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Tourism Marketing and Consumer Behaviour

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Tourism Marketing and Consumer Behaviour
Dr.S.Praveenkumar
Assistant Professor, Centre for Tourism and Hotel Management
Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai
Abstract

When you go on summer vacation and spend days shopping in antique stores, hiking in a national park,
eating local food and taking in a musical at the amphitheater, you are being a tourist. Tourism occurs when you
leave your normal surroundings where you live and work to go to another environment to engage in activities
there, regardless of how close or how far it is. You are a visitor, and what you do while visiting is tourism.
Individuals and organizations at your destination promoted those activities through advertising or other forms
of marketing. Tourism marketing has distinct characteristics from other marketing plans. Because tourists are
temporary, they are exposed to an area's goods and services for shorter periods. But tourists are counting on
having a good time, so marketers should consider strategies that appeal to the emotions, such as treating kids to
a memorable experience. Tourism-dependent businesses rely on other organizations: One example of
leveraging this dependence would be a musical venue offering discount coupons for meals at a nearby
restaurant. Modern marketing is customer oriented therefore, the study of customers behavior is vital in
framing product policies, price policies, decision regarding sales promotion. The rationale of any business
enterprise is to provide value to its customer. Therefore the study of consumer behavior is of permanent
importance for a marketing person to be able to deliver value to consumer. This paper aimed to give an
overview of Tourism marketing and its consumer behaviour.

Sources: Primary (Direct Observations) and Secondary (Internet, Reports by Various Organisations, Project
Reports, Magazines, Newspapers and etc.) Sources

Key words: Tourist Destination, Tourist-Based Economies, Economic Development, Disposable Income,
Services, Handcrafted Objects and National Tourist Bodies.

INTRODUCTION

Tourism and economic development are linked by the various ways in which tourism can contribute to
the economic development of a tourist destination. This relationship between tourism and economic
development is the basis for the dependence of some tourist-based economies on the effects of tourism for their
economic development. For instance, tourism provides more jobs for local citizens, helps local citizens start
businesses that cater to tourists and leads to the generation of revenue from tourist spending and fiscal policies,
and aids in the development of infrastructure. One of the benefits or links between tourism and economic
development is the fact that a vibrant tourist region provides employment for the citizens of that area. Tourism
needs a lot of services in order to sustain the industry. For example, the hospitality industry creates jobs for
people in businesses like hotels and restaurants. Employment is a macroeconomic factor that contributes to the
growth of an economy by providing workers with disposable income and consequently leading to an increase in
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the region.

Another way in which tourism and economic development are linked is through the provision of small
or micro enterprises for certain citizens. The citizens that might benefit from small businesses linked to tourist
include individual or sole entrepreneurs with limited funds and other types of collaborations that do not require
a lot of finance. For instance, some people might open a store that mainly caters to the needs of tourists. They
could collaborate with local artisans and craftsmen to supply them with handcrafted objects, which they would
sell to the tourists as souvenirs. The store owners will share the profits with the local artisans, or they may buy
the objects from them outright. This helps the economy by providing the poorer members of the community
with disposable income. Tourists also like to visit places with a rich cultural heritage. Most times, these places

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are located in villages that would otherwise not receive much government attention. Due to the significance of
the villages, they will receive more attention and more development as a result. Infrastructure to support the
tourist market or trade includes factors like good airports, security, hotels and roads. Such factors help facilitate
economic development and might not be as developed if not for their importance to the economy. For instance,
a tourist destination that is located in a remote village will need good access roads, which might not be built if
not for the tourist interest in the area.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The present study aimed with following objectives:

1. To know about Tourism Marketing

2. To analyse the Consumer Behaviour of Tourism
3. To know the factors affecting the behaviour of consumers in Tourism
4. To study the components of Tourism Products
5. To get an framework about internet marketing strategies for Tourism products
6. To classify the tourists into psychographic types

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Marketing means achieving the firm’s goals by identifying the needs and desires of consumers, and then
satisfying them better than competitors. Tourism marketing is the application of marketing concepts in the travel
and tourism industry. Tourism marketing could be complex due to the product being an amalgam of many
different industries such as accommodation and transportation. The markets also vary widely, and determining
the consumers´ preferences could be difficult.

Tourism marketing refers to the organized, combined efforts of the national tourist bodies and/or the
businesses in the tourism sector of an international, national or local area to achieve growth in tourism by
maximizing the satisfaction of tourists. In doing so, the tourist bodies and businesses expect to receive profits.

The term consumer behaviour is defined as “the behaviour that consumer display in searching for,
purchasing using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs”.

TOURISM MARKETING

Tourism industry is the largest employment generator of the world. This is the only industry which
requires less or no investment, yet generates billions of foreign exchange to the country's exchequer. Many
small nations viz. Singapore, Srilanka, Malaysia, Thailand etc. woo millions of foreign tourists and bag billions
of foreign exchange. India, albeit, the country houses rich tourism locations, yet, figured in the bottom of the
rank table in wooing foreign tourists. Considering the above facts, the marketing of tourism plays a vital role in
any country's agenda. Tourism proved to be world's biggest industry, generates massive employment
opportunities and revenues as well. It is unlike, other marketing concepts, it needs a well-planned integrated
approach, because, it is marketing of a country. Positioning and promotion are twin eyes, which are to be
emphasized more, in the minds of international population. It is integrated with leisure, entertainment,
transportation, communication and all service sectors. Traditionally, the job is usually done by a Government to
promote the country. The whole process has to be revitalized and a full-fledged marketing process to be
undertaken. The same old STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) Process can well be used in this
marketing.

The Marketing of tourism may be classified in to two broad categories

[ Targeting International visitors

[ Targeting Domestic visitors

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The former brings massive foreign exchange and latter helps the equal distribution of their disposal
income to imbalanced sectors. Since, it is a integrated marketing, various industries have bearings n and from
Tourism Marketing. It is a coherent, collective approach. The public and private sector participation is required
for the success of this marketing. So far, the efforts of the Government proved to be not very fruitful, this
lucrative industry can be privatized for better promotion and growth. First, we shall classify the
players/participants of tourism marketing.

[ International/Domestic Airlines
[ Local Transportation
ü Rail Transport
ü Road Transport
ü MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit Systems – in Major cities)
ü Inland Water Transport, if any
[ Hotels/Resorts/Restaurants
[ Government i.e. to provide safety, taxation policies, visas
[ Health Industry i.e. to ensure the hygiene requirements
[ International and Domestic travel agents
[ Ministry of Tourism, ITDC, STDCs ie Industry watch dogs
[ International and Domestic promotional organizations (Private sector , Sector-wise, State-wise)
[ Unemployed educated youths i.e. to be trained to set up Tourism guide/information stations
[ Telecommunications sector and Information Technology

This marketing caters to attract international and domestic tourists. Main emphasis is to provide to woo
international visitors. It was expected to bring 5 million by the year 2000, but, actually 2.35 millions visited in
India in that year (Economic Times, 2001), showing unhealthy trend in meeting our targets. This target is very
attractive in context to foreign exchange earnings.

Foreign tourist boards are gearing up to meet the growing number of Indians who are travelling
abroad and splurging. Starting direct flights is the first step.

Never mind the sluggish economy and poor sentiments, there's good news from the world of travel and
tourism. India has emerged as the world's fastest-growing outbound market and in absolute numbers it is second
only to China. The number of Indians travelling overseas is set to rise from around 15 million today to 50
million by 2020, according to Tourism Australia. This will mean a big growth in spending overseas. According
to a recently released Amadeus-Frost & Sullivan tourism industry report, Indians travelling to Asia-Pacific
alone spent $13.3 billion in 2011. This figure is set to zoom to $91 billion by 2030, making Indians the second-
biggest spenders, after China, in the world on overseas travel. Not surprisingly, the world is taking note.
Tourism Australia hopes to get 300,000 Indian tourists by 2020. South Africa Tourism Board too says India has
become one of the key tourism generating nations for their country. Indian tourist arrivals to Thailand crossed
the 1-million mark for the first time in 2012. Thai Airways have recently started direct flights between Delhi
and Phuket and Mumbai and Phuket to cater to the surging demand from Indians looking for wedding
destinations and holidays. "Direct flights are a good precursor to the growth in tourist numbers," says Deep
Kalra, founder, Makemytrip.com. The introduction of direct flights between India and Istanbul has led to a sharp
rise in Indian tourists travelling to Istanbul, Kalra notes. Spotting demand, Turkish Airlines today connects
many Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad with Istanbul.

Here are four important trends that are emerging in the world of outbound tourism from India:

Travel to Meet Family

In pre-liberalisation days, with little disposable income and fewer options, holidays for most middle-
class Indians were about visiting friends and families in India. It is a trend that is playing out well overseas

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among globetrotting Indians. According to the Amadeus-Frost & Sullivan report, a high 43% of leisure
travellers from India say visiting friends and relatives (VFR) was the main reason behind their overseas travel.
Partly this has to do with the growing diaspora — estimated by the government at 25 million but Kalra puts it at
around 100 million. The VFR travellers behave differently than standard vacation travellers, says Ankur Bhatia,
director, Amaedus India. "They travel for longer periods, and typically do not book hotels but stay with friends
and relatives," he says.

Extended Weekends — Abroad

Weekend holidays in nearby hill stations are passe. Now with direct flights to a number of foreign
tourist destinations, Indians would rather spend their extended weekends overseas. Short-haul direct
international flights anything around five hours of flight time are seeing the biggest growth, says Kalra.
Maldives, Thailand, Hong Kong, the UAE and Dubai are some of the important emerging destinations. The fact
that it is cheaper to travel and holiday in Thailand than in Kerala, and stay in better hotels, is a big incentive.
Also noticeable is the fact that Indians are taking more frequent holidays. According to the Makemytrip data,
while Indians would typically take an international holiday once in 18-24 months five years back, the frequency
is now once in 12-18 months.

New Niches, Customized Offerings

Of course the demand for packaged tours offered by companies like Cox & Kings is growing among
Indians travelling overseas for the first time. But more and more globetrotting Indians are turning experimental,
looking to customise trips, opting for offbeat destinations and newer experiences. According to the Amadeus-
Frost & Sullivan report, while the number of solo women and senior Indians (65 years-plus) travelling overseas
is still a small category in both the business and leisure segments, it is likely to grow many fold by 2030.
Women business travellers, today pegged at 25% of the total, are set to rise by 891% by 2030. And senior
travellers, currently pegged at 1.3 million, are set to rise to 7.3 million by 2030. There is a small but growing
category of Indian food lovers, says Himmat Anand, founder of Tree of Life Resort, who is a travel industry
veteran having worked with Sita Travels and Kuoni India. "Earlier, it was an afterthought. But now, food is
becoming very important, especially at the upper end," he says. This entire means that the companies in travel
and tourism will have plenty of opportunities to differentiate themselves and customise their offerings to lure
international travellers from India.

Growth at the Top and BOP

Experts see two categories of Indian travellers growing at the top end and the bottom end as incomes
rise. This isn't true just for India but Asia Pacific at large. From around 700 million people in the middle class in
2011, the number is set to touch 2.1 billion by 2030, signaling the rise of what is called the consuming class
(annual household income of $5,000 plus). The biggest chunk of this growth will come from China and India.
India's middle class, the report estimates, will grow from the present 5% to 50% by 2030. Similarly, HNIs are
expected to grow six fold by 2030 from around 0.2 million in 2011 to over 1.2 million by 2030. This segment
will fuel growth at the luxury end of the market.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS

Database Tourism Marketing

THE NEW MARKETING ENVIRONMENT FOR LEISURE & TOURISM

Means Turning Away From: And turning Towards

========>
Mass Marketing Direct Consumer Communications

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Socio-Economic Groups Customer Databases

Media Placement Telemarketing/Targeted Messages

One-way communication Building Customer Relationships

The number of foreign tourists coming to India grew a modest four per cent between January and
December 2013, coinciding with women travelers’ perception on the country as a safe destination hitting rock
bottom.

Tourism Marketing Goals

Tourism Marketing Goals

Target 2008 2015

Tourism Expenditure $3.6 Billion 4.8 Billion

5.4 Million 6.4 Million

Number of Total Visitors 1.6% growth / year (Historical 7 2.5% growth / year (Projected 7
yrs) yrs)

Number of Overnight Visitors 353, 000 (11% of Total ) 800, 000 (20% of Total)

This is less than the five per cent growth in 2012 and 13 per cent in 2011. Expansion in foreign tourist
arrivals worldwide was pegged at around five per cent during the first nine months of 2013, according to data
from the World Travel Organisation. India’s total foreign tourist arrivals in 2013 stood at 6.84 million. This
pales in comparison with China’s 132 million visitors and Singapore’s 14 million (end-2012 figures).

In a recent meeting of the India chapter of Pacific Asia Tourism Association with the tourism ministry,
tourism secretary Parvez Diwan said that the issue of women’s safety had hit tourism. “There was a lot that was
done within their circle of influence, but perhaps it did not filter down to the trade. Particularly on the subject of
women’s security, some statistics and corresponding facts were an eye opener,” he said in the meeting. Senior
executive of a leading leisure travel company said the safety issue had taken a toll on the growth of tourist
numbers. According to industry estimates, nearly 30 per cent of the total foreign tourists are women. “This
segment is completely skipping India because of so many incidents of rape and molestation that came to light
last year,” he said.

The travel companies were hoping that because of the rupee depreciation, inbound tourism would get a
major boost in 2013. However, as challenges persist, most are now pinning their hopes on 2014. “In the last one
year, inbound tourism has not grown to our expectations due to sluggish economic climate in source markets.
We believe this will change and Indian tour operators will reap the benefits of this revival. Another factor that
will help India is the depreciation of the rupee by 12 per cent, which will boost inbound tourism in the 2014-15
season,” said Arup Sen, director (special projects), Cox & Kings.

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism in 2013 grew 2.2 per cent to $18.1 billion, compared to a
growth of seven per cent in the previous years. Meanwhile, travel companies continue to be optimistic on
domestic tourism. Domestic tourists showed a growth of 19.9 per cent in 2012 over 2011. “For inbound travel,
we are still focused on improving our distribution networks. For domestic, the whole discussion is around
growing newer destinations,” said Sharat Dhall, president, Yatra.com

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India is trying to ease its visa regime and extension of visa on arrival facility to 40 countries. “We
should at least start providing e-visas to overcome the bureaucratic hurdles and also extend visa on arrival for
more countries,” said Subhash Goyal, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators. Currently, visa on
arrival facility is available to 14 countries including New Zealand, Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan and Finland.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS IN TOURISM

Economists argue that there are a variety of factors (other than the price of tourism) that could affect the
demand for tourism. These factors include:

The income of the consumers: When the population that is the source of the tourism goes into a
recession, for example, demand for tourism drops.

The tastes of the consumers: For example, if vacations go out of style (if, perhaps, consumers believe
that it is more "green" to stay home than to take an airplane to some exotic vacation spot), the demand for
tourism drops.

The cost of complementary goods: If you think of air travel as a complementary good to tourism, you
will realize that an increase in the price of air travel will cause a decrease in the demand for tourism.

There are some other important factors that affect demand for tourism as well. Let's take the tourism
industry in Mexico as an example.

FACTS ABOUT TOURISM IN INDIA BY 2013

No. of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India 6.97 Million

Annual Growth Rate 5.9%

No. of Indian Nationals Departures from India 16.63 Million

Annual Growth Rate 11.4%

No. of Domestic Tourist Visits to all States/UTs 1145 Million

Annual Growth Rate 9.6%

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Foreign Exchange Earnings from Tourism

In INR terms ` Rs. 107671 crore (#)

Annual Growth Rate 14.0%

In US$ terms US$ 18.44 Billion (#)

Annual Growth Rate 4.0%

MONTH-WISE FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS (FTAS) IN INDIA, 2012-2014

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India

Month Percentage (%) Change

2012 2013 2014
2013/2012 2014/2013

January 681002 720321 719965 5.8 0.0

February 681193 688569 737870 1.1 7.2

March 606456 639530 668896 5.5 4.6

April 447581 450580 504211 0.7 11.9

May 374476 417453 420976 11.5 0.8

June 433390 451223 491833 4.1 9.0

July 485808 506427 NA 4.2 NA

August 445632 486338 NA 9.1 NA

September 411562 453561 NA 10.2 NA

October 556488 598095 NA 7.5 NA

November 701185 733923 NA 4.7 NA

December 752972 821581 NA 9.1 NA

Total 6577745 6967601 3543751 5.9

Sub-Total
3224098 3367676 3543751 4.5 @ 5.2 @
(Jan-June)

P: Provisional , @ Growth rate over January-June of previous year. Source: (i) Bureau of Immigration, Govt.
of India, for 2012 & 2013. (ii) Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India for 2014.

THE COMPONENTS OF TOURISM PRODUCTS

… create activities or services

Physical (tangible) goods… Plus human resources
(experiences)

Attractions -----------------> Activities

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• Natural attractions (e.g. a • Swimming, Kayaking,
lake) Fishing

• Cultural Attractions (e.g. • Sightseeing, Visiting a

local architecture) museum

• Tourism Attractions (e.g. • Riding a rollercoaster

Disneyland)

Facilities and equipment Services

• A restaurant • Drinking and eating

----------------->
• A hotel • Lodging

• A bus • Traveling

Infrastructure (e.g. communications, roads, electricity, drinking water etc.) help to facilitate the development of
any tourism business

INTERNET MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR TOURISM PRODUCTS

It is these companies in particular that must learn to take advantage of internet marketing strategies for
tourism products. Of all the popular online marketing tactics, there are four that all business owners promoting
tourism products should focus extensively on.

1. Newsletters, Deals and Tweets – The ability to quickly send out short text like blogs of information
regarding hot destinations, good deals and even changes in itineraries is vital for the tourism industry. By
allowing quick and concise contact with potential clients, it is often possible to pique interest and get
them to your site – the first step towards conversion

2. SEO / Article Marketing – writing fun and interesting articles about travel is easy. By creating interest
generating pieces about exotic travel localities or little known travel tips, tourism web business owners
can easily generate additional targeted traffic to their sites. Getting these articles indexed and ultimately
ranked on major search engines will allow travel sites to target niche terms and acquire customers across
the board with varied, but targeted, interests.

3. Content – While content is important for any web-based business, it is a critical tool for internet
marketing for tourism products. Create interesting content about travel destinations, providing attractive
information, and insider tips by providing content that is, not just keyword rich for the spiders, but full of
information travelers will actually want to read about. Always remember that people will naturally want
to research their chosen destination, so provide that information for them right on your site through well
written and updated content.

4. RSS Feeds and API Integration –This is the reason sites such as Expedia.com and Orbitz.com were able
to make millions of dollars in revenue. The rapid sharing of data across the globe enables travel sites,
agencies, airlines and hotels to share the same information and conduct business.

CLASSIFICATION OF TOURISTS (CONSUMERS IN TOURISM) INTO PSYCHOGRAPHIC TYPES

Types Characteristics

New indulgers Escapists, seeking comforts and fantasies of pampered luxury; major motivation is to

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escape stress; are experiential more than acquisitive; trendies; want the good life.

Try to be seen as independent, non-conformist, and as the opposite of the symbols of

Anti-tourists ‘tourist’, which they avoid if possible; put very high value on authenticity; deep down they
are insecure about status.

Heavily dependent on extensive and intensive service; want luxury and are prepared to pay
Big spenders
more to get it; usually experienced and discerning tourists.

Inexperienced tourists, eager for newness; energetic, mainly young and single; prefer resort
New enthusiasts
holidays e.g. Sun lust for socializing and for active recreation

Dedicated Nationalistic in narrow chauvinistic sense, they choose to confine their tourism to domestic
Aussies/Kiwis itineraries, wanting to feel they know and are secure in their home country.

These go on trips but want the destination to be much like home in its security;
Stay-at-homes unimaginative, seek passive rather than active holidays; highly motivated by status of
having been there, done that; sightseers.

HOW IS TOURIST CONSUMER BEHAVIOR USEFUL IN DEVELOPING TOURISM PRODUCTS?

Poon (1994) believes that tourists are the products of changing population demographics and are more
experienced, flexible and independent minded. Tourists have changed values and lifestyles, which affects tourist
demand. Plog (1974) shows that most American tourists look for cultural and educational values while
Singaporean tourists seek for novelty and business. Given this, most tourism products developed in USA are
cultural and educational-oriented. In Singapore, due to geographical limitations, most tourism products are
business and manmade oriented. Elain Orr, general manager of the Hong Kong marketing office of Pacific Club,
says that the profiles of the Asian traveler are changing. Asian people are looking for value-added holidays and
prefer city holidays. The old travel purposes have been changed in Asia. Edward (1990) points out activities,
such as shopping and eating out, are major attractions for Asian tourists at present. Therefore, it is not surprising
to find that Hong Kong, Singapore, and Macau are currently the regional destinations visited (Kau, 1994). Due
to this, it is not surprising as well that most tourist products (modern department stores and luxurious
multinational restaurants) are mushrooming in Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau. In western countries, the
values of conservation, health, and nature are spilling over to travel and tourism in a major way. The European
Travel Data Center shows that European travelers want nature to be prominent in their vacations (Poon, 1994).
Take German tourists as an example. It is found that nearly 60 % of them said that the experience of nature was
the most important reason for their main holiday trip in 1990. Given this fact, it is found that many tourism
reliant countries have developed various tourism products such as spas, natural-based resorts, and ecotourism
destinations in order to supply the changing tourism demands. In this case, Thailand can be taken as an example.
It is found that as a result of a current tourism trend in health-concerned tourism, Thailand has developed many
spas and health-based tourism sites to supply the tourists’ demands (Circle of Asia, 2003). This shows an
important role of tourist consumer behavior in developing tourism products. It is possible to say here that
understanding tourist consumer behavior is very beneficial for developing tourism products in order to supply
the tourism demand.

CONCLUSION

Tourists are defined as persons traveling away from their normal places to other unusual places. They
can be classified according to their characteristics of travel or their so-called consumer behavior. Tourist
typology is therefore a term used to identify how each group of traveling persons behave in the tourist
destination. From all the information presented, it is possible to say that the knowledge about tourists' behavior

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is not merely of academic interest but it also proves valuable information for practicing managers to be able to
plan effectively. Understanding consumer behavior is very useful for developing tourism products. It is also an
integral source of information for promoting tourism products and highlights how to sell tourism products
particularly in this globalized era, in which the patterns of tourist traveling is highly influenced by global factors
such as the mass media. In short, the study of consumers’ behavior is solely of not academic interest but it is
also substantially beneficial when practicing managers have the need to know and respond to tourists' needs and
wants correctly. To conclude, India possesses everything. The rich cultural heritage, sculptures, sprawling
deserts, highest mountains, palaces, temples, delicious cuisine, rare mixture of life style etc, which makes it a
'Cross Cultural Paradise' stays on 'Unity in Diversity'. The Government and private sector need to work
earnestly and with a commitment to develop India, a most attractive tourism destination in the world. The author
touches all the facts and figures, option of marketing, strategies and techniques to woo international visitors and
also to encourage domestic tourism. We have all, yet we may the drive to work. We should not miss this
massive golden opportunity, like we miss for past 53 years. It is a time to review, analyze and to act.

REFERENCES

• Gray, H.P., (1970). International Tourism: International Trade, Lexington Books, Lexington
• Sharpley, R., (1996). “Tourism and Consumer Culture in Postmodern Society,” in Robinson, M., Evans,
N., and Callaghan, P.,(eds), Proceedings of the Tourism and Culture: Towards the 21st Century
Conference, Centre for Travel and Tourism/Business Education Publishers, Sunderland, pp. 203-15.
• Plog, S., (1977). “Why destination areas rise and fall in popularity,” in Kelly, E., (ed), Domestic and
International Tourism, Institute of Certified Travel Agents, Wellsbury, MA.
• Poon, A., (1994). Tourism, Technology and Competitive Strategies, Cab International
• Introduction to Travel and Tourism Marketing edited by J. A. Bennett, Johan Wilhelm Strydom
• Tourism Marketing by Dasgupta Devashish

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