Marketing Management Case Study: Mindful Tourism – fictional company

Mindful Tourism is an independent, non-industry-based UK charity, which in 2021 celebrated being more than 21 years in operation. It currently has almost 900 members, based in the UK.

Membership fees range from £24 for waged UK residents, and £200 for educational institutions.

The charity works with partners in over 20 destination countries to ensure that tourism always benefits local people. In brief, it strives to fight exploitation in tourism.

Being membership-based, contributions are crucial to the organisation.

The organisation runs vital campaigns to protect the rights of local people and help them get a fairer deal from tourism.

Mindful Tourism is a unique organisation. No other NGO (non-government organisation) has campaigned so tirelessly on tourism’s exploitative practices. Mindful Tourism has played a crucial role in promoting forms of tourism that provide meaningful benefits to people in destination communities.

Equally important has been the charity’s role in exposing and campaigning against tourism’s worst human rights abuses. The charity’s vision is a world free from exploitation, in which all parties involved in tourism benefit equally and in which relationships between industry, tourists and host communities are based on trust and respect.

The charity’s mission is to ensure that tourism always benefits local people. Through its collaborative work with industry, government, development and human rights NGOs, Mindful Tourism aims to change the way that tourism is traded and developed. The charity lobbies government, challenges industry to be accountable and exposes serious abuses through its campaigns. It also encourages holidaymakers to challenge their own perceptions about the cultures they visit and to consider the real impact of their holiday, providing tourists with information so that they can ask the right questions and make informed choices when booking their trips.

Mindful Tourism’s educational resources and publications are designed to influence critical thinking and stimulate ideas. In order to achieve its objectives and help implement the changes it seeks in the tourism industry, Mindful Tourism consistently bids for funding from stakeholders such as humanitarian institutions, economic development organisations, and the tourist industry itself, and engages in specific campaigns and projects. The income it generates from membership is intended to help the organisation remain financially operational.

However, since 2020 the membership rate has been static. Consequently, one of the current main objectives of the organisation is to explore how membership can be increased.

A second main objective is to find ways of encouraging financial support for the organisation – for example, when a person does not wish to become a member of the organisation but is happy to make a one-off financial donation.

Thirdly, the company wants to revisit how to improve funding from the external organisations/institutions by improving the impact of the association with Mindful Tourism for these institutions.

The aim of the organisation in the short run is to set-up a special project team to increase membership and financial support in the UK market first. It can then focus on how to do so internationally. As mentioned above, three distinct memberships are available. Benefits vary slightly.

The general traveler and tourism industry membership is applicable if a subscriber is a traveler who is concerned about the respect of human rights, or if he or she is a member of the tourism industry. This type of membership offers the following benefits:

• a membership welcome pack;
• half-price offer for the Ethical Travel Guide on joining;
• discount of 5% on www.tripadisor.com services;
• preferential rates on resources in Mindful Tourism’s e-shop;
• a quarterly newsletter;
• an annual magazine;
• an invitation to all the events organised by Mindful Tourism;
• the right to vote at Mindful Tourism’s annual general meeting.

Academic membership is for students, teachers or lecturers in tourism, geography, international development, or any other field relevant to Mindful Tourism’s work. Benefits of academic membership are:

• a welcome pack;
• free access by appointment to the specialist library situated at Mindful Tourism’s office in central London, which boasts books, articles, reports and case studies unavailable anywhere else;
• free guide on how to write tourism dissertations;
• free teaching toolkit for educators if signing up by standing order for £5 per month or more;
• online access to all the organisation’s past InFocus magazines, case studies and free research papers;
• preferential rates on other educational resources in Mindful Tourism’s e-shop;
• priority alerts on some of the volunteer or internship positions offered by Mindful Tourism;
• a quarterly newsletter;
• an annual magazine;
• invitation to all events organised by Mindful Tourism;
• the right to vote at Mindful Tourism’s annual general meeting. Universities, colleges, and schools are encouraged to join as an educational institution, sharing benefits with their staff and students.

The benefits of educational institution membership are:

• one free lecture per year by a Mindful Tourism representative;
• on joining, one copy of each of the major education reports compiled by the organisation;
• every year after joining, one free copy of the organisation’s new reports;
• online access to all past InFocus magazines, case studies and free research papers;
• for university staff, access by appointment to the specialist library;
• preferential rates on educational resources in the e-shop;
• priority alerts about some of the volunteer and internship positions for the institution’s students;
• a quarterly newsletter (printed for Mindful Tourism’s library);
• an annual magazine;
• one representative from the institution to vote at the annual general meeting;
• invitation to events organised by Mindful Tourism.

The organisation does not have any specific information about why membership is not growing. The broad target group is 18-years-old and over and the organisation is particularly interested in increasing its awareness and membership rates within the age 30+ market. Accordingly, some reasons for interest in the charity could be linked to an increase in altruism and interest in charity support. A focal point could be the increasing interest in an ethical lifestyle.