SERVICES MARKETING

Bharti Bhagwani (05) Anurag Mahendra (08) Rahul Gupta (15)

Manish Kumar (29)

Saurabh Sharma (46)

Archit Vashishth (56)

TOURISM INDUSTRY
Tourism is one of the world's fastest growing industries at present. Spending on tourism amounts to 5%-10% of total consumer spending in a year worldwide. The tourism industry as a whole is presently estimated to earn over US$ 3.5 trillion worldwide. India's share of the total market is a pittance at 0.51%. The Tourism industry's foreign exchange earnings in India are around $3.2 billion.

SPECIAL FORMS OF TOURISM

Adventure Tourism Culture Tourism Educational Tourism Garden Tourism Heritage Tourism Health Tourism Medical Tourism Hobby Tourism Pop-Culture Tourism Perpetual Tourism Pilgrimage Tourism Sport Tourism Eco Tourism Gambling Tourism

SOTC : An Overview
SOTC - India's Leading Outbound Tour operator. Established in 1949.

Was acquired by Kuoni Travels Worlds leading premium Tour Operator in the year 1996.
SOTC Voted The Best Outbound Tour Operator 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the Galileo Express Travel & Tourism Awards Committee.

SOTCs Brands
SOTC Escorted Group Tours SOTC Customised Holidays SOTC Holidays of India SOTC Corporate Tours SOTC Trade Fair Tours

MARKETING MIX (7Ps)

PEOPLE

PRODUCT
THE EXTENDED MARKETING MIX PROCESS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

PLACE

PRICE

PROMOTION

1. PRODUCT : MAIN FOCUS

Potential
Augmented

Expected

Basic

Core

Sr.No.

BENEFIT

MEANING

WITH RESPECT TO THE SOTC

CORE BENEFIT

The fundamental benefit or service that the customer is buying.

Basic, functional attributes. Set of attributes/conditions the buyer normally expects.

Traveling.

BASIC PRODUCT

Ticketing, hotel reservation. Customer friendliness, good food. Prompt services, comfortable and convenient trip, spectacular sights, and music.

EXPECTED PRODUCT

AUGMENTED PRODUCT

That meets the customers desires beyond expectations.

POTENTIAL PRODUCT

The possible evolution to distinguish the offer.

Totally customized tour packages, A grade service at every stage.

2. PRICE
A very important way, in which SOTC responded to their highly complex pricing circumstances, is to operate at two levels. 1. The first level is corresponds with the marketing strategy, which concerns with the product positioning, value for the money, long run return on investments etc. 2. The second level corresponds to the marketing operations or tactics where the prices are manipulated to match the current demand and competition.

3. PLACE
Different distribution strategies are selected for Tours marketing by SOTC. SOTC act as wholesalers and also act as a retailer. The latest mode of reaching the customers is through Internet. SOTC has its own website from where information on the tours can be procured & direct booking can be done. SOTC also has its own offices from where booking can be done. There are also small agents (who have taken franchise of SOTC) spread all over the town/country.

4. PROMOTION
Some of the important aspects of promotion are: Print Electronic Ads Sales Promotion- EMIs Publicity/PR Word of mouth, personal selling, telemarketing Exhibitions/Trade Fairs Tie ups with Yash Raj Films, Experiencing the Magical moments of Yash Raj Films with SOTC. SOTC appointed as the Tour Partner to Kingfisher Airlines for the DLF IPL T20.

5. PEOPLE

SOTC`S PEOPLE MIXIncludes travel agents, tour operators, tour guides et al. Locals are employed. Exhaustive training is provided. 2900 employees through its 347 offices and caters to 3 million customers.

6. PROCESS
-------------------------------- Line of Interaction--------------------------------

Customer Enquiry/ Reaching the customer

Explainin g the details

Negotiating the Terms

Completion of customer formalities and document submission

Air, hotel reservations as per needs

Itinerary Arrangements

Travel/Journe y to destination

-----------------------------------Line of Internal Control/Records--------------------

Itinerary Confirmation

Maintaining records and follow up through CRM

The sequential steps involved in the delivery of the SOTC products are:
Provision of travel information. Preparation of itinerates. Liaison with providers of services. Planning and costing tours. Ticketing Provision of foreign currency and insurance.

7. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
The Physical evidence of a tourism product refers to a range of more tangible attributes of the operations. For SOTC, elements such as: quality and attractiveness of dcor effective layout of establishment surroundings and quality of promotional materials are all important.

Service Blue Print of SOTC

What is a Service Blueprint?

A tool for simultaneously depicting the service process, the points of customer contact, and the evidence of service from the customers point of view.
PROCESS

SERVICE BLUEPRINT

POINT OF CONTACT

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Service Blueprint Components

Customer Actions -line of interaction Onstage Contact Employee Actions -line of visibility Backstage Contact Employee Actions -line of internal interaction Support Processes

Physical Evidence Customer Action

Computer, Uniforms, Cash Dcor, Reg. Desk Arrival at Trip enquiry Payme Agency nt.
Parking , Lobby & security

Vehicles i.e. Hotels, Offers, Website planes, buses, Rooms. Gambling Airport trains Stay, enjoy, Experience relax Experience Discharge

Line of interaction On stage contact person Line of Visibility Back stage Contact person Line of Internal Interaction Support Process Ticket book Travel Agent Customer Care Receptionist Agent Guides Butler Quality head

Registration System

Customers need & query

Feedback and update process.

Main Server

SERVICES MARKETING TRIANGLE

Company
Training Motivating Imbibing the values

4Ps

Tourism
Employees
Employee skills

Customers

THE GAP MODEL

GAP 1
The first gap in service quality occurs when management fails to accurately identify customer expectations. Hotel managers, for instance, must know and understand what their guests expect from their stay, including all tangibles (the room, amenities, lobby features) and intangible components (availability of additional services, ease of checkin and check-out procedures).

GAP 2
The second gap is referred to as the design gap. A restaurant manager may understand customer expectations for being served within 20 minutes of ordering, but may not have the resources or the appropriate number of staff to insure that speed of service.

GAP 3
Gap 3 represents the variation in service design and service delivery i.e performance gap A customer may make a special request for a room type different from the one originally reserved, or request a menu item after the initial order has been completed, making it more difficult to perform the service as intended.

GAP 4
The fourth gap is called the communications gap. It is the difference between what is promised to customers, either explicitly or implicitly, and what is being delivered. The fourth gap is called the communications gap. It is the difference between what is promised to customers, either explicitly or implicitly, and what is being delivered. Over-promising is commonly responsible for the communication gap.

GAP 5
Gap 5 is the total accumulation of variation in Gaps 1 through 4 and represents the difference between expectations and perceived service.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Indian travel market can be classified into two broad categories: International Travelers- Those crossing International borders Domestic Travelers - Those travelling within India. International Travelers can be classified as Inbound Travelers (those who travel into India from Overseas) and Outbound travelers (who travel internationally). Inbound market is further segmented into six broad categories: Holiday and sight seeing Business travelers Conference attendees Students Visiting friends Relatives and others

TARGETING
The mass market consists of tourists that travel in large groups and prefer all-inclusive tours. The popular market consists of smaller groups going on inclusive or semi-inclusive tours. The individual market consists of chairmen, senior executives, etc.

 As the lifestyle changes, consumption of services might change. A newly married couple might prefer romantic holidays, but once they have children they would prefer family vacations where there are plenty of activities to entertain kids. Teens and youth might prefer adventure holidays whereas senior citizens would probably prefer more relaxing vacations.

Service Encounter
Every interaction between a service employee and customer is a service encounter Service Scripts: encounters follow similar steps Moments of Truth during which quality is judged Service encounter diagram Quality assurance in tourism services is a management challenge

Service Encounter Process

Begin Service Encounter

End Service Encounter

Moments Of Truth

4 Is of Services
1. Inflexibility 2. Inventory 3. Inconsistency 4. Intangibility

1. INFLEXIBILITY
The tourism industry is highly inflexible in terms of capacity. The number of beds in a hotel or seats on a flight is fixed so it is not possible to meet sudden upsurges in demand similarly restaurants tables, hotels beds and flights seats remain empty and unused in periods of low demand.

2. INVENTORY
Travel products are intended to be consumed as they are produced. For example, an airline has seats to sell on each flight; a hotel has rooms to sell for each night. If the airline is not able to sell all its seats on its flight, or a hotel is not able to sell its rooms for the night then the opportunity to sell the product is lost forever.

3. INCONSISTENCY
In Travel and Tourism industry the product or the package of the tourism can be standardized. But the actual experience of consuming this package is highly inconsistent. Example- Bad experiences like the tourist guide may not be good, the hotels lodging and boarding was bad etc.

4. INTANGIBILITY
Travel products cannot be touched as they include flight experience on an airplane, cruise on an ocean liner etc. These products are experiences. Once they have taken place they can only be recalled and relished.

SWOT Analysis for SOTC

1. STRENGTH
India`s largest outbound tour operator. Offices in all major cities of India. Tie ups with other tour operators and travel agents across India. Effective promotional campaigns like Experiencing the Magical moments of Yash Raj Films with SOTC. Internet booking of tickets and packages. Cost Saver tours designed by SOTC, keeping in mind the budget of the traveler, without compromising on sightseeing and basic holiday needs. Created new markets through innovative packages namely `BhramanMandal` dedicated to Marathi speaking population and `Gurjur Vishwadarshan` brand dedicated to Gujarati speaking population.

2. WEAKNESS
Not Focusing on Rural areas and Indian railway networks. Lack of corporate offices and small city offices across the nation. Feedback system exists for namesake. Ineffective customer services.

3. OPPORTUNITIES
Increase in NRI Population Increase in per capita income. Increasing trend of exploring India Increase in online booking Increase of Government support for tourism. Increase in outbound International Traveler Market Increase in number of tourists for various sports events in India like IPL.

4. THREATS
Economic conditions Security New entrants Local Travel Agents and travel companies. Competitors

RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to avoid any inconvenience to its customers, it should open new branches, more effective online ticket booking facilities and focus on small cities and towns. it should focus on it`s online ticket booking facilities to restrict online tourism provider like makemytrip.com, yatra.com.

THANK YOU