Unit 4

Concept of Tourism Product

As defined by UNWTO, a Tourism Product is "a combination of tangible and intangible

elements, such as natural, cultural and man-made resources, attractions, facilities, services and
activities around a specific center of interest which represents the core of the destination
marketing mix and creates an overall visitor experience including emotional aspects for the
potential customers. A tourism product is priced and sold through distribution channels and it
has a life-cycle".

Tourism Product and Services First of all we need to understand the concept of product and
Tourism Product. In simple terms, a product is anything that is manufactured and available for
sale. A product is the result of manufacturing or production process and satisfies a want. In the
market, a product may mean a “good” (which is visible, tangible object that can be transferred
from a seller to a buyer) or a “service” (which is intangible, invisible and person dependent). As
for example: A car is a ‘good’ which can be seen and felt by the buyer and is owned by him after
the sale is concluded. A haircut is a service, bought by someone who wants to trim his hair,
something that depends on the experience and skill of the service provider. Tourism Products are
a combination of goods and services demanded by a tourist during travel to and stay at a
destination. These include natural, cultural and manmade attractions and facilities such as hotels,
transport and ancillary services. In this process, tourists derive an experience which varies from
individual to individual. From a broader perspective, the sum total of experiences derived by the
tourists during the entire trip can be considered as the product. Tourism Products satisfy the needs
of tourists, are bought by them from tourism business. Tourist product may be ‘specific’, individual
units such as a room in a hotel or an airline seat sold by enterprises, or ‘total’ products which are
‘bundles’ of tangible and intangible elements based on an activity at a destination (Middleton,
1988). Tourism products may be seen as consisting of core and supplementary (or secondary)
services. The attraction is the core product in a destination. For travelling to the destination, and
while at the destination, tourists demand other services like transport, accommodation, food and
beverages and support services, all of which constitute supplementary services. Characteristics of
Tourism Products: Product Highly Perishable- If the products remain unused, the chances are lost.
The unsold hotel room or aircraft seat can’t be stored for later sale, as we find with the tangible
products. This necessitates greater efforts to fill the hotel rooms or aircraft seats. Naturally, the
problems are unique to tourism which calls for considerable ingenuity on the part of marketers. 2.
Service Product- The product sold to tourists is services. This requires high degree of personal
commitment, imagination, adaption etc. Its intangibility poses problems for those interested in
marketing tourism. 3. Users’ Presence essential- For availing the services, it is essential that the
users come to the spots personally or physically. It can’t be brought to the users; rather the users
must be taken to the product. This necessitates the setting of product in a right way. 4. Not a
Homogeneous Product- It is important here to mention that tourism is not a homogeneous product
since it tends to vary in standard and quality over time, unlike a T.V. set. A package tour or even
a flight on an aircraft can’t be consistently of equal standard. 5. Largely Psychological in
Attraction- The tourism products are largely psychological in their attractions since when a tourist
buys a package tour abroad, he buys more than a simple collection of services, i.e. aircraft seat,
hotel room, three meals in a day, opportunity to sot on a sunny beach. In addition, he also buys the
temporary use of a strange environment, novel geographical features, tropical landscapes, culture
and heritage of the region and other intangible benefits. 6. Highly Risky Product- The risk for the
use is heightened as the purchase may precede the actual consumption of the product. The
experience of an excellent hotel may be marred by a disappointing flight to the destination and
holiday at the sea side can be ruined by a prolonged rail spell. 7. Supply Components Rigid- A
number of factors are responsible for rigidity and elasticity of the supply components in tourism
like railway, roads, airports etc. This is due to the fact that these are all capital-intensive items and
take some time to complete and open. 8. Demand is Instable- It is right to say that tourism products
are subject to instability of demand. This aggravates the magnitude of risk and poses multi-
dimensional problems in tourism planning. A number of factors are responsible for the same like
seasonal variations and high elasticity of demand, sudden impact of external and environmental
factors, for example the current outbreak of Corona virus has put the entire tourism industry on
hold. 9. Product standard depend on staff- Trained and experienced staff are needed to make
available the refined services. Deficiency in equipment and facilities can be compensated by the
use of efficient staff but there is no compensation for the lack of competent and courteous staff.
Tourism Product Concept: Tourism product is usually as the amount of psychological and
physical satisfaction it offers or delivers to the tourists when they are travelling to a new place
or are on the way to a given destination it can be both domestic and international. Tourism
products are more concerned towards services and facilities produced to fulfil the requirement
of the consumers or the tourists.

Tourism product concept may be combined or amalgamated in nature i.e. the various
attraction at a given destination, transportation facilities and other entertainment facilities
result in full or 100% customer satisfaction. every element in tourism product is delivered by
single supplier service or facilities like tour operator, airline companies, hotels and resorts
etc. tourist products can be studied on the basis of four important elements viz. attraction,
accessibility, accommodation and amenities.

Meaning of Tourism Product

Tourism product is a group of various components and elements which are combined together
to satisfy the needs and wants of the consumers. The product in tourism industry is the
complete experience of the tourist from the point of origin to the destination point and back
to the origin point. The product in Tourism may be defined as the ‘sum total of physical and
psychological satisfaction it provides to the tourist from the origin point to the destination
and during their travelling route’.

The raw material in tourism industry is the natural beauty, Climate, History, Cultu re and
people of the destination and some other important elements are the existing facilities or the
infrastructure such as water supply, electricity, roads, transport, communication, services and
other ancillary services. If any of these elements get missing, then it will completely destroy
the whole experience of the tourist. Tourism products are offered in the market with some
cost i.e. money. A Product could therefore be defined by its three characteristic:
 The product must be offered
 It should satisfy some need or needs of the customers
 It should be exchanged for some value
So, we can say that if the Tourism Product i.e. the sum total of a country’s tourist attractions,
transport systems, hospitality, entertainment, and infrastructure is well designed and
developed and then offered to the tourist this will ultimately result in consumer satisfaction.
Tourism products are nothing but various services offered to the tourists, and falls under the
category of service product. Tourism product is the prime reason for tourist to choose a
destination. Tourism product helps in earning revenue for the destination. So all the tourism
product should be properly preserved and promoted

Characteristics of Tourism Product

Tourism products are mostly service goods that have different types or features. For instance,
in business tourism management and planning are the services provided by different large
convention centers and hotel chains. Various fair and festivals are the events that are provided
for the entertainment and amusement only at a given time of the year and these are usually
variable and perishable. In country like India numerous traditional/ancient attractions in the
form of music and dance can be watched and experienced. There are different natural products
which are been consumed by the tourist travelling to India like flora and fauna, wildlife.
Following are some of the features and characteristics of tourism products:

Fig. Characteristics of Tourism products

a) Intangibility of Tourism Product

Unlike a physical product, say, a train or television, there is no handover of ownership of

products is included in tourism. The goods or products in tourism cannot be consumed or
demonstrated before purchasing it. Instead, some installations, amenities, items of equipment
are available for a certain or fixed period pf time and for a particular use. For instance, a hotel
room is offered or provided for a given time frame or a seat in a train is provided for a couple
of hours of the journey.

b) Psychological

A tourism product is offered to provide or offer certain level of satisfaction to the consumers
or tourist. A person/tourist acquires experience with the consumption of different tourist
products. Experiences derived while interacting to new places, people and environment s helps
in the encouragement of potential customers and helps in attracting them to consume the
products offered to the market.

c) Highly Perishable

Usually a tour operator or a travel agent offer or sells various tourism products to the market,
which are perishable in nature and cannot be stored or sustained for a longer time frame.
Production of the products and services is only possible if there is a demand and the customers
are actually present and if the customer buys the product it cannot be blocked, disturbed or
customized. If the product is not consumed on time or is unused the chances are lost which
means, if a tourist doesn’t buy the flight ticket on a given date, the chance at that time i s lost
or can say the validity of the seat is expired or is left unused. The reason can be heavy
discounts or offers given by the airline company on the given date or during off season.

d) Composite nature of tourism Product

A tourism product is never offered or produced by a single enterprise there is an involvement

of different parties (viz travel agent, hotels, airline company, tour guide etc.) when compared
to a manufactured product. There is a involvement of various parties in providing or
manufacturing a complete tourist product. The product shields broad experience of a holiday
to a specific destination. And numerous suppliers and providers that supply to create this
experience. For example, a hotel provides a food and rooms, travel agent makes booking for
sightseeing and stay at different places, airline and rail provides seats etc.

e) Unstable Demand of Tourism Product

There is a problem or one can say a challenge for tourism products as tourism products are
influenced by the seasonality, economic, political factors. For instance, there is a demand for
the hill station in the summer season as people like to travel to cold places mostly places likes
Manali, Shimla, Nainital, Mussorie etc. whereas the demand for coastal areas like Goa rises
in the winters. There are different times of a year when there is a demand for a particular
destination than other destinations. This is the time when there is a huge tension on the hotel
bookings, transport system, the employment etc.
f) Fixed supply in the short run

Tourism product similarly as the factory-made products cannot be transported to the final
consumers, the consumers have to go to the products offered to them. Product development
is done on the basis of analysis of the taste and preferences, behavior, dislikes and likes of
the consumers, so that the expectations and realities of the consumers. Therefore, the supply
of the tourism product is limited in the short run and may be maximized on a long term basis
depending upon the increasing demand pattern of the tourist product.
g) Absence of ownership in Tourism Product

Tourism products have absence of ownership. For instance, when you buy a product say a
bike or a car, the possession of the same is reassigned to you, but when one rents a cab, he/she
only buys the right to be transferred from one place to another, you neither own the driver nor
the cab. Similarly, in case of tourism products like airline tickets, train tickets or a hotel room
can be used for given time frame but not owned. Tourism products can only be purchased for
using but the ownership of the same stays with the provider of the service or the product so,
an Opera show can be watched but the performer cannot be kept.

h) Heterogeneous nature of Tourism Product

Tourism is not a uniform product. Similarly, tourism product is not same, since they tend to
change or vary in terms of quality and standard with the passage of time, unlike a television
set or any other factory-made product. A flight or a tour package cannot be the same at all
times. The reason behind the changing nature of the tourism products is a service and services
are customers/consumer oriented. So there is variability in tourism products as all humans are
not the same and vary in terms of their behavior, taste and preferences. For example, all
workers working in a hotel cannot give the same excellence of facility and the same worker
might not perform equally in the morning and evening. Therefore, the services cannot be
uniforms or homogeneous.
i) Risky

Tourism products are first purchased and later on consumed that is why there is a high level
of risk involved in purchasing before the consumption of the products. An element of chance
of risk is always there in the process. For instance, a movie might not be as entertaining as it
promises to be or a summer vacation in Goa may be disappointing due to bad weather or
heavy rains.

j) Marketable

Tourism products are marketable at different markets. Firstly, both the regional and national
organizations involve themselves in catering the potential customers/tourists to travel to
different region/destinations across the country. Secondly, the individual firms are trying to
market their own tourism products in order to cater potential customers.

Forms of Tourism Product

Tourism products can be classified as under for a better understanding of each of their peculiar
characteristics, so that they can be marketed and positioned appropriately:

Natural tourism products. These include natural resources such as areas, climate and its setting,
landscape and natural environment. Natural resources are frequently the key elements in a
destination’s attraction: 1) countryside, 2) climate – temperature, rains, snowfall, days of sunshine,
3) natural beauty – landforms, hills, rocks, gorges, terrain, 4) water – lakes, ponds, rivers,
waterfalls, springs, 5) flora and fauna, 6) wildlife, 7) beaches, 8) islands, 9) spas, 10) scenic
attractions. Man-made tourism products are created by man for pleasure, leisure or business.

Man-made tourism products include:

a) Culture (sites and areas of archaeological interest, historical buildings and monuments, places
of historical significance, museums and art galleries, political and educational institutions,
religious institutions);

b) Traditions (pilgrimages, fairs and festivals, arts and handicrafts, dance, music, folklore, native
life and customs);
c) Entertainment (amusement and recreation parks, sporting events, zoos, cinemas and theatres,
night life, cuisine);

d) Business (conventions, conferences).

Symbiotic tourism products. Some tourism products do not fall into the above categories.
Wildlife sanctuary, marine parks, aero products and water sports, flower festivals are the example
of tourism products which are a blending of nature and man. Nature has provided the resource and
man has converted them into a tourism product by managing them. National parks for example,
are left in their natural state of beauty as far as possible, but still need to be managed, through
provision of access, parking facilities, limited accommodation, litter bins etc. Yet the core
attraction is still nature in this category of product. These products are symbiosis of nature and
man. Event based tourism products. Events attract tourists as spectators and also as participants in
the events, sometimes for both. The Oktoberfest organized in Germany, Dubai and Singapore
shopping festivals, the camel polo at Jaywalker, Kite flying in Ahmadabad attracts tourists, both
as spectators and participants. Event attractions are temporary, and are often mounted in order to
increase the number of tourists to a particular destination.

Site based tourism products. When an attraction is a place or site then it is called a site based
tourist product. Site attractions are permanent by nature, for example Taj Mahal, the Great Wall
of China, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, etc. A site destination can
extend its season by mounting an off season event or festival. A large number of tourists are
attracted every year by the great drawing power of Stratford on Avon in England because of its
association with Shakespeare, the city of Agra in India with its famous Taj Mahal, Pisa in Italy for
its famous Leaning Tower. Some new features have been added to the same product to keep the
tourist interest alive in the products. For example, now visitors can see Taj by night, music shows
have been organized with Taj as the backdrop so that there are repeat tourists.

Other tourism products are: health tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism, ethnic tourism, spiritual
tourism, golf tourism, senior citizen tourism. The tourism product has to be packaged and priced
keeping in mind the target customer. Without any doubt, tourism is the main sector that can play
a significant part in achieving rapid economic growth and drastically reducing unemployment in
any country. Currently, it is the largest foreign exchange earner for the country. The development
of the tourism industry on a priority basis is the need of the hour
Types of Tourism Products

The tourism products are grouped into the following types −

Tourism Oriented Products (TOP)

These are the products and services created primarily for the tourists and also for the locals. These
products need a great share of investments in private sector. A few of them are −

 Accommodations; For example, Taj, ITC Hotels.

 Transportation; For example, Owning taxis, luxury buses, and boats.

 Retail Travel Agents

 Tour Operators

 Shopping Centers such as malls

 Cinema Theatres such as PVR

 Restaurants for Food and Beverages

 Tourism Information Centers

 Souvenirs Outlets

 Museums, Temples, Gardens, and Theme parks

Residents Oriented Products (ROP)

Here, the products and services are created mainly for the local residents staying at a particular
tourist destination. This category requires investment in public sectors more. Some of them are −

 Hospitals

 Public Parks

 Banks and ATMs

 Petrol Pumps

 Postal Service
Intangible Products of Tourism

They include −

 Bookings of accommodations, theatres, and at various sites.

 Tourists’ experience by visiting a destination, eating at a restaurant, or performing an

activity.

 Tourists’ memory which is created by storing the details of events and experience on the
tour. The high degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is often stored as a long term
memory.

 Transportation of tourists and their luggage from one place to another.

Tour Operator’s Products and Services

To realize the facilities and experience a tourism product offers, service is required by skilled and
qualified staff. The tour operator provides the following typical products and services −

Accommodations

The tourist destinations are equipped with different types of accommodations. They cater for
tourists’ stay at the destination.

 Serviced − This type of accommodation is supported by skilled staff such as

housekeepers, drivers, guides, and cooks.

 Self-catering − This accommodation offers staying facilities but dining is required to be

self-catered. It is equipped with cooking, fuel and facility, some basic supplies such as
tea/coffee/sugar sachets, and a drinking water source.

 Hotels − Budget rooms to 7* hotels with classy amenities. The hotels contribute a major
share of imparting the experience to the tourists by providing best services and amenities.

 Guest Houses − Owned by business or government organizations, which can be used by

its staff and staff relatives.
  Camping Sites − They are open sites often located in areas of lush greenery. They are
equipped with clean place to pitch the personal tent, a water supply, and electric supply.
Camp sites have common rest rooms.

Reservations

The tour operator is responsible for making reservations for special events or activities the tourists
are interested in. At some places, the reservations are required to be done well in advance to avoid
last minute hassles. The events or activities such as a music concert or a theatre show, visiting a
theme park or a zoo, require people to secure seats or avail entry with prior reservations.

Guided Tours

The tour operators can arrange guided tours. Some qualified staff who can get access to the place,
explain the importance of the place, support, and guide the participants through the entire visit.
The guide is arranged to accompany the tour participants as a part of tour.

Transport Facilities

These facilities are for travelling from one place to another.

Surface Transport − It includes support of transport by road or water.

Air Transport − This is the support of transport by air, generally given for long distance travel.
Many times the tours include a halt of a couple of hours at transit destinations. Today the airports
are built and maintained as engaging tourist terminals by providing amenities such as spas,
lounges, food joints, bars, and book shops, retail shops for selling authentic local food, clothes,
and souvenirs.

Today the Airlines are no more backstage when it comes to caring for their customers. They offer
loyalty programs to their customers under Frequent Flyer Program to encourage the customers to
travel more and accumulate points and redeem them against travel or rewards.

Dining Facilities

The tour operators can book accommodation that provides dining facilities or it can tie up with
the local restaurants which are ready to entertain groups. If the tour package is all inclusive, the
tour operator pays for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If not, the tourists need to pay from their own
pocket.
The tourists have ever changing demands which the tourism product is required to satisfy for the
survival of the tourism industry. Kotler defines a product as it is "anything that can be offered to
a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It
includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organization, and ideas".

Medlik and Middleton (1973) term tourism products as “a bundle of activities, services, and
benefits that constitute the entire tourism experience.” This bundle consists of five components:
destination attractions, destination facilities, accessibility, images, and price.

Having been known what the tourism product is, let us see the elements of the tourism product
and how the tourism product is developed.

Elements of a Tourism Product

Here is an onion shell diagram that depicts elements of a tourism product. The diagram shows
progression of elements from core to outer shell depicting the declining direct management
control. It shows that the consumer’s involvement is maximum at the outermost shell. The tourism
product is not just presence of all five elements but it is also the interaction of these elements
among themselves.
The Physical Plant

It is tangible and is composed of various resources on which the tourism is based. Plainly, the
physical plant is nothing but the destination with sound and catchy architecture that enhances
tourists’ experience. It can be −

 A natural attraction such as a landscape, wild life, natural structure.

 A man-made attraction such as a resort.

 A fixed property such as an accommodation.

 A mobile property such as a ship or an airbus.

  A natural or manmade condition such as weather, crowd, infrastructure at the destination.

Service

The features or facilities of the physical plant are put to use for the tourists with service. Providing
services calls for a major contribution from human resources. It pertains to performing tasks for
the benefit and satisfaction of the tourists. For example, serving food in a hotel is a service by the
staff there.

Hospitality

It is the attitude with which the service is provided. Hospitality includes performing the service
with smile, enthusiasm, untiringly, and with dedication. For example, arranging guest room
supplies or serving food or beverage in a presentable manner is a part of hospitality.

Freedom of Choice

It is offering the tourist some acceptable range of options in order to elevate their experience. The
degree of freedom varies greatly depending on the type of tourism (pleasure, business, family, or
other), the tourist’s budget, previous experience, knowledge, and reliance on a travel agent.

A good tourism product must include some choice for its consumers. By offering some freedom
to the tourists, the product gives some sense of control to the tourists. The freedom to choose an
airline, a route, a seat, an accommodation, or a restaurant can enhance a tourist’s satisfaction.
Freedom also implies good surprises. When the tourists come across unanticipated events, they
get the feeling of being very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, thereby gaining
extra value from the visit.

Involvement

It depends upon the quality of inner four elements. These elements prepare the tourists for
physical, intellectual, and/or emotional involvement in tourism services. Involvement is not only
the physical participation, but also a sense of engagement in an activity- may it be for pleasure or
business.

More the involvement of the tourists, more they are interested in striking conversation happily
with others, more they are enthusiastic and curious to try out new things, and time passes fast for
them.
Thus, a combination of tourists’ involvement, freedom of choice, service with hospitality and
perfect destination (with all A’s present) can make the best tourist product.

Key Principles of Tourism Product Development

A tourism product can be of any type from cultural, educational, recreational, heritage site, or a
business hub. Tourism Product Development should −

 Be authentic and should reflect the unique attributes of the destination.

 Have the support of the host community.

 Respect the natural and cultural environments.

 Be different from the competitors, avoiding copying developments blindly.

 Be of sufficient scale to make a significant economic contribution, but not very large to
create high economic leakage.

The creation of a tourism product is a complex process. The following table shows the steps of
creating tourism product −

Primary Inputs Intermediate Inputs Intermediate Output Final Output (Tourist

(Resources) (Tourism Facilities) (Tourism Services) experiences)

Human resource Accommodations Vehicle parking service Social contacts

Material Transport terminals Tour guide service Business contacts

Equipment Vehicles/Ships/ Hospitality at serviced Satisfaction/Memories

Boats/Airbuses/ accommodations/ hotels/
Ferries. restaurants.
Fuel/Energy Restaurants/Food Cultural performances Recreation
Joints

Agricultural Convention/ Festivals/Events Education

product Shopping Centers.

Capital Museums Relaxation

The product creation process starts with primary inputs such as resources, raw materials, other
materials for construction, energy, and fuel. This could also include the agricultural products
required to prepare food for the tourists.

The primary inputs are then processed further through manufacturing or construction
into intermediate (or processed) inputs. The intermediate inputs are nothing but the tourism
facilities such as gardens, parks, museums, art galleries, shopping centers, convention centers,
accommodations, restaurants, and gift or souvenir shops. They facilitate and support the tourism.

The intermediate inputs are further refined through expert management, workforce, and technical
services, and packaging into intermediate outputs. The intermediate outputs are nothing but the
services associated with tourism industry.

For example, the intermediate input such as a hotel room remains just as a commodity unless it
is occupied by the tourist and turns into a part of a tourism product by incorporating the occupant’s
experience. Similarly, the food at restaurants needs to be cooked and presented by the staff at any
restaurant and needs to be ordered and consumed by the tourists.

The final outputs are nothing but the personal experience the tourist takes from availing services
and by carrying out various tourism-related activities. The tourists utilize the intermediate outputs
(or services) to generate intangible but a high value experience such as satisfaction, recreation,
and completion of a business related task or maintaining a contact of friends or relatives.
Steps of Tourism Product Development

The following general steps are taken for tourism product development −

Research the Market

At this step, the tourism marketing force conducts research on the current market to identify the
opportunities. In includes economy, study of various market segments and their varied
requirements, past market data, and current market and tourism trends.

Match the Product with Market

By assessing the market segments and conditions for tourism, different packages are created for
various market segments such that they can satisfy the requirement of each segment of
individuals.

Assess the Destination

Since destinations form the basis of product development, the product development force visits
the prospective tourism destination to assess its tourism potential and its ability to accommodate
and serve the tourists, features of the destination, and its shortcomings. It is assessed to judge if
the destination is fulfilling the requirement of Accommodation, Attractions, Activities, or
Amenities. It is also checked for the ease of Accessibility.

Understand the Stakeholder Role

Tourism product development is the result of collaborative efforts of various stakeholders. It

involves identifying all the stakeholders in private and public sectors, DMOs, Tourism and allied
businesses, and their respective roles in creating or developing a part of a tourism product. The
stakeholder meetings are conducted for creating a project plan. The project goals are set to realize
long-term vision, medium-term action plans, and short-term progress assessments.

Product Building

At this step, the product is actually built using required resources and consultations of the
expertise to create intermediate inputs (facilities and amenities) and intermediate outputs
(services). It encompasses not only development of destination infrastructure but also support for
special activities and experiences.
Marketing & Promotion

The functional and emotional benefits of the tourism at the tourist destination are communicated
to the market. The marketing people create brochures, place advertisements on the business
portals, and contact media to promote the destination and the product on the television and radio.
They also use various other marketing techniques to increase the product visibility.

Providing Human and Technical Resource

It includes providing skilled staff and contemporary technology to cater the needs of tourists
efficiently, to handle all tourism related operations at the destination effectively, and to
communicate with the staff easily.

Itinerary: Tourism Product

Itinerary is known as plan. It is related to the tour programmes, timetable and the information of
the places to be visited. The combination of the different components of tourism to form a product
ready for sale is known as an itinerary. There is no tourism but travelling was there since a long
time. Hotels, and transport or movements were there, but there is no tourism due to the absence of
joint or coordinated effort. The concept of tourism was founded by the introduction of the travel
agency. Development of joint effort also helps found the concept the tourism.
Itinerary is developed to perform the sales process. It is prepared to identify the duration of service,
tangibles, the intangible nature of services, solves the problem of immovability of tourism product.
The interesting fact of tourism is to have a point of sale (POS) and point of sale delivery (POSD)
in different places. The travel agencies produce the tourism product that is to produce the itinerary
The itineraries may be ready-made or made on request. The readymade is made in advance without
knowing when and whom will buy it. It can be related to producing of cloths and display in a shop.
It should be focused on the potential market segmentation. A traveller should consider its capacity
market, marketing strategy competitor’s policy etc. while preparing a ready-made itinerary.
Special itineraries are made on request to suit the individuals. It is also called as tailor-made
itineraries. Before preparation of the itinerary, we can ask and then prepare as per the requirement.
In this type of itinerary duration, places of visit, date, hotel plan, type of device is required is
known.
Packaging of the tours may be prepared on the basis of the following points
Single or Multiple Destination: To include only one destination or to include more than one
destination in one journey.
Special interest Package: For example, adventures package, cultural package, holiday package,
etc.
Tour Package: an itinerary prepared for pleasure, relax. Travel package: an itinerary specially for
travel
Outbound: Prepared for domestic tourist to visit foreign countries.
Inbound package: Itinerary prepared for foreigners to visit our country.
Domestic Tours: Prepared for local people to visit own country.
The above packages types show that itineraries can be of different types. It can be prepared for the
different purpose also.

Basic elements of an Itinerary

Itinerary is not an element. It is a combination of different elements together. A hotel, a transport,
an attraction are the basic elements of tourism. So every element should have following elements:
1. Program:
Tour programme is the most important element of an itinerary. The programs are related to the
travel or movement, stay and involve
in different activities.
2. Timetable:

Timetable of the program is the another major component of itinerary. Timetable supports the tour
program in an itinerary. It is the explanation of when to do what.

3. Duration:

Weight, length etc. measures the tangible goods. Intangible services are sold on the basis of
duration. So tourism as service, an itinerary must explain the duration of the service that is the
length of each activity, total tour.

4. Destination:
Tourism is related to the travel and travel is related to the destination. The places to be visited are
destinations.
5. 4 A:
Itinerary should have 4 A, they are attraction, accessibility, accommodation and amenities.
Attraction is anything that attracts the travelers. The main attraction of the program should be
mentioned in the itinerary. To reach the destination is accessibility. Next important feature is to
mention where to stay. which can be a hotel, camp, lodge etc. Finally, itinerary should mention
the service elements including what they see, enjoy, visit etc.