Question:
Discuss about the Introduction to Marketing Tourism Considered.
Tourism considered among one of the most important sectors in the economy. Especially, for the small countries or the developing countries tourism industry has played a major role in developing economical condition. In this report, the focus is on the English town Shrewsbury. The Shrewsbury city that is located in the border of England and Wales has considered among the popular tourist places of the entire United Kingdom region. Over the many years, the town has managed to attract tourist from different parts of the world with its unique architecture designs and town halls. In addition, the transport facility of Shrewsbury is so highly designed that people can easily come from all the prime cities of England very easily. In fact, from London, it only requires 3 hours to visit Shrewsbury city. As a result, Shrewsbury has able to represent itself as one of the popular tourist destination of the UK region. However, it is still not able to represent itself as the first priority tourist destination for the UK region. In 2011, a study highlighted that Shrewsbury has only able to attract 2.5 million of tourist per annum whereas similar size cities of UK like Chester has recorded almost 42 million visitors per annum. This highlighted that Shrewsbury is not utilizing its uniqueness properly to attract tourist from different places of the world. Hence, it has to develop an effective marketing strategy that has the potential to grab the attention of the visitors. Therefore, the report focuses on to develop an effective marketing plan, which will help Shrewsbury to increase the number of visitors that will eventually create a positive impact in the rate of economic development of Shrewsbury.
Background analysis:
As per the article by Mariani et al. (2014) tourism development can play a significant role in the economical development of that the particular society. Since, tourism development attracts people from different parts of the world. As a result, it creates more job opportunities for the local people. In addition, requirement of skills in the tourism development is not that high. Therefore, it allows many people whom might not be suitable for other industry to get a job in the tourism sector. Therefore, it actually helps to improve the overall condition of the economy. According to Kimbu and Ngoasong (2013), tourism development not only helps to improve the businesses of the tourism company but also create a positive impact on the other associated business as well. For instance, tourism development in Chester has influenced the hotel industry to grow at a rapid pace so that it can able to handle the additional number of tourist. Therefore, it also has a major positive impact on the governmental revenue processes.
Shrewsbury regarded as one of the finest medieval towns because of its environmental richness. The city also has several popular tourist destinations such Shrewsbury museum, Shrewsbury art gallery and Wroxeter roman city etc. According to Mariani et al. (2014), these destination has enough appeals to increase the popularity of Shrewsbury as tourist destination sport. In addition, the marketplaces of Shrewsbury are also very popular among the tourists. According to the study by Pike and Page (2014), 67% of total number of tourist comes to visit Shrewsbury from the major cities of England to shop and visit the market places. Therefore, the city does have huge potential to attract more number of tourists, which will eventually help to increase the rate of economic development of Shrewsbury. However, the number regarding the amount of visitors in Shrewsbury as compared to other similar size cities is very low. Therefore, the article by Soteriades (2012), mention that Shrewsbury is not utilizing huge potential for the development of tourist. Hence, it again highlighting the fact that Shrewsbury have to implement effective marketing plan so that it can able to emerge as a major tourist destination not only in England but also in the entire United Kingdom region.
The above study highlighted the fact that Shrewsbury is struggling to represents itself as one of the popular tourist destination of the United Kingdom region. Therefore, marketing objective of Shrewsbury tourist development will have to focus on the followings:
Internal analysis and external analysis:
According to Tsai (2012), internal and external analysis is the primary stage of marketing plan. Since, it helps to develop a marketing plan that has the potential to fulfill the marketing objectives.
Internal analysis:
SWOT is among the most popular internal analysis tools that is utilized everywhere in the world. SWOT analysis of Shrewsbury tourism development described as follows:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Opportunities:
Threats:
Figure 1: SWOT Analysis of Shrewsbury tourism
(Source: Goodall and Ashworth 2013)
External analysis:
As per the article by Tsiotsou and Goldsmith (2012), PEST analysis can able to evaluate all the external factors related to tourism development effectively. Therefore, the report conducted PEST analysis in order to evaluate all the external factors that Shrewsbury will have to consider in order to implement an effective marketing plan.
Political factors:
According to Buhalis and Crotts (2013), government taxation techniques can have major impact on the tourist development process of a particular destination. Since, it can has the potential to increase the overall budget of visiting a particularly destination. In case of Shrewsbury, tax rate is comparatively higher. Therefore, many tourists feel reluctant to visit the places of Shrewsbury. Hence, government will have to formulate a taxation technique, which not only will increase the revenue level of the government but also induces tourists to visit Shrewsbury.
Political stability is another prime factor that marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to consider. Since, political stability allows government to develop long-term plan for tourist development, which is required for Shrewsbury tourism.
Government spending in the tourism and infrastructure development sector also has major role in tourism development. Since, well-developed infrastructure can induce many people to visit the city (Gallarza, Gil-Saura and Holbrook 2012). Hence, it highlighted the fact that Shrewsbury government also have to spent huge amount in order to represent itself as a competitors of the cities like Chester.
Economical factors:
Foreign Exchange Rate is among the top important factor that can have impact on the tourist development. Many studies have identified that majority of the money spent by tourists ended up in leaving the country. For instance, it rises up to almost 70% in Thailand (Warnick, Bojanic and Cartier 2016). Hence, marketing plan will have to secure that money spent by tourist in Shrewsbury does not leave the place.
As mentioned earlier, tourism development increases the job opportunity in the economy. Therefore, it increases per-capita income and GDP of the Society. Hence, marketing plan will have to develop in such a way that can provide positive impact to these two factors.
Unemployment rate is another important factor of tourism development. Since, tourism development has the potential to increase the job opportunity in society; every economy is looking to improve the number of tourist so that more local people can able to get jobs.
Social factors:
According to Truong and Hall (2013) social factor has crucial role in developing tourist in a particular destination, as majority of the people like to visit those places where they fell comfortable with the culture. Since, it allows tourists to create a bonding or relationship with the local people, which have great impact on the satisfaction level of the tourist.
Number of population is another important social factor that can have impact on the tourism development of Shrewsbury. Since, majority of the people likes to visit places in the holidays where there not too much crowd interference (Dickinson et al 2014). It reflects that as the number of population grows higher, chances of tourism development keep on decreasing.
Eating habit is another important social factor that can have impact on the tourism development. If the eating habit of Shrewsbury does not match with the eating habit of tourists then might not feel interested to visit the places. In addition, all the popular places of the world has the facility of having several types of food so that every people can able to enjoy their holidays to the fullest (Ruhanen, Mclennan and Moyle 2013). Hence, marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to consider the development different types of restaurants in which every types of food can be available at a decent price. It will definitely create positive impact on the tourist development.
Technological factors:
In present time, technology has become one of the significant factors regardless of any industry. In addition, it is growing day by day, which increases the significance of this even more. Hence, marketing plan of Shrewsbury also has to consider several technological factors. For instance, social media has huge influence in the present generation (McCabe 2014). As a result, if marketing plan of Shrewsbury can able to utilize it properly, it will definitely increase the popularity of the city as a tourist destination.
Technological factors also have the potential to increase the effectiveness of the marketing campaign. For instance, several types of promotional technique such as display marketing and direct marketing used for the development of the tourist in present time. In addition, technological development also allows people to evaluate the kind of sites they will see at the time of visiting a particular place (Spenceley 2012). In fact, all the information about a particular place is easily available in the internet. Therefore, people can easily evaluate and decide where they will visit at the time of holidays. Hence, technological factors have huge influence on the tourist development, which marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to consider at the time of developing marketing strategy.
Figure 2: PEST Analysis
(Source: Fletcher et al. 2013)
According to Hays, Page and Buhalis (2013) effectiveness of marketing plan is highly depended on the identification of the customers. Specifically, tourism development requires people from all parts of the world to visit the particular place. However, as Shrewsbury is struggling to become the first choice of tourists, it first has to target domestic people in order to increase the number of visitors. Hence, it had to implement mass marketing approach to increase the awareness and popularity of Shrewsbury.
However, mass marketing approach will have to be different for different age group of people. Since, requirement or expectations vary with the age. Therefore, marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to implement in such a way that it could able to cover the requirements of every generation of people. Buhalis and Foerste (2015) highlighted shopping, sightsee and food culture are the prime attraction for the tourist in Shrewsbury. Therefore, marketing plan of tourist development will have to develop with the focus of these factors. For instance, older age people generally like arts, museum and historical places. Therefore, marketing plan for this generation will have to highlight these sites of Shrewsbury. On the other hand, younger generation likes to shop and taste different types of food. Hence, marketing plan for younger generation will have to focus on the uniqueness of the marketplaces and restaurants of Shrewsbury so that they feel attracted towards the city.
Marketing plan will also have to focus on the importance of foreign tourists. Since, UK considered as one of the most popular places for foreign tourists (Kozak and Martin 2012). Hence, if Shrewsbury can able to implement effective marketing plan, it will definitely able to attract more number of foreign tourists in the city. However, development of foreign tourist also has to depend on the investment pattern of the government of Shrewsbury in the infrastructure development sector. Since, higher number tourist requires superior quality of infrastructure as well.
As per the article by Hall (2013), tourism marketing reflects an organized and combined effort of the businesses or the national tourist bodies in order increase the satisfaction level of tourists. Marketing in the tourism sector has several advantages as it allows creating an environment that focused towards the customers. According to the AIDA model of marketing, it is very important to catch the attention of the customers first. This will allow creating interest in the customers mind. Interest will increase the desire of the potential customer to visit a particular place. Thus, the desire will eventually influence people to visit Shrewsbury.
In tourism marketing strategy, there are 7 Ps of marketing that are very helpful to gain attention, interest and desire of the people. Hence, it is very important to utilize all the factor of the marketing mix in order to fulfill the objective of the implementation of marketing plan.
Product:
Product in tourism referred to any products or services that are related to tourism such as accommodation, transportation, restaurants, landscapes and shops etc. In tourism industry, some of products are available at free of costs as compared to another industry. For instance, friendliness of the local peoples, beauty of the nature of Shrewsbury is available at free of cost for the tourists. As per the article by Morrison (2013) 4 A’s plays a crucial role in explaining a product of the tourism industry. These factors are- attraction, accommodation, amenity and accessibility.
Attraction is a very important tool, as it influences the tourist in selecting a particular destination of the world. Hence, marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to utilize all its unique products like marketplaces, museum, and environmental richness so that people from all around the world feels attracted towards visiting Shrewsbury.
Accommodation also has major role in developing image of a particular destination, as most of the tourists look for better places for stay after the completion of the trip. Hence, marketing plan will have to focus on the development of hotels and restaurants so that it can able to increase the satisfaction level of the tourist.
Amenity is important in the tourism industry, as it helps to develop image in the visitors mind. Hence, if marketing plan can able to maintain proper level of amenity, it will definitely able to improve the satisfaction level of the tourist. In addition, it also helps Shrewsbury to gain benefits from the positive word of mouth communication.
Accessibility factor depends on the implemented product positioning in the market. According to Hudson and Thal (2013), positioning of the product is very difficult in the tourism industry, as it requires huge amount of knowledge and specialization about the potential of every product in a particular destination. Hence, marketing plan of Shrewsbury also has to develop in such a ay where it can able to utilize all its product for attracting more and more tourist.
Price:
Price in tourism industry defined as the combination of non-monetary and monetary prices. Monetary prices include prices that requires for entrain the destination whereas non-monetary prices include time required to reach a particular destination, future benefits and risks during the journey to that particular land. The primary objective of price setting is analysis of kind of impact it can made on the return on investment. Hence, Shrewsbury will have to develop pricing strategy based on the demand of the customers. Specifically, demand fluctuates in season to season. Therefore, pricing strategy of marketing plan will have to be flexible enough in order to reset its price according to the demand.
Pricing strategy of marketing plan also has to consider the competitors pricing strategy in order to evaluate the kind of strategy will have the potential to provide competitive advantage to Shrewsbury. As opined by Dolnicar and Ring (2014) cities such as Chester has able to attract huge number of customers primarily because of its unique pricing strategy. Traditionally, systematic pricing approach has eight steps, which Shrewsbury also has to follow in order to increase the popularity of the city. Firstly, Shrewsbury authority will have to identify potential customers. Secondly, it had to focus on the estimation of the demand and supply factor in the city. Thirdly, competitors’ prices will have to be estimated by the authority. Fourthly, it had to evaluate alternative basic prices for the visitors. Fifthly, net price calculation has to be made. Sixthly, the authority will have to calculate the expected amount of profit from the tourism industry. Seventhly, authority will have to estimate the total cost of introducing pricing strategy and finally the authority will have to conduct in-depth study for the different segment of Shrewsbury for the further development.
Since, Shrewsbury is currently struggling to gain popularity as a tourist destination; it has to implement low price strategy so that more people get attracted towards the city.
Place:
Place is an important factor of the marketing mix, as people perceive an image when they consider about a particular place. Hence, marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to formulate in such a way that can increase the desire of travelling to the city when they will think about Shrewsbury. Ashworth and Goodall (2012) state that major variables of place are channel of distribution, merchandising and transportation. Transportation is important, as it allows tourists to visit different places of a particular city very quickly. In case of Shrewsbury, it already mentioned that transportation is well developed. Therefore, marketing plan regarding the tourist development in Shrewsbury will have to highlight the transportation factor in such a way that the people feel to visit the city more.
Marketing plan also will have to focus on the awareness factor about a particular place. Since, many studies have identified that having cultural, environmental and visual richness is not only the factors that can have impact on the tourist development. In fact, creating awareness about a particular city has the potential increase the curiosity of the people. Therefore, it will help the city to increase the present level of visitors, which will eventually place to develop further.
Promotion:
According to Pastras and Bramwell (2013), promotion is arguably the most important factor of marketing mix. As tourism industry is a huge phenomenon, government generally develops advertisement in tourism industry. In addition, Shrewsbury is struggling to represent itself as one of the prime destination for the tourist even though it has all the necessary requirements that a popular tourist destination requires. Hence, significance of promotion or advertising technique has become huge. Generally, advertising divided under four categories, outdoor advertising, indoor advertising, direct advertising and media advertising. The marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to consider all types of advertising in order to increase the popularity of the city as a tourist destination. For instance, the advertisement in television or social media can have huge amount of impact on the popularity of the city. Another aspect that marketing plan of Shrewsbury will have to consider is development of the brand of Shrewsbury as a tourist destination. Since, it will help to develop a good image on the mind of the potential customers.
Figure 3: Marketing Mix for tourist development in Shrewsbury
(Source: Frochot and Batat 2013)
Conclusion:
The current trend in tourism industry no longer focused only on the sand and sea tourism. Rather people getting more attracted towards the green tourism and cultural heritage. Therefore, places like Shrewsbury are getting more and more popular as a tourist destination. The above study also highlighted that Shrewsbury has all the requirements to become as one of the popular places of the UK region. However, currently it is not able to utilize its potential to its fullest, as the city is struggling to become top priority destination for the tourists. Thus, the above-suggested marketing plan can able to help Shrewsbury to improve the number of tourist visits in the city.
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