Post on 23-Feb-2023
Table of content
Introduction: 2
1.Importance of Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality Industry 2
1.1 Buying behavior process in Tourism and Hospitality 2
1.2 People who are important in Buying Process 3
1.3 Purchasing process of Organization: 4
Appoint Purchase Team: 5
Specify Technical Specifications: 5
Budget for Purchase: 5
Research Potential Suppliers: 5
Solicit Bids: 5
Award Contract: 5
1.4 Difference between consumer and organizational buying: 5
1.5 Factors influencing consumer and organizational buying behavior 6
2. Evaluating the elements of promotional mix and integration within managementplanning 8
2.1 Promotional techniques to be used in Travel and Tourism: 8
2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of Promotion mix: 9
2.3 Effective tourism and hospitality promotion campaign: 9
2.4 Evaluation of DAGMAR and AIDA promotional models: 10
3. Importance of customers and customer service and application of principles ofcustomer care to the tourism and hospitality industry 11
3.1 Customer service and quality: 11
3.2 Issues related to customer service and consumer expectations: 12
3.3 Systems and processes in tourism and hospitality industry and ways to improveservice quality 14
4. Understanding customer behavior and customer relationship management 15
4.1 Range of different tool required to communicate: 15
4.2 Communication with people in and outside of organization: 15
Oral 15
Nonverbal 16
4.3 Communication model and barriers to effective communication 16
Conclusion & Recommendation: 17
Reference 18
Introduction:
Tourism is one of the world’s largest economic sectors1 and one
that continues to expand very rapidly, tourism development can be
a powerful tool for economic growth, poverty reduction, and for
the conservation of natural and cultural resources. While tourism
represents an important development opportunity for many
countries and communities, it can also have very negative
impacts, such as disrupting social structures, harming the socio-
cultural authenticity of host communities, and threatening
natural and cultural heritage. Wise planning and management of
tourism development is key to keeping it a force for good.
1.Importance of Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality Industry
1.1 Buying behavior process in Tourism and Hospitality
Buyer decision processer are the decision making process
undertaken by consumers in regard to a potential markets
transaction before, during and after the purchase of product and
service.
Five stages of consumer buying behavior process are:
Problem recognition :
Problem recognition occurs when a consumer is faced with an
unsatisfied need (the need for a holiday) and desires a fulfilled
outcome the satisfies this need. Problem recognition is triggered
by either external stimuli (advertisement) or internal
stimuli(hunger or thirst).
Information research:
The information search involves exposure to different sources,
such as promotional material and displays of the product,
actively researching the product, or relying on historic
information in the consumers mind, such as preconceived ideas
about a product or a previous experience (good or bad) with such
a product.
Alternative evolution:
Consumers will evaluate different products or brands at this
stage on the basis of alternative product attributes – those
which have the ability to deliver the benefits the customer is
seeking. A factor that heavily influences this stage is the
customer’s attitude. Involvement is another factor that
influences the evaluation process.
Purchase decision:
The penultimate stage is where the purchase takes place. Philip
Kotler (2009) states that the final purchase decision may be
‘disrupted’ by two factors: negative feedback from other
customers and the level of motivation to accept the feedback.
Post purchase behavior:
Customers will compare products with their previous expectations
and will be either satisfied or dissatisfied.
1.2 People who are important in Buying Process
Initiator
Initiators are the players who recognize that there is a need to
be satisfied or a problem to be solved. This might come from a
drive for efficiency due to the fact that some equipment will
need replacing. There could be many reasons which stimulate the
initiation.
Gatekeepers:
Gatekeepers are individuals who press the stop/go button in the
process. Often gatekeepers will be proactive in searching for
information and delivering recommendations for those decision
makers further up the line.
Buyers:
Buyers are the professional function within an organization
generally responsible for purchasing. They are given a brief with
a series of criteria against which to judge potential products or
services, and their suppliers. They tend to be responsible for
sourcing and negotiation.
Decider:
Deciders in a large organization certainly are responsible for
making the final deal or decision. Their role carries the
responsibility of placing the final order. They might be senior
managers or agents acting on behalf of an organization in the
market.
Users:
Users are those who put the service or product into operations
once the deal has been clinched. Their opinions will be important
especially if they are using manufacturing equipment, using
software to improve customer satisfaction, and so on
Influencers:
Influencers are those who may have a persuasive role in relation
to the deciders. They may ne specialists who make recommendation
based on experience and their knowledge of product and service.
Example: consultants employed by businesses to help deciders make
a final decision.
1.3 Purchasing process of Organization:
Identify need:
Identify the need for a product purchase. For example, a lawn
company wants to offer mowing services to its clients. To do this
it needs to purchase a mower . thus , the need to make a purchase
of a product , a mower is identified.
Select specific product:
Select a specific product to meet the need. . For example the
lawn company must select which type of mower from the many push
and riding varieties on the market meets the company’s need for a
mower the best.
Appoint Purchase Team:
Put a team together to manage the purchase process, including
finalizing the list of required technical specifications for the
product and the bid solicitation and award process.
Specify Technical Specifications:
Arrive at a list of required technical specifications for the
product to ensure it meets the company’s needs.
Budget for Purchase:
Establish a budget for the purchase relying on the range of
prices identified by the research done in Step 3.
Research Potential Suppliers:
Research the various product types that fit the need along with
their suppliers to identify the most durable model at the best
price. If the lawn company decides to purchase a riding mower,
research is conducted into which brand and manufacturer provides
the most durable product for the price asked.
Solicit Bids:
Solicit bids from the manufacturers and suppliers of the
identified product that meets all the required technical
specifications.
Award Contract:
Select a supplier from the bids submitted and award the purchase
contract.
1.4 Difference between consumer and organizational buying:
Why Goods are Purchased
Organizations purchase goods to use in their ongoing operations
and to resell to consumers, while consumers purchase goods for
their personal use. Organizations also purchase more raw
materials, such as wood, steel and other items used in
manufacturing, than individuals who don't have the tools or
knowledge to put those raw materials to use as a product.
Organizations generally purchase goods in larger volumes than
individuals and are driven by customer demand and need for
manufacturing materials. Consumers, on the other hand, are driven
both by need and by want.
Bulk Buys
Organizations often purchase in bulk, whereas consumers typically
do not. For example, a consumer might buy three gallons of white
paint to paint his house while an organization might need 3,000
gallons to paint shelving units for resale.
Choices and Use
Consumers typically purchase goods for different reasons than
organizations and have more freedom in choosing the items they
want. A consumer may purchase a chair so people can sit
comfortably in his home. He will be able to choose any chair
within his budget that he likes. An organization, on the other
hand, may purchase a chair because an administrative assistant
needs it to do his job. The organization may be restricted in a
chair purchase, not only by the budget set by a purchasing
manager, but also by guidelines set by the Occupational Health
and Safety Administration (OSHA), and by company-wide guidelines
on office furniture.
1.5 Factors influencing consumer and organizational buying behavior
The organizational buyer is influenced by a wide array of forces
inside and outside organization. Knowledge of these forces
provides the marketer with a foundation on which to build
responsive industrial marketing strategies. These forces includes
environmental forces (e.g. Health of the economy); organizational
forces (e.g. size of buying organization); group forces (e.g.
composition and roles of members); and individual forces (e.g.
personal preferences). Each of these areas constitutes a sphere
of influence that encircles organizational buying decisions.
Environmental Forces:
Everything is influenced by its environment. Organizational
buying behavior is not out of this. Organization buying behavior
is affected by changing business conditions, new invention of
technology and new creation of law. The boundaries of buyer-
seller interaction are selected by environment.
Organizational forces:
Individual decision maker can be influenced in different way.
Every organization has different personalities. So the sales
personal must be conscious about the climate and culture of the
organization and also to that level of management where
purchasing decision made. Climate and status of purchasing within
an organization vary from firm to firm.
Group forces:
The organizational buying process consist of a complex set of
smaller decision influence by several individuals. The degree of
involvement of group members in the procurement process varies
from routine rebuy. In the new task buying situation group plays
an important role.
Individual forces:
Individual makes buying decision rather than organization. Each
individual involves in the buying decision have different learned
experienced organizational function and perception for achieving
personal and organizational goal.
2. Evaluating the elements of promotional mix and integration within management planning
2.1 Promotional techniques to be used in Travel and Tourism:
There are five techniques that can be used to promote in tourism
Advertising:
Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
The three key words in this definition are “paid”, “nonpersonal”
and “identified sponsor.” Paid - hospitality and travel
organizations always have to pay for advertising, either in money
or in some form of barter (e.g., free meals from a restaurant in
exchange for a radio ad). Nonpersonal - neither the sponsors nor
their representatives are physically present to give the message
to customers
Personal Selling:
Personal selling involves oral conversations. These are, either
by telephone or face-to-face, between salespersons and
prospective customers. This sort selling may be used by a non-
profit-making museum as well as by a conference manager of a
large hotel.
Sales promotion:
Sales promotions are approaches where customers are given a short
term incentive to make an immediate purchase. Sales promotion
campaign adds value to the product because the incentives dose
not normally accompanies the product. Like advertising, the
sponsors is clearly identified and the communication in not
personal. Example includes discount coupons, contest, samples
and premiums.
Merchandising:
Merchandising or point-of-purchase “advertising” includes
materials used in-house to stimulate sales. These include menus,
wine lists, signs, posters, displays, and other point-of-sale
promotional items (in-room materials).
Public relations:
Public relation includes all the activities that a hospitality
and travel organization engaged in to maintain or improve its
relationship with other organizations and individuals. Publicity
is one public relations technique that involves nonpaid
communication of information about an organization’s service.
2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of Promotion mix:
Advertising is good for building awareness and effective at
reaching a wide audience. The repetition of main brand and
product positioning helps building in customer trust. As
advertising is impersonal it cannot answer all customer quarries.
And advertising is not good at getting customers to make a final
purchase decision.
Personal selling creates lots of communication between the buyer
and seller, it’s excellent for communicating complex or detailed
product information with the customers. But employing a sales
force has many hidden cost in addition to wages and it’s not
suitable if there are huge amount of potential buyers.
Sales promotion can stimulate quick increase in sales by
targeting promotional incentives on particular products and it’s
a good short term tactical tool. If sales promotion is used over
the long term, customers may get used to the effect and too much
promotion may damage the brand image.
Public relation is often seen as more credible, as the massage
seems to come from a third party (magazine, newspaper). It’s
cheap way to reach many customers. There is still risk of losing
control over what other write or say about the product.
2.3 Effective tourism and hospitality promotion campaign:
A promotion campaign is a series of messages that share a single
idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing
communication (IMC). Promotion campaigns appear in different
media across a specific time frame of frequent flyers points. The
critical part of making a promotion campaign is determining
a campaign theme as it sets the tone for the individual messages
and other forms of marketing communications that will be used.
The campaign theme is the central message that will be
communicated in the promotional activities. The campaign themes
are usually developed with the intention of being used for a
substantial period but many of them are short lived due to
factors such as being ineffective or market conditions and/or
competition in the marketplace and marketing mix. As example we
can say, In India and the Ministry of Tourism launched a campaign
to promote Incredible India as a tourist destination in 2002.The
phrase "Incredible India" was adopted as a slogan by the
ministry. Before 2002, the Indian government regularly formulated
policies and prepared pamphlets and brochures for the promotion
of tourism, however, it did not support tourism in a concerted
fashion. However, in 2002, the tourism ministry made a conscious
effort to bring in more professionalism in its attempts to
promote tourism. It formulated an integrated communication
strategy with the aim of promoting India as a destination of
choice for the discerning traveler. The tourism ministry engaged
the services of advertising and marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather
(India) (O&M) to create a new campaign to increase tourist
inflows into the country.
2.4 Evaluation of DAGMAR and AIDA promotional models:
DAGMAR model
A marketing approach used to measure the results of an
advertising campaign. DAGMAR is an acronym: Defining Advertising
Goals for Measured Advertising Results. The approach involves
setting specific, measurable objectives for a campaign to
determine if specific objectives were met. Specifically, DAGMAR
seeks to communicate a specific massage through four steps:
1. Awareness
2. Comprehension
3. Conviction
4. Action
DAGMAR as an approach was first proposed by Russell Colley in a
1961 report to the Association of National Advertisers. Collay
proposed that the real goal of advertising was to communicate,
not to sell specifically. By determining if the consumer had
sufficient knowledge of a product and its benefits by creating
clear, specific objectives that are discussed within an
advertisement, advertisers would be able to tell if their selling
points made a difference in the consumer's decision-making
process.
AIDA model
The AIDA model is the acronym of a consumer marketing model by
Elias St. Elmo Lewis that describes 4 essential steps in an
advertisement:
Attention: attract the attention of the potential customers.
Interest: create interest, for example by making a promise or an
attractive offer.
Desire: transfer the interest into a desire or preference for the
product by showing its ability to satisfy needs.
Action: push the customer to actually by the product.
3. Importance of customers and customer service and application of principles of customer care to the tourism and hospitality industry
3.1 Customer service and quality:
Service quality has been defined as a gap between the customer’s
expectations of a service and the customer’s perceptions of the
service received(Parasuramanetal.,1985). The consumer
satisfaction literature views these expectations as predictions
about what is likely to happen during an impending transaction,
whereas the service quality literature views them as desires or
wants expressed by the consumer (Kandampully,2002). To date,
“there is no universal, parsimonious, or all-encompassing
definition or model of service quality” (Reeves & Bednard, 1994,
p. 436). Grönroos (1984) defines service quality as “the outcome
of an evaluation process where the consumer compares his
expectations with the service he perceived he has received” (p.
37). Definitions of quality have included: a) satisfying or
delighting the customer or exceeding expectations; b) product of
service features that satisfy stated or implied needs; c)
conformance to clearly specified requirements; and d) fitness for
use, whereby the product meets the customers needs and is free of
deficiencies (Chelladurai& Chang,2000).
The tourism literature has revealed various attempts to make
sense of how tourists evaluate the quality of services they
receive while on vacation (Atilgan, Akinci, & Aksoy, 2003; Baker
& Crompton, 2000; Chadee & Mattsson, 1996; Frochot, 2004; Hudson,
Hudson, & Miller,2004; Vogt & Fesenmaier, 1995; Weirmair & Fuchs,
1999), travel agency quality (Ryan& Cliff, 1997), hotel quality
(Suh, Lee, Park, & Shin, 1997) and so forth. However, as Frochot
(2004) points out, “the nature of tourism services, based as much
on the sale of utilitarian services as on the provision of
service through which consumers can achieve deep-rooted needs,
renders its evaluation reasonably complex” (p. 224).
Tourist satisfaction can be obtained by assessing the gap between
predicted and perceived service. The destination image can be
determined by analyzing tourist perceptions (p. 399-411). Atilgan
et al. (2003) suggest that cultural characteristics have an
effect on perceptions of service quality in tourism. They found
that different cultural groups can have different levels of
expectations and perceptions in terms of service-quality
dimensions (p 420). Therefore, many of the items on the SERVQUAL
instrument can be salient to different customers for different
reasons. Brown and Bond III (1995) attribute the importance of
these items as to whether or not the customer is conscious of
aspects such as time, quality of work, finances, and so forth (p.
30).
3.2 Issues related to customer service and consumer expectations:
Understanding the following customer expectation is critical
measuring customer satisfaction:
Explicit expectation
Explicit expectations are mental targets for product performance,
such as well-identified performance standards.
Implicit expectation
Implicit expectation reflects established norms of performance.
Implicit expectations are established by business in general,
other companies, industries and even cultures.
Static performance expectation
Static performance expectations address how performance and
quality are defined fir a specific application. Performance
measures related to quality to outcome may include the evaluation
of accessibility, customization, dependability, timeliness,
accuracy and user friendly interfaces.
Dynamic performance expectation
Dynamic performance expectations are about how the product or
service is expected to evolve over time. Dynamic expectations
maybe about the changes in support, product, or service needed to
meet future business or use environments.
Technological expectation
Technological expectation focus on the evolving state of the
product category.
Interpersonal skill
Interpersonal expectation reflects the relationship between the
customer and the product or service provider. Person to person
relationships are increasingly important, especially where
products require support for proper use and functioning.
Situational expectation
In building a customer satisfaction survey, it is also helpful to
evaluate why pre-purchase expectations or post-purchase
satisfaction may or may not be fulfilled or even measurable.
Customer service:
Ultimately, the best method of resolving simple problems - often
before they arise - is through the delivery of excellent customer
service. By ensuring a close relationship with the customer,
knowing their wants and needs and avoiding any misunderstandings,
a company is able to ensure that problems of a non-technical
nature are minimized, often before they even arise.
Customer support
Automation
Customer support automation involves the building of a knowledge
base of known issues and their resolutions to support incidents
with delivery mechanisms, often by expert systems. A service
automation platform includes a suite of support solutions
including proactive support, assisted support, and self support.
Tech support
Tech support refers to a range of services by which companies
provide assistance to users of technology products such as mobile
phones, televisions, computers, software products, or other
electronic or mechanical goods.
3.3 Systems and processes in tourism and hospitality industry andways to improve service quality
Quality service is a management tool that provides companies with
a means of monitoring
service from the customers’ perspective. Quality assurance refers
to any planned and systematic activity directed towards providing
consumers with goods and services of appropriate quality, along with
the confidence that they meet consumers’ requirements. Quality
assurance depends on excellence of two important focal points in
business: the design of goods and services and the control of
quality during execution of service delivery which is often aided
by some form of measurement and inspection activity (Evans
& Lindsay, 2010).A quality service management system is a result
oriented approach. It deals with the service characteristics that
really matter to end-users; it addresses service providers who
have tangible results to expose to end-users (consumers); it
guarantees the customers the high quality of service they can
receive during their stay in lodging and it provides staff with
methodology to show commitment to quality service (Reyad,2005).
Regular and systematic analysis of the evaluation results may
lead to a wide range of advantages, amongst them:
Measuring the matching degree of customers’ needs and
expectations, and comparing the results with perceived
quality,
Acting as a basis for the strategic process, identifying
improvement activities; and
Controlling competitiveness in quality with the help of
benchmarking (Soteriadis, 2006).
Measuring quality service and quality assurance is a long-term
consistency, which also represents a cost, but a welcomed and a
lower one than that of non-quality. The managers should identify,
record and weigh up the impacts of quality cost-profit. The main
categories of quality costs are: prevention (setting up) costs;
assurance (staff time and administrative) costs; external
costs(or failure costs), (Johns, 1997).Considering all the above
each manager will be in a position to priorities towards a
quality improvement process. The Cost-Benefit ratio of quality
could be achieved through an equation of non-quality costs and of
quality assurance towards the benefits of operational cost
savings as well as guest return rate and word of mouth
recommendation (Kapiki & Tatari, 2006).
4. Understanding customer behavior and customer relationship management
4.1 Range of different tool required to communicate:
The tools required to communicate with the consumers could be
advertisement, through sales person, sales promotion or through
the cloud networking. Through advertisement customers get aware
about the product a organization is providing, by personal
selling and sales promotion consumer get able to know about
products more effectively and it helps to take the customer there
final decision about the product weather to buy or not. The most
recent development in tourism industry is the introduction of
cloud networks. Through this the customers can easily assess the
product of desired organization. They can verify product quality
by comparing with other product, and it enables a consumer to get
better service and quality from the organizations.
4.2 Communication with people in and outside of organization:
Oral
Oral communication makes up the bulk of business communication
today. Given the collaborative nature of businesses, the ability
to work efficiently with a team makes oral communication
imperative for success. Voicemail, phone calls, meetings and
client interactions all require finesse with the spoken word.
Effectively communicating orally requires knowledge of the topic
at hand, critical thinking ability and great interpersonal
skills. Those skilled with oral communication are also typically
good listeners who pay attention to verbal and nonverbal
communication clues.
Nonverbal
People communicate nonverbally via body language and facial
expressions. Eye contact, gestures and proximity to the speaker
are all examples of nonverbal communication. Most of the time,
the nonverbal communication people exhibit happens subconsciously
or unintentionally. It's important to pay attention to your body
language and posture when speaking or listening to someone else.
What you don't say can have just as big an impact as what you do.
4.3 Communication model and barriers to effective communication
Models of communication refer to the conceptual model used to
explain the human communication process. The first major model
for communication came in 1949 by Claude Elwood
Shannon and Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories Following the
basic concept, communication is the process of sending and
receiving messages or transferring information from one part
(sender) to another (receiver).
The models of communication are:
Shannon and Weaver Model
Constructionist Model
Linear model
Convergence model
The barriers to effective communication are:
Physiological Barrier
Physical and Environmental Distractions
Psychological Barrier
Social Barriers
Cultural Barriers
Semantic Barrier
Linguistic Barriers
Past Experience
Organizational Barriers
Barriers Related with the Message
Conclusion & Recommendation:
Tourism has been one of the world's fastest growing industries,
and there are large societies entirely dependent upon the visitor
for their sustenance. Tourism is the world's largest industry. It
sustained 120 million jobs in 1995, accounting for 7% of the
global workforce. It is estimated that the number of
international travelers in 1994 will double to 1 billion by 2010,
and 80% of tourists come from the 20 richest countries. To
control and provide effective service to this huge number of
customers organizations will need effectively planned ways of
communication. To develop tourism and provide service quality
effective communication medium should be developed. Which help
the customers to be satisfied and develop tourism from earned
revenue.
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