Unit 4. E-Marketing and E-Promotion of tourism companies and products.
4.1. Supply focus: Web of tourism supplier companies
Of the players in the chain, it is the suppliers who are investing most heavily in the development of their online businesses, as they benefit directly from the elimination of intermediaries in transactions and the costs they entail.
Among these tourism products and services, the favorite on the Web is air travel, which is in fact generating billions in sales.
We can find various hotel offers on the Web, both from the "traditional" world and purely virtual. Traditional hotel reservation centers are also directing their business to online sales, in some cases, they market their offer through checkbooks allowing online booking but directing the client to their traditional travel agency for payment and collection of documentation, others will also be available on the network to continue with their traditional operation of collaboration with travel agencies, but at the same time they will give content with the same offer to other purely virtual actors.
The most requested products sold on the network are:
Airline tickets
Accommodations
Tourist Packages
Miscellaneous services
The reasons for the success that the airline industry is experiencing on the Web
- Airlines are making greater investments in technology.
- Online travel agencies have a diversity of products not related to air travel (which is the one that sells the most on the web).
- Airlines are putting a lot of emphasis on customer loyalty programs.
- They have a broader online distribution strategy, which allows them to reach a larger number of markets.
4.2. Supply approach: Web of tourism intermediation companies
The use of the Internet not only means an increase in sales through this same medium, but also favors offline sales. It is also considered important the economic savings that the use of "new technologies" can mean both in their internal processes and in communications and work processes with third parties.
With the Internet, a technology has appeared that is capable of bringing any member of the tourism business chain closer to the end customer. This gives way to a transformation in business models that leads to the concurrence of all the interlocutors on the Net, selling basically the same products. Thus, relationships that have been and continue to be collaborative in the offline world, such as that of supplier and distributor, can become competitive on the Web.
The website that is the direct competitor of travel agencies, both traditional and online, is the portal where you can not only purchase airline tickets but also make hotel reservations, car rentals and travel insurance, i.e., this portal offers all the services of a travel agency.
Ej. European airlines Iberia, Air France, KLM, British Airways, Alitalia.
For inbound travel agencies, the opportunity that the Internet gives them to make their product known anywhere in the world can be very beneficial for their business, regardless of whether they sell online or offline.
Online business models for Travel Agencies
B2C, or Business to Consumer, can be defined simply as the "sale of goods and services to consumers over the Internet".
B2B, or Business to Business, is the buying and selling of goods and services between companies over the Internet.
Most outstanding B2B initiatives in the travel agency sector:
- Turimundo", the portal created that combines both models of e-commerce, B2C and B2B. The end customer can buy his trip, always through an agency, and the professional channel has the possibility of competing on this platform with its suppliers, but following the traditional distribution model.
- Other initiatives are those that aim to promote business between international players in the sector.
4.3. Focus on demand: cyber-consumers of travel and tourism: single services and combined packages.
Cyberconsumers
It is important to consumers that online businesses are backed by a recognized brand.
Bearing in mind that users still feel distrustful when organizing their trips over the Internet, without the intermediation of a physical agent to whom they can turn to, or complain if necessary, and that they are concerned about the security of the transmission of their financial and personal data, it can be stated without a doubt that brand recognition on the Internet is fundamental.
The visits made by cyberconsumers to websites are for:
- The search for information on the different brands that offer the product.
- Comparison and evaluation of the different brands
Individual services
Any person making a trip may choose to purchase the trip from the company providing the service or through a travel agency.
The so-called "single services" offered by travel agencies include the following:
- Sale of tickets, in all its modalities (land, air and maritime).
- Hotel reservations.
- Car rental.
- Sale of travel insurance, medical assistance, etc. (these items together with car rental).
For the sale of these individual services, the agency receives a commission previously agreed with the service provider, which varies according to the type of service in question.
The tourist package
It is also called programmed travel or package travel : the result of the agencies' production function.
It is a tourist product organized on the initiative of a travel agency, a chain or a group of agencies in a specific distribution channel, for which a global price is set that includes all the services that make up the package, and aimed at a specific market or tourist segment.
According to the European Union, the tourist package must combine at least two of the following tourist services: transportation, accommodation or any other service not ancillary to these but which constitute a significant part of the trip, all offered at a joint price and with a minimum stay of 24 hours or one night for the traveler.
4.4. Links and tourism promotion
Given the number of tourism initiatives already competing on the Web, and generally using similar technologies, the virtual enterprise runs the risk of failing to differentiate itself from its competitors. In this sense, segmentation of demand and specialization of supply are two important concepts for standing out on the Web.
When an airline seat flies without an occupant, it is a service that can no longer be sold or charged for. It has been a common practice in recent years to try to "place" this surplus supply at attractive prices in the last hours or days before the departure of the plane, and these days the Internet allows to sell these products that otherwise would have been lost.
In the case of mundoviaje.com, although it sells a variety of tourism products, its marketing is directly focused on the package tour product. This type of product continues to be in short supply on the Internet, as the development of the technology required for online sales is complex.
One segment that is often being targeted by these virtual operators is the "business traveler". This type of customer seems to have a very suitable profile as they are often in touch with the use of technology and the Internet, and the time savings of online shopping suits their needs.
Promotion of tourism advertising on the Internet
The instruments used for tourism promotion are advertising and public relations.
Target Internet advertising is very effective, and relatively inexpensive. A combination of several strategies is used, including images and reviews on related web pages, hyperlinks, newsgroups, e-mail advertisements, and so on.
Internet advertising consists of banners, miniature screens, newsletters, etc., to which Internet users are exposed when using free search services, translation, e-mail, chat rooms and even free programs..
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