Despite the similarity in the marketing of
industrial enterprises, tourism marketing has some unique features. Hacıoğlu
(1997: 13) lists the distinguishing features of tourism marketing as follows:
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Service can be marketed in tourism industry and
there is no material property for services.
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Usual consumption is marketed unlike goods and
services in two different levels: first by the official tourism organizations
without sales purposes and secondly by tourism businesses, which aims to sell
their own products.
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Environmental and infrastructure issues are the
primary factors in tourism marketing such as the presence of a wealth of
natural beauty and sea, sun, sand effects marketing.
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Consumers go to production areas in order to get
services as opposed to industrial marketing where the goods are delivered from
manufacturer to the consumer.
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Production and consumption occur at the same
time. More specifically, services are sold then consumed, while in industrial
marketing, manufactured goods are offered for sale.
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Tourism businesses can seasonally operate, which
might in turn lead to increased financial risks
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The actual product is a cultural centre and a
region with high attractiveness.
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Demand may differ daily, weekly, monthly and
yearly for tourism services.
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Empty capacity occurs when the demand decreases.
However, even if demand is high, capacity limit does not exceed.
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Tourism marketing aims to satisfy the needs of
consumers, while industrial marketing aims to provide benefit to consumer with
goods.
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Tourism products can generally be offered as a
final service to the customers.
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Tourism product is known as complex product.
Nowadays, these services are presented as a package tour.
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Tourism products cannot be stored. For this
reason, its marketing is risky.
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Because of the intensive labour production,
there are fewer automation possibilities on tourism products.
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Due to the diversity among tourism products,
standardization or customizing is almost impossible.
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Tourism products are finished products, but some
goods and products can be semi-finished in industrial enterprises.
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Destination selection is very important before
investment.
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Consumers have a major impact on the quality of
services. For example, a special night in a hotel can be evaluated differently
by consumers. Some consumers can enjoy but some may not.
-
Communication should be very polite with
customers.
These characteristics make the
tourism sector a very distinct one in terms of human relations, nature of
services and variety. Any marketing strategy needs to consider these
characteristics thoroughly.
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