many people know what it is
you have to sell, and the product’s benefits. Later, as competition for the new
product increases, the task will switch to that of persuading the public that
your product increases, the task will switch to that of persuading the public
that your product is the best of those available, calling for greater emphasis on
sales promotion. As the product becomes well established and sales have
peaked, the task will be to remind clients of the product’s existence, and
encourage them to think of their brand first when shopping. This is achieved
by a mix of ‘reminder’ advertising (perhaps little more than constant repetition
of the brand name) and point of sales display material. These tactics will be
discussed more fully in subsequent chapters.
4. The situation in which the company finds itself in marketplace: In a highly
competitive environment, a company will be under pressure to employ many
of the same promotion techniques as its major competitors, to ensure that its
products are seen by the same consumers. This may require reional adjustment
of the communication mix, depending upon the relative strengths and
weaknesses of the company in different areas. This is particularly the case
where a company is also selling its products abroad, where both the message
conveyed and the channels used to teach the market may be quite different to
those in the home country.
25

26. 5. The company’s budget for its promotional strategy: This is the most
important factor that the company must determine. This budget can, of corse,
include a contingency to allow for adhoc activity that exploits unforeseen
opportunities as they arise, as well as ensuring sufficient funds for a planned
programme of activity.
Price’s role in the tourism
Pricing decision must be determined in relationship in relationship with all the other
elements of the marketing mix. The impression is gathering strength within the travel
industry that price is sole criterion of importance to the consumer, or that other
elements are relatively insignificant. While it is true that brand images (with a handful
of notable exceptions) have not played a big role in tourism marketing up until the
present, this is not to say that symbolic values in travel products are any less
important than in other industries, and “futures” forecasters such as the Henley Centre
are suggesting that as discretionary income rises, the symbolic and emotional values
attached to brand names will increase.
All too often, however, travel companies have chosen to ignore the creation of added
value in their marketing plans, and have concentrated exclusively on the promotion of
price. The major tour operators in particular have used low price as a means of
increasing their market shares, at the expense of profit levels. There can be little doubt
that third policy was highly successful during the 1980’s , although this may have had
as much to do with the publicity that resulted from the price wars between operators,
causing consumers to become conscious of price rather than value. Over – optimistic
sales projections led to heavy discounts to “dump”
Unsold seats through late bookings, encouraging consumers both to shop around for
the best bargains and to book later. It is likely that increasing disposable income and
other favourable factors such as exchange rates would have led to substantial
increases in the number of package tours sold during the 1980’s, even had discounting
not been introduced.
26

27. The 1990’s, however, apparently apparently presented a very different scenario, with
lower volumes but higher prices the stated goal of most companies. This did not prove
to be the case for the first half of the decade: profit margins for many travel
companies – particularly tour operators – remained comparatively poor. At the same
time, the aggressive competition for market share has pushed the overall market size
higher, often on the back of price competitiveness.
Other influences on price
Earlier, we explored some of the factors affecting price decisions over which the
company will have very little control. Chief of these are:
1. The economic health of the country (or region). It is notable that at the time of
the depression in the 1970s, unemployment was less of a problem in London
and the South East of England than in the North and Midlands, and
consequently travel bookings from the former areas were less affected.
However, at the beginning of the 1990s, the slump in the South East proved to
be severs, while the situation in the North remained relatively unchanged.
2. The elasticity of demand for travel and tourism products.
3. Levels of competition faced by individual companies and substitutability
between competing products.
4. The nature of the target market, which will determine what kind of holiday or
other travel products they will buy and at what price.
There will also be ethical considerations to be taken into account. A company
concerned about its public image will wish to reassure its public that it is in a position
to do so without challenge from the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. It would
also be short – sighted of companies to attempt to introduce substantial price increases
at a time when the political climate favours price restraint, even were the market able
to bear such increases.
27

28. The Place Mix
The term chain of distribution denotes the method through which the services
reach to the destination. The are the link and if link is strong, the producers
succeed in raising the influx of tourists. The middlemen are the tour operators and
the transport operators who buy services like hotel rooms, seats in aircrafts,
railways, arrange charted flights and sell the same either to the travel
agents(retailers) or even directly to the tourists. The tour operators are also called
the producers of a new product. The travel agents buy the services at the request
of their clients and provide a convenient network of sales outlet catering to the
needs of a local catchment area. In figure ANx we find the distribution channel
for the tourism industry which focuses on the different middlemen engaged in the
process of distributing the services. The services are generated by both the publics
as well as private sector. The services are supposed to be standardized where the
middlemen make it sure that the promised services would be made available to the
users without making any distortion. Of course, we find possibilities of distortion
at different points by the different service generating organisations but all of them
need to bridge over the gap.
One-stage system: the one-tier or one-stage system focuses on the direct selling
of services by the providers to the ulimate users, such as the airlines selling
directly to users through its own offices and reservation counters. We find a
number of advantages of this system, since the providers can maintain the quality.
The system is opposed by a number of experts due to high cost of operation. The
stimulation of demand requires professional excellence and the travel agents are
supposed to have world class excellence to manage things to the expectations of
users.
28

29. Two-stage system: In the two-tier system or two-stage system, we find
involvement of middlemen between the providers and users,i.e. Travel agents. The
positive effects of the system are that a traveler while receiving professional
services can also buy other products like airline ticket, hotel accommodation and
transportation facilities. Besides, he/she gets a single bill for all the services. The
price of advantage is an additional advantage since a travel agent gets higher
prices in the case of group tours, conferences, conventions, etc. in addition, the
services cost incurred on travel agent is found very nominal to the usera as he/she
receives a commission from the principal.
Three – stage system: The three-stage or three-tier system involves two
middlemen, a retail travel agent and a wholesaler or a tour operator. An additional
advantage of this system is that the wholesaler makes bulk purchase of the
products for which he/she is paid adequate discount.
Four – stage system: The four stage system is similar to the three-stage system
but it has an additional middleman. Known as Speciality Chancellor he is found
instrumental in the development of tour packages.
The aforesaid channels of distribution of the tourism services make available
services to the ultimate users and therefore these are the different points where we
also expect a distortion quality. It is against this background that different
providers of the services need to be careful while appointing the middlemen.
Tour operators: a tour operator is one who buys the individual elements in the
travel product on his own account and combines them in such a way that he is
selling a package of travel, the tour to his clients. In common parlance, he is also
referred to as a travel agent. A tour operator bears the responsibility of delivering
the services. He creates own package by buying or reserving necessary supply
elements and often retails through travel agents, their own offices and by direct
mail via booking form in brochure or by direct enquiries from consumers. He
offers a number of packages known as tour programme. They are like a
wholesaler. Some of us also call tour operators as producers of a new product but
it is more appropriate to describe them as middlemen.
29

30. Travel Agent: the travel industry is found to be an uncoordinated people trying to
achieve a coordinated result. A travel agent is one who acts on behalf of a
principal, i. e. the original provider of the tourism services, such as hotel
company, airline, tour oprator a shipping company. A travel agency is also calld a
manufacturer of tourist product, i.e. an inclusive package tour. Of late a majority
of the travel agents conduct regular package tour to suit the needs of a group.
Travel agents from the retail sector of the distribution chain.
In the channel decisions, the marketing institutuoions play a decisive role. The
tourist organisatons, tour operators, travel agencies are the main institions helping
the making of productive distribution decisions. We agree with this view that
product innovation in the distribution process plays an important role. To be more
specific in the tourism industry, the middlemen play a commanding role because
the products are of perishable nature. This draws our attention on the
characteristics of the product to determine the length of the channel. The market
factors also occupy a place of importance in the distribution process. From the
standpoint of producers, it is pertinent that we design a profitable channel and
assign due weightage to cost and satisfaction. The chnnel involving the minimum
possible costs but securing high level of satisfaction to the tourist may be
effective. To put it another way, the channel can’t concentrate only on the
profitability element. The aforesaid facts make it clear that the tourist
organisations are required to make the channel decisions proactive so that tourists
get the promised-services without any distortion. If the middlemen act well,
perform well and behave well, we expect a considerable increase in business. The
hotels, airlines can’t work efficiently failing the co-operation of tour operators and
the travel agents.
30

31. World Travel and Tourism Today
This chapter examines the global dimensions And patterns of, and recent trends in,
travel and tourism, in order to provide a framework within which to consider the
likely future of this global industry.
Growth and Magnitudes
Today’s massive tourism industry has been driven by a number of factors – and these
are factors whose future directions need to be considered.
They are:
• Growth in real income;
• The advance in personal wealth as expressed in the ability of individuals to
generate resources beyond those to pay for life’s basic needs- food, housing,
education, health and, in more recent times, ‘essential’ consumer goods – in
other words, the expanding ability for discretionary expenditure on non-
essential items;
• Increase in leisure time;
• Peace amongst nations;
• Freedom from administrative restraints on international travel;
• Freedoms within international currency markets;
• Expansion of fast, efficient and widely affordable public transport, coupled
with wide to provide transport.
In a word, tourism depends upon economic development and open, free societies.
It can be immediately seen that, measured against these basic criteria, much of
today’s world fares very badly. Such a comparison reveals two important facts.
31

32. First, the majority of the world’s population has yet to attain what we in the
industrialized world would regard as a minimum level of supply of these
elements. Second, and as a consequence, if the world’s under- privileged can
reasonably hope to attain access to these elements during the next century, the
capacity for demand growth in national and international tourism is, for all
practical purpose, unlimited.
The World Of Today and Tomorrow: The Global View
During the past decade, the tourism and hospitality industry flourished, even as it
struggled to cope with difficult challenges. This is a taste of things to come. In the
years ahead, the global population will continue to grow and change, science and
technology will tighten their hold on business and society, and the world will knit
itself ever more tightly into a single market. As a result, both opportunities and trials
will abound.
Increasing affluence in the developed country
In the developed world for atleast the next five years, widespread affluence, low
interest rates, low inflation and low unemployment will be the norm.
Global trade will continue to grow rapidly for atleast the next 20 years. Worldwide
international arrivals are growing from 66o million in 1999 to an estimated 700
million in 2000, 1 billion by 2010 and 1.6 billion by 2020. Improving balance of trade
means more business for European and Asian tourist destinations.
Low Asian currency values will continue to promote travel to the Far East, for so long
as they last.
Technology dominates the economy and society
Discovery grows exponentially, as each new finding today opens the way to many
more tomorrow. Thus the single largest force for change in the 20th
century can only
grow more powerful in the 21st
.
As technology knits the world into one electronic marketplace, business travel will
not decline, but will grow rapidly. In a high- tech world, executives increasingly need
32

33. the ‘high – touch’ reassurance of personal relationships with their colleagues. The
internet changes the way consumers purchase goods and services. Cashless credit/
debit systems of payment will continue to proliferate. Expect the use of ‘smart cards’
to provide detailed customer information for use in more efficient target marketing.
Resorts, conference centres and other destinations are finding it increasingly easy to
market themselves directly to consumers, rather than relying on intermediaries. So
will air charter services and other transportation providers.
Time is becoming the World’s most precious commodity
Multiple, shorter vacations spread throughout the year will continue to replace the
traditional two – week vacation. Demand for luxurious ‘weekend getaways’ will grow
rapidly, especially in cultural centers and at destinations nearest large cities.
Values and lifestyles are changing
The trend is toward ultra- high quality, authencity and convenience- luxurious
accommodations, fresh meals that seem like labours of love, and constant pampering
of customers – all done at a price that will not make cosumers feel guilty.
Two – income couples increasingly take several short, relatively luxurious weekend
getaways rather than a single longer vacation.
Concerns for environmental issues continues to grow
Demands for still more environmental controls are inevitable, especially in relative
pristine regions. ‘Ecotourism’ will continue to be one of the fastest growing areas of
the tourism industry. The increasing dominance of technology in our daily lives also
promotes this trend. Rain forests, wilderness areas, the ocean, and other unpolluted
regions provide a unique and necessary chance to escape from keyboards and cell
phones.
Generation X and ‘.COM’ will have major effects in the future
33

34. Generation X and .COM will be major customer for tourism and hospitality services
in the future and the industry will have to learn to market to them. this requires a
light hand, with strong emphasis on information and quality. Brands credibly
positioned as ‘affordable luxury’ will prosper.
Service, service, service replaces Location, location, location
Competitive pressures are making it ever more difficult to distinguish one hotel or
chain from the rest, especially at the level of the global chain.
Unique locations or facilities are the major expectation to ‘commoditization’ in the
tourism and hospitality industries. The only inn at a major ski resort has no effective
competition. The alternative is for hotels to become destinations in themselves.
E.g. Ayurveda treatment package provided by Taj hotel.
As customers grow more open to new experiences, unique facilities and attractions,
cuisines offer a growing opportunity for hotels and tourist destinations to distinguish
themselves from the competition.
34

35. Tourism and Hospitality into the 21st
Century
Experience has taught us that the future is usually not what we would have expected
from extrapolating past developments, but rather what we make of it.
Jacques de Bourborn – Busset once wrote: ‘What we want is not to guess at the
probable future, but to prepare one that is desirable and perhaps even to go that bit
further and try to make the desirable future the probable one.’
To do so we have to focus on the future, something that seems appropriate at the
dawn of a new millennium.
Numerous, particularly turbulent changes are currently taking place in the immediate
and wider context of leisure and travel. Not only has the new consumer gone into top
gear, society as a whole has become ever more fragmented. Political boundaries are
being abolished to be replaced by others. In contrast, as the result of worldwide
globalization mechanism, our planet is turning into a ‘global village’ with a uniform,
commercialized culture.
The Challenge of Globalization
Dealing with world-wide globalization trends is new to all of us. Everything is in a
state of flux: demand, labor. Know – how and capital are all flowing to where the
biggest hopes for the future lie, with the resistant standardization of production
technologies, business strategies, marketing plans and management styles. Although
tourist production is tied to local conditions, the tourism industry cannot avoid being
affected by globalization. Tourist products, and even whole destinations, are
becoming interchangeable; continental and inter-continental transport networks
determine the direction and speed of development; distribution channels and/ or
reservation systems are increasingly a decesive factor in success.
35

36. The Challenge of the Changing Climate
The environmental discussion is hotting up from two sides. On the one hand, many
places are already virtually at their ecological limits, and the consequences will
become increasingly visible and tangible over the next few years. On the other, the
process of environmental awareness is continuing among broad segments of the
population. Holidaymakers too are becoming more and more environment conscious,
but in an opportunistic fashion: they are particularly sensitive to environmental
damage when it threatens to spoil their holiday pleasure.
The Challenge of an Ageing Population
Seeing aside the fact that the population of highly industrialized countries may be
considerably influenced by influxes of refugees, the assumption can be that the
population of the industrialized countries is stagnating. On the other hand, the
population’s demographic composition will change radically. While the proportion of
young people will fall drastically in the coming years, the percentage of senior
citizens will increase by upto 1% per year.
There will be fewer and fewer young people and more and more active ‘younger
senior citizens’ with time and money on their hands who will set the tone in the
leisure and travel market.
The Challenge of Changing Values
The process of changing values is equally turbulent. It is characterized by a basically
hedonist attitude (desire, enjoyment, living out one’s dreams) which, however, goes
hand in hand with a certain pessimism about the future.
Cultural identity seems to be increasingly reduced to leisure behavior, and travel with
its utopian, ritual and mythical nature is steadily becoming the last common identity
area. The so–called ‘mega generation’ makes itself heard loud and clear, and its
values are mainly as follows:
• Substantial material demands;
• Little willingness to do anything special to merit these;
36

37. • Call for more freedom in all areas of life;
• Growing escapism;
• Growing unwillingness to take orders from others;
• Fewer inhibitions;
• Individualization of the masses.
Basing one’s argument on Horx, it could be said that whenever everything becomes
commercialized, materialized, rationalized and technical, people more and more come
to long for ‘spirituality’.
The Challenge of Mobility
The fact that a growing number of people can drive combined with the
individualization of society is leading to greater motorization in all Western European
countries, despite intensive debates about the ecological aspects. The willingness to
be mobile, and hence the need for greater mobility during leisure time, will also
continue to increase.
The Challenge of Internet
The internet is changing the way many business are conducted, the appearance of e-
commerce could be a significant event in this century.
Currently only 2% of the world’s population has internet access, but this is changing
rapidly.
37

38. Changing Travel Habits
Upheals in the immediate and less immediate environment of leisure conscious
persons also affect their travel and holiday habits. Horst W. Opaschowski described
the holiday of the future as follows:
• Attractive natural sitting and clean landscapes are automatically expected.
• People will continue to seek sun, beaches and the sea.
• Artificial holiday paradises will become tomorrow’s standard holiday venues.
• Holiday hopping (here today – there tomorrow) will spread.
• Vacations will become the ultimate adventure.
• The holiday world of the future must be as exotic as possible.
• More and more young families will discover indoor luxury bathing complexes.
• Culture and study trips will develop into a stable market segment.
• Holiday clubs will lose their attraction as something out of the ordinary.
This description of tourism of the future highlights the fact that some conflicts are
bound to become more acute, in particular:
• Growing pressure on the remaining nature reserves;
• The distances traveled are becoming longer and longer, consuming more and
more energy, with serious consequences;
• The growing risk that holiday destination will be downgraded to the fast –
food articles of the throw –way society;
• The continuing trend towards ‘exoticism’ with its cultural and health risks for
travelers and host populations.
38

39. In addition to these changes in respect of future holiday models, there are also signs of
changes in booking and travel habits:
• Trend towards adventure – oriented holiday behavior: seeking a more
intensive leisure experience.
• Trend towards going it alone: seeking even more independent holidays in line
with personal ideas, with a preference for more flexible holiday products.
• Trend towards more sophisticated travel products: seeking trips that offer
cultural and education, as well as variety; both passive recreation and
hyperactive sport are ‘out’.
• Trend towards more wellness during holidays: seeking forms of travel that
offer overwrought modern man holistic relaxation, with a healthy diet, gentle
exercise, beauty and body care and wide variety of therapies as the keywords.
• Trend towards ‘second homes’: seeking cosy holiday accommodation as
home– like refuges with a high degree of comfort.
• Trend towards sunny travel destinations: seeking holiday destinations with
guaranteed sunshine – above all during cold, wet winters.
• Trend towards cheaper travel: seeking (cheap) products that represent value
for money: holiday at rock- bottom prices and growing market transparency
thanks to the worldwide web encouragement this tendency.
• Trend towards spontaneous travel decisions: seeking offers that can be booked
at the last minute (or even at the last second) and which are not only cheap but
also comprise an element of surprise.
• Trend towards more mobile travel patterns: seeking products with frequent
changes of locations, with traveling as the major attraction.
This spotlight – like future analysis leaves considerable scope for interpretation
about the future openings for tourism. Making the most of these trends calls for
visionary innovations, targeted cooperation, clear marketing strategies and careful
nurture of existing core attractions.
39

40. Tourism Marketing In Indian Perspective
Of late, tourism has emerged as an important sector of the economy. It is found to
be an economic bonanza which contributes substantially to the development
process. If the managerial decisions are creative, innovative and sensitive, we
expect a lot from the tourism industry. The rate of success in the tourism industry
is sizably influenced by the instrumentality of supporting industries, such as hotel,
transportation, communication, banking or so. The developed countries and to be
more specific the leading tourist generating countries of the world, such as USA,
UK, Germany, France, Australia, Spain, Singapore, Cuprus have assigned due
weightage to the principles of modern marketing in managing the tourism industy.
In the Indian perspective we find tourism industry at the bottom of our
development agenda which has been standing as a barrier while energizing the
process of qualitative or quantitative improvements. It is against this background
that we need a basic change in the national development policy for tourism.
It was in the early 1950s that the government of India decided to promote tourism
industry but it had no clear objectives in terms of marketing. At the initial stage,
the image problem was found at its peak and even till now we find it an important
constraint. The government further activated efforts and new offices were opened
in 1964. the beginning of the decade 1970s opened new vistas for the development
of marketing concept in the tourism industry. The Pacific Visitor Survey
conducted by PATA in 1967 revealed that it was only due to image problem that
the tourism industry in India has not been successful in raising its contribution to
the development of the economy vis-a vis generation of foreign exchange. The
40

41. beginning of the decade 1980s paved avenues for the development of tourism
industry. The management experts felt that if the contribution to the world tourism
is to be increased, we have no option but to market the tourism professionally.
This necessitated launching of a National Image Building and Marketing Plan in
key markets by pooling resources of the various public and private agencies
instead of independent and disjoined efforts presently undertaken by these
organisation to project a fair image.
The exploration of the new tourist generating markets particularly in the Middle-
east, South east and East Indian countries having a broad spectrum of cultural
affinity with India and encouragement of ethnic tourism by launching programme
of Discover Your Roots and vigorous marketing of conferences and conventions
traffic could be possible during 1980s. sustained efforts were needed to promote
Buddhist pilgrimage tourism for which there is a great potential. Aggressive
marketing was required to be taken up in the existing tourist generating markets
abroad as well as to explore new markets. It was necessary to reorient the
marketing projects and rationalize the locations of the tourist offices abroad
keeping in view in the market conditions and potentials. In order to cater to the
needs of professionally sound manpower for tourism marketing, the Indian
Institute Of Tourism and Travel Management was developed as a model institute.
In view of the above, it is right to mention that diversification of tourism from the
traditional sight seeing to the more rapidly growing holiday tourism market within
the framework of the country’s milieu is need of the hour. The policy planners, the
tourist organisations, the domestic and global agencies are required to realize
gravity of the situation to capitalize on the opportunities optimally. This requires a
basic change in the product development strtagy vis-avis the innovative
promotional efforts to project a positive image.
The beginning of the decade 1990s opened new areas for the development of
torism in the Indian perspective. This necessitated development of infrastructural
facilities like transportation, communication, accommodation or so. In addition,
this also required use of sophisticated information technologies by the tourist
41

42. generating organisations so as to improve the quality of services at different
points. In addition to the planning and development of tourism products, the
promotional strategies thus require due attention of professionals. The creativity in
mesaages, campaign and appeals which probably could not get due treatment
earlier is required to be made possible. No plans, policies, strategies and decisions
are expected to be productive or proactive unless we assign due weightage to the
behavioral profiles of the users. We can’t deny the fact that till now the tourist
organisations have devalued the instrumentality of behavioral studies and
therefore we are supposed to do it on a priority basis. The emerging trends in the
business environment make it essential that world class professional excellence is
essential without which all our efforts are to be ineffective. To be more specific
when some of the fictions of today profess the emergence of evolutionary from of
travel, such as monorils operated by magnetism and floating on a cushion air, or
travel in vacuum tubes in which a vehicle will travel at a speed of 800kms per
hour, it is quite natural that the level of expectations of users keep on moving.
The trust areas are the following:
• Making tourism industry a unifying force, instrumental in fostering better
understanding through travel.
• Helping to preserve, retain and enrich our cultural heritages.
• Bringing socio-economic benefits to the community and the state,
specially in terms of expanding the employment opportunities, generation
of profits, tax generation, foreign exchange generation or so.
• Giving a direction and an opportunity to the youths of the country both
through domestic and world tourism to perceive hopes and aspirations of
others in a right fashion.
• Offering opportunities to the new generation in taking up the activities
helpful in image building and strengthening the national image.
• Innovating the promotional measures and assigning due weightage to
aggressive promotion to project a positive image.
• Development of people by advancing education and training facilties.
Enriching their professional excellence by undertaking an ongoing training
programme.
42

43. • Motivating the private sector to develop the superstructure.
• An overriding priority to adventure tourism, village or rural tourism, beach
tourism, heritage tourism or so.
• Promoting the use of sophisticated information technologies to improve
the quality of services.
• Enriching peripheral services to add additional attractions.
Marketing Plan For MEDICAL TOURISM
As we have seen the Scenario of Indian tourism industry, also the world tourism
scenario which shows tremendous potential in growth of industry. But as it also says
that Indian tourism organisation lack marketing competence, following is a marketing
plan suggested to explore the potential.
Identification of opportunities and challenges
We first try to understand the opportunity by conducting SWOT analysis of the
Marketing Scenario.
Strength:
Healthcare industry
Healthcare is the world’s largest industry. Healthcare industry is booming all over the
world. In the development cycle of any economy for the last 25 years, before a nation
reaches the developed state, healthcare is the fastest growing industry. The worldwide
healthcare is expected to be a USD 4 trillion by 2005. A 1% market for India would
mean Rs. 2,00,000 crore or USD 40 billion. The Indian healthcare industry is worth
Rs.730 crore today, and it is expected to grow by around 13 % to15 % annually.
43

44. More and more overseas Indians fly home to visit their doctors here in whom they
have complete confidence. They get world-class treatment at a fraction of the cost
they would have to pay abroad, as liberalisation has speeded up the entry of the latest
state-of-the-art equipment. Also Indian doctors are amongst the best of the world.
They prefer to consult these doctors for their chronic diseases such as high blood
pressure, diabetes, neurological problems and even dentistry.
Medical charges in India are between one-tenth and one-thirtieth those of the US. For
example, a bypass surgery which costs $3000 in US, costs only Rs. 35000-40000 in
India, with the same technologies and facilities.
Also technology wise India is 6 months behind US. In US hospitals patient register
themselves and their no. comes after 8 months.
India- the hub of Asia’s healthcare needs:
• Indian doctors are recognized the world over for their expertise
• There is a huge talent within the country
• Technology-wise we are only six months behind the developed countries
Some factors that make India an attractive proposition
• A large English speaking population
• Opening of the insurance sector
• A miniscule cost of healthcare as compared to developed nations
• Medical expertise and contemporary knowledge of healthcare
• Huge waiting period (upto 18 months in some cases) for treating patients in
the UK hospitals
• Medical tourism as a distinct possibility
• The entire country is focusing on IT revolution, but if we play our cards
healthcare will be the next boom.
44

45. Tourism industry
Tourism is the single largest and fastest growing category of international trade,
Accounting for 12.8% of the total exports. It is one of the top 5 export categories
for 83% of countries and the main source of foreign exchange for 38%. The
potential for international tourism is vast as today only 3.5% of the world’s
population travels internationally.
India was one of the first countries to become a member of World Tourism
Organisation in 1951.
Total world tourist arrivals were recorded at 692.7 million. India received a share
of 0.37% in world tourist arrivals with 2.64 million international arrivals. World
tourism receipts were USD 462.2 billion while India’s receipt from international
tourism was $3168 million i.e. 0.66% share in world tourism receipt ranking it 29th
in the world. (See annexure )
Weakness
• Lack of advertising and publicity:
The hospitals are handicapped with government regulations, which do
not allow them to advertise.
• An increasingly fragmented market, lack of statistics, capital intensive
operations and a long gestation period are all wise reasons to shy away
from investing in the healthcare industry.
• Government and trust hospitals dominate the scene. Many of the trust
hospitals suffer from poor management. Good corporate hospitals are still
too few to amount to a critical mass.
• Poor infrastructure facilities
• Lack of government support
• The role of Government: the plethora of taxes and procedural
complications
• Inadequate world class accommodation and Untrained personnel manning
key facilities
45

46. • Unfocussed marketing of the Indian tourism product package
Apprehensions about the law and order situations
Opportunity
Medical tourism
“Medical tourism” has become a part of certain sectors of healthcare, but on a smaller
scale. If industry estimated is to be believed, the size of the medical tourism
industry stands at Rs 1,200-1,500 crore, growing at the rate of 30 per cent. A
recent CII-McKinsey study on healthcare says medical tourism alone can
contribute Rs 5,000-10,000 crore additional revenue for upmarket tertiary hospitals
by 2012, and will account for 3-5 per cent of the total healthcare delivery market.
Treatments cost a fraction of what they do in the West and the quality of doctors and
medical equipment is comparable to the best in the world.
UK and other countries have come up with some proposals for medical tourism
packages by private sector healthcare institutions in India and talks are on to make
this reality on a bigger scale.
Multinational health insurance companies, with foreign stakeholders, will play an
important role in medical tourism as, they know that treatment is just one-fourth the
cost in India and people from their countries will be approaching us for treatment.
Also Liberalisation has made it possible for India to enjoy benefits of technological
strides in medicine.
India also has an advantage as there are wider prospects in the fields of ayurveda, and
spiritual medications along with other treatment at nominal prices.
Threat:
Though there are many countries competing in providing medical tourism like,
Germany. South Africa, Europe, Greece.
Almost all countries in providing 'Medical tourism' focus on:
• Cardiac Surgery
46

47. • Cosmetic Surgery and non-surgical procedures
• Dentistry
• Ear, Nose & Throat Surgery
• Gynecological
• Opthalmic Surgery
• Orthopaedic Surgery
From the above analysis, we find that there is opportunity in Medical tourism, which
we can explore with strengths. But as there is a threat of competition from other
countries, the following innovative strategic marketing mix is designed.
For this purpose a Tourism organisation named “Make Ur Trip Pvt Ltd” is formed
which is a virtual organisation, as it provides its services through internet.
Target market:
Our main markets are Germany, US, UK, Africa and neighboring Bangladesh, china
and Sri Lanka for promoting the new package. Market will be segmented into NRI’s
and foreigners. In an age group of 40-54 years. (see annexure )
Buying behaviour:
As we are targeting middle age group who seek for mental relaxation and are not very
price sensitive but look for quality service, this buying behaviour will help us to
attract them as India is a GLOBAL SPIRITUAL POWER.
Marketing mix:
Product:
47

48. We have evinced keen interest in attracting patients from neighbouring countries and
other parts of the world for “medical tourism” packages for medical treatments,
including cancer, in India, on the lines of Ayurvedic treatment packages with
sightseeing. Our package will also include air bookings, hotel accommodation,
breakfast, dinner, and other requirements. Along with Ayurveda we facilitate with
other treatments like allopathic, homeopathic as per the convenience of our
customers.
To facilitate with the above feature we provide them with a travel card which helps
them for a smooth and pleasant journey.
Positioning:
Revitalise, Recharge, Reboost Medical Package.
Above positioning gives a message that -
“Jumpstart your health with a "medical holiday" that's packed with relaxation and
fun! Re-charge, with a medical check-up, while being pampered with 5-star luxury.
With shopping and dining privileges, it's all the convenience needed for a
rejuvenating affair”.
Place:
MUT's the online flight booking engine is truly unique. The engine offers customers a
unique combination of discounted airfares and online availability, thus enabling real-
time bookings. MUT’s Customer Service Unit is accessible 24/7 via internet and toll
free numbers, web-chat and e-mail. We seek to deliver the travel card and other
required documents at their doorstep after the registration and payment.
Pricing:
48

49. Cost or the price of the package will differ in different packages depending upon the
kind of treatment seeked for and destinations looked for. The profits margin will be
high as we provide with unique services. Discounts will be provided during lean time.
(See annexure).
Payment terms:
Customer will have to pay full cost of package initially by depositing the amount in
our bank account at AMERICAN EXPRESS bank in their country which will help
them to avail of our travel card facility. This will be beneficial for them as they will
have a cost advantage as the conversion charges will be reduced.
Promotion:
We will be promoting our products by:
• personal selling
• participation in trade fairs
• Advertising through effective medias like newspaper (herald
tribune, the times, guardian.) hoardings etc.
• sponsorships in world games
Public relation and social responsibility:
In order to deliver complete customer satisfaction it is necessary to fulfill social
responsibilities and maintaining public relationship with both customers internal and
external. For this following measures will be taken:
• Sponsoring welfare programmes on days like world aids day etc..
49

50. • Feedback and grievances system.
• Delivering high quality service.
Conclusion:
It’s believed that initiatives taken by Make UR trip will help in economic
development of our country as:
• It will create awareness about our healthcare industry internationally.
• Domestic players will realize the potential, thus improving their
infrastructure facilities.
• utilization of tourist potential
• It will generate foreign exchange for the country.
“Medical tourism” has become a part of certain sectors of healthcare, but on a
smaller scale. “What we’re looking at is charging those who can afford expensive
treatments, so that some benefits may be passed on to the poor also.
50

51. Bibliography:
Books :
• Global Tourism - William F. Thebald
• Service Marketing - S. M. Jha
• Marketing For Tourism - J. Christopher Holloway & Chris Robinson
• Marketing in Travel & Tourism - Victor T.C. Middleton
• Tourism & Hospitality in 21st
Century – A. Lockwood & S. Medlik
Internet Web-sites:
• www.tourismofindia.com
• www.cii.com
• www.indiainfoline.com
• www.hindubusinessline.com
51

52. • www.wttc.org
52