Blog 4a: The Internet, Marketing Mix & Tourism

If you’ve ever taken a marketing course before, I’m sure you’ve heard of the marketing mix. For those unfamiliar with the concept, the marketing mix is a tool used by marketers to successfully sell a product or service to its targeted customers (Lake, 2019). When marketing a product, the 4P’s are considered, that is, product, price, place and promotion. When marketing a service, three additional P’s are added to make the 7P’s, which include people, process and physical evidence. If you’d like to read a little bit more into each of these P’s, please click here. If you’re already familiar with the concept, please continue to read on about how the internet has impacted the marketing mix elements for the tourism industry.

Product

The core product for the tourism industry is the destination that the traveller is visiting. While the destination itself is intangible, there are numerous tourism products such as accommodation, food and beverage and entertainment that are tangible and all form part of the product (UKEssays, 2018). The internet and digital technology has significantly impacted the product element of the marketing mix for the tourism industry. Tourism destinations now have the opportunity to show their potential customers around using virtual tours and 360-degree views. An excellent example that combines video with 360-degree views is the Field of Light video produced by Qantas. The video plays, while allowing the viewer to change their perspective throughout the duration of the video.

In addition to this, accommodation facilities have the opportunity to share pictures of their rooms, which can allow customers to get a better feel of whether a place is suited to their needs and wants. Customers are also able to leave their reviews online, whether that be positive or negative. These digital technology capabilities enhance the tourist experience with a destination and significantly impact upon the overall satisfaction with the product of the tourism industry.

Price

Pricing in the tourism industry is not an easy task, as it is dependent on a number of different factors (UKEssays, 2018). These factors include, quality, seasonality, competitors and government regulations (Holotová Holienčinová and Holota, 2018). Due to these factors, it is not easy to change the price of the service that is being offered. However, the trick here is to offer value. Now, with the increasing ability to use digital platforms, customers will not settle for the first price they see. Rather, they will search for deals that provide them with the best value for money. This may mean the customer isn’t always going to choose the cheapest option, but the one they feel gives the best value. Often the sense of value comes from the bundling and packaging of tourism products, such as transportation, accommodation, attractions and food and beverages. Some examples of package deals can be seen below.

Place

The place element of the marketing mix for the tourism industry is where potential tourists can book their next getaway. While prior to the internet, travel agencies, travel magazines, radio, brochures and television ads were how a traveller found information and booked their next holiday, this is slowly declining thanks to the introduction of the internet and digital technologies (Petersen, 2019). Nowadays, the place to book a holiday is via online mediums such as websites. Often, this is direct with the company that a customer is booking with, which removes the “middleman” in the booking process. This new way of booking holidays is much quicker and allows customers to have more control over their holiday.

Promotion

With the increase in digital technology and the internet, the channels used for promotion in the tourism industry have changed significantly. While pre-internet times meant promotions took place through magazines, newspapers, television and brochures (etc.), there is now a stronger focus on digital platforms (UKEssays, 2018). This includes social media, websites, videos and electronic word of mouth marketing. This new way of promoting a destination provides tourism services with a more diverse way to reach their audiences. Promotion costs also decrease significantly with the implementation of digital strategies, as printing and distribution for brochures/newspapers aren’t required for online promotional strategies. A promotional example is a video posted by Visit Canberra on their Facebook page. You can check it out below.

People

While people are still visiting destinations in person, a major impact that digital technology and the internet has had on the people in the tourism industry, is their increasing need to be present online. As people are using online systems to plan and book their holidays, this means more staff are required to manage these platforms.

Process

To effectively serve your customers in the age of digital technology and the internet, a range of new technologies can be used. For example, there are an increasing number of bots/virtual assistants, which may be able to answer questions, without having to be directed to a real person. Booking systems are now available online, so customers can see when accommodation is available, and at what price. From a process that purely relied on face-to-face interaction, to the now automated responses from bots/virtual assistants, the process of booking a holiday is now more sophisticated and easy to manage.

Physical Evidence

While the destination itself has always been important to maintain, to ensure it is visually appealing when a tourist visits, an extra component has been added, thanks to digital technology and the internet. Now, the platforms that customers use to view and book their visits to these destinations, must be physically appealing and easy to use as well. For example, if your website is difficult to navigate and has no visual appeal, it is more than likely that a customer will quickly move onto another business. Digital technology has therefore made physical evidence no longer just about the destination, but also the websites and social media used to entice tourists to a destination.

It is clear to see that digital technologies have had a significant impact on the tourism industry, however luckily, these impacts are mostly positive and assist in enhancing the overall tourism experience!

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#travel #tourism #digitaltechnology #internet #marketingmix #7ps

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References:

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Qantas, 2016. Field Of Light. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=73&v=NAnocEAs8FI&feature=emb_title> [Accessed 4 September 2020].

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