Question

" The Behaviors that Influence hospitality tourism decisions" from a marketing perspective. Consider current conditions such as COVID19.

Topics to cover

Introduction to hospitality marketing

Marketing

Segmentation

Geography

Demographics

Psycho graphics

How is the current COVID 19 impacting tourism

TEXTBOOK - Hospitality Marketing Management by Bojanic, David C.; Reid, Robert D.Edition: 6 ISBN: 9781119195122

Answer 1

Introduction

Travel behavior is always referred to as the way in which the tourists behave according to their attitudes before, during the time of travel, and after traveling. The knowledge regarding travel behavior can assist in the perspective of marketing, product planning aspects, and development which can increase the number of visitors to the tourism products in the segment such as resorts, restaurants, cafes, and other sectors that directly connected to tourism and hospitality. Consumer Behavior (CB) remains one of the most followed, or researched areas in the marketing sector, hospitality industry, and tourism fields, with the direct terms ‘travel behavior’ or ‘tourist behavior’ which typically used to describe this segment or area of inquiry in common. In the background, there are certain areas where the behaviors that can influence the decision based on the hospitality-tourism with reference to marketing perspective.

Hospitality Marketing

Hospitality marketing is completely about the process of applying marketing strategies, tools, and techniques in the hospitality industry with tourism in common. It takes a long look at how the organizations in the hospitality industry work from all dimensions. For example like restaurants, cafes, hotels, resorts, and foodservice providers make use of different marketing strategies and relevant techniques to promote their products, goods, and services to the customers. Like every business, marketing is crucial to building the brands and businesses, and in the hospitality industry, the scope and nature of marketing are important to widen the market reach and spectrum to connect to the travelers and customers.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is the method or research that determines how one organization divides or segment its customers, users, or cohort (categorized) into smaller groups based on characteristics such as, age, personality traits, income, or behavior. These small segments can later be used to become optimize the products and the advertising to different sects of customers. By understanding segmentation starts or originated with learning different aspects of the various ways one business or industry can segment the entire market.

The major three segments related to hospitality tourism are:
(a) Geography,
(b) Demographics,
(c) Psychographics.

Geographic segmentation: In the tourism segment, geographic segmentation creates a different target customer group based on the geographical boundaries of the market. Because of the potential customers have different needs, preferences, choices, and interests that differ according to their geographies itself, and understanding the changes in climates and geographic regions of customer groups located can help to determine where to target, sell, operate, and advertising, as well as where to fund money to expand the business. Example: Houseboat service usually focuses on the lagoon or lakes area, and the hospitality industry focus on lakeside tourism.

Demographic segmentation: In the segment, the demographic segmentation always focuses on sorts a market by its demographic elements such as age, income, family size, education, race, occupation, gender, nationality, and more factors related to demographics. Demographic segmentation is one of the simplest and most commonly targeted studies used forms of segmentation because the choosy products and services we buy, how we use or adapt to those services in the resorts, and how much we are willing to spend on travel, spend money on certain services of them is most often based on demographic factors.

Psychographic segmentation: In the tourism sector, psychographic segmentation takes into consideration of the psychological aspects of consumer behavior by segmenting or dividing the markets according to lifestyle, traits, personality, opinions, values, and interests of the consumers. Large markets like the sea-side restaurants or hospitality market use psychographic segmentation when they scale or sort their customers into categories of people who care about healthy living, medical tourism, and seafood lovers, and exercise-oriented lifestyle.

COVID 19: Impacting the Tourism

In the background of the crisis, the age of adaptivity. As the whole world tries to anchor itself completely amidst the COVID-19 crisis timeline and the virus-induced reality of an impending slowdown, economic downturn, destination organizations, and the hospitality industry will directly need to apply a new perspective on connection, development, destination, and community engagement. No matter where the industry segment is in the world, the hospitality industry was severely impacted by the responsiveness to the viral disease and the recession in the economy.

From the marketing perspective, the marketing segment to prospective travelers (tourists) or pushing out the messages that encourage them to travel will get lost in the wave, shuffle, and not be perceived well. The segment completely pauses the marketing efforts that don’t support the “present” and have to communicate the importance of safety measures, procedures, and guidelines regarding customers and staff, keeping in mind that the suggestions encouraged by the global health leaders and world health organizations. The segment has to revive the operations after the crisis through building relationships over sales, support the relevant stakeholders, reeducate on resources, authorization on reserves, and connect with the data.