TOURISM PROMOTION

Learning outcomes:
 At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
[Link] tourism promotion
[Link] the relation between promotion and communication
[Link] the relationship between promotion and the traveler’s buying process
[Link] the relationship of promotion to marketing
[Link] the importance of promotion planning and budgeting
[Link] the major type of promotion mix;and
[Link] the major issues of promotion
 Meaning of Tourism Promotion
 Tourism promotion means stimulating sales through the dissemination of
information. It means trying to encourage actual and potential customers
to travel. According to Wahab (1997) the objectives of promotion are:
1.) to make the tourist product widely known;
2.) to make it very attractive in order to encourage many people to try it and
3.) to make message attractive without being dishonest
Promotion and Communication:
 Good promotion is good communication. Essentially developing the promotional mix is
an exercise in communication. The communication system is made up of the sender,
receiver, and a message.
 The sender transmits certain information that will change people attitude and create in
them a desire to use the product or service. The receiver is the potential tourist. The
message can be verbal, visual or written. For communication to take place there
should be a common understanding between the sender of the message and the
receiver of the message.
 The end goal of promotion is behavior modification. Its task is to initiate a purchase
where none has been made before initiating a change in purchase behavior by
having the tourist buy a different destination package, or to reinforce existing behavior
by having the tourist continue to buy the brand being promoted. The goal is
accomplished through message that seek to inform, persuade, or remind the
customer.
 Persuasive promotion is used when an attraction is in its early stage
of growth so its owner put very much promotion effort in devising
persuasive message and sending them through several channels.
 Reminder promotion is important upon reaching a mature stage.
Owner will then remind people of their positive experience through
message that will serve to jog the memory and keep the product in
the public mind.
Promotion and traveler’s Buying Process
 The relationship between the goals of promotional and the buying
process of the travelers is explained in figure 10. To achieve the goal
of behavior modification the three types of promotion described
are used. Information are used. Informative promotion is important
to the tourist at the attention and comprehension of the buying
process. Persuasive promotion tries to change attitudes, develops
intention to buy and then initiates the purchase. Reminder
promotion is used after the purchase has been made.
Figure 10. Goals of promotion and the traveler’s Buying Process:

Adoption Remind

Purchase

Intention Persuade
Behavior
Attitudes modification

Comprehension

Inform
Attention

Buying process Promotion goals End goal

Relationship of Promotion to Marketing
 Marketing is a total process which includes all elements from
production and product improvement to the final exchange of a
product or service for something of value whereas promotion is one
of the major elements in the marketing mix. Promotion is one of the
major tools used in marketing a tourist product. It is the responsibility
of people involved in promotion to devise methods of
communication that will make the guest number of potential
consumers aware of their product .
Promotion Planning
 Promotion planning determines the objectives or goals the organization should
strive to accomplish and the plan of action to attain these goals. According to
Schmoll (1997), The following are the result of the planning process:
1. The objectives of promotion that are consistent with the general marketing plan
2. The identification of the market group to which the promotion is targeted
3. The identification of the specific advertising, sales support, and public relation
programs to be organized
4. The budget allocation to the various market segment and target groups and
5. The methods to be used to control and assess the effectiveness of the
promotion
Goals:
 Goals are important in developing promotional strategies. To be effective,
goals must be specific, quantifiable, measurable, realistically attainable,
and time-bound. They should be quantitative so that they can be
measured to determine if the outcomes is achieved. They should have a
specific time period in which they to be completed. They should be written
clearly and concisely and be as possible
Market Targets
 A common theme is necessary in establishing a market target. Promotion
would be useless if the plan assumed that all people have the same
travel inclinations. It is also important to understand that travel
companies cannot provide service for the whole population. It is
mandatory that a promotion plan recognizes both characteristics of
marketing .
The Message
 The message which is chosen for the advertisement follows the
goal and objectives of the promotion plan. It should be
understandable, distinctive, and believable. It is promoted in various
ways to make it visible until it becomes very familiar to potential
customer. Its purpose is to create an awareness of the attraction.
Promotion Mix
 Promotion mix is the tool that conveys the message to the customers. The
major type of promotion mix are:
1. Advertising-
2. Personal selling-
3. Sales promotions-
4. Public relation-
Advertising
 Advertising uses several form to attract attention arouse interest convey
information and encourage the potential tourist to act in a specific
manner. Some form of advertising are newspaper direct mails, television,
magazines, radio, yellow pages, outdoor advertising, directories, and
display materials such as poster, cardboard stands, window display,
dispensers for sale literature, and many more. The advantage of news
paper advertising are it facilities geographic segmentation because
markets distribution can be clearly defined.
 Television is very effective audio and visual medium when wider coverage
is required. It is an expensive medium, so only large organizations use it.
although most people spend mush time watching television, they have
difficulty recalling the commercials. Television makes use repetition in order
to strengthen memory retention.
Websites
 Websites have become one of the most powerful means of directly
communicating with persons in the market place. They are
specifically valuable to small-and medium-sized tourism operators
who, in the past, found it difficult to send information about their
product service to their potential customer.
Public relations
 The objective of public relations is to build a strong positive image of
an organization for the public. There are three principal
characteristics of public relation:
1. It paid communicates to potential customers in methods other than
normally paid advertising channels or direct effort
2. It recreates a public awareness in order to enhance advertising and
sales; and
3. It creates a positive image for a product, service, or destination in
the minds of those who make public opinion such as journalist,
travel writers, and those who act as intermediaries such as travel
agent and tour operators.
Budgeting
 Table 7 shows how the tourist promotion budget for the different
segments of the travel industry is divided. It can be seen that the
major part of the promotion budget goes to advertising.
The principal costs in the budgeting process are the cost per
message, the per reader, and the cost of repeated message.
A single message has seldom sufficient impact. Thus a television or
radio spot must be aired many times. The number of times a message
is shown is considered part of cost. In construction a budget the
impact appeal, retention, reader shift, and cost of advertising are
taken into account.
Table 7. Tourist Promotion Budget
Type Advertising Sales Support Public Relation

Trav el Trade (travel

Agents Tour 60percent 35percent 5percent
Operator)

Air Carriers 65percent 25percent 10percent

Hotels, Motels 70percent 20percent 10percent

National Tourist 70-80percent 15-25percent 5-10percent

Officers
Summary
 Tourism promotion means stimulating sales through information
dissemination it means making the tourist product attractive and widely
known so that actual and potential tourist will buy it.
 Promotion is an exercise in communication good promotion is good
communication. The communication system is made up of the sender,
receiver, and a message. Communication will take place when there is
understanding between the sender and the receiver of the message.
 There are three types of promotion-the informative, persuasive, and
reminder promotion. Promotion is not synonymous with marketing because
promotion is only a major components of the marketing mix.
 Promotion planning determines the objectives of the organization
and how to attain them. Goals are important in devising
promotional strategies. They should be measurable, specific,
attainable, and time-bound.
 Promotion mix are the tools that send the message to the
customers. The major elements of the promotion mix are advertising,
personal selling, sales promotion, and public relation.
 The major costs in the tourist promotion budget are the cost per
message, the cost per reader, and the cost of repeated message.
The biggest percentage of the tourist promotion budget goes to the
advertising.
 One of the major issues of promotion is the use of false and
misleading advertising by some travel establishments, which creates
problems to the tourism industry.