Internet Tourism Marketing

The internet increasingly has become a popular medium for marketing. Offering enormous potential, the internet is ideal for marketing tourism. This article will show you how the internet can help you maximise the ROI of your tourism marketing campaign. You can learn about the benefits and the current constraints, which hamper the full realisation of such potential.

Though the internet has been in existence for a while now, its popularity has sky rocketed in the recent years. There are two broad categories of internet services i.e. communication and information services. Of the two, communication services allow direct exchange of information between internet users. E-mail, e-mail-based discussion lists and net news are also included in the communication services. Information services, Telnet, Gopher and anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol), allow users to access data made available by other users. The World Wide Web (WWW) has completely overhauled the internet since 1993. WWW allow the user to access hosts through Telnet, read newsgroups and use e-mail. Internet browsers have now become a source of unlimited information for both leisure and commercial purposes. The web’s ability to blend text, pictures, sounds and video clips into multimedia documents, transformed the internet into an effective means of communication. The WWW has changed the appearance of the internet so much so, that for many it is now the same as the internet.
 
The vigorous growth of the internet has drawn a lot of attention from both academic researchers and business operators. People in the fields of Information Technology (IT) and marketing have swarmed the internet. Internet publications on tourism marketing have grown significantly in the last few years. Some have provided a necessary background to some in-depth discussions of the various issues of marketing tourism on the internet. Some of these articles have highlighted the internet’s impact on tourism distribution. However, this field of research is still in its infancy. Efforts must be made to understanding the internet's role in tourism marketing and as to how tourism organizations and destinations can exploit its full potential.

The Advantages Of The Internet As A Marketing Tool

Addressability

The Internet has transformed the well-known marketing communication model from one-to-many to one-on-one or from broadcasting to narrowcasting. The traditional print, radio and television, follow the passive one-to-many communication model. This way a company reaches many current and potential Customers through repeated broadcasts of the same message. This approach has three problems:

1. Generic message to every consumer,
2. Wasted exposures to uninterested audiences,
3. Competing and conflicting messages being sent to consumers.

The Internet gives the ability to address each consumer personally. Each time a user visits a web site its server has a record of the user's electronic address. This information will help, to send a personalised message to a smaller target audience or an individual consumer.

Though mail, telephone and personal selling have been in existence for many years, the internet however offers high-speed information transmission and retrieval at a low cost. The addressability of the web provides the ability to customize and tailor the product and/or the marketing effort to one consumer at a time. The internet makes it possible to squeeze one-on-one marketing’s well-known four Ps into one element - the relationship. It represents the ultimate expression of target marketing. Well-designed web sites, emails and news-groups, can be as effective as personal selling. Internet marketers can do the job of a sales-force with more flexibility, better memory and at a fraction of the cost.

Interactivity

Another element of the net that makes it different from traditional communication media is its ability to interact. The internet enables feedback. Dialog forms an important element of relationship marketing, and is a vital factor in building Customer loyalty. Customers are empowered to communicate with companies, research information and conduct transactions at the press of a few buttons. Companies too can easily contact Customers to clarify their needs or inform them of new products. Unlike in the conventional communication channels like newspapers or television, the Customer is in greater control of choosing and processing information about the firm.

The internet makes the exchange of information between consumers as well as between companies possible. Information exchanges between companies will provide competitive intelligence and will enhance alliances and co-operation. Information exchanges between the consumers establish virtual communities. Such virtual communities will have significant implications for market segmentation, Customer service and understanding consumer behavior.

Flexibility

The web offers more flexibility than the conventional mass media. A website is like an electronic brochure where visitors can read information on products or services. A webpage is more flexible than a physical advertisement or catalogue. It can be updated with fresh and current information gathered through feedback from consumers. A virtual catalogue can be kept in sync with the requirements of the consumers and inform them about new products and price changes.
 
As an industry heavily reliant on brochures the web's flexibility and immediacy in information transmission is invaluable. The preparation and distribution of holiday brochures is a costly and lengthy process during which the demand conditions and competition situation could change greatly. In print media, any price and availability changes can only be notified through supplementary brochures. With the web this can be done instantly at little cost. A webpage can be linked to inventory data to show the availability of any holiday tours. A website can be indexed in many ways and be equipped with search facilities to locate items quickly.

Accessibility

The internet has an edge over any other media in its ability to permanently expose information to a global audience. The net vastly improves the information availability and user interaction. An effective web site keeps a company in business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in a global market place. Anybody in any part of the world can access its marketing information at any time they desire. This ability will greatly reduce place and time utility woes. Accessibility is vital in international trade where business spans across different time zones.

Global exposure is of prime importance for tourism destinations. Till the mid-1990s destination promotions were entirely reliant on travel agencies to market its products. The web has enabled tourism destinations to market themselves through well designed and well promoted websites. Doing business on the web has helped avoid regulations and restrictions that companies must follow when physically doing business in other countries. For example in some countries, foreign travel companies are forbidden to operate. Finally, compared with the traditional media, the web allows unlimited access for hundreds of millions users to an unlimited amount of information.

Improved service

The Web makes it possible for companies to improve the service quality at all levels of Customer interaction i.e. pre-sale, during and post sale. The web provides four tangible improvements in Customer service.

1. A wider choice for the consumers: A website can display an array of products and services
2. Quick processing of payments: Automatic processing of cyber-cash or credit card charges.
3. Faster delivery: Especially for products like online software and music distribution
4. Making available a wealth of information that can be quickly and easily accessed.

In tourism the web-based distribution systems can help satisfy the consumer needs of easy access to a wide choice of information and hassle free reservations. Increasingly tourist satisfaction depends on the timely availability of accurate and relevant information. Improved access to information on all aspects of tourist activities has made it possible for marketers to offer personalized services at the same prices as standard packages.

Cost Savings

 There are mainly five areas where costs can be minimized on the internet

1. Automation of the reservation processing and the payment system cuts down sales costs.
2. Implementing a menu-driven web-based travel reservation system as opposed to a command driven system where a sales clerk has to remember commands and airport codes.
3. Implementing direct links between the producer and the consumer, saving on huge distribution costs.
4. Saving on promotional costs due to the net’s ability to send customized messages through electronic communication.
5. Reduced rental costs on office and sales space, and on administrative overheads.

Setting up a promotional web site without booking facilities, costs relatively less. An averagely skilled person with the use of a proper software package, such as Microsoft FrontPage can build a basic company web site in days. However a more comprehensive and powerful web-site offering in depth information such as virtual multimedia brochure including cataloguing products offerings and reservation and transaction facilities, will cost more and take longer to develop. Eve though such a site will cost more to build, the cost is considerably less than tens of millions of dollars spent by airlines, tour operators and hotel chains on TV and magazine ads. By providing information on a website, Customers feel empowered to find answers to their inquiries themselves, cutting costs on telephone charges on toll-free numbers.
 
Using the internet can help save on distribution costs. Promotion and distribution of tickets, is a big cost factor in the airline industry. Selling tickets on the internet can eliminate travel agent commission and GDS fees paid by the airlines. An internet based supply channel management can also save procurement costs for businesses.