VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Nguyen Dac Quy MARKETING MIX IN TOURISM THE CASE OF GO ASIA TRAVEL MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Hanoi - 2011 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Nguyen Dac Quy MARKETING MIX IN TOURISM THE CASE OF GO ASIA TRAVEL Major: Business Administration Code: 603405 MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION THESIS Supervisor: Dr. Pham Quy Long Dr. Nguyen Thi Phi Nga Hanoi - 2011 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .vi LIST OF FIGURES.ix LIST OF TABLE .x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .1 Significance of The Thesis .2 Objective of The Study .3 Scope of the Study .3 Data Sources and Research Methodology .3 Contribution of The Study .4 Structure of The Study .4 CHAPTER 1: THEORY BACKGROUND OF MARKETING AND MARKETING MIX IN TOURISM .1 CONCEPT OF MARKETING .2 CONCEPT OF MARKETING IN THE SERVICE IN DUSTRY .3 CONCEPT OF TOURISM .21 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF TOURISM PRODUCTS .2 Inventory / Perish ability .5 Seasonality: peaks and troughs in demand .6 High fixed costs of service operations .7 Interdependence or inseparability of tourism products: .5 MARKETING MIX FOR TOURISM INDUSTRY .6 ANALYZING TOOLS USED IN THIS THESIS .1 External environment analysis: .2 Internal and external environment analysis:.3 Interview and questionnaire .33 CHAPTER 2: MARKETING MIX IN GO ASIA TRAVEL COMPANY ANALYSIS .1 Introduction of Go Asia Travel Company .1 Overview of Go Asia Travel Company.2 Company Organization Chart .3 Products of Go Asia Travel Company .2 The factors influence on Marketing Activities of the company .40 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.3 Marketing mix decisions of GAT travel .4 Assessment of GAT‘ marketing activities .67 CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATION TO GO ASIA TRAVEL .1 Philosophy of GAT .2 Solutions to improve the effectiveness of marketing activities in GAT .82 viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.2: The element of the communication process .3: The element of the promotion mix .1: Company Organization Chart .1: Marketing mix 4Ps. Error! Bookmark not defined.
ix TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.travel LIST OF TABLE Table 1.1: Statistics of foreign tourists to Vietnam before and after WTO Event .2: Rate policy for Halong bay one day tour .3: Rate of Alova Cruise on Opening Promotion .4: Six steps to handling with complaints.5: Specifications of Alova Halong Cruise .travel x TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.travel LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviations Stand for 1 WTO World Trade Organization 2 No Number 3 GDP Gross Domestic Product 4 SPT South Pacific Travel 5 APT Asia pacific International Travel 6 VLT Viet long Travel 7 GAT Go Asia Travel 8 FIT Free Independent Travelers 9 GIT Group Inclusive Travelers 10 ITF International Travel Firm 11 FAM Trip Familiarization trip 12 SEO Search Engine Optimization 13 SEM Search Engine Marketing 14 HR Human Resources (LUAN.travel xi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.travel INTRODUCTION Significance of The Thesis People say that ―Marketing is the art of selling goods and services‖. And to have a good marketing strategy, company need to analyze themselves, competitor and the market. Besides some strategic decisions like positioning, market segmentation, marketing objective… a marketing manager always has to focus on 7 tactical decisions. In my viewpoint, marketing mix is key and handbook to obtain the success in business and to be an active and practical approach.
Marketing mix shows that we should choose the first thing is product which need to be met the customer need and be controlled in quality (Product); answer the question how much we will sell this product, the price need to be high or low, how many factors which influence on the pricing (Price). The third question is how to bring our product to all the potential customers, how to be a famous product, how to engage the customers in communication (Promotion). You have a good product at good price; many people know about you but do they feel easy and convenient to buy it (Place), and there more decisions we have make are people, process and physical evidence. In almost travel companies in Vietnam, they do not have a professional marketing plan for starting a company or a product.
They do not implement full parts of marketing mix some of them under evaluate the role of product or over evaluate the role of advertising… So many companies in Vietnam have not separated marketing from the sales and marketing department. Whereas, more and more foreign competitors with the position of multi-sided strength, financial, profession especially they are the master of marketing. They have enough strategies, tactics and the resources to win the global market. Currently, Vietnamese travel company still have some advantage in the local way but under the roadmap of WTO joining and the quick internet development, they have to survive with the extremely difficult market, encounter with the giant 1 (LUAN.travel TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Everything is changing very quickly, Go asia Travel and the other have to obtain the knowledge of marketing especially marketing mix with 7 practical decisions. It is, therefore, very necessary to conduct a study on Marketing Mix in Tourism, using the case of Go Asia Travel to analyze and understand more, In the physical product field, marketing mix includes Product, Price, Place and Promotion. In the services field, marketing mix is expanded with 3 additional elements: People, Process and Physical evidence. In this thesis, I would study about marketing mix in tourism industry and figure out some recommendations for Go Asia Travel.
The study aims to gain the following significances: 1. Theoretical aspect: contribute some recommendation to concept of marketing mix in tourism industry. Practical aspect: Apply theories on marketing mix in the case of Go Asia Travel Literature Review Relating to this topic, there are some authors mentioned about this. For example, the book of ―Marketing in Travel and Tourism‖ by Victor Middleton, Alan Fyall and Michael Morgan.
In this book, the author also write about marketing mix in tourism service for a chapter (chapter 8 – page 136). This chapter describes all 7 Ps tactics in specific tourism services. It also mentions marketing mix in the context of marketing system. The second book which talks about marketing mix is ―The portable MBA in marketing‖ by Charles Schewe and Alexander Hiam.
In this book, the author use whole 1 part (part, page from 337-509) to write about applying marketing mix tactics including creating a product, manage product, pricing method, distribution function and how to promote sales. Before and during the time of making this research, I have not seen any research with the particular topic of marketing mix in tourism and with the case of Go Asia 2 (LUAN.travel TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.travel Travel Company. Therefore, we can conclude that my research is not coincided with others. Objective of The Study To do this research, the author tries to reach the following objectives: 1.
Review theories on Marketing mix and Marketing mix in tourism industry. Apply theories on marketing mix into the practice of Go Asia Travel. Contribute some recommendations about marketing mix to Go Asia Travel. Scope of the Study Scope of study is limited in following time, place and work: Time: Study about Marketing mix in Go Asia Travel from 11/2010 to 10/2011, and some recommendations for next 5 years.
Place: The research is conducted in Hanoi and on the internet only. Work: Marketing mix for Go Asia Travel only, for the products serving foreign customers only (inbound customers). Data Sources and Research Methodology 1. Data sources and processing The information used in this thesis is primary and secondary ones.
Primary information is collected through surveys, interviews, discussion and questionnaires. Secondary information is collected directly from Go Asia Travel and some other travel companies. Information also collected from some books, websites, academic newspapers and marketing plan when available. Based on the collected information and marketing mix theory, I analyze them and then give out the evaluation and the best practice for Go Asia Travel.travel TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Research method: Qualitative/ case study 2. Research design: Case study 3. Analysis: Descriptive analysis Contribution of The Study This study aims to contribute some recommendations to Go Asia Travel in the aspect of Marketing. This is the first study which researches on this company so it may become the reference for the next researcher with the same objects.
It can be the reference for who wants to make a study on Marketing Mix in Tourism industry. Structure of The Study Apart from Acknowledgement, abstract, list of abbreviation, list of table, introduction, conclusion, reference, and appendix, the thesis is divided into 3 chapters: Chapter 1: Theory background of Marketing in Tourism Chapter 2: Marketing Mix in Go Asia Travel Company Analysis Chapter 3: Solutions to improve the effectiveness of marketing mix for the Go Asia Travel Company 4 (LUAN.travel TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.travel CHAPTER 1: THEORY BACKGROUND OF MARKETING AND MARKETING MIX IN TOURISM 1.1 CONCEPT OF MARKETING There are many different concepts of marketing which change by each period, each scholars. I would indicate here some of them: Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges (with customers) that satisfy individual and organizational objectives by American marketing Association. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.
Marketing is the set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating exchanges by Marketing Management, 2nd edn, 1972 - Prof. Marketing decisions generally fall into the following four controllable categories: Product, Price, Place (distribution) and Promotion. The term "marketing mix" became popularized after Neil H. Borden published his 1964 article.
Jerome McCarthy later Summarized into the four categories that today are known as the 4 P's of marketing. For a managerial definition, marketing has often been described as ―the art of selling products‖, but people surprised when they hear that the most important part of marketing is not selling. Selling is only the tip of marketing iceberg. By Peter Ducker, a leading management theorist said that: 5 (LUAN.travel TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.travel ―The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that product and service fit him and sell itself. Ideally, Marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy‖. In this thesis, I will use the first concept to develop my topic. For service marketing I will understand that: Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, distribution, people, process and physical evidence of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges (with customers) that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.
In the tourism field, I suppose that: Things to do of a marketing manager are to make 7 decisions: Product, Price, Promotion, place, People, Process and Physical evidence which can help find customers, satisfy them and get profits for an enterprise.2 CONCEPT OF MARKETING IN THE SERVICE IN DUSTRY The key concept of Marketing in service industry is people and customer‘ relationship factors. The reason is that, not like physical goods, service is intangible and need participation of both customers and producers. The service marketing is also known as an extended marketing mix and is an integral part of a service blueprint design. The service marketing consists of 7 P‘s as compared to the 4 P‘s of a product marketing mix.
Simply said, the service marketing assumes the service as a product itself. However, it adds 3 more P‘s which are required for optimum service delivery. The product marketing mix consists of the 4 P‘s which are Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place. The service marketing places 3 further P which includes People, Process and Physical evidence.travel TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.