CONTENTS

1. Introduction 2. Background 3. Positive and negative aspects of travel and tourism 4. Tourist circuits in India 5. Tourism in India 6. Tourism the concept 7. SWOT Analysis 8. PEST Analysis 9. why market tourism? 10. Types of tours 11. Thomas cook (company profile) 12. Segmentation 13. Positioning 14. Service Marketing triangle 15. Marketing mix Product level Product width and line Service Flower Product Mix RATER Complaint handling Price mix Promotion mix Place Mix 16. Extended three ps People Process Physical Evidence 17. Analyzing and creating a service frame work 18. 4 Is 19. Conclusion 20. Bibliography

INTRODUCTION
It is Indias vastness that challenges the imagination: the sub-continent, 3200km (2000 miles) from the mountain fastness of the Himalayas in the north to the tropical lushness of Kerala in the south, is home to one sixth of the worlds population, a diverse culture and an intoxicatingly rich history. The most frequently visited part of India is the Golden Triangle Delhi and the magnificent monuments of Agra and Jaipur, a legacy of centuries of Muslim rule but there is much besides. The unfairly maligned great cities of Mumbai and Kolkata (Calcutta) have a bustling, colourful charm, while the holy city of Varanasi or the awe-inspiring temples of Tamil Nadu are worthy objects of pilgrimage. For those who prefer more sybaritic pleasures, the palm-fringed beaches of Goa have a European charm all of their own. Hinduism is practiced by 85 per cent of Indians, the religious rites and redletter days woven into the fabric of everyday life ritual washing in the Ganges and the ear-splitting celebrations of the festival of Ganesh and the inequalities of the caste system are there for all to see. One of the fascinations of India is the juxtaposition of old and new; centuries of history from the pre-historic Indus civilization to the British Raj rub shoulders with the computer age; and Bangalore's Silicon Valley is as much a part of the world's largest democracy as the remotest village is. Richard Hopton

Background.
Tourism has been traced back to the time of Alexander the great, from 356323BC. The Roman Empire injected life, strength and continuity to traveling and therefore, the credibility for the development of the tourism industry ultimately goes to them. The fall of the Roman Empire resulted into the downfall of tourism, at least till the end of middle age. The contours of development underwent radical changes at least till the 15 th century. The trade and commerce along with religious activities gained the momentum but till the beginning of industrial revolution, tourism continued to remain a matter of pilgrimage. A number of developments took place between 15th and 18th centuries, especially in the industrial world that raised the significance of specialization or expertise for excelling competition. By the turn of 19th century, the tourism started developing as a business and the professional travel agents started taking part in the process. With the beginning of 20th century, the process of invention and innovations started gaining momentum that made ways for the development of infra structural facilities and further added new dimensions in the tourism business. However the World War I and World War II obstructed the flow of development but the second half of the 20th century proved to be the Golden Age, since almost all the countries of the world started patronizing tourism as an important economic activity.

In the Indian perspective, we find seventh five-year plan as watershed in the development of tourism industry. For the first time, the vast potential of tourism as a foreign exchange earner and generator of employment opportunities was recognized. Several policy initiatives were taken to develop the tourism sector. The future growth of tourism is required to be activated with the support of the private sector. The strategy for the development of tourism is required to be designed on the basis of low-cost economy, higher level of productivity, efficiency in the use of infrastructure and sophisticated tourist facilities. In the eighth five-year plan (1992-97), the special tourism areas were selected and in the ninth five year plan (1997-2002) looked forward to energize the process of development but the image problem is found to complicate the task of professionals.

Positive and Negative impacts of Tourism.

Almost every country and especially the developing ones, is promoting tourism for obvious reasons. George Young have given six reasons in favour of promoting tourism and also several other negative points attached to the growth of tourism. Several countries want to promote tourism for the following reasons: 1. Tourism is a major source of badly needed foreign exchange. This foreign exchange is earned more easily and is brought by the tourist itself at the destination. 2. Tourism is a source of employment. Because of its being mainly a labour intensive industry, it provides employment to the semi-skilled and the unskilled. 3. It is a rapidly growing industry and any government must encourage those activities, which are increasing day by day. As income and education rises, the demand for holidays and travel also increases. 4. Development of tourism projects a better image of the country and brings it on to the world stage. 5. To many countries tourism may be more valuable than it is to other countries because of its having competitive advantages over neighboring countries. Moreover, it may also be more valuable than other natural resources for tourism is renewable in nature. 6. Tourism may be the instrument for removing regional disparities of a country. Further, it is an effective means of transferring wealth from developed to underdeveloped areas.

Tourists Circuits in INDIA

North zone:
There are seven tourist circuits in the north zone. Mountains and rivers, valleys and plains characterize this zone. The worlds highest mountains, the snow-clad Himalayas, attract the tourists. This zone includes Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pardesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The seven tourist circuits are Kullu-Manali-Leh, Rishikesh, Narendra Nagar-Badrinath-Gangotri, Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, Nahan-Solan-Shimala-Kufri, Varanasi-Prayag-Ayodhya, Nainital-Almora-Ranikhet-Pithoragarh, and Jammu-Shrinagar-Vaishno Devi. In this zone two types of tourism are prevalent, that is, religious and natural tourism. Badrinath, Gangotri and Vaishno Devi are places of religious importance while Shimala, Nainital, Srinagar, etc. are scenic hill stations.

South zone:
This zone includes four-tourist circuit, Hyderabad-Nagarjun-Tirupati, ChennaiMamallapuram-Pondicherry-Rameswaram, Banglore-Mysore-Hassan, AjantaEllora-Elephanta caves. Banglore is a beautiful garden city. In these circuits, most of the places are of religious importance and display the natural heritage of the past.

West zone:
There is only one major circuit of tourism. This compromises Rajasthan and Gujrat. Rajasthan is a state of historical importance while Gujrat is known for the biggest pilgrimage site of Dwarka Dham. The tourist circuit includes the Jaislamer-Jodhpur-Bikaner-Barmer-Sarnath and Dwarka locations.

East zone:
There are three tourist circuits in this zone. They include BagdograSikkim-Darjiling-Kalimpong, Bhubneshwar-Puri-Konark, Rajgarh-JanjeeraKuda caves. Jagnnath Puri is one of the four DHAMS of India. In scenic locales, Darjeeling dominates.

Central zone:
This zone includes the tourist locations of Madhya Pradesh. Here, only three tourist circuits have been discussed. They are Gwalior-Orchha-Khajuraho, Indore-Ujjain-Maheshwar-Omkareshwar-Mandu and Pachmarhi-BhedaghatAmarkantak. These tourist circuits in the different zones have their own distinct features and are well known as tourist places and pilgrimage sites. Better infra-structural facilities will attract more tourists and enable India to exploit its inexhaustible tourist potential.

Tourism in INDIA
Gandhiji rightly pointed out once that that I have traveled many countries but the natural charm, simplicity and integrity that India posses is matched no where in the world. While places like Singapore and Bangkok can attract much of tourist attention so can rest of the world with its natural environment. However India has gained recognition as a tourists spot in the international ring. The year 2000-2001 witnessed its two million tourist arrivals on her shore. The central as well as state government are making due effort to flourish it as a separate industry, not only will it fetch foreign revenue bur will also develop a special place on the global map. Tourism also generates maximum job opportunities. Tourism as a separate sector was setup very late in India. The government however started developing plans to develop the tourism sector after independence.

Tourism The Concept.

Tourism has been defined in many ways and yet there is no universally accepted definition. Tourism is a pleasure activity in which money earned in ones normal domicile is spent in the places visited. Middleton summarizes the importance of the industry: Tourismis of interest worldwide because of its recent growth and current size; its potential for further growth; its economic contribution measured in terms of investment, employment and balance of payments; its effects on host communities; and its impact on the physical environment of visited destinations. Tourism is a temporary and short-term movement of people. Tourism is the totality of relationship. Tourism is the activity concerned with the utilization of leisure hours. Tourism is a composite industry consisting of various segments. Tourist is a person who makes a journey for the sake of curiosity for fun of traveling. A Tourist is a temporary visitor to a country other than the one in which he usually resides for any reason other than following an occupation remunerated Within the country visited. the

Tourists are
Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic reason. Persons traveling for business purposes.

Tourists are not

Persons coming from rural areas to the urban areas.

Students in a boarding. Persons passing through a country without stopping.

SWOT Analysis.
Strengths
Indias geographical location, a culmination of deserts, forests, mountains, and beaches. A wealth of archeological sites and historical monuments. Manpower costs in the Indian hotel industry are one of the lowest in the world. This provides better margins for the industry.

Weaknesses
Lack of adequate infrastructure. The airlines in India, for example, are inefficient and do not provide basic facilities at airports. The road condition in India is very bad. No proper marketing of Indias tourism abroad. Foreigners still think of India is one of poverty, superstition, and diseases. The case of plague in Surat in 1994 led to decrease of 36% in arrival of foreign tourists in India.

Opportunities
More proactive role from the government of India in terms of framing policies. Allowing entry of more multinational companies into the country giving us a global perspective. Growth of domestic tourism. The advantage here is that domestic tourism and international tourism can be segregated easily owing to the different in the period of holidays.

Threats
Political turbulence within India in Kashmir and Gujarat has also reduced tourist traffic.

Aggressive strategies adopted by other countries like Australia, Singapore in promoting tourism.

PEST Analysis.
Political:
The political factors are the main driving force of the industry. The Indian tourism industry is built on the backbone of Government support and the industry cannot sustain itself without it. The various archaeological sites and the places of historical importance, the roads and the railways are all in the hands of the Government. All the support services like the hotel industry, the airlines industry and the tourist operators to name some are heavily dependent on the support and the cooperation of the Government. The major reason as to why tourists visit India is for the vast and rich heritage that our country has. That is under the control of the Government, through the Archaeological Survey of India. Any policy change that comes into force can have dramatic effect on the way the industry players perform. For example, the Government charges high rate of taxes on the luxury and the star category hotels and this has always been a cause of disagreement between the hotel associations and the Government. There are many areas where the growth of tourism has not been rapid or has seen dramatic fall because the political environment has not been conducive. Examples are the North East for the former and Kashmir for the latter. The neglect of the Government in developing the Northeast has led to a situation where there is practically no tourism in the seven states. Similarly, the political turmoil in the state of Kashmir and now in Gujarat has

caused a virtual decimation of the flourishing tourism industry. However, there has been a change in many of the policies of the Government with regard to the tourism industry. The hotel industry has been getting many incentives and many State Governments are encouraging the growth of major hotels in their states. After years of tight control over airport infrastructure, Government has finally taken the decision to privatize the airports. With the coming of new government that is congress we need to know the recent importance given to Travel and Tourism sector. The new travel and Tourism minister is Renuka Chaudhary. The new government has taken the following steps with regards to travel and tourism sector. Encourage new growth areas in employment intensive services like tourism, civil aviation and retailing. Services (Tourism, Civil Aviation, Entertainment And Retailing) Tourism Tourism to be included in the concurrent list so as to have a uniform tax Structure amongst all states. Visa on arrival for international tourists. Rationalization of entertainment and luxury taxes to promote tourism. Civil Aviation Implement the recommendations on Open Skies Policy by the Naresh Chandra Committee. All national airlines to form a part of the bilaterals. The agenda of the new government is made from extracting certain points in the manifesto of congress and left parties. This agenda highlight that the new government is more socialistic in nature and less aggressive in economic aspects may be due to the pressure of the left, we have lately seen that low strata people and farmers are their prime aim, thus due to this

reason a socialistic view or angle is also provided to the tourism sector by giving greater importance to rural tourism. To support this point we have a recent article talking about the above-mentioned point.

Party hit: Even Renuka sings kisan dhun

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SATURDAY, JULY 03, 2004 02:21:48 AM ]

NEW DELHI: What have farmer suicides in tourism minister Renuka Chaudhary's home state of Andhra Pradesh got to do with rural tourism? Nothing, except the minister believes rural tourism could be part of a development effort, which ensures debt-ridden farmers aren't driven to suicide. She has no specific proposal in mind, however. "I don't want to make a farce of it. But if we do rural tourism, the basic economy would improve." She ends on a prayer: "I pray to God we are the answer for farmers to live long." At a news conference on Friday after a tourism marketing meet, Chaudhary's mood seemed optimistic as she flagged a 25 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals in the first five months of 2004 and skated over every question ranging from a possible hike in budget allocations to the ugly incidents concerning taxis at Delhi airport, Kashmir terrorism and Laloo Prasad Yadav's kulhads, even promising to make the Andamans and Lakshadweep showpieces of ecotourism. "India is the happening place," said the minister. "All other countries have been there and done that." The big issue is marketing India as a destination, and getting the house in order more flights, easier visas, better infrastructure. But for the past two years, the ministry hasn't been able to figure out whether it wants more of its own tourist offices abroad or not. These eat up Rs 90 crore in budgets and have been panned for performance. Two years back, the ministry closed five: Tel Aviv, Moscow, Madrid, Stockholm and Buenes Aires. A year later, the political momentum saw it moot the idea of opening up Tel

Aviv again. This never happened. For some time now, the ministry has been trying to open up shop in China, Malaysia and Thailand, in what it bills as part of its "strong 'Look East' policy". Chaudhary says she will look at opening up more, perhaps in a different avtar. She didn't spell out the avtar but it seems the finance ministry doesn't share her ministry's view. So, she may have to settle for representatives abroad. "We'll review it," was all she said in response to questions that sought to compare tourist offices with embassies and private travel agents.

ECONOMIC
India has significant potential for becoming a major global tourist destination. The country witnessed foreign tourist arrivals of 2.75 million in 2001. Travel and tourism is the second highest foreign exchange earner for India, and the government has given organisations in this industry export house status. The industry is waking up to the potential of domestic tourism as well, with an estimated 4.7 billion domestic trips in 2001. Tourism spending within India in 2001 was US$ 22 billion. There is considerable government presence in the travel and tourism industry. Each state has a tourism corporation, which typically runs a chain of hotels /motels and operates package tours, while the central government runs the India Tourism Development Corporation. Divestment of these state-run tourism corporations have either already taken place or are in process. Incoming foreign tourist arrivals have shown a 6% compounded annual growth rate over the last 10 years. The government has realised the potential and has advanced several incentives to promote infrastructure growth in the tourism sector. Current investments are likely to see hotel room capacity increase by 20% over the next three years, with several international hotel chains entering the hotel industry. Similar growth is anticipated in air travel capacity.

Policy Initiatives The New Tourism Policy released in May 2002 has outlined the

SOCIAL
Social aspect includes tow dimensions 1. Social and cultural dimension 2. Environmental dimension Social and cultural aspects that affect Travel and Tourism industry are : Tourism was always looked upon as something that led to the destruction of the social fabric of a place. The more the amount of outside people coming into a place, the more the perceived risk of that place losing its identity. A good example is Goa. From the late 60's to the early 80's when the Hippy culture was at its height, Goa was a haven for such hippies. Here they came in thousands and changed the whole culture of the state. This had a ripple effect on the country. People became cautious, especially of the international tourists. Whenever a certain place became famous, the example of Goa was cited to discourage the inflow of international tourists. However some places such as Kerala and Rajasthan have been able to strike a balance between their own culture and the demands of the international tourists and have profited handsomely in the bargain. People are now adopting themselves to the fact that tourism pays and it can be a major source of income for them. In addition, tourism as a form of recreation has really caught on. People themselves have started traveling and are willing to travel to a place that is out of the way and exotic. While traditionally traveling on a holiday meant going to a hill station or a beach, now people are willing to go in for adventure tourism and also visit places that might be exotic and cannot

really be called hospitable. For example, now places like Leh and Lakshwadeep are mentioned in the same breath as Goa or Kashmir.

The social aspect also includes the strong consumer fore of India the middle class that is of prime importance to any marketer. Thus while formulating the price strategy of a travel and tourism product this force is given primary importance. India is full of diversity that is it has various people of different religion and culture this aspect has given rise to whole new segments of tours that are cultural and religious tours in India, e.g. Amarnath Yatra The second dimension of Social aspect is ENVIRONMENT. This dimension has received considerable importance in the form of the up coming concept of ECOTOURISM. Definition and Ecotourism Principles TIES define ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." This means that those who implement and participate in ecotourism activities should follow the following principles: Minimize impact Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts Provide direct financial benefits for conservation Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people Raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate Support international human rights and labor agreements Thus this sums up the Social aspect of Travel and Tourism Industry

Technological factors.
Infrastructure still remains the major impediment in realizing the high potential that the tourism industry holds for India, like inadequate transportation facilities, lack of basic amenities at tourist centers and lack of hygiene. Internet is becoming a very powerful medium of information for booking of hotels and airline tickets. Nearly 80% of people worldwide source information via the Internet regarding airline hotel travel websites and 15% really book via the net. In India most of the hotels and airlines have realized the potential of this medium and are propagating the use. Technology and automation is a great contributor to this growth in the coming two to three years should see a major thrust in the medium. The growth of the WWW on the Internet has created many opportunities as well as challenges for commercial business and industries. The problems that arose in the 1960s related to the integration of various computers across the globe have been solved by Internet-integrating increasingly heterogeneous IT systems between and within and amongst organization. The web now offers, to providers and seekers of information around the globe, easy access to other systems that proprietary systems could not match. Simplistically put it has a common platform for the entrepreneurs across the evolved globe. Keeping in view the advancement in Information Technology, the net is of particular interest for the travel and tourism industry. In many countries the tourism industry has a higher number of international visitors than others and the competition is more in terms of information than the product itself.

Thus, the international travelers and marketers both have a great need for interactive communication. According to Pittetal. "Many marketing managers have not yet given careful consideration to the full potential of the WWW as a marking tool, particularly with regard to its potential to move the prospective buyer from being a passive surfer to an interactive customer." The phenomenon has given rise to a renowned activity that is known as Ecommerce-which if put simplistically is nothing buy buying and selling on the net. E-commerce has given birth to Interactive Marketing, which is all set to change the roles of small businesses, retailers, manufactures and media organisations. It is expected that the proliferation of E-commerce will make the gap between small and big businesses narrower . All organisations, big or small, will have uniform access to global audiences. The same is true in the area of advertising where the balance of power between large and small companies may fundamentally change in future. Small business will gain an increasing share of the international delivery of products and services, which will recently, were in the exclusive domain of the big players. This should much lucrative to the entrepreneurs targeting tourism as a business process. Internet is expected to be successful in converting the non-electronic world of marketing into an electronic one. To create an online marketing strategy is, however, not an easy task. Rather it requires decisions pertaining to marketing approaches, marketing policies & strategies, digitizing the business processes, marketing research, advertisements of products and services and so on to acquire and retain the customers. The effective use of internet technology helps in saving time, money and resources through online collection of data, online/real time processing and online distribution of information products, Keeping in view the activities needed to be performed under tourism, internet can be an opportunity for those who want to earn a decent livelihood with minimum investment.

The high degree of perishibility of service based products opens room for strategic application of Internet technology towards full capacity utilization. By quick communications spread over a spectrum of time, predominantly in the off-peak seasons, marketers of tourism products and services may derive sufficient economies and revenues by scheduling the related tasks, sub tasks and activities. The omnipresent and omnipotent technological tool this decreases the risks of running out of tourists apart from leading to better capacity utilization. Tourism as a service sector industry is expected to be benefited the most by the Internet as an electronic channel of communication. Marketing in the age of Internet is rightly claimed as "reverse marketing" since the customers define here their information needs, demands of products and the price. Moreover, the race is not limited to narrowly defined product-market categories but for the totality of customer's experience in "market spaces," where customers are locked not just into products but into the entire system and where a firm can provide a whole lot of value-added services. The flow of information and its timely dissemination is crucial for any service sector industry. Flow of information between tourist, facilitators and the service providers

Opportunities that information technology could provide to the entrepreneurs

Establishment of Cyber Cafe for tourists and others Working as an Intermediary in Tourism Marketing
o o o o

Bookings and referrals Travel Agents Travel Agency Cyber Guides

Entering into tourism related E-commerce ventures through portals. Designing Itineraries for Business Partners Consultancy Services Production of Tourism Oriented Multimedia CDROMs Running Tourism related services e.g. Information Kiosks, Internet Telephony Centers, PCO, etc. Software Development and Data Processing works for Tourism Organizations Hardware Assembly and Maintenance for Tourism Organizations Running Simulation Tours through Specialized Multimedia Devices and Software in context to the destination. Souvenir Selling (Value Addition in local aspect.......e.g. Customized T Shirt printing, Greetings, Photos etc)

Production of Albums with Colour Printers and Digital Cameras displaying tourist's photographs blended with the related description.

Why Market Tourism?

Lately tourism industry has emerged as an important sector in the economy, and can reap huge benefits if marketed creatively. It will benefit the country as well as the community. it attracts a large number Of foreign tourist which generates foreign exchange .Inflow of foreign exchange is a sign of prosperity for any country it generates employment opportunities and supports small businesses It also leads to enhancement of heritage and environment, which is ignored, by the country. It improves transportation and utility services, which will benefit both the tourist and country

So in a nutshell it helps in:

1. Foreign exchange earning 2. Contribution to government services 3. Employment and income generation 4. Economic and social progress 5. Conservation of environment and heritage Likorish and Jenkins suggested 3 types of businesses or trades 1. Primary: 2. Secondary: Which are most commonly associated with tourism e.g. It supports tourism though not exclusive to tourism e.g. transport catering etc retail banking insurance

3. Tertiary: It provides basic infrastructure and support for tourism e.g. food fuel manufacturing etc

Types of Tours 1. Heritage :- this is new kind of tourism that has come up in recent times it
came up to aid and facilitate the curious guest attempt to get to know Indias great traditions the heritage can be best maintained only if they are kept in use eg many papaces have been made 5 star hotel . only for those tourist who want to get the feel of Indian tradition.

2. Adventure and holiday:skiing scuba diving etc

India is vast country with geographical

diversity it has everything to offer for people of different age it has mountaineering to

3. Beach resorts :- India has one of the longest coastline in the world and
vying beaches which are not yet spoiled by man which has developed many beach resorts like one in Goa Kovalam etc water facilities are also available in these resorts

4. Wildlife :-

India is vast country with geographical diversity it has, from the

Himalayas to the Kanyakumari, its landscapes volcanic rocks of the Deccan Plateau etc the Sunder Bans marshy land etc is the habitat of 350 species of mammals 2100 kinds of birds both local and migratory 350 species of reptiles and countless of insects India currently has 80 national parks and 441 sanctuaries some of them excellent viewing facility for the visitors it would be amazing to see lion in it own habitat

5. Pilgrimage:-

it is the major segment to growth of local employment and

economic development temples and tourism go hand in hand more than 50% of 10 million domestic visit these temples India has the best temples in India from Cgar

Dhamm to Tirupati one of best managed temples Vaisno Devi etc The government has identified 17 pilgrim places for developing for t\e purpose of tourism India attracts a large number of tourist from south east Asia followers of Buddhism and Saranath plays host for them

6. Leisure and recreational tours :-

it is taken purely

sightseeing and pleasure. The intention behind this is to stay away from crowd and from the daily routine. India has become an ideal place for conference and convention center. lot of motivation is given to cities like Mumbai Delhi etc for holding international conferences and seminars

7.

Business and incentive travel:-

Business travelers often

overlap the holidaymakers, the only difference is that is not attracted to tourist centers of resort but to the center of trade and commerce . they demand for accommodation car rentals secretarial services meeting conferences etc with less emphasis on recreational services like pubs health clubs etc

COMPANY PROFILE OF THOMAS COOK

We've got your whole wide world in our hands!
The Jewel in the Crown This colourful procession adorned the pamphlet advertising Cooks fully escorted tour of India, Ceylon and Burma leaving London on 22 December 1939. The 120 day tour cost 402 and was to include visits to Colombo, Rangoon, Agra, Darjeeling and Bombay. With the outbreak of war in August 1939, it is unlikely that the tour ever took place. British India, the jewel in the crown of empire, was one of the regions that received its first visit from a member of the Cook family during Thomass pioneering round-the-world tour of 1872-73. Before leaving England, Cook had written that his desire in India was to see how the influences of Anglican society, government, and Christian and philanthropic efforts, show themselves. Where Thomas Cook went his son soon followed, although this time the interests of the business were paramount. During John Mason Cooks 1881 visit, he set up the companys first Indian office in Bombay, he courted senior government officials and he negotiated special rates with railway officials. On his return, India was officially added to Cooks travel empire with the publication of a shilling brochure entitled Cooks Indian Tours. It contained an extensive programme of tours and numerous tips for the first-time visitor. A typical three-month ticket, starting in London, travelling by P & O steamer and including visits to Bombay, Calcutta, Darjeeling, Benares, Delhi and Lahore, cost 113 7s, First Class, 66 4s Second. The number of tourists visiting India was initially small, but several official commissions enhanced Cooks position. In 1887, the firm was invited to make arrangements for senior British officials and Indian princes to attend Queen Victorias golden jubilee celebrations in London. Making travel arrangements for maharajas and nabobs presented Cooks staff with unique

difficulties (one prince insisted on travelling with 200 servants, 50 family attendants, 20 chefs, 10 elephants, 33 tigers, 1000 packing cases and a small howitzer), and so in the 1890s Cooks set up the Indian Princes Department. Also in 1887, following overtures from the viceroy, Cooks began organizing the transport of Indian Muslims on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. They had previously been subjected to terrible conditions and extortions, and Cooks brought welcome order to the proceedings. The Indian Government terminated the agreement in 1893. India, as with so many destinations before and after, had been fully absorbed into Cooks global travel system. A country that had originally offered little help to the curious sightseer was tamed by Cooks system of tickets and coupons, and by its constant efforts to improve tourist facilities. The victory may have ruled India politically, but at the ports and stations and tourist bungalows Cook was the Thomas Cook is one of the world's leading international travel and financial services groups and serves over 20 million customers a year. We provide services to our customers at 4,500 locations in more than 100 countries and employ over 20,000 people. With annual revenues of eight billion euro, in excess of 14 million customers, 30 tour operator brands, about 3,600 travel agencies selling group products worldwide, a portfolio of 73,000 controlled hotel beds, a fleet of 85 aircraft and a workforce numbering some 28,000, Thomas Cook AG, Oberursel, Germany, is the second-largest leisure group in Europe and the third-largest in the world. The company is represented in the sales markets of Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, India and Canada.

THOMAS COOK IN INDIA

60% owned by Thomas Cook AG, 8.30% by State Bank of India, 2.66% by Unit Trust of India, and 29.04% by the general public 54 outlets in 16 cities in India (excluding 46 corporate travel implants) 5 outlets in Sri Lanka (Colombo & suburbs) 3 outlets in Mauritius 1 city office at Port Louis, arrival & departure lounges at SSR Airport Thomas Cook Holidays (tour operator) Corporate Travel Foreign Exchange / Travellers Cheque services Call Center (open from 8am to 8pm) Employs nearly 1000 staff

Market Segmentation.
The users of tourism services can be categorized in a number of ways. This helps the tourism professionals in studying and identifying the level of their expectation vis--vis their behavioral profile. Consumer behavior can be defined in psychological terms as a whole range of the generation of wants and their transformation into buying or using decisions. Users have values, perceptions, preferences and expectations that are the result of environmental influences. There are a number of actors that influence the behavioral profile of consumers. In recent years, the users have become more discriminating in their using habits and therefore their needs for different services, products and brands change constantly. This makes it essential that the marketers analyze their behavioral profile and undertake segmentation so that they know the level of expectations. In a nutshell, tourist org need to undertake segmentation in order to simplify their task of creating and stimulating demand. In this way they can identify the potential tourists, transform them into actual tourists and further into habitual tourists. Segmentation makes possible tailoring of products and marketing programs uniquely suitable for each sub segment. It is essential that the tourist organizations select a suitable base for segmentation. The selection of the base has a far-reaching impact on studying the target market. Though there are a number of bases for segmentation of tourists, one of the most important is Lifestyle. Changing lifestyles fantastically influences traveling decisions.

One such way of classifying the users is b dividing them into categories such as General, Sex, Region, Education, etc.

Basis of Segmentation.
1. Holiday: Mass market, Individual market, and Popular market. 2. Demand: Primary, Secondary, and Opportunity. 3. Geography: International, according to regions, etc. 4. Psychology: Lifestyle, Personal motive, and Knowledge. 5. Demography: Age, Sex, and religion. 6. Socioeconomic: Rich, poor, rural, urban, literate, illiterate. 7. Purpose: Business travel, Cultural Tourism, and common interest convention. 8. Age: Teens, kids, youth and senior citizen. Another method of classifying users of tourism services is on the basis of the frequency of usage of services. Non-users: They are not interested in using the services. They lack the willingness, desire and ability (income and leisure time). Potential Users: They are also called the prospects or the prospective users. They have the willingness but the marketing resources have not been used optimally to influence their impulse. They bear the efficacy and the marketing professionals are supposed to capitalize on their potentials by using creative promotional measures. Actual Users: They are already using the services generated by the tourist organizations. Occasional Users: They have not formatted the habit of traveling.

Habitual Travelers: They have formed a habit of avail of the services regularly.

The variety of users makes it essential that professionals study and understand their changing behavioral profile. This would simplify the task of creating and stimulating demand. The marketing decisions cannot be creative and proactive unless an in-depth knowledge of the users is known. The individual specific behavior in the marketplace is affected by internal factors such as needs, motivation, perception and attitudes as well as by external factors such as family, social groups, culture, and economic and business influences. While studying the behavioral profile the study of lifestyles is most important. Thus it can be said that arriving at sound marketing decision cannot be possible unless a sound marketing plan and optimal marketing resources are developed.

Positioning the Product.

The world is literally full of travel products. Not only the travelers offer a huge variety of destinations, they also have many hotels, airlines, car rental companies attractions ad other travel products from which to choose. The perception of the consumer for a particular product is a critical variable in the marketing process, one that has a great influence on purchasing decisions, especially decisions among similar products.

The Principles of Positioning.

The process by which travel marketers address the issue of consumer percept is referred to as product positioning or simply positioning. Positioning is an attempt to clarify the competing products in order to influence the prospective buyers perception thus gaining an advantageous position in the minds of consumers. The main mechanism marketers issue to establish a position for a product is the creating of an image for it. The image is meant to determine and influence how a product is perceived.

Establishing a Position.
Many people in a company or organization are involved in developing a product image and establishing its position in the market place, ranging from executives in front-line staff. All of them need to know exactly, how the company wants the product to be perceived by prospective customers. A systematic approach in establishing a product position is the best way to

develop an effective image for a product. This process provides an opportunity to look at the travel product intensely and objectively. It is especially important to analyze what is unique about your travel product. An image that conveys uniqueness helps identify and differentiate your product in the minds of consumers. The three steps in establishing an effective position are: 1. Analyzing your product by identifying major features and benefits. 2. Identifying your current position and image. 3. Comparing your current position with your marketing objectives. These steps should be undertaken because, to be effective, a position should be capable of being concisely communicated. Identify your current position and image The next step in establishing an effective position is looking at how your product is currently perceived. Two good questions to ask in order to identify your current position are: What is the appeal of my travel product or service?

What one person finds appealing another does not. Appeal is not intangible and personal. Almost every product or service that is purchased appeals to someone. Usually, a products appeal is based on the benefits consumers believe they will derive from it. What are the characteristics of my product are being marketed as part of the current position? A marketing objective is a specific statement about what an organization expects to accomplish with its marketing programs. This includes future goals for its products or services. Accomplishing marketing objectives requires all aspects of the marketing program be co-ordinate and operating

in consult. Thus, it is critical that product position completely compatible with the marketing objective and vice versa.

Creating the Positioning Statement.

Once you have analyzed your product thoroughly, identified your current position and compared it to marketing objectives, it is important to write the positioning statement formally so that many people are able to refer it.

Examples Strategies.

of

Positioning

Statements

and

Positioning Relative to Target Market: -

The best travel industry in establishing a successful position in relation to a target market is Club Med. This company is the pioneer in the sector of the resorts industry known as all-inclusive resorts. For one fixed price, these resorts provide guests with accommodations at a resort, meals, entertainment, and an array of activities and sports Positioning by Product Benefits: Customers choose products consciously or sub-consciously based on perceived benefits. Thus, a very direct way to position travel products is to show how a product or service features or attribute will produce a benefit and /or value to the consumer. For example: If you want the low-fare airline fly Southwest Airlines; Club Med is the antidote for civilization, while Courtyard by Marriott is the hotel designed by business travelers. Positioning by Price and Quality One of the more obvious ways that a company positions its product or service is by price and quality. Travel and tourism offerings are found at all

points on the price and quality spectrum. For example: Hotels. The products are offered in a variety of price and quality. class. For example: Soft drinks. Different colas are available in the market. Each brand of cola claims to be superior to other brands. They are all positioning themselves in relation to their own process class. Positioning Relative to a Competitor Positioning Relative to a Product Class Another way a company can position its products is in relation to a product

Almost every travel product has competition for the consumers attention. Sometimes the competition is direct and sometimes it is indirect. Direct competition is between two or more products, like hotels, airlines, etc. Indirect competition is between travel products that are less similar but fulfill a somewhat similar need.

Service Marketing Triangle.

Company (MTDC, SOTC, ITDC, etc.) Enabling Promises Making Promises

Providers (Travel Agents, Hoteliers, etc.) Keeping Promises

Customers

Service marketing is unique in many ways in the travel and tourism industry. There are 3 players in the transaction process: Company: A travel and tourism company listens to the customers and evolves/develops the travel/tour package and it communicates the attractiveness and the utility of that very tour package directly to the customers. The company makes promises to the customers. The company in the Tourism Sector can be the Central Government, the State Tourism Corporations, Tour Operators such as SOTC, ITDC, etc. the company carries out External Marketing as well as Internal Marketing. External Marketing: It makes promises to the customers, for e.g. the Malaysian governments advertisement Malaysia, Truly Asia that promises a veritable cultural paradise to the customer. Internal Marketing: The Company enables the providers to fulfill the promises made by it to the customers. For example, the Malaysian Government maintains the local transportation within the country, maintains the tourist spots such as KL Towers, etc.

Providers: They are a travel companys internal customers constituting employees and agents. The company does internal marketing with the providers educating and motivating them about the idea of the particular tour package that they can offer to their customers. This is done to enable the providers to effectively carry out the survive transportation process. The providers make provisions for office space, accessibility and connectivity. The company enables promises to be kept by this infrastructure association. The Providers include all the entities that finally fulfill the Companys promise to the Customers. They undertake Interactive Marketing, because they are in touch with the final customer. Thus in the case of the Malaysian government, this would include the transportation providers (Malaysian Airlines, Air India, Local Bus transportation, Local Trains in Kuala Lumpur, Car and two-wheeler rentals), the different hotels within Malaysia, souvenir outlets at tourist areas, tourist spots (KL Towers, Twin Towers, etc.), restaurants (KFC Joints, Mary Brown, Pizza Hut), etc. Customer (Travelers): The customers are the reasons that the Travel Company exists and for whom the company has designed the traveling and touring package as well as setup the infrastructure facilities and spent money on employee developments programs. Here the providers are the only ones who interact with the customers, like the travel agents interact with the customers and not with the company. The agents perform interactive marketing that is on time, all time, every-time. This is the most crucial of service marketing in the travel and tourism sectors. Those agents have the responsibility of keeping promises made and enabled by the company. The providers (agents) are responsible for the perceived quality

level of the service transaction. This underlines the uniqueness of service marketing.

MARKETING MIX
PRODUCT
PRODUCT LEVELS
In planning its market offering, the marketer needs to think through five levels of product. Each level adds to the customer value, and the five constitute a customer value hierarchy. 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 or go. 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.

PRODUCT WIDTH AND PRODUCT LINE

Product width of the product mix refers to how many different product lines the company carries. The width of the product mix refers to how many variants are offered of each product in the product line. The product length is the total number in the product lines. In Thomas cook the product width and product line is as follows: PRODUCT WIDTH HOLIDAYS 1) Heritage 2) Adventure 3)Beach 4) wild life FOREX 1)Foreign ex. 2)payment solutions INCENTIVE TRAVEL 1) group 2)Seminars/ conference BUSINESS TRAVEL TRAVEL INSURANCE air 1) Managing 1)Hospitalizatio travel budget n & Personal Liability 2) Accident Death & Dismembermen t 3) Travel Inconvenience 4) Legal 5) Home Insurance

ticket booking

2) Travel policy 5)pilgrimage 3)Thomas 3) tailor made reviews 6)leisure and Cook Visa incentive 3) visas recreational card 4) group hotel passports 4)cash accommodatio 4) corporate passport n MIS

SERVICE FLOWER
We hereby explain service flower with the examples of THOMAS COOK and IND WEST TRAVEL CORE Destination INFORMATION About various flights available for a particular destination. Various service offered by them, about various travel routes and schemes. CONSULTATION If the customer is willing, Thomas cook provides various consultation services like, giving ideas in planning incentive travel for their dealers or employees. If the company wants they provide the service of giving a dedicated expert travel consultant with the customer reservation system at the customers place as and permanent implant. They also give consultancy in travel planning and budget. ORDER TAKING Here we take the example of Ind west travel agency where in the order taking procedure is as follows Call from customer is received by the front line staff Details are taken in case it is domestic travel then the detail are filled in the yellow sheet and if its international blue card is used

Once the detail like name, address, from, to are taken the next step is to accordingly book tickets online on the computer of the respective airline.

This takes hardly 10 mins. Then the ticket is home delivered.

Thus the order taking process is fast and simple as ideally it should be.

HOSPITALITY This is the major aspect of tourism industry government includes this aspect in the policy framed in the points like SWAGAT and SUVIDHA. Thus Thomas cook provides the customers with welcome drink on their arrival to their destination and today very sophisticated facilities are available to lure these leisure travelers. SAFETY AND CUSTODY / CARE TAKING Travel insurance validates this point. At Thomas cook various types of travel insurance are provided to its customers so that they feel safe and secured all through the trip. The types of travel insurance provided are 1) Hospitalization & Personal Liability 2) Accident Death & Dismemberment 3) Travel Inconvenience 4) Legal 5) Home Insurance And even government has incorporated this factor in its policy in the for of SURAKSHAA. EXCEPTIONS

The exceptional service that is provided by Thomas cook is that of implant travel consultant for MNCS and large national companies that provide doorstep facility of satellite ticket printing BILLING It is normal computerized billing with all breakups like 3.2% sales tax and so on. travel management and consultancy. It also allows

PAYMENT 13-7 Days prior the customer has to pay 50% advance and the rest of the amount should be paid during the trip to the respective hotels or Transport Company directly.

PRODUCT MIX
The product taken is the holiday package offered by Thomas cook. Features The features are two way airport transfers by coach; fruit platter, cashew nuts cookies offered on arrival, break fast, lunch, dinner offered, sight seeing and activities as per itinerary planning. Variety Variety would be cultural tour, hill retreat, religious tour, wildlife safari, adventurous tour, beach resorts, leisure and recreational tours. Design It would be the entire itinerary planning. It includes what route the whole tour will take, in which hotel the customer will stay, the facilities that you will experience over the tour. Brand name

A tour operating company may brand different types of tours i.e. its long hauls, low budget and medium budget each having individual brand names. The brand name Thomas cook was been derived from its pioneer Thomas who belongs to A cook family and the idea was conceived from the world tour of Thomas in 1872 Sizes The sizes of the packages offered by Thomas cook depend upon the duration of the tour. It can be short term or long term.

Quality Many travel products are similar so service quality becomes even more important given the parity among travel products.

Service Quality.
Intangible Products are consumed as they are produced (interdependence), bringing suppliers and customers in direct contact. This means that the actions and attitudes of all employees-from a desk associate to a hotel manager-are important in selling the travel products. The difficulty inn standardizing the performance presents another challenge for marketing travel products- it is more difficult to sell products when their quality is unpredictable. Guaranteeing satisfaction with an intangible product is not as easy as the tangible product. Thus if the employees of travel companies are rude, inattentive, etc they will create a bad impression of the travel product and they may ruin the customers experience. Customers may even decide not to buy the product again.

For travel products to be successful in the market, the level of service provided must be more than adequate. It must be outstanding. Customers must feel that they have been treated royally throughout the trip. For example they must be given a warm welcome from the tour; restaurants must be arranged properly with proper reservations and speedy service. Also the people on the tour must be friendly and helpful. Many travel products are similar so service quality becomes even more important given the parity among travel products. One airplane seat is much like another. Similarly priced hotel rooms are likely to similar is size and amenities. Often, therefore, the service quality makes all the differences in a customers decision to purchase one travel product rather than another.

RATER
The well-known concept of five-quality dimension RATER, we hereby relate them to 7s of Travel and Tourism. So what do we mean by 7s Travel and Tourism Industry and what is its significance in relation to RATER.

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. Why do we make such a statement? To explain that let us take an example of Travel agency. The various services provided by agency includes Planning Itinerates, Ticketing, Working out travel routes , Providing information on Destinations ,Arranging visas, Making stay reservations. Here information plays a very dynamic role. Let us assume that the 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 fairs, 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. When we talk about tangible product in Travel and Tourism the 1st would include

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 spik and span impression of the package and add to the quality level.

4) EMPHATY - Sahyog Cooperation.

A famous quote from Stephen Cowe book goes like this Seek to understand and then to understood is very important. Thus thes that we relate to 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. It is related to the lasts i.e. Sanrachna which means infrastructure. Why do we relate4 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.

COMPLAINT HANDLING
No matter how well prepared you are there is always the potential for something to go wrong. The way you and your personnel handle complaints can be the determining factor in turning a "disaster" into a "success." Tourism & More offers the following ideas on handling complaints: 1. Listen. When a visitor is angry or upset allows the person to know that he/she is being heard. Prepare your personnel to listen and to handle each complaint as if it were the most important part of their day. 2. Understand. Make sure personnel have a full understanding of the complaint. Prior to responding to the complaint they need to determine the exact nature of the complaint. Personnel should try to focus in on the main context of the complaint, and not be diverted by side issues. 3. Take Action. The visitor should see that he/she matters, and that you seriously consider their complaint. Make sure the upset visitor knows exactly what can or cannot be done, and what he/she may expect as a form of recompense. If the problem cannot be solved, Often immediately tell the visitor approximately how long it will take to find a solution. the manager or boss can turn a negative situation into a positive one.

something as simple as an inexpensive complimentary gift or some special attention from

4. Learn.

Every complaint and/or complainer provides a the tourist professional with a

learning experience. Have your personnel share with colleagues what things went wrong, and the steps they took to correct the situation. Keep records of past complaints, not only for in-house training purposes, but also as a guide of future problems to prevent.

DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE

Tourism professionals may deal with a greater number of difficult people than the average executive. Part of the reason for this anomaly is that most leisure travelers have pre-conceived fantasies about their vacation. After working all year, they want everything from the weather to road conditions to be perfect. Seeking the magic, travelers must face reality, and when things go wrong, they get angry. Here are some suggestions to help your staff cope with the angry guest. 1 Do not fight to win every battle. Often it is easier to simply say, "Yes Sir/Mam you are right. Very few your side of the story. 2.Take the angry person out of a public area. Whenever an angry person decides to do battle in front of other "guests" you lose. Invite the person into a private room, offer him/her a drink and then listen. angry visitors are willing to listen to

3. Make sure that you know that the angry person knows that you will deal is very with the issue at that moment. Your credibility with an angry tourist low; telling him/her that you will get to the problem will only at that even angrier. Start the repair process

make the visitor

moment. Let the visitor see that you are doing something. 4. Use the person's right name and title. If the angry visitor introduces him/herself as "Dr. Smith" don't say Mr. or Ms. Smith and don't use a first name unless given permission. The misuse of names or titles only adds fuel to an already explosive situation. 5. Make sure that the person addressing the problem is competent someone who can help, is doing shoulders and say "sorry!" 6. Rather than getting angry, try to think of something comical. For example, imagine what this person would look like angry in his/her underwear, and then laugh to yourself. PART II 1 Don't be defensive. Try to understand that people on vacation are often a bit irrational. Instead of reacting in a negative way, coolly ask how you can make their situation better 2 In a like manner, never argue, but rather apologize. Once the apology is made the upset/difficult person is more willing to listen. Win by losing! 3 In a like manner, never argue, but rather apologize. Once the apology is made the upset/difficult person is more willing to listen. Win by losing! 4. Dress in a professional manner. It is amazing how much more respect a well dressed functionary receives. It is a lot easier to deal with a difficult person when dressed in a suit rather than in jeans. something. Never just shrug one's to solve it. If a member of your staff cannot solve a problem, then turning to

PRICE MIX.
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.

Payment: In Thomas Cook a few of the payment terms are

1. 13-7 days prior to departure = 50% in advance. 2. 7-2 days prior to departure = 75% in advance. In Indwest Travels the payment terms are 1. 40 % pay in advance. The rest of the payment is paid directly for the other services received by the customer, instead of the service provider paying for the services on behalf of the customer.

Credit Terms: In Indwest Travels, known customers are given 15-20 days
of credit period in ticket booking.

Premium Price: This again depends upon the type of customer. For
example, if a chairman of a big company is traveling then he would stay in suites of Five Star hotels like Taj, J.W. Marriott, Ritz Carlton, etc. Examples of prices of Thomas Cook as per Package offered..
Package Name Heritage Village Club South Goa (4 days) Goa Marriott Romancing The Rain Flyer (4 days) Aldeia Santa Rita (3 Star Boutique Resort, Aguada Goa) Bogmallo Beach Resort, Goa (5 days) Starting From Rs. 8,000 Rs. 14,999 Rs. 7,999 Rs. 6,399

PROMOTION MIX.
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. Promotion helps in maximizing the duration of stay, frequency of visit by offering new tourist products in the same country to areas, which have remained untapped or partially tapped. 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 on a resort and its attractions to influence their business decisions. 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. It helps in projecting the positive image of tourist organizations since the prospects trust on the news items publicized by the media people. 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 price-sensitive. There are a number of techniques to promote sale and the tourist professional need to use them in the face of their requirements vis--vis the emerging trends in the business. Eg. 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. Thomas Cook used sales promotion based on price and one more novel technique as detailed below:

Cook agreed to match the price of any holiday they sold which was known as price promise. To match the price means that if a competitor offered a lower price than Thomas Cook then Thomas Cook would reduce the price of its package and reimburse the excess money taken from the customer.

Matching of customers need with a particular holiday known as formal guarantee.

A business travel challenge in which the details of expenditure on staff business travel booked through other agents over a 3 months period were submitted by companies to Cook, specially to calculate expected savings, provided the bookings are made through them.

Word-of-mouth Promotion: Most communication about tourism takes

place by word-of-mouth information, which in a true sense is word-ofrecommendation. 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 high magnitude of effectiveness of this tool of promotion is due to high credibility of the channel, especially in the eyes of the potential tourists. The sensitivity of this tool makes it clear that tourist organizations need to concentrate on the quality of services they promise and offer. 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 travel and hotel business depend considerably on the personal selling. 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 personnel are found responsible for dealing with customers behind the counter, the resort representatives cater to the need of tourists when they reach the destination etc. all of them play a vital role in ensuring that the tourism products satisfy the tourists. The phrase- the customer is always right applies specifically to the tourism

industry. No reduction in price would compensate for impolite and indecent travel guide, a solvent waiter and a surly or a haughty coach driver. These facts are testimony to the proposition that the travel business is linked with the performance and behavior of sales personnel or travel staff.

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 cant work efficiently if the telephonic services are not up to the mark. Also recruiting a person considered to be professionally sound, personally-committed sales personnel having an inbuilt creativity, innovation and imagination is very important.

Exhibitions: the sixth annual travel and tourism exhibition, the India
International Travel Mart (IITM) was held in Banglore in July 2004. this exhibition was organized by IITM with the support of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and the State Tourism Department of Karnataka. It had 175 participants from India and foreign countries. The participants included 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. This year 14 different state tourism boards and 10 different countries were represented by their government tourism boards. Countries like Britain, South Africa, and Bhutan participated for the first time. The Indian traveler has emerged one of the fastest growing markets for international destinations like the Asia-Pacific region. As per industry estimates, this year

more than 8 million Indian travelers are expected to embark on overseas travel. These include both tourists and business travelers. Thats 30% growth over last years figure of 6 million Indian who traveled abroad.

PLACE MIX.
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. Other companies may also utilize more than one method of distribution.

Channels of Thomas Cook: Thomas cook follow a direct model. The

channel of distribution is Thomas Cook (head office / branch office) to the customer.

Coverage: 54 outlets in 16 cities in India (excluding 46 corporate travel

implants)

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.

EXTENDED 3 PS OF MARKETING
PEOPLE
We cant deny the fact that sophisticated technologies have been successful in accelerating the pace of development. We also agree with this view that new generation of information technologies have simplified the task of decision makers. At the same time we also have to accept the fact that the sophisticated technologies cant deliver goods to the development process if the employees operating and maintaining these technologies are not of world class. Technologies need due support of human resources who invent, innovate and develop technologies. 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. Of course the offices of travel agents depends on the new technology but after all employees and the other staff contribute significantly to the process. The travel guides need professional excellence since the projection of a positive image regarding a destination in particular

requires their due cooperation, failing which even the world class services offered by the travel agents are found meaningless. The tour operators also need to manage human resources efficiently. In the management of people, the related organizations are required to think in favour of developing an ongoing training program so that we find a close relation between the development of technologies and the quality of personnel who are supposed to operate and maintain the same. They need a lot of credentials to fulfill the expectations of the customers. The organization has to make the environmental conditions conducive and focus has to be laid on the incentives to the employees for energizing the process of performance orientation. Employee orientation requires due weightage to efficiency generation, value-orientation and perfection. 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. The Government plays an important role in providing the right kind of people for this industry. As such there are a lot of Govt. and Pvt. Institutes which offer training for the same. At present, the Ministry of Tourism is running 21 Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs) and Catering Technology and 14 Food craft Institutes (FCIs). The IHMs provide 3-year Diploma in Hotel Management, 1- 1/2 year Post-Graduate Diploma in Accommodation Operations, 1-1/2 year Post-Graduate Diploma in Dietetics and Hospital Food Science, 1-1/2 year Certificate course in Food Production, 6- month Certificate course in Food & Beverage Services, 6- month Certificate course in Hotel and Catering Management, 1-1/2-year Post Diploma in Hotel Administration and P.G. Diploma in Fast Food Operations. The FCIs are

engaged in providing the craft Diploma in Cookery, Food & Beverage Service/ Restaurant & Counter service, Reception & Book Keeping, House Keeping and Bakery & Confectionery. The training courses run by the Institutes are designed to suit the needs of the various target groups. Apart from this The Indian Institute of Travel Management (IITM), established in 1983, by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, is filling the vacuum for an institute that develops manpower exclusively for the tourism industry. The institute has successfully undertaken major initiatives for developing human resources required for the tourism industry. The institute took its shape after the National Committee of Tourism, which comprised members of Parliament, recommended that an institute catering to the requirements of tourism industry be set up immediately. The purpose of the institute is to provide academic opportunities to graduates and undergraduates directly and in collaboration with the leading institutes and universities, for successful careers in Holiday and Leisure Management, tour operation, transportation, accommodation and interpretation services. The institute is working with the objective of total professionalism of human resources engaged in business of tourism through diplomas after graduation, specially designed practical training and field research, foreign language training programs, executive development programs for retired defense service personnel, workshops, seminars and conference, tourism orientation talks at school and college levels and tourism promotion competition among young generation. A student who graduates from IITM is absorbed in the middle level executive positions in travel agencies, with tour operators, transport companies, hotels, domestic and international airlines, cargo services, besides getting into government jobs. The institute is also offering courses in computer applications and software studies, basic course of air travel fares and ticketing, basic course on airlines, travel agencies and tour operation management, basic course in air and sea cargo service management, basic course on computer application in travel and tourism

industry, diploma in tourism and travel management and foreign language. Apart from IITM there are other institutes like The Institute of Hotel, Cargo and Tourism Management (IHCTM), another one run by World Tourism Organization and various other private institutes catering to the needs of the industry. PEOPLE in service marketing includes

EMPLOYEES OTHER CUSTOMERS

EMPLOYEES They are the representatives of the company. Their performance can create a positive as well as negative impact of the service process and the image of the company. Keeping people factor healthy is one of the prime concerns of the company. When we talk about people in travel and tourism industry, they are really crucial part as at every stage they play a role of the service provider on the stage of service encounter also known as moment of truth. SERVICE ENCONTER The so-called stage service encounter or moment of truth is the element of interaction between those providing services and the customers. The instances of service encounter in travel and tourism industry are In the ticket booking process when the customer calls the service provider that is the front line staff in order to book the tickets is the first service encounter incidence. Its the moment of truth where, there is one to one interaction between the service provider who is booking the ticket and the customer who wants the ticket booked. This interaction takes place on the phone.

In the itinerary planning process the service encounter takes place when the customer visits the travel and tourism agency to purchase a holiday package and meets the travel manager.

When the customer is experiencing the holiday package there are numerous service encounters that he goes through and one of them is his constant interaction with the tourist guides.

These were some examples of service encounter. This stage is a very crucial one where in the provider has to perform at the optimum level in order to avoid the customer from having the experience of credence quality. CREDECE QUALITY Is the quality, which is difficult to evaluate, and when you ask the customer the question on how was the service? He usually gives vague answers like it was ok, I dont know. When we talk about people in relation to travel and tourism industry the basic qualifications and aptitude to be possessed are as follows: The eligibility criteria for admission to Travel and Tourism courses at the undergraduate level are, to have passed the 10+2 examination. For the postgraduate level courses, the eligibility is, graduation in any discipline. Fluency in at least one foreign language is preferred. It is also possible to gain these qualifications through correspondence courses. Several large travel agencies also offer short-term training programmes, and tend to absorb most of the candidates. The duration of training varies between one and two years, depending on the course. Moreover, training may be taken at both graduate as well as

postgraduate levels. Some of the prominent institutions offering courses in Travel and Tourism are as follows: Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management, New Delhi. The Ministry of Tourism and Delhi Tourism, New Delhi. YWCA, New Delhi. Sita Travels, New Delhi and Mumbai. Sophia Polytechnic, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai. Trade Wings, Mumbai. Aptitude for figure work; accuracy; good memory; organizing ability; awareness of people, places and areas of interest; ability to handle people; interest in people; good sense of judgment; verbal fluency; aptitude for languages; up-to-date knowledge of available services and facilities; friendly and personable manner and appearance; common sense; good health; a passion for travel; willingness to work hard, long hours and on weekends and holidays. A very important concept in people is the service profit chain. In the service profit chain the first step is to keep the internal customers happy and satisfied the internal customer being the employees. To keep them following point have to be taken care of Work place design Job design Employee selection and development Employees rewards and recognition Tools for serving customers.

These aspects in turn lead to employee satisfaction, which would result in to employee retention and productivity, this would result in providing value

services and that would yield customer satisfaction. Which would lead to customer loyalty and finally revenue growth and profitability through referral and repeat business. Let us see how this holds true in Thomas cook At Thomas cook they keep employees happy using following ways

Our Values and the Work Experience Vision without execution is meaningless Our Vision To become the No. 1 company in all our Core Businesses through Customer Focus and Teamwork Our Mission Exceptional Service from Exceptional People Our Service Strategy We will deliver exceptional service to all internal and external customers by being, Proactive, Speedy, Flexible, Transparent, Reliable, Creative... By providing Professional Service, and, Ensuring Personal Care Values that work at work We have a set of well-defined policies dealing with key integrity issues. The scope of these policies includes customers and suppliers, government, competition, dealing within the TCIL community and most crucial of all, personal integrity. Career prospects with us Working at Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. means working for one of the most dynamic businesses of the world, mainly, Travel and Tourism. Globally, an

average of 10% of a family's income is spent on leisure travel and outbound travel has definitely emerged as one of the fondest aspirations for the Indian family as well. You can choose to be either a part of Leisure Travel, Corporate Travel, and Foreign Exchange or Travel Insurance businesses. For more details on each of these businesses, please click here. Opportunities also arise from time to time in Accounts, HR and IT. Working at Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. will make you a part of a young, enthusiastic and professional with most employees in the age group of 25-35 years. You will find numerous development opportunities since we believe in advertising all vacancies internally first. If you are open to the challenge of expanding your span of experience across businesses and geographies, you can apply for numerous positions that are advertised from time to time. Some internal applicants have undertaken successful cross-business and cross-geography moves several times in their career span. Some have also been selected through intense internal competition to serve stints in our international subsidiary at Mauritius. The company is committed to rewarding its employees for their performance. This takes place through a performance linked appraisal process and variable bonus plan, which ensures that your success and growth is linked with the success of your business and the company. Developing your Capabilities We have several cross-functional teams working together on various initiatives such as setting up a new business, implementing a new software application, working together to crack a new corporate account and so on. This goes a long way in not only achieving company objectives but also in providing a varied work environment characterized by diversity of experiences, thoughts and ideas which in turn hones the capabilities of the team members.

Employees are assured of the opportunity to develop through numerous training and learning opportunities. Our internal programs range from training in our service strategy, customer service, team building, leadership skills and managerial effectiveness as well as various fun filled outdoor programs. Service Leadership is the key to market leadership. Managerial training in this arena encompasses presenting contemporary service leadership paradigms, case studies, building financial acumen, increasing personal effectiveness through psychometric testing and work style analysis, managing teams, etc. All followed by specific Action Planning. Service Skills form the foundation of a service organization such as ours. From time to time, workshops are organized to provide practical solutions to challenges that we face in our daily business A most natural way to learn, learning Outdoors Whether it is building our team skills, conceptual skills, creativity skills, or simply testing endurance, we often rush outdoors to hone latent talents / skills in specific teams / businesses / groups. Such outdoor events strengthen bonds between executives in a completely natural atmosphere We also nominate our executives to numerous external training programs both in India as well overseas to Thomas Cook AG. And finally, to empower employees to take up ownership of their own skill and competency development, all employees have the opportunity to nominate themselves for relevant training unto a specified amount every year! Fun @ work! All fun and no play. That is never the case here! Our work life is mingled with numerous fun events. Charting a tough year in business is almost always followed by detailed unwinding sessions to gather learnings from the past in order to build plans for tomorrow. All in style in the idyllic backwaters!

It's fun time on picnic days. Here you see Pune, Mumbai and Delhi picnickers have a rollicking, time in their very own ways! We celebrated the Girl Child Day, with inspiration and encouragement from CRY to create an awareness of the importance of the girl child. With parties all across the country, it was heartening to see how loved the girl-child was amongst our staff. Here you see them put their right hand in and shake it all about! Come Diwali followed by Christmas, and its time for celebrations! And last but not the least, we have this intense passion for cricket. So be it in Mumbai or Chennai, against airlines or other agencies, or even internal matches, we are in the habit of proving to be the champions, time on time, everytime! Being a part of our team also gives you to the opportunity to travel many lands by taking up some of the myriad globe-trotting offers that are announced for Thomas Cook employees from time to time! Thus happy employees have made the service link chain true and Thomas cook has a list of loyal customer like Major names handled Company Aptech H.R.Johnson Nilkamal Plastics Blowplast General Motors Asian Paints Kirloskar Emerck Grasim Kirloskar National Panasonic Passengers 20 119 40 45 138 345 64 154 63 64 89

Aries Agrovet Tnt group

50 34

PROCESS
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. Now to make this definition of process true, it is necessary for the organization which provides services to recognize the critical moments in the entire process which makes the service acceptable or not acceptable to the customer depending on the zone of tolerance and effective or not effective to the organization. Further to realize what are the critical moments in the considered process a concept of blue printing is introduced. BLUEPRINT It is the visual portrayal of the service plan. It is essentially a detailed map or flow chart. We have hereby prepared a blueprint of Ticket booking process in the Molecular Structure. The rectangle boxes designate the tangibles included in the service process and the Circles designate the intangibles that play a role the process. The variation in size of the molecules represents the degree of prominence of the elements. In this blue print the process is broken down in to logical steps and then in the variation in sizes of the molecule the importance of the steps is depicted.

Information providing. (Skills, know.abt diff flights) TICKET TT BOOKING PROCESS Office Taking the details and booking the ticket. (The time included, people skills) Ambience. The kind of website. Equipments computers, printers, software, online booking.

The critical incidences in this case are When the customer calls for booking the ticket and talks to the front line staff. The staff has to be courteous prompt and capable and trained in order to perform well. Here taking proper details and noting them down systematically is very important so as to avoid any miss communication which invites a problem.

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

Explanation of the first case 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. Explanation of the second case 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 8hrs booking in hotels, hotels providing laptops on request, internet access as complimentary for the corporate packages.

The second blue print is of itinerary planning in this blue print all the stages of the process of itinerary right from the point of the customer entering the travel agency office till the time he leaves is tracked down and the back stage elements that support the stages are also noted. 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 Execution of the planned itinerary is the most critical one. As a company has committed some thing and this is the time when the customer is actually experiencing the entire product and if any one of the commitments dont materialize then the zone of tolerance is affected and lot as it is already low because the customer on a tour whether leisure or business expects perfection.

ANALYSING AND CREATING FRAMEWORK FOR SERVICES

Who or what is the direct recipient of the service? PEOPLE TANGIBLE Services directed at people Body Travel and tourism POSSESSION

INTANGIBLE

This matrix highlight the aspect of the service being people based or possessions based and how far it is tangible or in tangible. Thus one can on the basis of this matrix allocate travel and tourism industry in the first quadrant. As the service is on people body and there are a lot of tangible actions used in the service.

Extent to which people are involved low extent to which equip. inv Travel and tourism industry Travel and tourism sector

high

high

low

This grid emphasizes on the participation of people and equipment in a particular service is at what level. Thus in case of travel and tourism participation of both people and equipment is high thus we allocate it to the first quadrant.

ON THE BASIS OF THE END USER The end user for Tourism Services is always the CONSUMER, and therefore on the basis of the end user, Tourism Services fall under the category of Consumers. However these consumers may vary, which is why Tourism Services also differ. SERVICE PRODUCT CONTINUUM As per the Product-Service Continuum, Tourism Services fall under the category of Goods + Services. The core product is the destination, which is purely intangible. However, tourism is linked to a number of tangible goods such as souvenirs, cuisine, etc which constitute an important part of any vacation or holiday any consumer might take. Therefore it cannot be classified as only services, and falls under the category of Goods + Services. PEOPLE BASED SERVICES Tourism Services are high contact services, as people interact with people at virtually EVERY stage of the way. Tourism services are very peopleoriented services, and the service people are plenty and have high contact with the consumers. The consumer interacts with a myriad of service people starting from when he books his ticket and throughout the course of his holiday. EXPERTISE Tourism Services are mostly professional services. The service people include travel agents, tour operators, hoteliers, caterers, tour guides, etc.

Almost all of these people are trained and are professionals. They might be trained by professional institutes (IATA, IITM, etc.) or by the agency/company they are working for (SOTC). ORIENTATION TOWARDS PROFITS All Tourism Services are commercial, and are undertaken with a view to earn profits. DOMESTIC OR FORIEGN TOURISM As per 1998 figures, Domestic tourists traveling through the country were 167 million approximately. Tourist arrivals in India for the year as on March 2002 were 23,70,784 (Inbound Tourism). The number of Indian citizens traveling abroad was 38,10,908 (Outbound Tourism). Thus on the basis of these classifications of services on service marketer can frame an appropriate strategy.

CONCLUSION
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ~Anatole France The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~Hilaire Belloc Life, as the most ancient of all metaphors insists, is a journey; In the middle ages people were tourists because of their religion, whereas now they are tourists because tourism is their religion. conclusion An involuntary return to the point of departure is, without doubt, the most disturbing of all journeys. Travelling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, "I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station."

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and, instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Services Marketing Christopher lovelock Marketing management- Philip kottler Services marketing Zeithmal Services marketing Ram pal gupta Marketing and selling the travel product James Burke

WEB SITES
www.google.com www.thomascook.co.in www.ministryoftourism.com www.tourismofindia.com

PRACTICAL ASPECT

Industrial visit to Ind west travel pvt. Ltd. (mr.shankar, proprietor)