CC BY
64
Section 1. Marketing
https://doi.org/10.29013/EJEMS-21-1-3-6
Malania Elisabed, Doctor of Economics (Ph. D.), Professor, of Georgian Technical University Tbilisi, Georgia E-mail: maiko_23@mail.ru
MARKETING IN TOURISM
Abstract. The article discusses a modern approach to marketing in tourism. The author's own approach is based on the judgments of Western researchers. He considers marketing in tourism as a system and proceeds from the fact that tourism contains its constituent parts. Having highlighted and examined them in interrelation and interaction, the author outlines the main outlines of the implementation of the marketing concept in a tourism enterprise. Keyword: travel product, marketing functions, marketing mix.
Currently, tourism is one of the leading and most 2. The demand for tourism services is extremely dynamic sectors of the economy and for its rapid pace, elastic in relation to income levels and prices, but
largely depends on political and social conditions.
3. The consumer, as a rule, cannot see the tourist product before its consumption, and the consumption itself, in most cases, is carried out directly at the place of production of the tourist service.
4. The consumer travels the distance separating him from the product and the place of consumption, and not vice versa.
5. Tourism product depends on variables such as space and time, it is characterized by fluctuations in demand.
6. The tourism product is created by the efforts of many enterprises, each ofwhich has its own working methods, specific needs, and different commercial goals.
7. The quality of tourism services is influenced by external factors of force majeure (natural conditions, weather, tourism policy, international events, etc.).
8. The high quality of tourist services cannot be achieved if there are even minor drawbacks, since
it is recognized as the economic phenomenon of the century. Tourism is a complex, multidimensional and multifaceted concept, it is simultaneously a type of activity, and a form of recreation, and a branch of the national economy, and a way of spending leisure time.
A tourist product in the narrow sense is the services of each specific sector of the tourism industry (for example, a hotel product, a tour operator's product, a transport company, and so on). In a broad sense, a tourist product is a complex of goods and services that together form a tourist trip (tour) or are directly related to it. The main tourist product is a comprehensive service - a standard set of services sold to tourists in one "package".
The tourist product, along with the general specific characteristics of services, has its own distinctive features:
1. It is a complex of services and goods, characterized by a complex system of relationships between various components.
tourist service consists of these very little things and small details.
These specific features of the tourism product have a significant impact on tourism marketing. Some authors put global content into the concept of tourism marketing, such as the Swiss specialist J. Kripendorf: "Tourism marketing is a systematic change and coordination of the activities of tourism enterprises, as well as private and public policy in the field of tourism, carried out by regional, national or international plans. The purpose of such changes is to best meet the needs of certain groups of consumers while taking into account the possibility of obtaining the corresponding profit". In general, such a definition can be agreed in the context of assessing general public policy.
Marketing functions in tourism can be considered at three levels: public, regional, and individual. From the point of view of society, tourism marketing should ensure the normal functioning of the tourism market and the appropriate tools for the activities of travel companies: availability of credit, the loyalty of taxes, relevant laws, etc. At the regional level, tourism marketing is designed to regulate tourist demand, prices, advertising activities, and encourage the population to get acquainted with their region.
At the level of the individual consumer, tourism marketing performs the following functions:
• Formation of new needs of tourists;
• Conviction about the expediency of using the services of this company;
• Formation of the need for frequent use of the company's services;
• Motivation to use the services on an ongoing basis.
The World Tourism Organization offers a slightly different approach to defining marketing functions in tourism:
• Establishing contacts with clients;
• Development;
• Control.
Establishing contact involves convincing the client that the proposed destination and the services available there, attractions, and everything else meets his needs.
Development involves the design of innovations, new services, and products that can provide new marketing opportunities, as well as better meet the needs of tourists.
Control involves analyzing the results of activities to promote services to the tourism market and checking how these results reflect the use of the capabilities of the travel company.
We highlight the following main functions of travel marketing:
• Creation of a tourism product and services for subsequent promotion to consumers;
• Tourist product to market, advertising, and sales;
• Organization of direct sales;
• Obtaining an appropriate level of income.
By integrating modern approaches to the definition of this concept, tourism marketing can be interpreted as a system for coordinating the activities of a tourism enterprise in the process of developing, producing, selling a tourism product and services in order to maximize profit through the most complete satisfaction of the consumer.
Developing tourism is distinguished by a number of important features in terms of the characteristics of the tourist product, service, and organization of production. So, the system of the tourism industry includes specialized enterprises, organizations, and institutions:
• Travel companies for the development and sale of a tourism product;
• Enterprises providing accommodation services (hotels, motels, campings, boarding houses, rest houses, etc.);
• Catering establishments (restaurants, cafes, bars, canteens, etc.);
• Transport enterprises (auto enterprises, aviation enterprises, railway departments, sea and river transport enterprises, etc.);
• Advertising and information tourist institutions (advertising agencies, advertising bureaus, information and tourist centers, etc.);
• trade enterprises;
• Enterprises in the sphere of leisure in tourism (cinema and concert halls, halls of slot machines, etc.);
• Public tourism organizations and associations, etc.;
• Coordinating and regulating bodies in tourism at the national, regional, and municipal levels.
All of the listed enterprises, organizations, firms ofvarious scales are engaged in marketing activities. It should be borne in mind that for a travel agency, restaurant, or transport company, the ultimate goals, and content of marketing are not the same. Thus, a travel agency seeks to increase its profits by meeting the needs of its clients. The national, regional, or municipal administration wants to attract as many tourists to the region as possible. The public tourism organization wants to raise its profile and show the usefulness of its professional activities.
The study allows us to distinguish the following levels of marketing in the field of tourism:
• The first two levels are related to commercial marketing.
1. Marketing of tourism enterprises (tour operators, travel agents), which are the main link in entrepreneurial activity in the tourism sector, is a process of coordinating their capabilities and consumer demands. The result of this process is the provision of services to tourists that meet their needs, and the enterprise receives the profit necessary for its development and better satisfaction of consumer needs in the future.
2. Marketing of manufacturers of tourist services (hotels, restaurants, transport organizations, etc.) is considered as a system of a comprehensive study of needs and demand in order to organize the provision
of services, maximally focused on meeting the needs of specific consumers, and ensuring the most effective forms and methods of service.
• The next two levels characterize the field of non-profit marketing in tourism.
3. Marketing of public tourism organizations (unions, associations, etc.), representing and protecting the collective interests of entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, is understood as activities aimed at creating, maintaining, or changing a favorable public opinion. Opinion building is essentially marketing management, shifted from the product level to the entire organization level.
4. Marketing of territories and regions - activities are undertaken with the aim of creating, maintaining, or changing customer behavior in relation to specific settlements, regions, or even countries in general.
Thus, various institutional units (state, national, regional, and local tourism authorities, sectoral and inter-sectoral public organizations, enterprises) are integrated into the tourism marketing system. This raises the problem ofvertical coordination of activities necessary in order to avoid duplication and to achieve optimal consideration and respect for the interests of customers, enterprises, and society as a whole.
It should be noted that marketing in tourism, like any economic phenomenon, requires for its application and effective development such conditions as:
• Deep saturation of the market with services, i.e. the existence of a buyer's market;
• Intense competition between tourist firms for consumer preferences;
• Free-market relations, i. e. the ability, without administrative restrictions, to choose sales markets, business partners, set prices, conduct commercial work, etc.;
• The free activity of the administration within the tourist enterprise to determine the goals of the company, strategies, management structures, the distribution of funds by budget items, etc.
The first two conditions determine the possibility and necessity of using the marketing concept. The latter determine the effectiveness of the implementation of the marketing concept at a specific tourist enterprise, which is the main link in entrepreneurial activity in the field of tourism. Economically independent travel companies in market conditions are forced to use a systematic approach to the implementation of the marketing concept since fierce competition deprives the right to life of any unsystematic activity. The essence of marketing lies in the fact that the offer of tourist services must be oriented towards the consumer and the capabilities of the enterprise are constantly coordinated with the requirements of the market.
Conclusion:
Based on the essence of tourism marketing as a system, we can formulate its basic principles, i.e. provisions, circumstances, requirements underlying the marketing, and disclosing its purpose:
1. Aiming at achieving the final practical result of tourism activities. Effective implementation of tourist services on the market and mastering a certain share of this market.
2. The focus of the tourist organization is not on the momentary, but on the long-term strategic result of marketing work. This requires special attention to predictive research, the development on their basis of the results of new tourism services, ensuring highly profitable company activities.
3. Application of tactics and strategies of active adaptation to the requirements of potential buyers with a targeted simultaneous impact on them.
Considering marketing in tourism as a system, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that it contains its constituent parts. By highlighting and considering them in interrelation and interaction, it is possible to outline the main outlines of the implementation of the marketing concept in a tourist enterprise.
References:
1. Altshuller I., Strategy and Marketing: Two Sides of the Same Coin, orJust About Complexity.- M.: Delo, 2010.
2. Kotler F., Bowen D., Makenzie D. Marketing. Hospitality. Tourism.- M.: Unity-Date, 2013.- 780 p.
3. Schneiderman A. Partisan marketing in tourism.- M.: Mann, and Ferber, 2013.
