Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Activity 5.9
Choose three travel and tourism organisations or
facilities, local or national, and make a list of the sales
promotion techniques each uses to stimulate sales.
Discuss with your colleagues which techniques you
believe are the most and least effective and explain
your reasons.
This activity is designed to provide evidence for P3.
Direct marketing
While advertising is sometimes criticised for not
always hitting its intended audience (for example,
a TV advertisement featuring a product geared
specifi cally to the needs of men will be of little interest
to women watching), direct marketing is able to target
particular customers very successfully. Direct mail is the
best-known method of direct marketing, a technique
used extensively in the travel and tourism sector (see
Figure 5.7).
Using a mailing list, which may have been bought,
borrowed or compiled from its own records, a company
can mail existing and prospective customers with a
personalised letter or brochure giving details of its
products. If planned carefully, a direct mail campaign
can bring excellent results for a wide variety of travel
and tourism organisations and facilities, ranging from
hotels, holiday centres and travel agencies to tour
operators, visitor attractions and art galleries.
Fig 5.7 - An ef ective direct mail l yer
The important point about all sales promotion
techniques is that they are temporary and aim to
stimulate demand in the short term. Unlike advertising,
direct marketing and public relations activities,
which are essentially long-term promotional tools,
sales promotion gives an organisation the fl exibility
needed to be able to respond quickly to changing
circumstances.
Telemarketing is direct selling over the telephone and is
a growing method of direct marketing in the UK. Already
widespread in the USA, its use in this country in travel
and tourism is fairly new, and is limited to activities such
as selling timeshare and selling services to businesses.
However, centralised call centre operations are being
used more to sell holidays direct to the public. E-mail
marketing is one of the fastest-growing types of direct
marketing. It is a very cheap way of reaching customers
and can be targeted at particular types of buyers, e.g.
families, groups and independent travellers.
Sales promotion techniques are not only targeted
at members of the general public - it is common for
staff working in travel and tourism, especially in the
private sector, to be offered incentives and rewards
for achieving sales targets. Travel agency counter
staff, for example, may be given shop vouchers by
tour operators or airlines in return for selling a certain
number of holidays or fl ights.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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