Download Contents UNIT 0. INTRODUCTION .......................................................

Contents
UNIT 0. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 6
What is this module all about? ................................................................................ 7
References ................................................................................................................ 9
UNIT 1. MARKETING RESPONSIBLY, OR MARKETING RESPONSIBLE
TOURISM PRODUCTS? .......................................................................................... 10
Introduction............................................................................................................. 10
Reasons to be responsible .................................................................................... 13
Corporate Attitudes Towards the Environment ................................................... 19
How corporate principles affect marketing .......................................................... 25
The Marketing Response ....................................................................................... 28
Strategic Marketing Planning ................................................................................ 39
Tactical marketing planning .................................................................................. 40
The Process of Marketing Planning ...................................................................... 40
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 44
References .............................................................................................................. 45
UNIT 2: THE MARKET FOR RESPONSIBLE TOURISM ........................................ 46
Introduction............................................................................................................. 46
Is the Ethical Market Homogenous? ..................................................................... 47
How do authors look at segmentation? ............................................................... 48
How is data collected? ........................................................................................... 56
The Complexity of Researching the Industry....................................................... 58
‘Green Gap’ Issues ................................................................................................. 61
Why look at segmentation differently? ................................................................. 62
Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 67
References .............................................................................................................. 73
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
1
UNIT 3. TARGETING, SEGMENTING AND POSITIONING .................................... 81
Introduction............................................................................................................. 81
Segmentation .......................................................................................................... 83
Lifestyle Segmentation - Psychographics ........................................................... 89
Geotourism segmentation efforts ......................................................................... 91
Arkenford ................................................................................................................ 93
DEFRA Sustainable population segments ........................................................... 95
Your segmentation methods ................................................................................. 98
Targeting ............................................................................................................... 103
Choosing a market-coverage strategy ............................................................... 104
Positioning ............................................................................................................ 105
Positioning consists of three steps .................................................................... 106
Strategy based on differentiation and “matching” ............................................ 109
Designing your responsible tourism positioning .............................................. 111
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 128
References ............................................................................................................ 128
UNIT 4. RESPONSIBLE TOURISM MARKETING STRATEGY ............................ 129
Introduction........................................................................................................... 129
Legitimacy reasons for responsible tourism products ..................................... 132
Altruistic reasons for responsible tourism products ........................................ 135
Commercial reasons for responsible tourism products ................................... 138
Strategic market oriented planning .................................................................... 143
Distinguishing between strategy and tactics ..................................................... 150
Product-market growth models........................................................................... 152
Summary ............................................................................................................... 153
References ............................................................................................................ 155
UNIT 5. ETHOS BRANDING AND IMAGE DEVELOPMENT ................................ 156
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
2
Introduction........................................................................................................... 156
Modelling the tourist destination’s image .......................................................... 157
Consumer behaviour and the need for image analysis .................................... 160
Risk perception..................................................................................................... 163
Strategic image management .............................................................................. 168
Product’s image as they key to product positioning ........................................ 172
Differentiating a destination or company by its image ..................................... 174
Conveying an image in the communication mix ................................................ 177
Tools to communicate an image ......................................................................... 178
Prevailing destination image themes ................................................................. 179
Changing image and segmentation .................................................................... 180
Crisis management .............................................................................................. 183
Branding ................................................................................................................ 185
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 192
References and additional reading ..................................................................... 193
UNIT 6. PRODUCT ................................................................................................ 195
Introduction........................................................................................................... 195
Product .................................................................................................................. 196
Product levels ....................................................................................................... 197
Product lifecycle ................................................................................................... 198
Product development and innovation ................................................................ 201
The nature of innovation: creation or change.................................................... 202
Determinants of innovation ................................................................................. 206
New product development process .................................................................... 208
Market readiness of your product ....................................................................... 216
References ............................................................................................................ 218
UNIT 7. PRICE AND YIELD MANAGEMENT ........................................................ 219
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
3
Introduction........................................................................................................... 219
Factors determining price.................................................................................... 220
Segmenting and pricing ....................................................................................... 230
Yield management ................................................................................................ 231
A price premium for being responsible? ............................................................ 234
References ............................................................................................................ 237
UNIT 8. PROMOTION AND MEDIA MANAGEMENT ............................................ 238
Introduction........................................................................................................... 238
Can’t do it, or can’t be bothered? ....................................................................... 241
Writing the RT message- make it relevant.......................................................... 245
RT communications in the customer journey .................................................... 249
Communications at the point of purchase ......................................................... 251
Communication tools ........................................................................................... 254
Advert .................................................................................................................... 255
Competitions, prize draws, special offers and other creative thinking ........... 255
Press release ........................................................................................................ 257
Travel books and press ....................................................................................... 257
Newsletter ............................................................................................................. 258
Video ...................................................................................................................... 258
In-hotel signs ........................................................................................................ 259
How to communicate sustainability-quality consistency ................................. 260
Greenwashing ....................................................................................................... 264
The Sins of Greenwashing................................................................................... 266
Avoiding greenwash ............................................................................................ 267
Reading ................................................................................................................. 272
UNIT 9. DISTRIBUTION ......................................................................................... 273
Introduction........................................................................................................... 273
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
4
Marketing directly: internationalising your product .......................................... 275
Marketing through dealers: relationship marketing .......................................... 279
How to approach a large tour operator with your product idea ....................... 282
Social media marketing and online retailing ...................................................... 284
eMarketing for the ultimate segmentation.......................................................... 291
References ............................................................................................................ 294
UNIT 10. SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATION ...................................................... 296
Introduction........................................................................................................... 296
Certification redefines sustainability .................................................................. 301
Benefits of certification ........................................................................................ 307
Equity in access to certification .......................................................................... 310
Typical problems with current sustainability certification programmes ......... 312
Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 315
References ............................................................................................................ 316
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
5
UNIT 1. MARKETING RESPONSIBLY, OR MARKETING
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM PRODUCTS?
Goals
After completion of this unit you should be able to:
Understand why marketing policy constitutes a central
component of overall tourism development and
operational policy; and why a strategic marketing
planning approach is necessary.
Understand why destinations should engage in
strategic marketing planning based on differentiation
and resource, by matching the resource to the market.
Appreciate the reasons for industry to engage intaking
responsibility for sustainability, and how this translates
into certain types of management and marketing
actions
Introduction
Did this unit’s title confuse you? In this first unit we review both the challenges faced
by companies in deciding to market their current products more responsibly, as well
as the equally complex challenges of bringing to market a more responsible set of
products. They arent’ necessarily the same thing.
Marketing is both part of the problem, and I believe part of the solution behind the
unsustainable use of resources. What do you think responsible tourism marketing is?
That’s less clear, but it is perceived often as either claims of charitable donations and
ecosavings, or at the other extreme hippy cycling holidays carrying all your camping
gear (often in wet weather). Basically, responsible (or often called green) marketing
has been done very poorly because very few marketers understand responsible
practices, while few companies that behave responsibly engage well in marketing.
Yet marketing professionals have the opportunity, and the duty, to make all of our
products greener. The scale of the challenge ahead is so great this can no longer be
a middle class niche market issue. All consumers must be engaged in consuming,
knowingly or unknowingly, a greater proportion of green products.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
10
What’s the departure point:
I generally believe in society, people do not want to knowingly do harm but
changing behaviour is complex,
Being green is for everyone, not just middle class, both as an opportunity and
as a responsibility,
The challenge is to change habit to make green normal, and the normal
green, and
Green products can and should be much better products in all their main
attributes.
Reading
Attention distance learners! All these books have Google
Books previews that will save you time and money.
Marketing in Travel and Tourism
Victor T. C. Middleton, Alan Fyall, Michael Morgan - 2009
Marketing communications in tourism and hospitality: concepts, ...
Scott McCabe - 2008 Marketing efficiency in tourism: coping with volatile demand
Peter Keller, Thomas Bieger - 2006 Handbook of Marketing Research Methodologies for Hospitality
and ...
Ronald A. Nykiel - 2007
Tourism-marketing performance metrics and usefulness auditing
of ... - Page 1
Arch G. Woodside - 2010 Sustainable tourism: a marketing perspective
Victor T. C. Middleton, Rebecca Hawkins - 1998 -
To fully appreciate the role of marketing in tourism company and destination policy,
strategy and planning, it is necessary to consider the ways in which the tourism
sector differs from other economic sectors. Too many assumptions have been made
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
11
about the ability to sell green holidays because there’s a market for organic
chocolate or fair trade coffee.
Characteristics
A tourism destination has many different characteristics which are significant from a
marketing perspective. It:
is one product but also many,
involves many stakeholders with differing objectives and requirements,
is both a physical entity and a socio-cultural one,
is a mental concept for potential tourists,
is subject to the influence of current events, natural disasters, terrorism,
health scares etc
is subject to historical, real and fictitious events,
is evaluated subjectively in respect of its value-for-money (based on reality
compared with expectations), and
differs in size, physical attractions, infrastructure, benefits offered to visitors
and degree of dependence on tourism – in fact no two tourism destinations
can be treated the same.
Impacts
Tourism has a far wider range of direct and indirect impacts than other economic
sectors. At its simplest tourism can be seen to be a temporary addition to the
population of a given location, with tourists having all the needs and impacts that the
permanent population does, plus a few more besides. Government planning,
regulation etc is therefore needed; yet tourism is an economic sector in the main
executed by the private sector (with the exception of providing the infrastructure and
most of the attractions though, both key assets, but often provided at subsidised
rates). Tourism activity involves direct contact with the local population. Tourism,
then, involves a triumvirate of destination interests – state, private sector and
community. As such, tourism planning for development and marketing is unlike any
other economic sector and requires special approaches, procedures and institutions.
And yet all too often we make a mess of it!
Perception is the Reality
How a destination, or commercial tourism organisation, promotes its products and/or
services is a key factor in the realisation of developmental or economic/financial
objectives. In an activity like tourism where the customer is “remote” from the place
he/she is considering to visit, or from the tourism products and service he/she is
thinking to buy, tourism marketing is a central component of tourism. Two of the
adages of tourism marketing arising from this situation are that: “you cannot test
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
12
drive a holiday” and “in tourism, the perception is the reality”. You will see that
traditionally most of the effort from national tourist offices (NTOs) is attempting to
change the perception of destinations, rather than directly selling holidays, although
this is changing, and NTOs are having to be more commercially minded.
From the perspective of these three factors alone, it can be seen that:
Tourism is an industrial sector requiring a different policy and planning
approach to others; and
Marketing policy is central to a destination’s tourism development since it is
the vehicle which will determine whether the destination succeeds in its
economic and other objectives for the sector.
Government intervention in the form of tourism planning is justified in market-driven
economies by one or more of: market failure; market imperfection and public/social
concerns about market outcomes. Market failure takes many forms: inadequate
protection of the environment where tourism can exploit common resources
(“tragedy of the commons”), exploitation of local populations, erosion of indigenous
culture, and weak infrastructure provision – with high dependence on governments
to act as the main providers - being the principal examples.
Reasons to be responsible
There are many reasons to be responsible, and every one of these has an impact on
your marketability- remember marketing isn’t just communication or sales.
Reading
Corporate social responsibility practices have been mostly
analyzed in the large manufacturing business context, with
little attention paid to the service sector and even less to
small and medium-sized accommodation enterprises. This
study aims to fill this gap through analyzing how these
enterprises take responsibility. A survey of nearly 400
enterprises showed that the main reason for acting
responsibly is altruistic, although competitiveness reasons
are also important. Aspects of the "Resource-based view" of
the firm are validated through the positive impact of
environmental costsavings in financial performance, but also
because other practices (not always related with economic
reasons) are influencing their competitiveness.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
13
Indulge me and take a look at one of my latest papers, it’s
relevant to the point we are making here.
Garay, L & Font, X (2011) Doing good to do well? Corporate
Social Responsibility Reasons, Practices and Impacts in
Small and Medium Accommodation Enterprises, International
Journal of Hospitality Management. In publication
Copyright reasons means we cannot put journal articles in
the resource disc, but your university username and
password allow you to download this direct from the journal’s
website.
Reading
This is a clearly written article that reviews CSR across all
industries.
Carroll A.B. and Shabana, K.M. (2010) The Business Case
for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts,
Research and Practice, International Journal of
Management Reviews, Vol. 12. - pp. 85-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2009.00275.x. or
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.14682370.2009.00275.x/pdf
Revenue Growth
Being seen to be sustainable can help increase income by securing the loyalty of
current customers and attracting new ones, resulting in increased market share.
Companies can change their current products to increase quality by being more
sustainable, add new product lines to extend stay or expenditure or diversify the
product choice to keep customers and promote repeat business. The market accepts
pay for sustainable produce if they meet the key quality, location and convenience
attributes. The temptation of tapping in the green market however has led to many
mistakes and jumping onto the bandwagon without proper expert advice will
undoubtedly do you more harm than good.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
14
Cost Savings
Sustainability actions can help lower operating costs and improve overall productivity
and efficiency by reducing resource use, decreasing waste output and avoiding noncompliance fines. Energy and transport prices will go up, so will food and most
supplies. Sustainable supply chain management, lean production and efficient
engineering are needed to reduce costs wherever possible. There is now sufficient
expertise available to reduce key operating costs by up to 30% on a typical business.
Access to Capital
As environmental and social criteria are becoming a standard part of lending risk
assessments, sustainable tour operators are more likely to be able to attract capital
from banks and investors. Large businesses will, however, need to show corporate
social reports that go beyond public relations glossy adverts for their customer’s
charitable donations though. Small firms will be seen as less risky to lend to when
they have a well worked out business plan that takes into account increasing prices
of resources.
Human Capital
Staff are more likely to feel proud of working for employers that take their
responsibilities to society seriously. Tour operators and hoteliers alike known for their
sustainability policies have an increased capacity to attract and retain skilled and
talented employees and contract labour, thus increasing their ability to innovate and
compete. BUT create a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy that your staff
laugh at and you will take two steps back. Take advice on how to engage staff
properly and make your CSR work not only believable, but shared. Remember that
sustainability problems are HUMAN problems, technically we could solve most of
them if we had the understanding and will to do it.
Brand Value and Reputation
A reputation for being sustainable adds value to a tour operator’s brand and
strengthens its market position, making it less vulnerable to short-term market and
economic changes. Let’s face it, while the market was expanding there was business
for everyone but now the fighting gets ugly. Only the best positioned companies will
be able to use their CSR work to differentiate their strategy and positioning.
Preservation of Destinations
Acting sustainably helps make tourist destinations more pleasant places to visit and
live in. Ensuring the long-term quality of the destination also helps reduce risks in
business viability.
Return on investment of building hotels is somewhere between 10 and 25 years,
depending on the cost of land and construction- however you can seriously shorten
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
15
this if you use hotels as a hub to sell apartments, where you repay your investment
almost instantaneously- or at least you used to when these were selling like hot
cakes. In the destinations where hotels are just a way to sell real estate, the
emphasis changes from long term destinations to short term selling. Shareholders
and constituencies will put pressure on managers and politicians for short term gains
and appearance of success. The real winners keep an eye on the horizon.
Improved Service
Sustainable management makes holiday facilities safer and healthier for employees
and visitors, whilst supporting the local community and enhancing their economic
well-being increases staff morale, resulting in improved service and thus higher
customer satisfaction. Even the market for sea-sand-sun can be improved by
providing fun excursions and not the current rip offs. The growing family adventure
market and the (few) good voluntourism companies have shown new avenues for
innovation. Every sector though must innovate- those that don’t - beware!
Risk Management and License to Operate
Tour operators can reduce their legal liability by managing compliance and preempting relevant legislation. For instance, the likelihood of losses from damage to
their reputation can be reduced by demonstrating a proactive stance towards
destination sustainability and product quality, which can be used as defence in any
litigation.
Pre-empting Government Regulations
Governments are increasingly under pressure from NGOs, unions and the general
public to regulate the business sector. This pressure increases if bad practices are
uncovered. Tour operators that develop their own codes of conduct and produce
independently verified performance reports are in a strong position to influence any
proposed legislation.
Reading
More than ever we are thinking there’s a business case
behind being green. WTM had traditionally been the only
outlet, yet ITB 2009 changed that- In the US, the 2009 Green
Travel Summit was a first for this market- not necessarily for
its contents, but its bold belief that you can charge real
money for an event on greening the tourism industry.
Read it online at http://www.greentravelsummit.com/ to see
speakers and outcomes from the event from 2009 onwards.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
16
Reading
The Ernst & Young report ‘Hospitality going green’ looks at
the concept and growth of sustainability within the hospitality
industry in various regions worldwide. In Asia, the rise of
brands with sustainability or ‘green’ strategies at their core is
highlighted, whilst in Europe the lifestyle hotel sector is
identified as the first to consider the ‘green’ agenda as part of
their brand image.
The report is available online at
http://www.irei.com/uploads/marketresearch/128/
marketResearchFile/hospitality_insights_DF0052.pdf
or on the resource disc as mkt1’1’Ernst&Young.pdf
Reading
The theory sounds good, but why don’t all firms engage
equally, then? We tested this issue with small firms certified
by the Green Tourism Business Scheme, to understand why
they adopt different practices. We used theories of
motivation to help us explain how engagement is influed by
differences in worldviews, selfǦefficacy beliefs (how they think
they might succeed), context beliefs (how they perceive their
environment influences them) and goal orientation (what is
important to them as individuals in their business).
Sampaio, A., Thomas, R. & Font, X (2011) Why are some
engaged and not others? Explaining environmental
engagement among small firms in tourism, International
Journal of Tourism Research. In publication.
Let’s look at the reasons for being sustainable in a different way. The table below
maps out actions a company can take to be responsible in relation to each of five
key audiences that you want to influence, and against three aims. Starting with the
organisation itself, the organisation can preserve resources by raising staff
awareness, it can develop corporate advantage by keeping good staff relations, and
save money through ecosavings- training staff to reduce operating costs that also
improve environmental performance.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
17
Having reached this point, and not before, a company can start looking at how they
can use their improved green/sustainable/responsible management to influence or
use other stakeholders, be it shaping public sector policies by showing leadership,
gaining financial advantage with customers through increase in prices, or corporate
endorsement of NGOs for example.
Most companies start their responsible tourism practices because they perceive they
have to (everyone is doing it) and because they think a quick fix will reap short term
benefits. This is not the case. Simply copying what others do can land businesses in
more trouble than it’s worth, qualified advice is needed as in every other aspect of
business.
Activity 1.1 – Prioritising your RT marketing actions
There’s much you can do to be more responsible, so you
need to prioritise. From a marketing point of view, priorities
will relate to how they contribute to your business case. For
now the type of actions you can assess against these
criteria will be intuitive, while by the end of the module they
should be based on what you have learned. Score each
potential action with 1 or 0 against how they contribute to
each of these points:
Action 1
Action 2
Action 3
Revenue growth
Cost savings
Access to capital
Human capital
Brand value/ reputation
Preserve destinations
Improved service
Risk management
Pre-empt regulations
Total
My question all along has been: what help is available for small firms that are
working responsibly already, but have limited market access?. These firms will say
there is no market for responsible tourism, but I usually find this is because they do
not understand BUSINESS. Being responsible will not bring customers, it is only part
of a good management strategy. Whether you have a small B&B or tour company for
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
18
lifestyle reasons, or because it is the only way to make a living where you are, you
need to know about running a company first.
Table 1.1. Reasons to be responsible
Corporate Attitudes Towards the Environment
Note that earlier I said you first have to be green before you market green. It seems
obvious, yet the marketing departments I have spoken to do not understand
green/responsible other than as tactics, not as strategy. It is treated as another
opportunity for a campaign, or ignored as too difficult or irrelevant. Below is my
proposal for modelling the behaviour of companies, depending on whether they do
green marketing, green management, or just one or neither of them. In tourism
marketing “perception is reality”, and if marketers too often think “we should not let
the truth get in the way of a good story”, you can see how tempting it is to
greenwash.
The conservationists. Companies internalising environmental sustainability costs
on a continuous improvement basis. These companies understand the green path as
a continuous improvement path, rather than a fixed state. Their management
systems incorporate environmental sustainability as part of quality and they set
themselves targets higher than governmental regulations, yet they do NOT use their
sustainability performance to promote themselves, often because this would
generate additional unwanted demand, or because they would draw attention to
themselves. Most international hotel chains are doing good work on energy and
water savings, but they will not communicate this to consumers because it sends a
negative message about having to make compromises on quality. Hilton and Accor
would fall in this category.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
19
Figure 1.1. Corporate attitudes towards the environment
Example
Shangri-la Hotels, an Asian based luxury hotel group with
over 60 hotels, has had an extensive environmental
management programme in place for many years and their
Corporate Social Responsibility policy is outlined on their
website. But unlike e.g. Six Senses and Banyan Tree (which
are well known for their responsible tourism commitments),
Shangri-la does not promote itself based on its CSR
activities.
Look at their website: http://www.shangrila.com/en/corporate/aboutus/overview where you will see their
brand is based on the concept of ‘Asian hospitality’. Read the
Shangri-la Culture pages.
The green entrepreneur. Those companies that will have sustainability standards
as high as the conservationist companies but will also use their performance as a
promotional tool. These will be companies using competitive edge sustainability
management with a marketing focus, i.e. they will be “enviropreneurial” companies.
&Beyond (formerly CC Africa) would fall in this category. Walley and Taylor (2006)
have identified four typologies of green entrepreneurs that would help to explain in
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
20
more detail my own interpretation of green entrepreneur. Although they have
different motives and objectives, they share highly responsible management
practices that are used for marketing:
1. The innovative opportunist entrepreneur is generally influenced by drivers
such as regulation that may lead to the identification of a green business
opportunity.
2. The visionary champion sets up the business on both sustainability and
“business-as-usual” principles.
3. The ethical maverick also bases their businesses in sustainability values but
tend to avoid mainstream businesses; friends, networks and previous
experiences exert great influence for the business formation.
4. The ad-hoc enviropreneur is the accidental green entrepreneur, with financial
and not values-driven reasons, having been influenced mostly by family,
friends and personal networks.
Example
Two luxury hotel groups based in Asia who’s responsible
tourism commitments – and in particular their environmental
programmes – are very much part of their brands. Look at
Six Senses at http://www.sixsenses.com/home.php and Banyan
Tree at http://www.banyantree.com/
The distracters. Companies that will take the “can do” rather than the “should do”
approach. These companies will want to be seen as green, and will focus on issues
that they can easily deal with as their only environmental flagship.
The compliers. These are companies that comply with current legislation as a
hurdle to tourism development. Environment is not a priority, and it will have little
implications on management.
The opportunists. Companies that use sustainability claims for marketing purposes,
with little change in resource planning and management. These companies will
comply with the basic environmental legislation and will have institutionalised
environmental concerns via mission statements and broad aims. These will be
presented to society via promotion, with little substance.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
21
The skivers. Opportunity-driven companies that, in the name of economic profits,
will deny their most basic responsibilities to the environment. These companies do
not comply with all environmental legislation and try to not draw attention to the
environment around their organisation. “Externalising” (i.e. getting someone else to
pay for) your social and environmental costs is seen as a way of maximising profit.
The cowboys. Similar to the skivers, but these companies promote their tourism
products as being nature-based without being respectful to the resources used. This
can be easier in tourism than other sectors due to differences between the tourist
destination and the tourists’ origin caused by the distance and the legal frameworks.
I could name some voluntourism companies easily falling in this category!
What would be the consequences of these profiles when it comes to greenwashing,
or communicating before actions? The table below follows nicely (although in this
case responsible actions (high high) are on the bottom right quadrant, while in the
figure I had made above they are in the top right quadrant)
Figure 1.2. Actions vs. Communications
Source: Hudson, S (2008) Tourism and hospitality marketing, London, SAGE.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
22
Activity 1.2 – Mapping out companies
Use the figure above to position some companies that you
are aware of, and think why they would fit that profile. Think
of what a company would need to do to move from one
position to another, in particular the company you work for if
that’s relevant.
Use this typology to consider some of the case studies
collected through Assessment 1 by other students. On what
basis would you say a company fits into one of these
typologies?
Reading
Tapscott, D. & Ticoll, D. (2003) The Naked Corporation: How
the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business, Free
Press.
The authors argue that corporate transparency is not
optional but rather inevitable. They also counter the
conventional wisdom that transparency costs companies,
instead contending that transparency enhances shareowner
value. This radical disclosure policy allows Progressive
corporations to escape the anxiety that leads many
companies to manipulate their quarterly earnings reports to
match forecasts and instead focus on long-term
performance. They see socially responsible investment, and
the term transparency, as becoming so pervasive they will be
invisible- by extension we could assume green marketing will
follow the same fate.
Read it online at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0743246500/
ref=sib_dp_pop_ff?ie=UTF8&p=S002#reader-link
Clearly not all companies or destinations see a case to be more responsible.
Consider this Travel Weekly poll of travel agents in December 2006 that asked how
can an industry that profits from people travelling ever be considered ‘green’?
Only advances in technology will ever make travel 'green': 51%
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
23
Travel should forget being 'green' and promote other advantages: 26%
It can’t and Government taxation on travel is inevitable: 19%
It can but only if it accepts fewer people should travel: 4%
Not what we would want, although not that surprising either. The survey below is
more recent and goes into more detail. This latter research was conducted before
the economic crisis and the fuel price increase had become even more apparent in
the second half of 2008. It does however paint a fairly gloomy picture for self
regulation of the sector.
Reading
In 2008, the Institute for Travel and Tourism surveyed over
500 tour operators and travel agents, of which 99 responded.
This study is available to purchase for £45 from
www.itt.co.uk, and the main points are summarised here.
The findings suggest that:
1. Those operating as travel agents and tour operators
do not welcome government regulation as a response
to climate change, preferring to adopt voluntary
measures. Paradoxically, however, only a third of the
firms surveyed feel that travel and tourism businesses
have a role to play in controlling global warming.
2. Half the firms think that industry will respond to climate
change without the need for government regulation,
but together with previous answers (low number of
companies saying that they have a role to play in
tackling climate change). A similar survey of other
sectors found that they are much more likely to accept
responsibility and the need to take action.
3. More than half of the firms surveyed think that the
sector has a ‘bad press’, even though it is considered
by respondents to make no more of a contribution to
climate change than many other sectors of the
economy. A similar proportion feels threatened by the
issue of climate change.
4. On the evidence of this survey, most businesses—
some 70 per cent—do not know how to respond to
climate change. This suggests that a comprehensive
knowledge transfer programme relating to this issue
might be appropriate.
5. Approximately a third of those surveyed claimed that
they would be prepared to work for slightly less pay if
this were in exchange for more environmentally
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
24
sensitive business practices. 56 per cent did not
consider such a proposition to be appealing.
How corporate principles affect marketing
What are you trying to do? I mean, why are you letting people know you are green?
Is your aim to change how people: 1) view the world- the culture of consumption, or
2) what they actually do or buy? Is your aim to satisfy market needs by making them
aware of these and turning them into demands? Or do you see your role as in
satisfying demands they are already aware of? The further down this list you go, the
easier your job is in a way, but also the less attention you will receive for it is less
innovative.
Reading
Grant, J. (2007) The Green Marketing Manifesto, Chichester,
John Wiley. Section II The Green Marketing Grid, Overview,
pages 59-74.
One of the only books speaking about green marketing, you
won’t agree with all it says but the grid he develops will
become part of how the world tries to analyse green
marketing in the future. If you like this chapter, probably
worth buying it considering it’s usually not expensive- the rest
of the book develops each element in detail.
Read from resource disc as
mkt1’2’greenmarketingmanifesto.pdf
In his most useful book The Green Marketing Manifesto, John Grant breaks down
green marketing into three types (2007: 12):
A. Green- setting new standards- communicate: having commercial objectives
only (where the product, brand or company is greener than alternatives, but
the marketing is straightforward about establishing this difference)
B. Greener- sharing responsibility- collaborate: having green objectives as well
as commercial objectives (the marketing itself achieves green objectives, for
instance changing the way people use this product).
C. Greenest- supporting innovation- cultural reshaping: having cultural objectives
as well (making new ways of life and new business models normal and
acceptable).
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
25
Figure 1.3. John Grant’s green marketing grid
A. Green
B. Greener
C. Greenest
1. Public Company
& Markets
Set an example
Develop the
market
New business
concepts
2. Social Brands &
Belonging
Credible
partnerships
Tribal brands
Trojan Horse Ideas
3. Personal
Products & Habits
Market a benefit
Change usage
Challenge
Consuming
Set new standards.
Communicate
Share
responsibility.
Collaborate
Support innovation.
Culture reshaped
(Source: Grant, 2007:14)
Still, it is hard to understand why there is such variation in behaviours towards
sustainability- can’t most companies benefit from it? And how do we explain the
impact that different reasons for taking responsibility will have on the credibility of the
firm?
Most of these benefits are only achieved through time and a change in company
values; those that look for quick fixes because of pressure to be seen to be green
chance being publicly criticised for greenwashing. There are also many companies
working more responsibly but greenhushing, i.e. not publicly speaking about it
because of fears of being criticised.
The corporate principles behind why a firm behaves more or less responsibly will
affect how they plan to use their actions for marketing. ICRT PhD graduate
Mohammed El Dief has developed a framework that distinguishes three dimensions
of organizational values: competitiveness (instrumental), legitimacy (relational) and
altruism (ethical); and seeks to understand how such value dimensions can lead
firms to adopt beyond environmental compliance practices.
Competitiveness, as it relates to the natural environment, explains how firms can
search for cost efficiency or market opportunities and hence gaining competitive
advantages over their competitors by applying proactive environmental strategies.
Legitimacy-based values, however, relates environmental actions as a means to
achieve cordial relations with external stakeholders by adhering to the broadly
accepted values, norms and regulations. Finally, altruism stems from the argument
that some firms search for lower environmental impacts because they see this as
“the right thing to do”. Don’t dismiss it as theory, it’s important to understand these
three points because they will affect all that happens afterwards, and you can use it
to interpret their actions in your assignment.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
26
Much of his PhD looks at how personal and organisational ethical values influence
the organisation’s green management, and green marketing. His research suggests
that a firm's choice of environmental strategies are a function of managerial
interpretations of environmental issues either as opportunity or a threat, and points to
internal and external factors that affect how this environment is perceived. There are
studies documenting the impact that all of these internal factors have on responsible
behaviour: CEO and top management support and involvement, shareholder
pressure, employee contribution, availability of financial resources, size and visibility
of firm, belonging to an international corporation or chain and attracting certain
international markets, and quality of services.
External factors affect organizational behaviour in the extent that companies
perceive them as an opportunity or threat. In terms of a threat, business
responsiveness is the result of business desire to avoid negative consequences of
non-compliance to external institutional pressures (most typically threat of regulation,
but also de facto requirements to trade). Government regulation, trade association
policies and standards, public concern and market demand [these are different
though], suppliers or contractors. The ability to integrate stakeholder concerns into
their strategy has shown to be a key indicator of whether companies will be
proactively responsible.
Reading
UNEP’s report on sustainable motivation
This report reviews the marketing and communications
basics and evaluates how the objectives of sustainability can
be aligned with the needs of marketers. The study was
initiated to try to account for the discrepancy that exists
between 30 years of promoting the sustainability message
and the perceived lack of sustainable behaviour by
consumers and corporate buyers. It is partly a review of past
research and partly an expression of ideas concerning the
role of marketers.
The study discusses the gap that exists between knowledge
and behaviour and suggests research approaches that may
be followed to improve marketer’s understanding. It also
discusses the requirements for culture change which might
improve receptivity and cognizance of information but which
are largely absent. The study highlights some of the
inadequacies of current research methods, while
emphasising that research is required to monitor trends
which may be taken account of by marketers.
The report reveals many inadequacies of current research
and CSR reporting which might be expected to improve the
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
27
marketing performance of companies:
although concern for sustainability issues is high, the
strength and depth of attitudes are low
the necessary ingredients for cultural change are
absent
the level of debate about sustainability is
uninformative and short-hand communications are
ineffective
CSR reporting is directed to the wrong audience
CSR performance cannot become an intangible asset
of businesses and affect shareholder value unless it
first affects their business performance
marketers need to take a holistic view of their
organisation and the value of sustainable production
to brand image
Read online from http://www.theresponsiblemarketer.org/
and
http://www.mpgintl.com/papers/CIM%20Final%20Report__Jun%202006.pdf or
from resource disc as 1’3’Sustainable production and
consumption.pdf
Read also from the resource disc the related report
1’4’Sustainable motivation.pdf
What I want to do in presenting the business case for responsible tourism in the
marketing module is to present a more holistic way of understanding this subject.
Marketing is not advertising, it includes product design to suit the needs of the
market. The market here not only refers to independent leisure tourists, but a full
range of stakeholders, with key ones shown in table 1.1. If we see marketing in this
much broader context and stop trying to find niche backpacker markets, we will see
many more reasons for RT marketing, and many more benefits.
The Marketing Response
Marketers run the tourism industry. It is not the product that rules, but the brand. The
marketer in other sectors has been very clever in providing “added value” in the
product through its packaging that appeals to the consumer’s inner needs and
demands, differentiating that product and communicating it in the most subliminal
ways. The aim has been to “satisfy consumer needs”, they say.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
28
Reading
Some materials are now being written to bring together
responsible behaviour and marketing knowledge. Here are two
worth reading:
WWF, Let them eat cake.
Read it online at http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/
let_them_eat_cake_abridged.pdf
or from the resource disc as mkt1’5’letthemeatcake.pdf
CSR Europe’s Sustainable Marketing guide
Read it online at
http://www.csreurope.org/data/files/sustainablemarketingguide.pdf
or from the resource disc as
mtk1’6’CSREuropegreenmarketingguide.pdf
Kotler and Lee, 2005, Corporate Social Responsibility: doing the
most good for your company and your cause. New York: John
Wiley.
Read it online (although not complete),at
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2ppzhuJyyPgC&printsec=
frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 or get one of our 9
library copies sent to you by our distance learning librarian at
[email protected] (we pay the postage, you pay to return them)
The problem is that whether we think marketers are nice people or not, we still have
to work with them. Change from within is the only answer, I would suggest. So get in
the shoes of a marketer to see how they would instinctively use ethical consumer
values. I have listed them here following the layout of Kotler and Lee’s book
Corporate Social Responsibility. These include:
1. Cause promotions
2. Cause related marketing
3. Social marketing
4. Corporate philanthropy
5. Community volunteering
6. Socially responsible business practices
1. Cause Promotions
The company provides funds, in-kind contributions, or other organization resources
to increase awareness and concern about a social cause. Contributions are not tied
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
29
to company sales, and most of the effort is communicating the social message, not
in changing business practices of the firm. It involves more than charitable donations
from the company as some staff time is required to plan how the cause promotion
will be run.
The purpose of the cause promotion is to raise awareness, not to change behaviour
of the consumer. Providing retail and online store space are typical cause promotion
activities. Most cause promotions are run by NGOs and the private firm provides
some in kind assistance, usually in consumer outreach. Benefits are mainly on brand
positioning- selecting the cause is important in this respect, it needs to reinforce the
good behaviour of the company and it is best if it the problem cannot be directly
attributed to the company or similar companies, as it can be counterproductive.
Examples of activities include:
Building awareness of a cause or problem, such as the poor animal, natural or
human conditions in a holiday destination.
Persuading people to learn more about the cause, such as coral damage or
the loss of natural habitats for wild animals.
Persuading people to donate time, money, or non monetary resources.
Persuading people to participate in events, such as take an excursion to the
charity being promoted.
Example
The JW Marriott Phuket launched the Mai Khao Marine Turtle
Foundation in 2002. Read online how the hotel is involved, the
range of products that can be bought at the hotel, and the activities
guests can participate in:
http://www.jwmarriottphuket.com/turtlenew.swf and
http://www.maikhaoturtles.com/
Banyan Tree have a number of projects running in various
locations, ranging from three marine biology laboratories, turtle
conservation and community youth support initiatives to Earth
Day activities, tree planting programmes and a large range of
Save the World / Save the Oceans merchandise developed in
partnership with a gallery. Look at the range of activities at:
http://origin-www.banyantree.com/csr/index.html
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
30
Activity 1.3–Dig out your own examples of cause promotions.
Is Trip Advisor really concerned about responsible tourism?
Unlikely. Their recent charitable donations campaign
achieved two purposes, one is to align their product with
altruistic consumer values, without having to change the
way they retail at all, the second is to collect email
addresses for direct marketing.
For submitting your details you got a free ecopy of their
report Get the Truth, then Go Green (Read it from the
resource disc as mkt1’7GoGreen.pdf ) which won’t do
anything to change behaviour and is just a very early
attempt to change views within the company at its best. Call
me cynical if you wish. Can you think of similar campaigns?
2. Cause related marketing
The company commits to making a contribution or donating a percentage of
revenues to a specific cause based on product sales e.g. donate 5% of the price of
each product sold. This is usually for a pre-specified period (often low season) and
for a specific charity. There is a mutually beneficial financial arrangement, and the
company will expect a collaboration from the charity to drive business through to
them in return for the funds raised, as well as the image benefits through brand
association, which can lead to empathy image, brand recall and top of mind
awareness.
Because of the higher stakes, there is usually a more formal contractual agreement
between the two parties. This is more easily done in fast consumer moving goods,
where profit margins are higher as the cost of production is very small compared to
the typical retail price.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
31
In tourism, cause related marketing might be used to boost shoulder and low season
sales as a contribution to fixed costs (see pricing section in unit 5). You can
otherwise make donations on the purchase of add-on products that would
complement a main sale, as a way of incentivising additional buy (i.e. percentage of
sales on green/ethical travel insurance or greener car hire, which customers might
not otherwise buy from you). The donation can be linked to a percentage of the
product sold, or a fixed amount per booking, or matching consumer donations.
Promotion of carbon offsetting in particular would fit this category, when firms do it
for the consumer, match contributions or provide add on benefits to anyone that
offsets. Cause related marketing works best when the cause you support is unique
and cannot be easily copied by competitors, when this partnership has been long
term and not just last minute, and when the cause is of direct interest to your target
market. Koter and Lee give examples in their book from McDonald’s, NorthWestern
Airlines and American Express; examples which are all of relevance to our sector.
Reading
In 2006, Sir Richard Branson pledged to invest $3bn
(£1.6bn) to fight global warming. The Virgin boss has
committed all profits from his travel firms, such as airline
Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains, over the next 10 years. The
funds are being invested in schemes to develop new
renewable energy technologies, through an investment unit
called Virgin Fuels. This is part of Branson's plan to turn his
vast empire, which spans planes, trains, mobile phones,
travel, wine, and even spaceships, green.
Whether some of these are first publicity stunts or
sustainability practices will depend on viewpoints, and
certainly the use of biofuel as currently known is not
sustainable, yet testing commercially alternative fuel sources
is part of moving forward in the low carbon economy debate.
A global survey in 47 countries with 26,000 participants has
found that UK participants voted Richard Branson as the
best person to lead a global combat against climate changethis “brand recognition” isn’t something you earn quickly, and
his cause related marketing must have contributed in part.
Read online at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/sep/22/
travelnews.frontpagenews news about Branson’s pledges- a
Google search will give you much more.
Reading
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
32
Pringle, H & Thompson, M, (1999) Brand Spirit: How Cause
Related Marketing Builds Brands, Chichester: John Wiley
Read it online at http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/
0471499447/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link (not complete).
Cause Marketing forum- use this forum- amongst other
topics it speaks, rather naively, about holidaymakers wanting
business to help them do good.
Read and contribute online at
http://www.causemarketingforum.com/
Reading
The Galapagos Conservation Fund was established by
Lindblad Expeditions. Customers that make a charitable
donation of USD250 receive a discount coupon for the same
amount for their next trip. Lindblad not only donates to this
conservation but has a programme for other organisations to
apply for donations.
Read online at
http://www.sustainabletravel.org/docs/pdf_Lindblad.pdf or
from the resource disc as
mkt1’8’Galapagosconservationfund.pdf
Check the company’s website at
http://www.expeditions.com/Our_Philosophy85.asp
3. Social Marketing
Social marketing supports the development and/or implementation of a behaviour
change campaign. These will typically include aspects of how to behave during your
holiday at the destination, what to wear, what are the traditions of the place, how to
speak with locals, what souvenirs to buy (e.g. avoid endangered species or historical
artefacts), and not to touch corals or feed animals to mention some typical aspects.
Aside from this, tour operators promoting travelling by public transport to the airport
would also fall in this category.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
33
Reading
ECPAT’s Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from
Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism has been signed
by TUI-UK, while other tour operators are actively working
with ECPAT UK on implementing policies, training and
information sharing in their organisations, both within the UK
and abroad. In order to create local ownership, ECPAT UK
has developed a training guide for trainers in the tourism
industry and regularly conducts training of trainers to enable
the operators to undertake such training programmes
independently.
As of November 2008, Comic relief has granted funding to
ECPAT UK in partnership with ABTA to develop and
implement an online training course for travel and tourism
professionals to protect children both travelling with UK travel
companies and children in holiday destinations.
ABTA and ECPAT will work in collaboration with the Travel
Industry’s Child Protection Group to develop the course and
will launch the product in 2009.
The Travel Industry’s Child Protection Group was set up last
year by ABTA and is made up of Tour Operator and Travel
Agent Members as well as representatives from the police
and NSPCC.
ECPAT has already provided training courses for social
workers and police in preventing the trafficking of children, as
well as delivering a pilot course with First Choice in 2005,
with the backing of the Travel Foundation.
The company needs to provide a positive solution to the alternative behaviour, and it
is important to introduce these campaigns in a tactful way that do not give the
impression to customers that had never thought about commiting some of those
“offences” that this is the kind of tourists that goes with that company or
establishment.
I have seen signs in hotels from Copacabana to Siem Reap about not being allowed
to have “guests” in the rooms are quite shocking to some of the customers when
they realise this is to prevent sexual exploitation - “Could this be happening just in
the next room along? Maybe even in this very bed just some days ago!”.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
34
4. Corporate Philanthropy
The company makes a direct contribution to a charity or cause, most often in the
form of cash grant, donations, and/or in-kind service. Philanthropy or charitable
donations should be used when the contractual powers of the company do not allow
to change some of the unsustainability of the destination or environments that the
company operates in, especially if these can be attributed as externalities of the
company, i.e. if the operating of the company has in any way contributed to
aggravating them.
There are hundreds of individual and association level examples of charitable
donations, and these can clearly have brand, image and press coverage benefits. I
will not go into these in more detail because I personally find focusing on them alone
is not a good precedent for responsible tourism marketing- we need to go deeper.
Clearly collecting the spare change on a flight back is a worthy activity, and will
contribute in some small way, but I am not prepared to call that company responsible
just for doing that.
Reading
Build in sustainability from the hotel siting (choosing its
location) and design. Well, if you can’t, at least do some
philanthropy at that stage. Hotel development firm Ridge
Hospitality is different, in that from the outset in their
homepage they use their philanthropic activities as a
marketing tool. Annoyingly, there’s nothing here about how
other aspects of the project management will ensure the
building of the hotel deals with its impacts.
Read it online at http://www.ridgelinehospitality.com/
Example
Check the Four Seasons website, Corporate Values section:
http://www.fourseasons.com/about_us/corporate_values/
“Since 1992, Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas
has supported local cancer facilities. So far, it has raised$2
million through a series of events called Four Seasons Cool
October – a month of festivities including a run, a golf tournament,
sports marathons, a dinner, an auction and a community raffle”.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
35
Reading
Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) of the World are partners in the Good
Night Foundation, a recently created philanthropic effort to
leverage the generosity of hotel guests to contribute to a range of
social causes. This is part of the SLH portfolio of activities within
its Caring Luxury, in itself an example of responsible tourism
positioning. In my view, this is at least in part guilt alleviation- but
a very well managed project indeed.
Read about SHL’s Caring Luxury at
http://www.slh.com/caringluxury.html and
about Good Night Foundation at
http://www.spafinder.com/NewsReleases/October8/GoodNight.pdf
or
from the resource disk as mkt1’9’Goodnightfoundation.pdf
Reading
A&K Launches Travel Philanthropy Initiative, reports
Travelmole on 24 November, 2008.
Read it from the resource disk as mkt'1'10'Travel
Philanthropy Initiative.doc
5. Community Volunteering
We all understand volunteering now, it is sufficiently common: a company supports
and encourages employees, retail partners, and/or franchise members to volunteer
their time to support local community organization and causes. We have fewer cases
than charitable donations, some of these are long term partnerships and others are
punctual, some are annual events while others are year long activities. They do
contribute to company togetherness and feel good, while they can be criticised for
being shallow rewards for the chosen few- particularly if travel is involved- that put
additional financial pressure on the company overall. Companies will need to be
careful before deciding what level of effort they want to put into it, and for what
purpose.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
36
Reading
Many specialist tour operators informally volunteer, and most
large hotel chains also have volunteering programmes.
Large tour operators however, don’t. The exception in the UK
is First Choice, that volunteers staff time towards Travel
Foundation projects (at the moment the only tour operator
participating).
Normally these are middle management staff working on
specific projects, while in the Travel Foundation’s South Sinai
project I manage I had the help of four front line staff that did
surveys of snorkelling and desert excursions to back up the
need for training and to collect baseline data.
Read and watch online about the Travel Foundation
volunteer programme at
http://www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk/index.php?id=391
6. Socially responsible business practices
Interestingly, the last of the chapters in Kotler and Lee’s book speaks about adopting
and conducting discretionary business practices and investments that support social
causes to improve community wellbeing and protect the environment. As examples
they give community trade and environmental friendly processes, and give examples
of sourcing fair trade or organic coffee (e.g. Starbucks).
I say interestingly because you would be forgiven for thinking that changing business
practices should come first, and that focusing on the other aspects is greenwashing.
Yes, it is. But to the marketer, perception is reality unfortunately. Every other module
in our masters helps you think of ways in which the product can be genuinely made
more responsible, authentic and ethical. I hope what you learn throughout this
module is put to good use towards social marketing, not just traditional marketing.
Yes the company has to be market driven, but the responsible tourism company
needs to put ethics beyond legislation compliance first. Do it for real, then market it.
No gimmicks.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
37
Table 1.2. Branding approaches to Customer relations marketing
Source: Hudson, S (2008) Tourism and hospitality marketing, London, SAGE, page
442.
Reading
Travel Operators for Tigers goes beyond charity, by
promoting the responsible use of wild habitats in a variety of
integrated ways. Their main work, besides awareness
raising, is setting and advising on sustainability standards for
suppliers. While the member tour operators encourage
donations, they also donate themselves to a common pot of
funds to promote change from within. Integrated into the
supply chain, this change is more meaningful.
See it at http://www.toftigers.org/
Enough depressing thoughts. Table 1.2 provides an alternative way of breaking
down the different approaches to cause related marketing (here Hudson
understands cause related marketing as broader than Kotler and Lee though, as any
corporate philanthropy organised to increase the bottom line, and understood
specifically as marketing communications not other aspects of marketing. What is
useful about this table is the more practical aspects of running the CRM campaign
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
38
.
Strategic Marketing Planning
For marketing purposes, strategic planning is the process by which an organisation:
first, analyses its strengths and weaknesses in its current and prospective markets “where are we now?”; second, identifies its aims and the opportunities it seeks to
develop – “where do we want to get to?”; and, third, defines the strategies and
costed programmes of activity to achieve these aims – “how do we get there?”.
Strategic decisions are always focused on the longer run, normally beyond three
years.
Marketing strategy identifies and is designed to produce future sales revenue
through the specification of market segments to be targeted, products to be
developed and focussed on, and associated action programmes to realise the
potential identified in these targeted segments. Business strategy is not only about
marketing, but all strategy for commercial organisations depends on its ability to
persuade sufficient customers to buy enough of its products to secure a surplus of
revenue over costs in the long run and to produce customer satisfaction. The key
components of marketing strategy are:
Goals and objectives
The position or place in its chosen markets that an organisation seeks to occupy in a
future period, defined in terms of sectors of business, target market segments, sales
volume, product range, market shares and levels of profit.
Images, positioning and branding
Where the organisation wants to be in terms of the market’s (trade and consumer)
perceptions of its products and values, including image and branding in relation to
competitors.
Strategies and programmes
The specification of actions, including product development and investment, needed
to achieve the goals and objectives set.
Budget
What resources - human, technical and financial – are required to realise the goals.
Review and evaluation
Procedures and systems permitting the appraisal of the extent to which goals were
met in the context of overall market conditions (including competitors’ activities) and
external factors.
As Middleton and Clarke (2001) state: “strategy is essentially proactive in the sense
that it defines and wills the future shape of the organisation as well as responding to
changing industry patters, technology, market conditions and consumer needs.”
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
39
Tactical marketing planning
Tactical decisions are always focused on the short run - from a few weeks to a
maximum of one to one-and-a-half years - in which specific marketing campaigns
are planned, implemented and evaluated. Tactics respond to market conditions and
particularly to competitors’ activities. This is where too often green and responsible
marketing starts and ends. Tactical, or operational, marketing plans include:
Objectives and targets
Specified, quantified, volume and sales revenue targets and other specific marketing
objectives to be achieved.
Mix and budget
Decisions on the marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place) and marketing
budget.
Action programmes
The implementation of marketing programmes and coordination of promotional
activity to achieve specified targets.
Monitoring and control
an effective system of monitoring the results of the marketing and the application of
control procedures related to the agreed targets.
The Process of Marketing Planning
If we now understand the marketing context, and the mainly communications (and
not really marketing) actions that will become low hanging fruit, then what can we do
to get it right? Well, for a start understand marketing as a long term, strategic
function, not a tactical fix.
A marketing plan is essentially the means by which an organisation – whether a
commercial company, a not-for-profit organisation or a government agency or
authority – realises its goals in respect of its “market”. It is a navigational chart and
as such a tool for implementation, guiding the specific activities designed to influence
the behaviour of the market and enabling the effectiveness of such activities to be
assessed. The development of a marketing plan may not require intensive scholarly
work; it is an attitude that will govern and influence the directions an organisation
intends to go.
Drawing on Gartrell (1994), marketing plans typically include the following sections:
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
40
1. Executive Summary
The objective is to give a clear understanding of what the marketing plan is about
without going into detail. Though presented at the beginning it is usually completed
after the whole plan has been prepared. Length – 2 to 3 pages.
2. Situation Analysis
This assessment explores the structure, characteristics and performance of the
sector, the community, the travel product, the economic environment, and the
present and potential market. It is also known as “place audit”. For tourism place
marketing, some of the following questions should be examined:
What is present demand for tourism attractions and activities in your area?
What resources and facilities do you have to market to visitors?
What is your community known for? What kind of image does it have among
outsiders? And to local residents?
What are your strengths and weaknesses, and how do they impact your
tourism markets?
What changes do you anticipate over the next five years – taking account of
market and competitor trends – and how will they impact your ability to attract
visitors to your destination?
What other developments and trends might impact your
community/destination?
How responsive is your community to having visitors?
Developing a situation analysis is fundamental to better understand the
capabilities, potential and interest that may exist for visitors within a
destination.
3. Objectives and Goals
It is important in developing a marketing plan to establish measurable goals. This
requires careful consideration of the demand and supply potential of visitors to the
destination. Questions that address this issue are:
What kind of goals should be established? i.e. short or long term? Is there a
sound baseline against which such goals can be set?
What kinds of tourism markets should be targeted, and what goals should be
set for each target segment?
How will the organisation assess the attainment of these goals?
Are the goals realistic in terms of the organisation’s resources, timetables and
travel products?
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
41
4. Market Segments
The third essential element in a marketing plan is that of identifying and selecting the
target markets – market segmentation, a topic that is dealt with in detail in Unit 3. No
organisation has the financial resources to cover the whole of the market: it is
necessary to identify and select those sub-groups with most interest in the products
being offered. There are many means of segmenting the market, as seen in Unit 3.
5. Marketing Strategies
Once the segments to be targeted are identified, the marketing strategies likely to
produce the maximum penetration and benefit to the organisation are defined and
specified. In selecting the most appropriate marketing approaches and deciding on
the product’s positioning, the organisation will need to ask itself the following
questions:
Which selected marketing strategies will be the most effective for an identified
market segment?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of a strategy?
Who is affected by a selected strategy?
What combination of strategies might be most productive in reaching a
selected market segment?
6. Marketing Mix
How the product will be marketed to the targeted segments. Arriving at the most
appropriate marketing mix will be determined by answering the four key questions:
How will the product be offered to prospective tourist customers?
What should be the pricing structure for the product?
How should the product’s positioning and image be communicated to its
target market segments?
How will the product be distributed – made available - to tourists?
7.Resources
An organisation needs to allocate its resources adequately to support the
programmes outlined for attaining the desired goals. Without funding and personnel,
programmes will not be productive. The following questions need to be addressed:
To what extent will personnel and money be dedicated for a specific
programme?
Will the allocation be sufficient to reach the desired programme goal?
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
42
Does the organisation have other community resources that might be
employed towards a specific programme to ensure its success?
This section should also have a clear and transparent marketing budget.
8. Implementation
Scheduling and timing are key determinants of the success of a marketing plan.
These affect the placement of advertising and its impact on the targeted market
segment. Questions that might direct the implementation of a plan include:
When is the best time to launch a specific marketing strategy for a specific
market segment?
What kind of lead times applicable to various market segments would impact
goal achievement?
In what sequence should various marketing elements be implemented? Does
one strategy need to follow another to maximise impact?
Who is doing what? When? How? And with whom? In implementing a
programme, is it coordinated for maximum efficiency?
9. Assessment
Being able to evaluate a marketing effort is imperative. The questions to be posed
include:
What kinds of results are being sought in a specific marketing effort? Are the
results quantified?
What kinds of criteria have been established against which to assess a
marketing programme?
What kinds of contingencies have been developed for a programme that may
prove less effective than intended?
How do we measure green marketing success? I adapted John Grant’s examples
(2007:13) to the tourism sector:
Number of sales of your product- you highlight the greener credentials of your
hotel in your communications mix and then measure the impact this has had.
Campaign for more responsible behaviour- highlight impact of snorkelling on
coral reefs and measure changes in breakages or regrowth
Home swap scheme to encourage lower consumption forms of holidayingyou’d measure success by membership, usage and attrition of the scheme.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
43
Reading
Sometimes we believe that national tourist offices have more
power than they really have. Read this interview with the
internationally experienced Sarah Graham Mann on
destination marketing
Read it online at
http://www.ecoclub.com/news/070/interview.html
I have enjoyed regularly reading other interviews, headlines
and the magazine in this site, worth joining.
Conclusion
This introductory Unit has set the scene for the study of tourism marketing by
examining the characteristics of tourism that differentiate it from other sectors,
thereby demonstrating the central significance of marketing for overall tourism
development and operational policy.
The necessity to adopt a strategic approach to destination and corporation marketing
has been stressed and we have looked at a number of research and analytical
techniques by which the tourism marketer can develop a strategic approach in order
to produce the optimal results for the destination or enterprise. Central to all research
and analysis in tourism is accurate forecasting and guidance has been provided on
selecting and applying the most appropriate method under different circumstances.
In the next Unit we turn our attention to tourism demand analysis, which will lead in
Unit 3 to market segmentation, positioning and targeting within marketing strategies.
In the meantime, I leave you with a last food for thought with this reading.
Reading
Green Lodging News is a US based online news portal
covering all things ‘green’ for the hospitality industry. A
section devoted to sales and marketing can be found at:
http://www.greenlodgingnews.com/SalesAndMarketing.aspx
It is interesting to note that many news items listed in this
section relate to the meetings/conference/events industry.
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
44
References
Ansoff, H.I. (1987) Corporate Strategy. Penguin, London
Hudson, S (2008) Tourism and hospitality marketing, London, SAGE
Kotler, P., Bowen, J. and Makens, J (2003) Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism.
Prentice Hall – Pearson Education, New Jersey
Kotler, P., Hamlin, M.A., Rein, I. and Haider, D.H. (2002) Marketing Asian Places:
attracting investment, industry, and tourism to cities, states and nations. John Wiley
& Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Middleton, V.T.C & Clarke, J. (2001) Marketing in Travel & Tourism. Butterworth
Heinemann, Oxford
National Geographic (2003). Geotourism Survey Shows Millions of Travelers Care
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1024_031024_travelsurvey.html)
Pike, S (2004) Destination Marketing Organisations. London: PERGAMON
Swarbrooke, J. (1999) Sustainable Tourism Management. CAB International,
Wallingford
Dr Xavier Font
International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds Metropolitan University
45