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HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Conclusion and Future Issues in
Marketing Communications

Dr. Mohd Hafiz Hanafiah, CHIA

Associate Professor
Department of Tourism Management
Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia
Learning Objectives 2

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

At the end of this chapter, you will be able to
 Identify and describe a range of critical issues affecting the future
direction of marketing communications in tourism and hospitality.
 Assess a range of factors which will influence the nature of
marketing communications in the tourism and hospitality sector.
 Evaluate the possible future changes in marketing promotions.
 Analyse industry implications of changes in the marketing
communications environment.
Introduction 3

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 Changing patterns of consumption affect the ways in which customers view and
respond to certain types of marketing messages.
 Other challenges and changes involve the marketing industry itself as it becomes
more fragmented and compartmentalised, targeting highly segmented audiences,
requiring sophisticated research methods
 These issues similarly affect the marketing communications strategies that
organisations select.
 This chapter synthesises the issues discussed in this book and proposes a series of
critical developments which will impact upon the marketing of tourism and
hospitality products, services and destinations
8.1 The Importance of Marketing Communications to Travel 4
and Tourism Organizations

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 The function of communications – the creation of messages about places, services
and products and brands for consumption. To reiterate, these services and
products often:
 are experientially consumed
 involve a highly emotional orientation in terms of decision-making
 are perceived as discretionary consumer items
 play a significant symbolic role in contributing to consumers ’ identities. The
importance of designing and implementing an integrated
8.1 The Importance of Marketing Communications to Travel 5
and Tourism Organizations

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 Marketing communication: The provision of information to a defined audience,
including an understanding of how the information is received.
 To highlight how marketing communications can contribute to the success of
organisation’s goals in a competitive and dynamic global business environment.
 These are generally concerned with sales promotion or building up of awareness
about and a favourable attitude towards an organisation’s offering to a market.
 Include a consideration of the impact of adverse media coverage about events or
activities within a destination, which might lead to some misinterpretation or
other incorrect image being portrayed to potential markets.
8.1 The Importance of Marketing Communications to Travel 6
and Tourism Organizations

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

The IMC solution follows four essential targets in order to market customer's travel
services:
 growing overall internet reputation of the travel business/facility/destination;
 enhancing “searchability” (progressing SEO) of the partner’s web page over
search engines;
 developing awareness among potential stakeholders/partners worldwide;
 attracting additional highly targeted traffic (direct and from SE) to partner’s
website.
8.2 The Emergence of New Markets and 7
Technology

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 Emerging in Eastern Europe, South and East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North Africa and
South and Central America - their economies are expanding and increasing numbers of their
people have a disposable income.
 Reaching these markets requires specific packages and promotions.
 First step in devising their marketing communications strategy, organisations will have to
collect a great deal of information about these diverse markets.
 The differences in experiences and expectations of these groups require different products
and forms of marketing messages.
 In the short term, messages which concentrate on the rational aspects of decision- making
will continue to dominate the message content of some media channels and for some sectors
of the industry.
 A great deal of emphasis will be placed on the communications of brand values throughout
all media channels.
8.2 The Emergence of New Markets and 8
Technology

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 Attitudes of consumers towards information will be a constant challenge in the
future for brands
 Organisations will work hard to try and develop meaningful relationships with key
customers and to build and maintain loyalty
 Organisations will go to increasingly deep depths to ensure that:
 Customers are involved in the production of holiday experiences.
 Customers are used to enable the development of new products and services.
 Customers also used as ambassadors through peer-to-peer marketing communications.
8.2 The Emergence of New Markets and 9
Technology

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Influencer Marketing – The need for a wise and judicious brand advocacy
 Influencer marketing is not new to brands. If anything, some might even feel that
it should be considered as an ongoing trend, or one of the near past.
 But it’s far from true. Influencer marketing of the near future will be a tad
different to what it is now. Presently, it’s more or less all about targeting people
with over 100,000+ followers and asking them to advocate the brand messaging.
 But influencer marketing will soon evolve to be much more than that. Customers
are getting smarter and brands too are getting wiser.
8.2 The Emergence of New Markets and 10
Technology

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Video Marketing – Freedom of speech and expression to brands
 Video Marketing is already big today and nothing is scheduled for a change in the
years to come. Video is an easy to the eye, interactive, and fun way for brands to
communicate with its consumers.
 Sometimes they can communicate more through a 30 second video as opposed to
a 1500 word blog article.
 This trend is one for the future as well because the popularity of on-demand video
is all set to keep increasing.
 Then there is social media videos which is perhaps the biggest sensation going
around in the world right now.
8.2 The Emergence of New Markets and 11
Technology

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Voice Technology – An “echo”-ing opportunity for brands to redefine customer
engagement
 Voice technology is making all the right sounds and is expected to be one of the
most disruptive technologies in the years to come.
 A lot of experts around the world believe voice to be the next big thing for
advertisers, mainly because of its’ ability to connect to people in a humane, and
natural way.
 It’s like we are talking to another human. Here lies the opportunity for brands to
make a mark.
 Since the scope for personalization here is immense, the content for voice needs
to be curated in a particular tone and feel that appeals to people.
8.2 The Emergence of New Markets and 12
Technology

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

Augmented/Virtual Reality – The chance to bring the world to the customers’ feet
 If AR and VR already make your jaw drop, wait till it gains full traction and
becomes more accessible.
 It’s no secret the amount of money that social media giants like Facebook,
Instagram, and Snapchat are spending on these technologies.
 For instance, Facebook shelled out around US $2 billion to acquire Oculus VR.
 Through AR and VR, brands can promote, advertise, and showcase their products
and services to consumers in the most surreal and immersive of ways.
8.3 The Challenge of Climate Change 13

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 Continual debate about what constitutes good, moral behaviour.
 Air travel appears to be bearing the brunt of the accusations about pollution and
carbon dioxide emissions - leading to intense debate about the impacts of the growth
in air travel on emissions and climate change.
 Competitive and aggressive marketing strategies which have seen train companies
aiming to steal back market share from the low-cost, short-haul airline routes based
on the impact on the environment posed by cheap and accessible air travel.
 Aggressive counter-marketing communications - consumers become less interested
in the messages which are irrelevant to their values and not directed towards their
needs.
 Climate change debate also opens up new opportunity for new product
developments in niche markets.
8.4 The Challenge of The External Media Environment 14

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 The external media environment brings challenges linked to globalised media
coverage of events, activities or extreme conditions in a highly fragmented media
market.
 A lack of balance in reporting and a ‘ sound-bite ’approach to coverage of issues
in regions or countries of the world.
 This has the potential to impact on the destination image of countries and the
ability of organisations to reach their target audience and make the messages
meaningful.
 Challenges arise out of the preparedness of the DMO or individual businesses to
counteract negative communications or capitalise on opportunities brought about
by such media coverage
8.5 Future Challenges 15

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 An analysis of the current trends and developments in the advertising and
promotion of tourism and hospitality services in the context of the strategic
environment of the sector suggests that brands and organisations face a series of
key challenges in the short to medium term:
 The changing structure of the advertising industry
 The changing structure of the tourism and hospitality industry
 The emergence of new markets and the conflicts that might arise in mature markets
 Climate change and how marketing communications will be affected
 The changing media environment
8.5 Future Challenges 16

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

1] There will be increasing complexity in consumer purchasing decisions
 Consumers use all kinds of media to make shopping decisions – from YouTube to
Facebook – and it’s becoming increasingly harder to put the people that buy
certain products into a box than it used to be.
 Consumer categories like mainstream, or high and low end, are starting to
disappear. Segmentation is getting more and more complex. The same customer
can buy one high end product and one low end product at the same time.
 People select which consumer products they want to buy with an unbalanced mix
of emotions and rationale. They might not have any emotional connection to
aviation and thus the cheapest product will do.
 But when it comes to a luxury bag they might value tradition and craftsmanship.
8.5 Future Challenges 17

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

2] Personalization in product design and communications will be more prevalent
 Thanks to big data, social media and flexible manufacturing, more companies are
learning to offer customized products and designs.
 This trend is reaching a growing number of industries including the health sector.
 While pharma companies continue to treat all patients in more or less the same
way, they will soon be moving towards personalized medication based on our
differences such as age, sex, weight, and medical history.
 Watch out for many other industries to start following suit.
8.5 Future Challenges 18

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

3] Mobile communications are becoming the center of marketing
 There have been rumblings in the press recently about WhatsApp giving
Facebook its users’ phone numbers to deliver targeted ads.
 Although getting a text message about one of your favorite products may seem
intrusive, so is telemarketing and that hasn’t gone away.
 Look out for companies to communicate with consumers more and more via their
mobile devices.
8.5 Future Challenges 19

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

4] Transparency will dictate brand-customer relationships
 From Wells Fargo to Volkswagen, the list of disgraced companies keeps getting
longer.
 Businesses are realizing that they cannot escape the transparency offered by social
media.
 More companies are learning the lesson that if they aren’t truthful, they will pay
the price: Not only hefty fines from the authorities, but also in lost loyalty and
business from their customers.
8.5 Future Challenges 20

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 5] Personalized data-driven marketing will become more friendly
 Thanks to big data, companies are learning an awful lot about who you are and
what you like.
 They will get keep getting better at targeting you and communicating with you in
the most effective way depending on who you are and what your habits say about
you.
 Don’t say goodbye to spam just yet, but the companies that figure out how to stop
casting their one-size-fits all messages less widely, and start targeting people in a
more meaningful way, will win.
8.5 Future Challenges 21

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

6] More accurate metrics will continue to emerge
 Until recently, justifying and measuring the impact of their decisions has often
been a major challenge for marketers.
 Today, there are many ways to measure online activity – likes on Facebook, clicks
on articles, and so on – but many of them are not fully meaningful yet.
 Facebook was recently caught amplifying data about how much videos were
viewed on its platform.
 Measurement will probably never be perfect, but digital technology is improving
it.
8.5 Future Challenges 22

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

7] The marketing organization will increasingly move from digital silos to integrated
teams
 A few years ago you would have the digital team on one side and the marketing
team on the other. It can no longer be that way.
 Digital has to be part of everything now so the two have to be fully integrated.
 As one marketer recently suggested: Companies do not necessarily need a digital
strategy, what they really need to know is how to plug the digital component into
the complex process of how consumers make purchasing decisions!
Summary 23

 This chapter has highlighted a range of future challenges for the tourism and

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

hospitality sector arising from current trends and developments both within the
industry itself and in the wider competitive external environment.
 All these factors, potentially, have a direct infl uence on the marketing
communications of the organisations in this sector seeking to compete effectively
in the contemporary world.
 The chapter concludes that although it is a challenging environment, there
remains a great many opportunities.
 Through the use of integrated and strategic marketing communications
approaches, it connect specific consumers’ needs for the service.
 Tourism and hospitality organisations can overcome a range of challenges and
achieve success through the use of integrated and strategic marketing
communications.
Discussion 24

HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism

 Identify and describe a range of critical issues affecting the future direction of
marketing communications in tourism and hospitality.
 Identify the range of factors which will influence the nature of marketing
communications in the tourism and hospitality sector.
 Evaluate the possible future changes in marketing promotions.
 Analyse industry implications of changes in the marketing communications
environment.
 Thank you
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HTT 668: Marketing Communications for Travel and Tourism