Basic concepts of marketing in the tourism industry. Concepts of marketing in tourism. Tourism product definitions

The growing complexity of the technological, economic and competitive environment led to the emergence and then strengthening of the role of marketing in the activities of tourism enterprises. Marketing is the result of development market relations. The nature of the latter - together with supply and demand - has always determined the business orientation (the direction of business development, expressed in the basic approaches to the functioning of the enterprise and the means to achieve its goals) of enterprises.

Historically, the so-called production concept, in accordance with which the company focuses on improving production processes and improving their efficiency as a basis for reducing costs and prices. This approach was widely used by American and European tourism enterprises in the 1950s. It was then that demand significantly exceeded supply (the seller's market) and almost all tourist products found immediate sales on the market, even if they did not fully meet the requirements of consumers. There was little competition in the market. All the attention of enterprises was focused on the internal possibilities of production, increasing its volume and reducing costs.

In the early 60s of the XX century. signs of a buyer's market are emerging in many countries. In the context of changing the relationship between supply and demand, the competition for consumer preferences has intensified. Tourist enterprises have focused more and more attention on the organization of active marketing of their services, which has found expression in the use of concept of intensifying commercial efforts. It was a natural result of the development of the business orientation of enterprises in conditions of a relative balance of supply and demand, when the problem of sales is exacerbated and the enterprise is trying to influence the market by all means and methods available to it. To do this, activities are carried out (primarily advertising and sales promotion) that aim to interest the buyer and encourage him to purchase this particular product. In practice, the implementation of the concept of intensifying commercial efforts is often associated with the imposition of a purchase. Moreover, the seller strives to conclude a deal at all costs, and meeting the needs of buyers is a secondary point for him.

In the early 70s of the XX century. In the tourism market of most developed countries, a situation has developed called the "buyer's market" and involves completely different "rules of the game": buyers who have sufficient funds at their disposal are faced with an extremely wide offer of tourism products from which they can choose the most suitable for their needs. Under the current conditions, work on an unknown market no longer gives the tourist company any guarantees regarding the sale of the services offered. To ensure success in the competitive struggle, it is necessary to meet their maximum compliance with the needs of consumers, which requires a preliminary study of the market. It is about the orientation of the tourism enterprise on marketing concept, which is based on the idea of ​​achieving the goals set for the enterprise by harmonizing relations with the consumer and gives priority to the interests of the latter, the formation of his requests and their fullest satisfaction. At the same time, the enterprise is not focused on obtaining momentary, even if high profit, but focuses on a long-term commercial perspective by creating and maintaining customer satisfaction.

The considered concepts of business orientation of tourist enterprises reflect different periods in the development of market relations (mainly in the USA and Western Europe) and cannot be considered as a rule, norm or standard. The development of the tourism market in each country has certain specifics and features. At the same time, knowledge of the world experience in the development of tourism marketing can help develop guidelines for improving tourism activities, which, in accordance with the Law on Tourism Activities, means “tour operator and travel agency activities, as well as other travel organization activities”. In addition, the evolution of the concepts of business orientation of enterprises clearly indicates a general trend - a shift in emphasis from production problems. tourism product on the consumer and an increasing focus on meeting his needs, which is the ideological basis of modern marketing.

The concept of tourism marketing is dynamic, actively responding to market trends and new ideas. IN modern conditions its development is connected, first of all, with the awareness of the responsibility of the tourism business as to society as a whole (in terms of protecting environment, maintaining public health), and in front of each consumer (in terms of reliable information about the products offered, ensuring their safety, refusing unfair advertising, etc.). As a result, the fundamental idea of ​​marketing - the satisfaction of needs for the sake of profit - has taken on a new shape. This is reflected in the formation and spread of concepts of social and ethical marketing which aims to achieve the desired degree of satisfaction of target markets in more efficient (than competitors) ways while maintaining or enhancing the well-being of consumers and society as a whole. And this requires a balance of three factors: the profit of the enterprise, consumer needs and the interests of society. It must be admitted that in real life this is not always achieved. However, the concept of socially ethical marketing is an ideal that a tourism enterprise needs to strive for in its business orientation.

The particular importance of the practical use of the concept of social and ethical marketing is manifested in the fact that tourism occupies special place in the system of ecology and nature management. The natural environment is necessary condition existence and development of tourism. Awareness of significance environmental issues led to the formation and increasing use of the concept of sustainable tourism, the observance of the principles of which allows tourism enterprises to actively apply social and ethical marketing in their activities.

In foreign and domestic theory and practice, there is no consensus and approach regarding the content and sequence of the implementation of the marketing concept. Based on the fundamental methodology of marketing as a market concept of management, we will try to find, in a sense, a universal approach to the definition and description marketing activities and bringing it into a logically consistent system.

If we consider marketing in tourism as a system, then we must proceed from the fact that it contains certain components. Singling out and considering them in interconnection and interaction, it is possible to outline the main contours of the implementation of the concept of marketing in a tourism enterprise.

The process of marketing activity begins with the analysis of market opportunities. This problem is solved by carrying out a complex marketing research. Their result is an analysis of the initial situation and specific recommendations for determining the prospects for the activities of the travel agency, taking into account the most attractive areas for investing capital. Based on a comparison of the identified market opportunities with the goals and resources of the enterprise, its marketing opportunities are highlighted.

The definition of marketing opportunities allows you to select the most promising target markets for a travel company. This approach allows not to disperse marketing efforts, working on the entire market, but to focus them on meeting the needs of selected groups of customers that the company is able to serve and it is profitable for it.

One of the most important tasks of marketing is to establish the maximum possible regularity in the activities of the tourist enterprise. This is ensured by choosing the optimal marketing strategy. This reduces the degree of uncertainty and risk in marketing activities and ensures the concentration of resources on selected priority areas. Strategies are specified in programs.

The practical implementation of the marketing strategy is associated with the choice of means that ensure the materialization of the goals and objectives. Therefore, the most important place in marketing activities is the development of a marketing mix. This is a set of means of influencing consumers target market in order to elicit the desired response from them.

IN Lately Often there are several more components of the marketing mix:

• - personnel, their qualifications and training;
• - the process of providing the service;
• -environment.

Tourism business is unique in the sense that the staff of enterprises? it is part of the tourism product. Hospitality, friendliness? essential for all employees, not just direct customer service professionals. Marketing should be an integral part of the philosophy of the entire organization, and marketing functions should be performed by all employees. key factor the competitiveness of a tourist enterprise is a measure (measure) to mobilize the creative activity of the team. A well-known specialist in the field of service culture R. Norman introduced a special term "moment of truth". It occurs when the employee of the enterprise and the client come into direct contact. The consequences of such contact are weakly influenced by the firm. Skills, motivation, skills used by the representative of the tourism company, on the one hand, the expectations and behavior of the client? on the other hand, they create a service delivery process. Norman borrowed the idea of ​​R from the bullfighters, who used the term to describe the moment when the bullfighter stands in front of the bull in the ring. In spite of all the education and preparation of the bullfighter, one wrong move or the unpredictable move of a bull can lead to a disastrous outcome. Similarly, in the interaction of employees and customers, a mistake made by an employee or an inability to fulfill an unexpected request of a client can end up in that he will not be satisfied with the service. .

An important factor in high-quality customer service is the environment. appearance buildings, office decoration, furniture, equipment, office equipment, etc. The atmosphere of a product offering (the physical environment) is perceived through the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch) and influences purchasing behavior in four ways:

• - can serve as a carrier of information for potential consumers;
• - can serve as a means of attracting the attention of customers;
• - can be a carrier of a certain effect (colors, sounds and surface properties of the objects surrounding the client affect his consciousness and encourage him to buy);
• - can create a certain mood.

Considering the extreme importance of the marketing mix within the framework of the overall marketing strategy, private strategies are developed for all its main elements:

• - product strategy;
• - price strategy;
• -sales strategy;
• - communication strategy.

The product strategy provides for the development of a tourism product that best meets the needs of tourists, as well as the development and introduction of new tourism services to the market.

Pricing strategy involves determining the behavior of an enterprise in the market in the long term and pricing tactics for a shorter period in relation to each tourism product, as well as a specific market segment.

The marketing strategy includes the definition of channels, forms and methods of bringing the tourist product to the consumer.

The communication strategy defines the purposeful activity of a travel company to disseminate positive information about itself and its product. These activities include advertising, promotion, personal selling, propaganda, as well as participation in exhibition events and the formation of corporate identity. In the context of the development of relationship marketing, the development of a communication strategy should be given the closest attention. Within its framework, it is necessary to provide not only classical events, but also measures for the formation and optimization of personal communications, interactions, and interactions.

When developing a marketing mix as a whole and private strategies for its constituent elements, it is advisable to be guided by the following principles:

• 1. Sequence, which ensures the coordination of the elements of the marketing mix. For example, high quality tourism product must be accompanied by high-quality advertising and impeccable customer service;
• 2. A balanced approach, which involves researching and taking into account the sensitivity of the market to constantly changing variables that shape its conjuncture;
• 3. Accounting for changes in budget expenditures, which determines the need to comply with budgetary discipline and complexity in planning the structure of the marketing mix. Rationality and a reasonable combination of marketing tools for each specific market situation should be the basis for the effective use of enterprise funds. Therefore, for each combination of elements of the marketing mix, it is advisable to determine the dependence of changes in sales volumes on marketing costs, as well as plan costing for the entire structure of marketing activities.

To ensure the effectiveness of marketing management, the development of its auxiliary systems is required.

• -marketing information;
• - marketing organizations;
• - marketing control.

The marketing information system ensures the receipt, systematization, evaluation and use of information characterizing the state of the external and internal environment tourism enterprise. Without objective, relevant, sufficiently complete marketing information, it is impossible to make operational and strategic decisions.

The marketing organization system is aimed at creating an appropriate organizational structure tourist enterprise, providing the implementation of marketing activities.

For continuous monitoring of performance marketing strategies and programs, a system of marketing control is being created.

Tourism is a sector of the economy where the client is provided for money different kind services. Consequently, tourism belongs to the service sector - the most promising and rapidly developing sector of the economy. The service sector includes a wide range - from trade and transport to financing and intermediation of various kinds. The service sector includes hotels and restaurants, laundries and hairdressers, travel agencies, radio and television stations, consulting firms, medical institutions, museums, cinemas and theaters. By and large, all organizations provide services to one degree or another.

The service is the result of the interaction between the contractor and the consumer, as well as their own activities to meet the needs of the consumer. A service is something that one party can offer to another and that is mostly physically intangible, the services do not result in the receipt of something tangible.

The main characteristics of the service are: intangibility, consumption at the time of production, the inability to determine the form of ownership, the complexity of assessing the quality before the sale (provision), the complexity of planning the volume of provision, etc.

Indicators by which the quality of the service is assessed: reliability, availability, safety, fast terms for the provision of services, personnel responsibility, etc. Services can be provided: based on the use of equipment or labor by private individuals or public enterprises.

With the help of the services provided, meet personal needs or business needs. The provision of the service may require the presence of the client or is provided without his personal presence.

The services market differs from other markets mainly for two reasons:

• - the service does not exist before it is presented. This makes it impossible to compare and evaluate services before they are received, so only the expected results are compared with those received;
• - the service is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, which puts the client at a disadvantage, and makes it difficult for sellers to promote services to the market.

These features of the service market, as well as the specifics of the services themselves - their intangibility, inability to store, variability in quality and the inseparability of production and consumption - determine the features of service marketing.

Tourism marketing is a set of methods and techniques focused on market research, segmentation, analysis, strategy selection and problem solving.

The main goal of tourism marketing is to identify opportunities for the most complete satisfaction of customer needs in terms of psychological and social factors, as well as to determine the most financially rational way of doing business by tourism organizations, allowing to take into account identified or hidden needs for tourism services. Marketing in tourism activities gives firms grounds to develop new, more efficient types of tourist and excursion services, improve the technology of their production and marketing in order to make a profit.

The main function of tourism marketing is a targeted impact on the formation of recreational needs, demand, development of the range of tourism services provided, commercial prices, market segmentation.

Tourism marketing includes the following steps:

Studying the demand for tourist trips;

• - study of the basic requirements of consumers to the quality of tourist services;
• - drawing up a marketing program for each specific tourist product, taking into account costs;
• - advertising;
• - establishing upper limit prices for provided tours and profitability of their production;
• - development of investment and assortment policy;
• - determination of the final desired result (strategy) - the level of income and profit.

The main tasks of marketing of tourist companies are:

• - analysis of factors of dynamics of consumer qualities of a tourist product;
• - analysis and choice of technology for the production of tourist and excursion services;
• - study of the needs and demand for each specific tourist product;
• - study of consumer behavior in the tourist markets;
• - market segmentation;
• - analysis of the conjuncture of the market of tourist services;
• - Identification and study of potential competitors.

The quality of travel agency services must meet the following requirements:

• - availability - the service is easy to get in a convenient place, at a convenient time, without excessive waiting for its provision;
• - sociability - the description of the service is made in the language of the client and is accurate;
• - competence - service staff possesses the required skills and knowledge;
• - courtesy - the staff is friendly, respectful and caring;
• - trust - you can rely on the company and its staff, as they really strive to satisfy any customer requests;
• - reliability - services are provided accurately and stably;
• - Responsiveness - the staff is creative in solving problems and meeting customer needs;
• - security - the services provided do not carry danger or risk and do not give rise to any doubt;
• - tangibility - tangible components of the service correctly reflect its quality;
• - knowledge of the client - the staff strives to understand the needs of clients as best as possible and each of them is given maximum attention.

The tourist market is a special system of relations (economic, social, legal) connecting producers of a tourist product and consumers who are interested in a certain type of tourist services provided.

The demand for tourism services is a confirmation of the solvency of the recreational needs of people, expressed in a certain number of tourist trips and services that consumers can purchase at given prices for the tourism product.

The offer of tourist products (services) - the number of tours (tourist and excursion services) that is put on the market when certain level prices.

Modern consumers are very wary of new offers from marketers, so it is quite difficult to attract and maintain interest in a product or service. Now to ensure successful sale It is not enough to monitor the quality of a company's product or service and reduce the price as much as possible. The company must convince the consumer that these products meet their needs and desires.

Thus, tourism marketing is a complex of organizational and management activities aimed at developing new effective types tourist and excursion services, their production and marketing.

The purpose and objectives of marketing are to improve the quality of the tourist product, make a profit, take into account the processes taking place on the adjacent tourism market, study of demand, setting prices for tourist services, development of investment and assortment policy, determination of the company's strategy.

Development of the theory and practice of marketing Marketing has a relatively long history. As an independent field of activity and as a science, it stood out at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The emergence of marketing was due to the formation of market relations and increased competition. These factors required the improvement of the existing management system market activity. First of all, it was necessary to ensure a higher level of management of the marketing activities of individual business structures. The advent of marketing was aimed at solving this problem. This was reflected, first of all, in the course of lectures in the first years of the 20th century. at leading US universities: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Harvard. These lecture courses reflected the primary generalization of economic practice and covered issues of ensuring effective organization sales, trade and advertising. In the period from 1910 to 1930. published the first works in which an attempt was made to fundamentally explain the essence of marketing.

The result of the practical implementation of the emerging theory of marketing was the creation of large firms market research units, as well as the emergence commercial organizations to provide marketing services. In 1926, the National Association of Marketing and Advertising was organized in the USA. Somewhat later, similar national organizations appeared in Western Europe and Japan. The economic crisis of 1929-1932 played a significant role in the development of marketing. He showed that the initial interpretation of marketing in the conditions of a higher level of development of the world economy is unacceptable. It had to be brought into line with the market economic conditions achieved by that time. As a result, marketing becomes an integral part management activities aimed at the development and promotion of goods on the market, as well as the creation favorable conditions for purchase by customers. This approach existed until about the mid-sixties. By this time, industrialized countries had created new system regulation of production and marketing processes, caused by a significant increase in the production of goods, the volume of which began to exceed demand. As a result, in the theory and practice of marketing, an emphasis was placed on a specific consumer with his real needs and requirements. This made it possible to formulate a modern concept of marketing.

In accordance with the concept of marketing, all activities of the company should be carried out with constant regard to the state of the market and be based on such knowledge of the needs and requirements. potential buyers, their evaluation and consideration of possible changes in the future.

Thus, marketing has gone from interpreting its concept as an activity in the field of sales to a market concept of management (business philosophy). Currently, most experts consider marketing as a well-coordinated dynamic system that provides market-oriented management.

The service sector lags behind manufacturing in the practical use of marketing. One of the first customers and competitors began to study airlines. Based on the information received as a result of marketing research, they took measures to make travel less burdensome and more pleasant and comfortable. Marketing has only been used by tourism professionals since the 1950s in Europe.

Marketing in tourism is a product of the collective creativity of entrepreneurs different countries. Marketing evolves over time. At each stage of the development of market relations, its own, special approach to commercial activities in tourism.

These stages represent different periods in the development of tourism (mainly in Western Europe), as well as social, economic and political changes in recent years. The general trend is a shift in emphasis from the problems of producing tourist services to the consumer and an increasing focus on meeting his needs and requirements.

Historically, the so-called production concept arose first. It was widely used by tourist enterprises in the fifties of the XX century. It was during this period that the demand for tourist services significantly exceeded supply (the seller's market). Therefore, almost all tourist services found immediate sales on the market, even if they did not fully meet the requirements that consumers placed on them: the main thing was their availability, quantity, while sometimes minimal attention was paid to quality. Tourist firms offered almost identical products, which had no marketing problems. There was no competition in the market. As a result, the consumer was forced to purchase what was offered on the market. All the attention of tourist firms was focused on the internal possibilities of production in order to saturate the market with their services. Tourism marketing has been used to stimulate demand for tourism services.

In the early sixties, the first signs of a change in the relationship between supply and demand in the naturist market began to appear. The competition intensified. In this situation, travel companies began to focus on the problems of marketing their services. This has found expression in the use of the concept of intensification of commercial efforts, which involves maximizing sales through advertising and sales promotion measures.

By the mid-seventies, a buyer's market had formed in the tourism sector, which involves completely different "rules of the game". Under the current conditions, working for an unknown or little-known market no longer gave the tourist enterprise any guarantees regarding the sale of services. To ensure success in the competition, it was first necessary to carefully study the market, and then already offer services that correspond to the requirements of this market. At the same time, tourist enterprises not only adapted to the requirements of the market, but also formed the demands of consumers themselves. Consequently, along with knowledge of consumer demand, the key moment in the implementation policy was its formation on the basis of studying the problems of consumer tourists.

Find the needs and satisfy them "- this expression is enough, fully characterizes the essence of the concept of marketing in tourism.

Currently, the tourism industry is one of the most successfully developing in the whole world in general and in Russia in particular. Every year the number of tourists traveling outside their country is growing. Thus, according to forecasts of WTO experts, the number of tourist arrivals in the world by 2010 will reach 1 billion, of which 516 million will be in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, including the CIS and Baltic countries, where tourism will develop at a faster rate than in the European region. generally.

The essence of marketing in tourism

Marketing is the most important component of the activity of any organization. The main goal of marketing in the service industry is to ensure efficiency through complete customer satisfaction.

Definition 1

Marketing in tourism is a system of constant coordination of services being sold with services that have high demand on the market, and which the travel company is able to offer more efficiently from an economic point of view than competitors do.

Initially, marketing found its application in the manufacturing industry and only then began to be actively used by tourism enterprises. This has led to the growth of competition and the commercialization of the tourism industry, this has become the reason for the need to introduce key marketing elements into the practice of tourism enterprises. However, it is important to take into account certain features of tourism, which are associated with the specifics of the services provided, the form of sales, etc.

The main aspects to pay attention to when studying tourism marketing are the following:

1. Marketing is not a separate action, but a whole system: an interconnected process of providing services depending on demand.
2. Marketing cannot end in one action as the market is constantly changing and evolving. In other words, we can say that marketing is a continuous process.
3. All actions within the travel company must be consistent with the external environment.
4. Marketing should be based on planning and forecasting the state of the market under the influence of various factors.
5. Marketing is one of the main tools to increase the profitability of the company.

So, marketing is a kind of compass in the process of studying the supply and demand for a specific tourist service, setting prices for new services, developing advertising campaign etc.

Principles of marketing in tourism

The essence of marketing in tourism defines its key principles. Among them:

• focus on economic results;
• the complexity of the approach to achieve the intended goals;
• taking into account market conditions and requirements and at the same time targeted impact on the market;
• all goals should be developed for the long term;
• active, offensive and enterprising steps in the process of responding to external stimuli.

Being a specific economic phenomenon, tourism marketing should be used under a number of conditions:

• saturation of the market with tourist services;
• the presence of acute competition between travel companies for the client;
• free market relations.

The first of these conditions determine the relevance of the marketing approach. The third condition is designed to ensure the effectiveness of the use of marketing in a particular enterprise. A travel company, as an economically independent entity, must apply a systematic approach to managing its marketing activities, since in the presence of fierce competition, the unsystematic management makes it a weak link in the market.

Key functions of marketing in tourism

It is customary to single out such key functions of marketing in tourism as:

• establishing contact with the client in order to convince him that this service fully meets his needs and expectations;
• development for the purpose of designing innovations to find new markets and distribution channels;
• control, which involves the analysis of the results of marketing activities for their effectiveness.

Thus, with the help of marketing, it is possible not only to effectively meet market needs, but to increase the competitiveness of a tourism enterprise.

Remark 1

So, marketing ensures not only the effective satisfaction of market needs, but also the success of the enterprise in the competitive struggle.