Application of 7ps in Vikas Mehta-341 Tourism sectorKalpesh chauhan-363

Ankita vyas-303 Shilan shah-337

 Tourism Products are different from most of the other products because what is being sold is consumption of an experience rather than a tangible product, the product is primarily service based. This means that a customer often walks away from the tourism offering with only a memory or an experience.

7 Ps of tourism
Product

PRODUCT
In planning its market offering, the marketer needs to think through five levels of product. Each level adds to the customer value Attributes such as room, transport, conference facilities. Benefits which are what the consumer achieves as a result of buying the product such as relaxation, learning and exploration.

The levels of the product that the travel and tourism industry offers to its customers are as follows: 1) Core product The core product offered by Travel and Tourism industry is the destination. It is core because the main aim of the tourist is the destination where he has to reach 2) Basic product The basic products offered by Travel and Tourism industry are ticket booking, transport, sight seeing, hotel booking. 3) Expected product These are the products that the customer expects the organization to offer. These are impeccable services, seat availability on needed time as it is critical to business travelers, accurate information, quick check in for the senior manger of the company, authentic information, information about various packages, different routes leading to a particular destination.

4) Augmented product These are the products that are offered by the companies to distinguish itself from others. These products become expected products in the future. Those are flat beds in business class, Wi-Fi connection in hotels, customized meals on board, tele checking 8hrs booking in hotels, hotels providing laptops on request, internet access as complimentary for the corporate packages. 5) Potential products These are the future products that the companies will offer to its customers. These can be underwater tourism, hovercraft for traveling. Also Virgin Atlantic airlines are thinking of adding a casino and a shopping mall in the airline.

RATER The well-known concept of five-quality dimension RATER, we hereby relate them to 7ps of Travel and Tourism. 1) RELIABILITY Suchna Information The way and the kind of information, which is provided, by any Travel and Tourism organization to its customers is the parameter of judging the Reliability of that organization. The various services provided by agency includes, Ticketing, Working out travel routes , Providing information on Destinations ,Arranging visas, Making stay reservations. Here information plays a very dynamic role. For Example A customer comes for booking a ticket. It is very important on the part of the service provider (travel agency) to give accurate information on all types of flight available, their fares, and new schemes going on which would in turn help customers to choose most suitable product for their traveling. Such repeated and accurate information creates of a reliable organization. I.e. in future the customer would trust the organization for any information.

2) ASSURANCE Suraksha Safety It is one of the prime factors considered when talking about this sector. A safe travel is the top priority of any traveler. Thus it is very important for Travel and Tourism organization to consider the safety of the tour package. The safe travel will in turn ensure the customers traveler. 3) TANGIBLES Swagat Suvidha Safai. These are the backstage elements, which help in a great way for the customers to evaluate the service. (a) Swagat It means warm welcome. Everyone loves a warm welcome. It really gives a good start to the whole holiday. Thus keeping this tangible factor in mind the tourism agencies for example Thomas cook always keeps in mind the Swagat of their traveler. One good example of such is in this package of Thomas cook from Mumbai to Goa, wherein they give a welcome drink to travelers and provide them with a fruit platter and famous cashew nuts of Goa.

b) Suvidha It means facility. Today if you talk top any business traveler they want to be pampered silly from flat beds in business class to Wi-Fi in hotels customize the needs. These are the kind of facilities they expect. Thus if a Travel and Tourism organization is able to provide all such demanding facilities then it adds value to its travel products and makes the product hike from standard quality level to superior quality level. c) Safai It means cleanliness. Hygiene is also an important factor of a travel package. Clean hotel rooms and lobby create a good impression of the package and add to the quality level.

4) EMPHATY Sahyog : Cooperation. Empathy is sahyog i.e. co-operation i.e. listen to the customers understand them and co-operate with them to come down to a solution this factor creates a very positive impression in the minds of the customers and helps the service to get a tag of its excellent service quality. 5) RESPONSIVENESS Sanrachna : Information. This is the last element in the concept of RATER. Sanrachna which means infrastructure. Why do we relate infrastructure to responsiveness is because how flexible is the infrastructure of Travel and Tourism organization affects the service responsiveness. For example if you plan and book a Qualis car to travel from place A to place B and if the car breaks down then how fast can you respond by replacing it with a new car shows the flexibility of the infrastructure i.e. the no of cars.

PRICE
In pricing decisions, the product or the service mix of the tourist organization is important. They have to set prices in line with the quality of services to be made available to the customers and the type of customers they are targeting. Pricing decisions are influenced by internal factors like pricing policy of the company, and external factors like the destination itself. They are required to think in favor of discounting price. These may include discounts for cash payments, seasonal discounts, trade discounts etc. But while offering the discounts, it is not to be forgotten that it may also create image problem since some of the value sensitive tourists may doubt the quality.

PLACE
Most tour operators sell their services through travel agents, however some deal directly with the consumers and eliminate middlemen. For example, Thomas Cook has its own branches situated throughout the country so they are easily accessible. The customer, in the travel and tourism industry, has to go to the service provider. Hence strategic locations are very important for Thomas Cook. Location: Transport also plays a major role in the tourism industry. It makes the destinations accessible to people from around the world. Also, in the case of tangible products in tourism such as souvenirs and cuisine, transportation becomes a major logistical component.

PROMOTION
Creation of awareness has a far-reaching impact. The tourist organizations bear the responsibility of informing, persuading and sensing the potential tourists in a right fashion. The marketers need to use the various components of promotion optimally so that they succeed in increasing the number of habitual users. The various dimensions of tourism promotion are as follows: Advertising: Advertisement gives important information to the actual and potential tourists. Its coverage is wide. Advertising is aimed at the public to create awareness of the travel offers available .Intangibility can be compensated with the help of visual exposure of scenes and events. We can project hotel bedrooms, well-arranged restaurants and cafeterias, swimming pools etc.

Publicity: It focuses attention on strengthening the public relations measures by developing a rapport with media people and getting their personalized support in publicizing the business. The publicity program include regular publicity stories and photographs to the newspapers, travel editors, contact with magazines on stories etc. advertising is a part of publicity. Sales promotions: Sales promotion measures are the short-term activities seeking to boost sales at peak demand periods to ensure that the firms obtain its market share and are used to help launch a new product or support an ailing or modified one. The tool of sales promotions is designed to appeal particularly to those customers who are pricesensitive. For Example In the tourism industry, a travel company offers give-aways to their clients, such as flight bags, wallets for tickets, Foreign Exchange (Forex) and covers of passport. The hotels offer a number of facilities like shoe shine clothes, first aid sewing kits, shower caps and shampoo. Further, the VIP clients also get fruits and flowers in their rooms.

Word-of-mouth Promotion: Most communication about tourism takes place by word-of-mouth information, In the tourism industry it is found that the word-of-mouth promoters play the role of a hidden sales force, which help the process of selling. The marketers or the tourist organizations need to keep their eyes open, identify the vocal persons or the opinion leaders and take a special care of them so that they keep on moving the process of stimulating and creating demand. Personal Selling: Personal Selling is based on the personal skill of an individual. The development of travel and tourism has been possible due to well-educated and trained sales personnel. The development of tourism business has been influenced by the services rendered by the travel agents and travel guides since they work as information carriers. Personal selling is the personal presentation of a tangible product or intangible services or ideas to the customers. It is important to mention that in the tourism industry, the personnel who attend tourists form an essential ingredient of the product, such as sales

Telemarketing: It is a method of selling in which a professionally sound telemarketer markets the business. The quality of technology and the communicative ability of the telemarketers determine the magnitude of success of this component. In tourism, the travel agents, offices of airways, receptionist, and secretaries work efficiently . Exhibitions The participants include state and national tourism promotion boards, travel agents and tour operators, airlines, car rentals, cruise liners, holiday financiers, technology providers, hotels and resorts, education institutions in the field of hospitality and tourism. Over the years the participation of foreign tourism promotion boards like the Dubai Tourism and the Mauritius Tourism, etc has increased in order to aggressively promote their respective countries. .

PROCESS
There are different type of processes involved in running a tourism business. i.e administration, training, planning, and strategizing, recruitment, distribution, purchasing and service delivery. It is important to ensure that these processes are planned and carried out properly so that operations run smoothly and problems are rectified quickly. It is the way of undertaking transaction supplying information and providing services on a way, which is acceptable to the consumer and the effective to the organization. Further to realize what are the critical moments in the considered process a concept of blue printing is introduced.

PEOPLE
Like other industries, the tourism industry depends substantially on management of human resources. The tourism industry is an amalgam of the services of a lot of people and hence this industry cannot work efficiently if the travel agents, tour operators and travel guides lack world class professional excellence. In the tourism industry the travel agents and the travel guides are the two most important people who speak a lot about the industry. Hence it is imperative that they have to be at their best at all times. Travel guides especially, are expected to have a lot of patience, good sense of humour, tact to transform the occasional tourists into habitual ones, thorough knowledge of the places, linguistic skills etc.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
It is a very important factor for the travel and tourism industry. This marketing p is important in 2 distinct ways: 1) as the environment in which the sales takes place 2) the environment where the product is consumed The environment in which the sales takes place when the purchasing of the product is taking place, however the customer cannot be sure whether they will enjoy the product or not. In the mean time their expectations and emotions are influenced by factors like layout of the room, the furniture, noise level, temperature, lights and other factors like the brochure of the company. In case of customers who by electronically the appearance of the website is the physical evidence.

The environment where the product is consumed In The travel industry where the product is being experienced s particularly important in securing repeat business thus extensive facitilities that prove to be physical evidence are provided to lure and woo the customer The tangibles include flat beds in business class, Wi-Fi connection in hotels, customized meals on board, tele checking hrs booking in hotels, hotels providing laptops on request, internet access as complimentary for the corporate packages. The critical incidences in this process are: Understanding the customers needs and expectations from the holiday or business tour which ever he or she is opting for Making an apt travel plan and route adhering to the requirements of the customer

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