MARKETING MANAGEMENT Mindful Tourism (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

• Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding

• Demonstrate from relevant research literature, a sound understanding of contemporary perspectives of the strategic role of marketing.

 

• Demonstrate the following skills and abilities
• Carry out a marketing audit of the case study Mindful Tourism and develop a strategic marketing plan.

 

For this assignment you need to focus on all relevant parts of the Marketing Plan Template provided.     The Task: For the case study Mindful Tourism (fictional company) you need to research, as carefully as possible, the situation/business environment that the organization is operating in In addition to studying the information given in the case study, you must use at least two academic journal articles to support your discussion.   Academic articles do not have to focus specifically on that type of organization/industry: you could, for example, look at the travel industry in general and refer to articles which might be talking about trends in ‘mindful tourism’.  Changes in travel/ tourism packages available could also be useful.     Some research into specific travel companies who provide such packages might well be relevant, what segments in travel they target, how they position their travel packages, consumer behavior, and especially online developments, digital marketing strategies. You need to read around the topic and identify two (minimum) articles that help build your marketing plan that will increase membership in the UK and internationally. Your arguments must be balanced and supported by marketing literature – marketing management, marketing planning, marketing audits, consumer behavior trends, segmentation-targeting-positioning, and services marketing mix. You must demonstrate and – specifically – apply your marketing knowledge to your marketing plan Your references must reflect a balance between academic and internet sources.   You will, of course, use web sites which relate to your chosen areas of study but be careful that you do not just accept, without question, anything, and everything that you read online!  The fact that it is online does not mean that it is true….and if an organization is talking about itself in their own website, they are going to tell you only what is positive.   A company website may not tell lies, but they may not tell the whole truth and their version of events will certainly be biased!  Remember to view critically everything you read and do not just accept what you read without questioning it.   Structure for your first Assignment While marking your assignment we will be looking for evidence demonstrating how well you have addressed the marketing plan. The following part explains the structure and key points you should consider in preparing your assignment. 1.       Introduction:  A short introduction outlining what you intend to do in your report.  A brief overview of the case study and industry trends could be included here, with references, but it should be short and to the point, not extensive or overly descriptive.  Section 1 of the Template can be considered here.   ·         Main body of your work where key issues are addressed.   Refer to the Marketing Plan Template.   You need to carry out some secondary research on your area of study to understand the company and the environment within which it is operating and having carried out this work you should then be able to produce your:   1-       PESTLE (think about UK and international aspects) 2-      SWOT analysis – and remember that you should complete the PESTLE first, as consideration of this will help you to identify your SWOT.   Competitor analysis could be considered if appropriate, but the focus should be on the external environment, PESTLE and the internal SWOT. 3-       Consider enhancing the points above with more marketing audits frameworks 4-       Discuss market segmentation, what segments to targeting and why, and how to position the offering (STP) 5-      Detail some aspects of Consumer Behavior relating to ‘mindful tourism’ 6-      Apply (!) the Marketing Mix (4Ps model or enhance to 7Ps if appropriate), with a particular focus on Promotion/ marketing communication   This part of your discussion may have a number of sub sections. The key criteria here include: Research – evidence of systematic research approach, depth of research undertaken; application of conceptual (theoretical/empirical) framework(s). Analysis – well focused, depth and clarity of argument, organizing and summarizing key and relevant issues stemming from your research, identifying at least two other journal articles, and integrating the discussion. Scholarly practice – appropriate referencing within the report (citations), employing appropriate International Business vocabulary and the quality of the Reference section. (Harvard style of referencing). It is essential with the PESTLE and SWOT that you do not present points without evidence or referencing to support them.   Points made without some form of justification are meaningless – they may well be true: that is not the point!  The point is that every point of your discussion should have some form of evidence to support what you are presenting The SWOT should link clearly to the PESTLE.  It should be apparent to the reader how your SWOT points have been derived via the work you have done on the PESTLE.   ·                Conclusion: A clear, concise, and relevant conclusion to the marketing plan. Your conclusion should    contain a summary of the key points that have emerged from the discussion and consideration of the implications.    (Remember: conclusions look back and summarize what you have found out.   Recommendations, which are suggestions for future activity, are NOT to be identified or discussed until Assignment 2 Presentation: Neat layout, and headings/sub-headings where appropriate. Clarity of expression (appropriate language, grammar, spelling, etc.).     Length of the discussion should be 1,400 words excluding the cover page and reference/bibliography section.    Word-count to be provided at the end of the submission.   Your PESTLE and SWOT matrix should be covered in this assignment as well as the S-T-P and the marketing mix     Identify, formulate and justify adequately, the constituent elements of your marketing plan and propose acceptable strategic recommendations to take the organization forward. Apply an in-depth knowledge of marketing theories to evaluate, to an acceptable level, alternative solutions in solving problems. Satisfactorily adapt your strategy, introducing and involving high level activities relating to data collection, analyses, synthesis, and reporting for complex purposes.   Ø  The unit enable you to analyses and critically assess recurrent marketing related problems, challenges, and opportunities using conceptual tools and frameworks for effective decision-making. It also develops your ability to analyses and evaluate current marketing perspectives against relevant      research literature. Thus, preparing and equipping you with the skills to evaluate and recommend a variety of marketing strategies, tactics and plans that harmonies the organization’s objectives, capabilities and resources with marketplace needs.     Relevance The appropriate marketing of services and products is an increasingly vital ingredient for organizational success.  An effective manager requires a variety of marketing strategies, tactics, and plans that harmonies the organization’s objectives, capabilities, and resources with marketplace needs or political directives and opportunities.  In particular, marketing managers have to develop skills in the development, planning and implementation of marketing programs thus providing a competitive edge for the company or formal recognition as a high-quality organization and the trust of your stakeholder groups.  These skills are reinforced by awareness and understanding of the complex nature of the interface between organization and customer, service users or communities in what is widely recognized as an increasingly turbulent social economic and business environment.

ANSWER

MARKETING MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY -Mindful Tourism (Fictional Company)

Introduction

The current increased concerns about the protection of human rights and mindful use of resources have led to the travel industry embracing the concept of mindful tourism. Countries and organizations have adopted different strategies to curb exploitations resulting from tourism. The adopted plans can provide immense mindful experience and seek to implement the practice more dominantly within the tourism sector. The main objective of mindful tourism is to promote responsibility, change and enhance preparedness for transformative moments. This study’s case study is for a UK-based charity organization that seeks to promote mindful tourism. Therefore, the presented marketing plan is based on the available literature within the mindful industry and the general travel industry. Consequently, the report will help the organization in developing strategies for future plans and actions.

PESTLE Analysis

Political Factors– Political stability primarily influences tourism within a region. The U.K tourism market and most tourists are eager to visit every part of this continent. The ordinary tourist attraction sites in the U.K. are considered safe (Athari et al. 2021, p. 1673). U.K borders are also open to foreigners as most countries in the region require a visa for travelers. Therefore, tourists can easily access and maneuver within the continent.

Economic Factors– U.K. has a sharing economy where people can directly exchange products and services with each other through the utilization of consumer services such as Uber and Airbnb. The sharing economy has increased mobility and thus providing a reliable means for travelers to catch rides around the continent (Standing, Standing and Biermann 2019, p. 229). The Airbnb network provides an affordable substitute to conventional tourism accommodation through hotels and motels. The charts in the figure below shows the projection of the growth of the U.K. sharing economy between 2013 and 2025.

Available at: https://www.consultancy.uk/news/1085/pwc-uk-sharing-economy-generates-9-billion-by-2025

Sociocultural– the U.K. is a continent of racial acceptance, and all people are respected irrespective of their religion and race (Addo 2020, P. 100074). Racial acceptance is a virtue that increases comfortability and lowers the possibility of discrimination fear among tourists.

Technological Factors– The modern transport system characterizes countries in the U.K. Tourists visiting the region can enjoy fast and affordable means of transport whose efficiency has been enhanced through technology. Technology has played a crucial role in the development of the transport sector in the U.K. (Gibbons et al. 2019, p. 45). For example, technology was utilized in the development and increasing accessibility of electric trains and cars within the region.

Legal Factors– Information protection and privacy are crucial elements in the modern technological world. Governments in the U.K. have developed stringent measures to improve the privacy and security of data systems (Maple 2017, p. 164). Therefore, tourists visiting the region do not have to worry about exposing their information to hackers and other unauthorized users.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

On most significant strength of the fictional company is the availability of unique historical and archeological sites. Historical sites have made tourists flood the region to see and learn about the unique sites (Roussou, Ripanti, and Servi 2017, p. 407). Second, literature on the U.K. tourism industry also indicates the local people’s high level of hospitality and friendliness (Cuesta-Valiño, Bolifa and Núñez-Barriopedro 2020, 1778). Places like this where tourists can have a way into the locals’ hearts are characterized by an increased number of tourists. Third, governments in the U.K. have positive attitudes towards promoting tourism and maximizing benefits from tourism (Sharma, Thomas and Paul 2021, p. 100786). Therefore, there is the possibility of U.K. governments channeling their support to organizations concerned with mindful tourism.

Weaknesses

The main weakness of tourism in the U.K. is limited knowledge about the significance of mindful tourism (Lugosi and Jameson 2017, p. 167). Locals should receive adequate education on the importance of building sustainability in tourism. Second is limited community representation in making decisions related to tourism (Mayaka, Croy, and Cox 2018, p. 423). Community representation is essential for the sector to protect human rights and ensure maximum benefit to the local community. The third is the high commercialization of the tourism industry (Goodwin 2017, p. 13). Tourism and associated business experts have greatly hindered the implementation of mindful tourism strategies to promote sustainability.

Opportunities

A crucial opportunity for expanding tourism in the U.K. is the establishment of explicit marketing techniques to create awareness about the significance of mindful tourism to both citizens and foreigners (Wolf, Ainsworth, and Crowley 2017. P. 1657). Creating awareness should be conducted throughout the region as this would generate more membership for the charity organization. Second is the preservation of the natural ecosystem and establishing efforts to reduce the negative environmental effects of tourism (Mathevet, Bousquet and Raymond 2018, p. 368). Preserving the environment is significant for ensuring that tourism results in maximum benefit for both humans and the environment.

Threat

The main threat mindful tourism faces are the destruction of the ethnic and dominant culture, which leads to the negative effect rather than a benefit to the local community (Ruhanen and Whitford 2019, p. 181). It is believed that tourism has led to the erosion of dominant cultures. Local people tend to emulate the culture of tourists and blend with their dominant cultures.

Marketing Objectives

The objective of this marketing plan is to promote tourism as means of generating sufficient support for mindful tourism. Mindful tourism entails the elimination of exploitative tourism and ensuring maximum benefit to the society and environment (Glusac 2020). Most tourism activities are considered unstainable, and building sustainability involves creating awareness about the significance of mindful tourism and creating sustainable tourism products and services. The promotion of tourism leads to an increase in revenue that could be used to build the local economy and preserve the environment.

Marketing Strategy

Market Segmentation and Targeting

Market segmentation in the tourism industry can be categorized into two homogeneous and heterogeneous markets. Homogeneous markets are those where consumers with similar characteristics are grouped together (Du, Wang, and Hu 2019, p. 95). Heterogeneous markets are those in which consumers have different characteristics. Tourism service providers may generate heterogeneous markets by dividing consumers into local tourists and foreigners. It means that the needs of local or foreign tourists differ due to individual preferences (Robinson, Getz, and Dolnicar 2018, p. 369). Homogeneous markets can result by dividing consumers based on their age as the needs of people within close age brackets are pretty the same.

Target marketing establishes the needs of different market segments and generates goods and services based on these needs. For example, mindful tourism may perform target marketing in the following ways:

• Making tourists pay additional fees for environmental protection projects that come with extra personal benefits (Lopes, Muñoz and Alarcón-Urbistondo 2018, p. 11).
• Conducting more public campaigns on the significance of mindful tourism and its significance
• Collaborating with environmental protection and human rights organizations to ensure maximum benefits from tourism activities (Cockburn-Wootten et al. 2018, p. 1476).

Positioning

Positioning strategies for tourism in the U.K include the development and improvement of natural attraction sites, development of adventure and sports, cultural attraction, and improving hospitality services. Natural attraction sites such as gardens, springs, lakes, and parks can generate sensational pleasures attracting more tourists (Job, Becken and Lane 2017 p. 1711). Adventure and sports such as snow skiing, golfing, and trekking generate memorable experiences for tourists (Saqib 2019). The development of historical sites and cultural attributes such as architectural styles and events is important for positioning tourism. Finally, the quality of hospitality services such as food and reception services are also important marketing attributes in tourism (Sanchez-Cañizares and Castillo-Canalejo 2015).

Aspects of Consumer Behavior in Mindful Tourism

The primary aspect of consumer behavior in mindful tourism is the preference for quality over quantity. It means consumers under this category of tourism are more concerned with achieving satisfaction and value for their visits (Loureiro, Breazeale and Radic 2019, p. 285). This aspect of consumer behavior indicates that the U.K. mindful industry should improve its tourist attraction sites to ensure maximum satisfaction of tourists’ expectations (Griffin and Raj 2018, p.6). Second, most consumers portray a huge discrepancy between their declarative and actual behavior (Errmann et al. 2021, p. 103263). This aspect is evident from the variation between proclaimed support for sustainability initiatives and contrary actions of tourists (Stankov, Filimonau and Vujičić 2020, p. 708). Finally, the current increase in consumer demand for air transport goes against sustainability agendas on climate change. The figure below shows how the aviation industry contributes to global warming causing climate change.

Available at: https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2020-09-04/How-aviation-s-impact-on-global-warming-has-doubled-TuCf7leGIM/index.html

Implementing the Marketing Plan

Marketing Mix

Product– Tourism entails various components of a location that can attract travelers in every market segment of this industry (Eckert and Pechlaner 2019, p. 3588). It includes things like food, beverages, accommodation, scenic beauty, transportation, and places of historical importance (Jászberényi and Miskolczi 2020, p. 4598). However, any tourism product or service should be packaged to improve the tourist experience.

Price– Different locations have different tourism products, and therefore, setting a competitive price is crucial in satisfying tourists’ expectations (He et al. 2019, p. 782). Tourists’ expectations must be satisfied despite their price for the good or service.

Place-Technology and innovation have played a significant role in the distribution and growth of the tourism sector, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of security, design, and sustainability (Kanda and Kivimaa 2020, p. 101666). Factors such as accessibility and security of a tourism location are essential for promoting tourism (Lee, Pennington-Gray and Kim, 2019, p. 37).

Promotion– Promotional activities in tourism include factors such as convincing, persuading, educating, and reminding tourists about the available product (Amin and Priansah 2019, p. 164). They entail the utilization of different marketing techniques to create and promote product awareness. Choosing the right marketing strategy is crucial for targeting the audience and convincing them to visit the location (Sulaiman and Wilson 2018, p. 641). The key promotional activities are campaigns and public education about mindful tourism to maximize benefits from tourism and achieve sustainability.

Evaluation and Control

Public education and campaigns are the most effective way of increasing consumer segments that are concerned with the mindfulness and sustainability of tourism products and services (Nafi and Ahmed 2017, p. 75). Increasing awareness of tourists’ behaviors as consumers will lead to more significant concern for their purchasing behavior’s local and global impacts since it can affect the local economy and environment (Font and McCabe 2017, p. 871). The promotion of tourism will increase support for sustainability agendas within the industry.

Conclusion

The increased efforts of mindful tourism to mobilize both the U.K. and global market about the significance of responsible behavior with regard to tourism activities has led to the development of a new customer segment. The mobilization is geared towards the revived perceptions that collective values begin inside a mindful person. Mindful tourism implies the process of achieving maximum benefits to the local society as the environment. The growth of mindful tourism is based on the growth of the entire travel industry, and therefore, the discussed marketing plan is essential for increasing revenue from the industry. The PESTLE and SWOT analysis indicate that the U.K. and international tourism industry has great potential for growth and embrace mindful tourism. Tourism service providers should react to the existing demand by modifying their unsustainable products. Based on this, mindful tourists can serve as a foundational web that links, supports, and nurtures the entire tourism sector for the benefit of all.

 

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