Key Characteristics of Tourism Services - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Task: Date: Question 1 Describe the key characteristics of tourism services (8 P’s) and explore how these characteristics affect the marketing of tourism services The World Tourism Organization defines tourism services as those travel-related services offered by hotels and restaurants, tour operators and travel agency services, tourist guide service and other related services (Srinivasan, p1). It is essential for tourism services to adopt the principles of service marketing, in order to effectively meet customer preferences. Tourism services should therefore have distinctive characteristics that differentiate them from other services. Some of the key characteristics of tourism services include inseparability, heterogeneity variability, perishability and intangibility. Tourism service inseparability implies that consumers (people) are part of the product. In most of the hospitality services, both the customer and service provider must be present for the transaction process to effectively occur. The fundamental features of tourism services are therefore the interaction required between the customer and client contact staff in order to create as well as deliver a service. The food in a given restaurant may, for instance, be outstanding, but if the service person provides inattentive service or has a poor attitude, customers will down-rate the general restaurant experience (Laws 17). This therefore brings about the interaction between people and the product element. Srinivasan (p1) further argues that Customers and service providers must also be aware of the service delivery system as they are both co-producing the service. Furthermore Customers must, for instance, understand the menu items in a given restaurant so that they get the dish they expect. Restaurant customers must know how to use the phone system and the express checkout on television. Laws (17) argue that inseparability enables production and marketing to be highly interactive as services are performed with the participation of the customers, and the inseparability of product and people implies that each service interaction is in some respect unique. Heterogeneity is another vital characteristic of tourism services .Particular services may be experienced differently by each customer. This therefore brings about the element of product features. Laws (17) argues, for instance that although standard systems may be employed, for instance to handle flight reservations, each service unit may be different from other units. Customers therefore experience given services differently owing to their different personalities, any past experiences of the type of service, its significance or urgency to them on the current occasion, their moods and so on. Heterogeneity as a major characteristic of tourism services is important as it helps identify various general challenges facing the service managers. It implies therefore that mangers develop promotion efforts that fit into their overall business goals and that products/services designed to meet customers’ needs and wants (Laws 17). Perishability is also a crucial element of tourism services. According to Laws (18) perishability implies that a given service, for instance, an unsold hotel room for a given night or a seat in an airline for a specific departure cannot be stored for sale at a later date. A number of service providers such as hotels and restaurants go through issues of perishability and have to contend with converse complexities resulting from peak period demand and congestion. The response has normally been to reduce prices as the departure dates approach, or charge premiums for peak season travel. The policies have been successful in motivating sales in addition to smoothening peak demands. However, there are also some disadvantageous consequences (Laws 18). Intangibility as a key characteristic of tourism services implies that customers cannot sample services before purchasing them. This means that tourism services do not have the physical dimension: they cannot be seen, tasted, touched, heard or smelled in the same as goods prior to their purchase. According to Mahoney & Warnell (1), the intangible nature of tourism services makes quality control difficult but essential. It also makes it difficult for prospective customers to assess and compare the services being offered. In addition, rather to moving the product to the client, the client has to travel to the product (place/area/community). Intangibility of tourism services therefore lies in the consequent difficulty for clients in determining the outcomes of a service transaction in addition to the consequent problems for service managers. An example of the intangibility characteristic of tourism services can be seen from the example of a given traveler. He/she is not able to experience the tangibility of his/her holiday purchase in advance.However, because tourism services are activities or experiences of service performance rather than physical objects, they can be perceived in the mind. For instance, a traveler can perceive instinctively whether his holiday experiences will be enjoyable and safe. To conclude, the distinctions noted above are important in identifying various general challenges facing tourism service providers. It is therefore clear that tourism services are more complex, more variable and not easy to control due to key differences. Question 2 Describe the role of the travel agencies in the tourism industry and explore the value they add to the tourism product Travel agencies are retail businesses that sell travel-related products and services to clients on behalf of suppliers such as hotels, airlines, cruise lines, railways, car rentals, sightseeing tours and package holidays that combine a number of products (Srinivasan, p2). Other than dealing with ordinary tourists, a great number of travel agencies have separate departments committed to making travel arrangements meant for business travelers and specialize in business and commercial travel only. There are also travel agencies that function as general sales agents for foreign travel companies, enabling them to have offices in countries other than where their respective headquarters are situated (Thomas Cook Travel Case Study). As suggested by the name, travel agencies’ main function is to act as agents. They act therefore as intermediaries between producers and consumers of the tourism services by selling travel products and services on behalf of the producers. Suppliers in the tourism industry, for instance tour operators, airlines, hotels, and tourist transport operators’ etc work with travel agencies to facilitate the distribution of the services (Dinesh 1). And with the travel industry getting more competitive, travel agencies enhance the quality as well as the type of services they provide. They are able to organize all types of domestic and international travel, from hotel or resort accommodations to air and land transportation, including car rental requirements and tour packages. They are also able to provide assistance with passport and visa applications, travel insurance protection, inoculation procedures as well as other foreign travel requirements. Travel agencies use their influence to obtain the best possible even in apparently impossible situations. Whether it is hotel rooms, airline seats, or cruise space, travel agents normally have more buying powers than consumers (Srinivasan, p2). A large number of them have toll-free cell phone numbers and offer meeting planning and incentive travel services. Arrangements are also tailored to cater for business and holiday objectives, individual interests as well as budget concerns. Even though the majority of travel agencies offer a wide range of services, some specialize in areas such as group travel, family travel, ecotourism, adventure travel, incentive travel the mature market, or travel for the disabled. Travel agencies also have a role of distilling product information. Due to the continuing and lengthy familiarization process, continuing education as well as the customer feedback, the travel agencies serve as travel experts investigating as well as providing competitive and necessary travel information. This role is crucial as no single supplier normally recommends consumers on whether there is a better route or a better fare available on a competing carrier (Srinivasan, p3). Getting consumer problems resolved is also another function of travel agencies. Travel agents serve as the consumers’ advocate in cases where something accidentally goes wrong. They do this by shedding light on fine print, such as cancellation penalties and restrictions. In this case, travelers benefit from the professional experience of travel agencies, as a result saving travelers money and other headaches (Dinesh 1). Travel agencies work to add value to the products/services of the main suppliers. They do this by carrying out their own market research to meet the market target, as a resulting adding value to the tourism product. Travel agencies have to make a decision on which market segment to target. The prospective market is thereafter segmented properly based on the motive of travel or their budgets. They therefore have to establish discounts or service charges and finalize their product mix in addition to their sales and marketing strategies. Timing of services or travel decisions demanded by the customers could also provide the basis for segmentation. A customer could request services such as tour packages, ticket booking, travel consultancy, handle travel documents (visa, passports etc), hotel bookings, airport transfers, etc.By carrying out their own market research; travel agencies establish customer requirements and generate ideas to develop the product. By doing this, customer needs are put into consideration and their products designed accordingly. Travel agencies also conduct market survey to identify with customer needs and as well acquire information relating to the practices of other competing agencies. Only then are they able to know about market needs and make a decision regarding the product design of the company (Srinivasan, p3). For instance, services provided to the walk-in customers could be different than those provided to repeat customers. In conclusion, the services of travel agencies are more valuable than ever. The best thing that travel agencies can do is to offer travelers or customers with holidays that are right for them. As professional travel agents and consultants, travel agencies ought to develop relationships with clients to find out their interests and lifestyles, in addition to their nature. Question 3 What is a Destination Management System and how does Destination Marketing Organization use them to market their destinations According to New Mind E-tourism Solutions (1), Destination Management Systems (DMS) are systems designed to consolidate and distribute wide-ranging tourism products through various channels and platforms, generally taking into account specific regions, in addition to supporting the various activities of the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) within a particular region. Destination Management Systems (DMS) attempt to utilize a customer-centric approach so as to manage as well as market the destination as a holistic entity, normally providing strong destination- related information, real time reservations, destination management tools in addition to paying special attention to supporting small and self-regulating tourism suppliers. The Destination Management Systems (DMS) is therefore far more than just a website or an online booking system as it offers a full set of tourism management, promotion as well as fulfillment tools with visitor, product and business databases as its foundation (New Mind E-tourism Solutions 1). As a minimum, the Destination Management Systems platform normally has various core modules that include: Visitor CRM Enquiry Management Product Management Management Reporting Business CRM Destination Marketing Organizations have in the past few years realized that it is important to develop their online presence for competitiveness. Tourists increasingly do research their vacations online, as a result DMOs ought to have inspirational websites that can persuade as well as facilitate tourist visitors. Destination Marketing Organizations have been using as well as developing the Destination Management Systems (DMSs) in order to carry out their functions (Buhalis1). Destination Management Systems (DMSs) support Destination Marketing Organizations by administering a wide range of requests as well as providing travel information efficiently. Destinations are able to use Content Management Systems as well as powerful databases to handle information various information regarding their local resources and package them in accordance to customer experiences. DMSs normally include Customer Databases, product Databases as well as the mechanisms connecting the two. On the other hand, the more highly developed systems tend to have a number of additional features and services (Buhalis1). At the organizational level, DMSs provide essential infrastructures that enable the DMOs to co-ordinate their activities as well as provide sufficient information and direction to their overseas offices to promote the destination.DMSs therefore acts as interfaces between destination tourism enterprises (including principals,attractions,transportation and intermediaries) and the external world (including travel agencies, tour operators and consumers(Srinivasan, p4) . Destination Management Systems are without a doubt very significant to the Destination Marketing Organizations. Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) promote their destination areas to travel trade intermediaries, individual or even group travelers on behalf of tourism organizations(attractions, hotels and restaurants, transportation and auxiliary services) in their destination (Parma & McCole 12). According to (Buhalis113), Websites and visitor centers are the two most obvious channels through which tourism products are made available. The creation of World Wide Web sites currently provide new opportunities for Destination Marketing Organizations to market a combination of its members through co-operative Web address. Through the Destination Management Systems (DMS), the Destination Marketing Organizations have employed the use of the tourism-related websites to promote as well as distribute to consumers their products and services. A number of DMOs have thus developed and promoted their websites with varying information levels and interactivity. Interactivity provides a means through which multiple suppliers effortlessly connect their services, providing travelers one-stop-shopping for their travel requirements.DMOs are well aware of the fact that travelers are becoming more aware of the internet in their search for travel opportunities and it is evident that in order to increase their of the regional, national and state share, market has to have strong brand recognition supported by a single marketing body and a single destination brand (Prideaux & Cooper 44). In conclusion, destination marketing has increasingly become extremely competitive worldwide. Offering innovative in addition to well co-ordinated tourism products is therefore very important for various destinations. Consumers evaluate their travel experiences in general and associate destinations with the complete range of local producers and suppliers. The evolution of the Destination Management Systems has therefore been very significant to the Destination Marketing Organizations. References Buhalis, Dimitrios, E-Tourism and Destination Management Organizations, 2008, Pp1. Buhalis, Dimitrios, Marketing the Competitive Destination of the Future, 2000, Pp113. Laws, Eric, Improving Tourism and Hospitality services, CABI Publishing Series, CABI, 2004, Pp16-22. Mahoney, Edward & Warnell, Gary, Tourism Marketing, 1987, Pp1. New Mind E-tourism Solutions, Destination Management System, 2007, Pp1. Patairya, Dinesh Product Design of a Travel Agency, 2009, Pp1. Palmer, Adrian & McCole, Patrick. The Role of Electronic Commerce in Creating Virtual Tourism. Prideaux, Bruce & Cooper, Chris. Marketing and Destination Growth: A Symbiotic Relationship or Simple Coincidence? Journal of Vacation Marketing, 2000, 9 (1), 35–52. Srinivasan Kannan. Tourism Marketing: A Service Marketing perspective. AMCHSS, 2009, p 1-6. Thomas cook travel case study, tour operators Tourism Destination Marketing Organizations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality, 2000, 12 (3), 198. Read More