Travel agencies are commercial enterprises and as such cannot do without the two most important components of the success of any modern business: marketing and advertising. task marketing activities is the formation and definition of the product - i.e. what, how, where, when and to whom to sell. In a stricter definition, marketing is a series of sequential decisions and actions of the seller aimed at developing a consumer preference for a particular product. The formation, adoption and implementation of a balanced marketing plan that takes into account the interests of both the agency and its clients is extremely important for the success of the agency. The latter is especially important, since, on the one hand, the agency cannot afford to sell at a loss for the benefit of the client, on the other hand, the agency also cannot concentrate on highly profitable products if they are not in demand among buyers.

One of the cornerstones of any marketing activity is identifying and selecting a product to sell. The product sold by travel agencies is exceptionally unique and unlike most other businesses. On the one hand, it would seem that everything is clear: for most agencies, the object of sale is transport services - by sea, air, car, bus, limousine - in combination with the accommodation of travelers in hotels. Many agencies also sell travel insurance, bags and suitcases, take passport photos, arrange visas, and so on. However, it should be remembered that when talking about "selling" seats on an airplane, train, cruise or hotel, the travel agent is actually only assisting the client in acquiring the specified seat, cabin, hotel room for temporary use, i.e. in fact, in receiving everything specified in a temporary lease. The most picturesque of all identified the product they sell travel agents who specialize in recreation - they sell dreams.

The result of the specified specificity of the tourist product - its non-materiality - is another fundamental feature of travel agencies. Unlike other businesses, they do not maintain inventory. Most businesses retail, industrial enterprises and other business entities purchase consignments of goods at a wholesale price for subsequent retail(or, in production - sales after additional processing) Marketing. Principles and technology of free marketing market system: Textbook for universities / Ed. N.D. Eriashvili. - M.: Banks and exchanges (UNITI), 2006. - 255 p. Travel agencies do not need to maintain inventory - they order the appropriate service only when the client is finally ready to purchase it. The only exceptions to this practice are the so-called "wholesalers" (wholesalers) - specialized agencies that carry out a block purchase of places in hotels or on flights for their subsequent resale at retail. Such agencies, however, are relatively few in number.

On the one hand, the absence of the need to maintain inventory has a beneficial effect on the travel agency as a business, significantly increasing its liquidity. On the other hand, there is also a disadvantage: the agency must check before the sale whether the place or other service required by the client is available. In other words, the agency cannot freely dispose of the product it sells; this product is managed by those who produce it: airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc.

Some agencies try to cover as wide a range of clients as possible in their activities. Many other agencies, in turn, prefer to specialize in one type of travel service, either because of internal or economic preferences of employees and owners, or because of certain specifics of the potential client base. So, tourist agency, located in a New York area populated predominantly by immigrants from Latin America, is unlikely to specialize in the sale of air tickets to the Scandinavian countries. The area of ​​specialization in this situation, as in many similar ones, suggests itself.

The logical conclusion of the specialization process is what in world practice is called niche marketing - i.e. occupation by the company of a highly specialized "niche" in the market. A typical example of such companies are agencies that specialize only in sales of cruises. Often, they even decorate the interior of their offices in a marine style - using appropriate marine accessories such as helms, ropes, bollards, pirate romance, etc. Successfully finding your niche modern market, in a highly competitive environment, has allowed many such agencies to approach the development and marketing of their products in more detail, to achieve better knowledge of their product and market, and greater professionalism. In this situation, it is much easier for a client who is going on a cruise to choose an agency whose services it is preferable to contact.

One of the most effective advertising tools in the tourism business is the consistent quality of service provided by the agency and its honesty towards the client. Having received satisfaction from the trip purchased through the agency, the client will most likely turn to the services of the agency again.

Periodic repetition of relatively inexpensive press ads is preferable to expensive, but one-time ones.

A seemingly minor rearrangement of the individual elements of a visual advertisement can significantly increase the ad's ability to grab attention.

The greatest efficiency is achieved by a competent combination of advertising forms and means: announcements on the radio and in the press, direct mail, advertising posters in places where the target group is concentrated, etc.

The main purpose of service marketing is to help the client appreciate the organization and its services (since a tourism organization sells something to the client that does not have a specific material form, a promise to do something of value to the customer).

The marketing concept is based on the needs of the market and the desires of the buyers, which the tourism organization focuses on: firstly, this concept is based on an already existing and fully formed market, focusing on the needs of specific consumers; secondly, marketing activities must be coordinated through relevant organizations; thirdly, marketing activities should be aimed at achieving the goals of these organizations.

To one degree or another, all organizations of the tourism industry are engaged in marketing, but few of them adhere to the concept of marketing (true marketing professionals include: “Marriott Hotel”, “American Airlines” Kvartalnov V.A. Tourism. - M. “Finance and Statistics ", 2007, "Club Med" and a number of other companies operating in the tourism industry). The focus of every company is the customer, and all their activities are organized in such a way as to effectively meet the changing needs of customers.

Marketing concepts are the most general approaches to solving the problems of achieving desired level sales in different markets, the principles of their solution, which are the basis of marketing management.

Marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation and control of activities designed to establish, strengthen and maintain a beneficial exchange with customers in order to achieve certain organizational objectives, such as increasing market share, increasing sales, making a profit. The task of marketing management is to influence the level and nature of demand in such a way that it helps the organization achieve its goals.

Marketing Managers are officials who are engaged in the analysis of the market situation, planning marketing activities, manage the implementation of the plans, exercise control. These include sales managers, heads of advertising and promotion services, marketers, product managers, pricing specialists.

There are five concepts on the basis of which marketing management is carried out:

1) The concept of improving production. This concept is that consumers will buy goods that are widely available and affordable, and the organization should focus on improving production and distribution systems. The application of the concept of production improvement is suitable in two situations: when the market is not saturated, i.e. demand for a product exceeds supply, and when the cost of a product is too high, it must be reduced, which requires an increase in productivity. This is the concept of "indifference" to consumers, it is applicable in rare cases.

2) The concept of product improvement. In accordance with this concept, consumers will buy products of the highest quality, with the best performance and characteristics, therefore, the company must focus on continuous product improvement. So, some manufacturers believe that they will be successful if they create a super mousetrap, but buyers may prefer a chemical aerosol against mice. This concept leads to "marketing myopia" Kotler F. Fundamentals of Marketing: Per. from English. - M.: Progress, 2002. - 736 p., as it loses sight of the needs of customers.

3) The concept of intensifying commercial efforts. This concept is that consumers will not buy an organization's products in sufficient quantities unless it makes significant sales promotion efforts. Aggressive and intrusive advertising is used. As soon as the customer appears at the counter or enters the showroom, the salesperson instantly begins "psychological processing" in order to force the customer to make a purchase. The long-term results of the activity of an enterprise guided by this concept are unfavorable.

4) The concept of pure marketing. This concept argues that the key to achieving the goals of the organization is to determine the needs of target markets and ensure the desired customer satisfaction through the use of more efficient (than competitors) methods. The essence of this concept is defined using expressions like "Find needs and satisfy them" or "Produce what you can sell instead of trying to sell what you can produce." The concept of pure marketing is a focus on customer needs, supported by integrated marketing activities aimed at ensuring customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the basis for achieving the goals of the organization. This concept is based on the theory of consumer sovereignty.

5) The concept of socio-ethical marketing. In accordance with this concept, the task of the organization is to establish the needs of target markets and provide the desired customer satisfaction in more efficient (than competitors) ways, while simultaneously ensuring the well-being of society as a whole. Its appearance is associated with doubts that the concept of pure marketing is adequate to modern realities.

The concept of social and ethical marketing Marketing. Principles and technology of marketing in a free market system: Textbook for universities / Ed. N.D. Eriashvili. - M.: Banks and exchanges (UNITI), 2006. - 255 p. requires an enterprise to combine three factors, These are making a profit, satisfying consumer needs and improving the general well-being of people. This concept is followed by the world's largest companies.

Tourism is one of the leading and most dynamically developing sectors of the global service sector. Due to its rapid growth, tourism has been recognized as an economic phenomenon of the 20th century. The Russian tourism market is also developing.

The volume of the Russian tourism market has been progressively increasing throughout the last decade. In 2013, its volume (compared to 2011) increased by 14% (or by 149 billion rubles), exceeding 1 trillion rubles. (about 1.7% of Russia's GDP).

The tourism services market is moving towards greater transparency and accessibility for the end consumer. According to aviation explorer 1, the growth in the share of travel services processed online was recognized as the most noticeable trend in Russian market in 2012. The structure of demand is changing, shifting towards self-registration of tourist services on the Internet by the population.

At present, a unified approach to the definition of marketing in tourism has not yet been developed, so we will consider different views on the problem.

• formation of contacts with consumers of tourist services, which aims to convince them that the proposed place of rest and the services existing there, attractions and expected benefits are fully consistent with what the clients themselves want to receive;
• development of contacts through innovations that can provide new sales opportunities. Such innovations should meet the needs and preferences of potential customers;
• control over the results of services, which involves the analysis of the results of activities to promote goods and services on the market and check whether the results reflect the full and successful use of the opportunities available in the tourism sector, comparative analysis expenses for promotional marketing activities and income generated.

According to French scientists R. Lankar and R. Ollie, tourism marketing- this is a series of basic methods and techniques developed for research, analysis and solving problems. The main thing to which these methods and techniques should be directed is to identify the possibilities for the most complete satisfaction of people's needs from the point of view of psychological and social factors and identifying the most financially sound way for tourism organizations (businesses, bureaus or associations) to take into account identified or hidden needs for tourism services. These kinds of needs can be determined either by recreational motives (entertainment, vacation, health, education, religion and sports) or by other motives that are often found in business groups, families, various missions and alliances.

The Swiss specialist E. Krippendorf puts a more complete content into the concept of tourism marketing: "Tourist Marketing- this is a systematic change and coordination of the activities of tourism enterprises, as well as private and public policies in the field of tourism, carried out but regional, national or international plans. The purpose of such changes is to best meet the needs of certain consumer groups, while taking into account the possibility of obtaining the corresponding profit” 1 .

The concept of marketing in the field of tourism is developing in accordance with current trends development of marketing theory and service marketing theory.

The tourist product has the distinctive characteristics inherent in the service, namely, intangibility, inseparability from the source, perishability And inconstancy of quality(4 "NOTs"), Four "NOTs" of tourism services as a commodity seriously affect the specifics of activities in the field of tourism.

In addition to the traditional elements of the marketing mix: Product - Price - Place - Promotion, used in traditional marketing as a set of consumer impact strategies controlled by the company, it is recommended to implement additional strategies for the service marketing mix in tourism. These include: physical environment (physical evidence), service process (process) and personnel (people).

material environment(the atmosphere of a hotel, restaurant, office of a travel agency) involves working on the impact on the sensory channels of perception of customers: visual (organization of space, lighting, color), auditory (volume and tempo of music accompaniment), olfactory (ventilation of the room), tactile (room temperature) .

Maintenance Process guests, customers can be developed using diagrammatic design methods, common ground, customer scenario and reengineering.

Staff(contact staff) is the staff of the company who simultaneously produces and sells tourist service. Therefore, contact personnel in service marketing are sometimes referred to as "part-time marketers" (part-time marketers).

Together with the rest of the marketing mix strategies (product, price, distribution channels, promotion), these additional three elements form the tourism marketing mix.

The result of activities in tourism is a tourist product that has its own distinctive features:

• the demand for tourism services is elastic in relation to the level of income of the consumer and prices, subject to seasonal fluctuations;
• tourism product depends on such variables as space and time;
• the offered tourist services are divided geographically: booking a tour in a travel agency, booking a hotel or air tickets via the Internet, tourists receive in their place of permanent residence, transport services can be obtained during a tour, hotel accommodation, participation in festivals, excursion services, meals - in a place of temporary stay;
• tourism product offering is characterized by inflexible production. Hotels, airports, museums, theme parks cannot be moved at the end of the tourist season to another region to accommodate changing demand and seasonality;
• assessment of the quality of the tourist product is highly subjective. Local residents, members of the tourist group;
• the assessment of the quality of a tourist product can be influenced by such factors as weather and natural conditions, political events.

The problem of defining a tourist product remains debatable. Consider the most common definitions of a tourist product, presented in Table. 8.1.

As can be seen from Table. 8.1, most often in approaches to the definition of a tourist product, a structural or component approach is traced, where, along with material objects, various services, images, places, ideas, ideas are considered.

Table 8.1

Tourism product definitions

Less common are definitions of a tourism product that focus on meeting the needs and expectations of tourists (V. Middleton). Medlik S. (S. Medlik) for the first time made an attempt to combine two points of view on the tourism product, considering it in a narrow and broad sense.

Thus, the tourism product can be considered from three positions:

• 1) from the position of a tour operator company (intermediation area);
• 2) from position territorial bodies power (sphere of supply);
• 3) from the position of the client (the sphere of demand).

According to federal law dated November 24, 1996 No. 132-FZ “On the basics of tourism activities in Russian Federation""tourist product - a set of transportation and accommodation services provided for a total price (regardless of inclusion in the total price)" the cost of excursion services and (or) other services) under an agreement on the sale of a tourist product ".

According to this definition, the tourist product is identified with the concept of tour. They should be distinguished. Tour performs integral part tourism product. It is a set of primary services that a tour operator provides on a specific route and in a specific period of time. As a rule, the tour includes transportation, accommodation and meals according to the type chosen by the tourist. Tourist product is a much broader definition. Let's consider a simplified classification of tourist products according to characteristic elements (Table 8.2).

As can be seen from Table. 8.2, the tourism product is diverse and is created by the efforts of many enterprises and organizations, and each of them has its own methods of work, technologies, specific goals and objectives for creating, promoting and implementing a tourism product, using various tools marketing policy. This objectively creates great organizational difficulties in coordinating actions in the production, supply and sale of a tourist product and ensuring a high level of tourist service.

Classification of tourism products

There are several levels of marketing organization in tourism:

• marketing at the level of tour operators and travel agents;
• marketing at the level of producers of tourist services - accommodation facilities, catering enterprises, transport enterprises, excursion service enterprises, etc.;
• marketing at the level of public tourism organizations - national tourism administrations (NTAs); tourist information centers, public associations in the field of tourism;
• marketing at the level of territories and regions - tourist destinations.

At the same time, marketing at the level of tour operators and travel agents and marketing at the level of tourism service providers belong to the field of commercial marketing, and marketing at the level of the national tourism administration and marketing at the level of territories belong to the field of non-commercial marketing. On fig. 8.1 presents an approach to the concept of marketing in tourism as a system.

On a structural basis, in the field of tourism, marketing of goods and marketing of services can be distinguished. The combination of trade in services and trade in goods in tourism, according to experts, is 75 and 25%, respectively.

Rice. 8.1.

coordinates:

TO - tour operators; TA - guragents

When developing marketing strategies companies operating in the field of tourism - travel agencies, hotels, catering establishments, objects of tourist display, need to take into account the specifics of the "intangible" product. The development of a marketing program should not only build on the traditional elements of the marketing mix, but also need to involve additional elements - the service delivery process, contact personnel (personnel working in direct contact with guests and customers) and the physical environment.

In this regard, the main task is to establish a connection between the needs and expectations of customers and the internal processes of creating a value model for customers in the tourism industry, aimed at meeting these needs.

The customer value model includes five main elements that determine the perception of value by the customer and the level of his satisfaction: the quality of the product itself; quality of service through technologies for its provision; company image; price; the relationship between the service provider, the client and the contact personnel of the tourism company.

The implementation of the customer value model is facilitated by the internal marketing assets of the tourism company.

The implementation of the concept of internal marketing will allow building the relationship "loyal staff - loyal customer - company profitability". The output of this process will be the developed technology quality service customers and control over it, a system of indicators for evaluating the work of personnel depending on customer satisfaction, marketing Information system tourism companies, giving staff the opportunity to provide quality customer service, as well as education loyal employees providing excellent service.

This approach differs from the traditional promotion of a product in the field of tourism, since it is aimed not at solving current issues of attracting and retaining customers, but at building a system of relationships with customers on a long-term basis.

Internal marketing has the same theoretical base as traditional marketing. A feature is the object and subject of study of the concept of internal marketing. The object of internal marketing is the employees of a tourism company and its internal environment, considered from the point of view of the client's expectations and perceptions.

The task of internal marketing is to create an environment within the company that is as customer-oriented as possible.

• URL: http://www.aex.ru
• Accepted on international conference WTO in Budapest in February 1993
• Lankar R., Ollie R. Tourist marketing. M.: Economics, 1998.
• Durovich A.P. Marketing in tourism. M.: Business book, 2001. S. 496.
• Novatorov E. Features of sales management in the service sector // Sales Management. 2003. No. 1. S. 26-34.
• There.
• There.
• URL: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_129632.

Tourism is a sector of the economy where the client is provided for money different kind services. Consequently, tourism belongs to the service sector - the most promising and rapidly developing sector of the economy. The service sector includes a wide range - from trade and transport to financing and intermediation of various kinds. The service sector includes hotels and restaurants, laundries and hairdressers, travel agencies, radio and television stations, consulting firms, medical institutions, museums, cinemas and theaters. By and large, all organizations provide services to one degree or another.

The service is the result of the interaction between the contractor and the consumer, as well as their own activities to meet the needs of the consumer. A service is something that one party can offer to another and that is mostly physically intangible, the services do not result in the receipt of something tangible.

The main characteristics of the service are: intangibility, consumption at the time of production, the inability to determine the form of ownership, the complexity of assessing the quality before the sale (provision), the complexity of planning the volume of provision, etc.

Indicators by which the quality of the service is assessed: reliability, availability, safety, fast terms for the provision of services, personnel responsibility, etc. Services can be provided: based on the use of equipment or labor by private individuals or public enterprises.

With the help of the services provided, meet personal needs or business needs. The provision of the service may require the presence of the client or is provided without his personal presence.

The services market differs from other markets mainly for two reasons:

• - the service does not exist before it is presented. This makes it impossible to compare and evaluate services before they are received, so only the expected results are compared with those received;
• - the service is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty, which puts the client at a disadvantage, and makes it difficult for sellers to promote services to the market.

These features of the service market, as well as the specifics of the services themselves - their intangibility, inability to store, variability in quality and the inseparability of production and consumption - determine the characteristics of service marketing.

Tourism marketing is a set of methods and techniques focused on market research, segmentation, analysis, strategy selection and problem solving.

The main goal of tourism marketing is to identify opportunities for the most complete satisfaction of customer needs in terms of psychological and social factors, as well as to determine the most financially rational way of doing business by tourism organizations, allowing to take into account identified or hidden needs for tourism services. Marketing in tourism activities gives firms grounds to develop new, more efficient types of tourist and excursion services, improve the technology of their production and marketing in order to make a profit.

The main function of tourism marketing is a targeted impact on the formation of recreational needs, demand, development of the range of tourism services provided, commercial prices, market segmentation.

Tourism marketing includes the following steps:

Studying the demand for tourist trips;

• - study of the basic requirements of consumers to the quality of tourist services;
• - drawing up a marketing program for each specific tourist product, taking into account costs;
• - advertising;
• - setting the upper limit of the price for the provided tours and the profitability of their production;
• - development of investment and assortment policy;
• - determination of the final desired result (strategy) - the level of income and profit.

The main tasks of marketing of tourist companies are:

• - analysis of factors of dynamics of consumer qualities of a tourist product;
• - analysis and choice of technology for the production of tourist and excursion services;
• - study of the needs and demand for each specific tourist product;
• - study of consumer behavior in the tourist markets;
• - market segmentation;
• - analysis of the conjuncture of the market of tourist services;
• - Identification and study of potential competitors.

The quality of travel agency services must meet the following requirements:

• - availability - the service is easy to get in convenient location, at a convenient time, without undue waiting for its provision;
• - sociability - the description of the service is made in the language of the client and is accurate;
• - competence - service staff possesses the required skills and knowledge;
• - courtesy - the staff is friendly, respectful and caring;
• - trust - you can rely on the company and its staff, as they really strive to satisfy any customer requests;
• - reliability - services are provided accurately and stably;
• - Responsiveness - the staff is creative in solving problems and meeting customer needs;
• - security - the services provided do not carry danger or risk and do not give rise to any doubt;
• - tangibility - tangible components of the service correctly reflect its quality;
• - knowledge of the client - the staff strives to understand the needs of clients as best as possible and each of them is given maximum attention.

The tourist market is a special system of relations (economic, social, legal) connecting producers of a tourist product and consumers who are interested in a certain type of tourist services provided.

The demand for tourism services is a confirmation of the solvency of the recreational needs of people, expressed in a certain number of tourist trips and services that consumers can purchase at given prices for a tourism product.

The offer of tourist products (services) - the number of tours (tourist and excursion services) that is put on the market at a certain price level.

Modern consumers are very wary of the new offers of marketers, so it is quite difficult to attract and maintain interest in a product or service. Now to ensure successful sale It is not enough to monitor the quality of a company's product or service and reduce the price as much as possible. The company must convince the consumer that these products meet their needs and desires.

In this way, tourism marketing is a set of organizational and managerial measures aimed at developing new effective types tourist and excursion services, their production and marketing.

The purpose and objectives of marketing are to improve the quality of the tourist product, make a profit, take into account the processes taking place on the adjacent tourism market, study of demand, setting prices for tourist services, development of investment and assortment policy, determination of the company's strategy.

Development of the theory and practice of marketing Marketing has a relatively long history. As an independent field of activity and as a science, it stood out at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The emergence of marketing was due to the formation of market relations and increased competition. These factors required the improvement of the existing system of market activity management. First of all, it was necessary to ensure a higher level of management of the marketing activities of individual business structures. The advent of marketing was aimed at solving this problem. This was reflected, first of all, in the course of lectures in the first years of the 20th century. at leading US universities: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Harvard. These lecture courses reflected the primary generalization of economic practice and covered issues of ensuring effective organization sales, trade and advertising. In the period from 1910 to 1930. published the first works in which an attempt was made to fundamentally explain the essence of marketing.

The result of the practical implementation of the emerging marketing theory was the creation of market research units in large firms, as well as the emergence commercial organizations to provide marketing services. In 1926, the National Association of Marketing and Advertising was organized in the USA. Somewhat later, similar national organizations appeared in Western Europe and Japan. Played a significant role in the development of marketing economic crisis 1929-1932 He showed that the initial interpretation of marketing in the conditions of a higher level of development of the world economy is unacceptable. It had to be brought into line with the market economic conditions achieved by that time. As a result, marketing becomes an integral part management activities aimed at the development and promotion of goods on the market, as well as the creation of favorable conditions for their purchase by buyers. This approach existed until about the mid-sixties. By this time, in industrialized countries, a new system of regulation of production and marketing processes had been created, caused by a significant increase in the production of goods, the volume of which began to exceed demand. As a result, in the theory and practice of marketing, an emphasis was placed on a specific consumer with his real needs and requirements. This made it possible to formulate a modern concept of marketing.

In accordance with the concept of marketing, all activities of the company should be carried out with constant regard to the state of the market and be based on such knowledge of the needs and requirements of potential buyers, their assessment and consideration of possible changes in the future.

Thus, marketing has gone from interpreting its concept as an activity in the field of sales to a market concept of management (business philosophy). Currently, most experts consider marketing as a well-coordinated dynamic system that provides market-oriented management.

The service sector lags behind manufacturing in the practical use of marketing. One of the first customers and competitors began to study airlines. Based on the resulting marketing research information, they took steps to make travel less burdensome and more enjoyable and comfortable. Marketing has only been used by tourism professionals since the 1950s in Europe.

Marketing in tourism is a product of the collective creativity of entrepreneurs different countries. Marketing evolves over time. At each stage of the development of market relations, its own, special approach to commercial activities in tourism.

These stages represent different periods in the development of tourism (mainly in Western Europe), as well as social, economic and political changes in recent years. The general trend is a shift in emphasis from the problems of producing tourist services to the consumer and an increasing focus on meeting his needs and requirements.

Historically, the so-called production concept arose first. It was widely used by tourist enterprises in the fifties of the XX century. It was during this period that the demand for tourist services significantly exceeded supply (the seller's market). Therefore, almost all tourist services found immediate sales on the market, even if they did not fully meet the requirements that consumers placed on them: the main thing was their availability, quantity, while sometimes minimal attention was paid to quality. Tourist firms offered almost identical products, which had no marketing problems. There was no competition in the market. As a result, the consumer was forced to purchase what was offered on the market. All the attention of tourist firms was focused on the internal possibilities of production in order to saturate the market with their services. Tourism marketing has been used to stimulate demand for tourism services.

In the early sixties, the first signs of a change in the relationship between supply and demand in the naturist market began to appear. The competition intensified. In this situation, travel companies began to focus on the problems of marketing their services. This has found expression in the use of the concept of intensification of commercial efforts, which involves maximizing sales through advertising and sales promotion measures.

By the mid-seventies, a buyer's market had formed in the tourism sector, which involves completely different "rules of the game". Under the current conditions, working for an unknown or little-known market no longer gave the tourist enterprise any guarantees regarding the sale of services. To ensure success in the competition, it was necessary to first carefully study the market, and then already offer services that correspond to the requirements of this market. At the same time, tourist enterprises not only adapted to the requirements of the market, but also formed the demands of consumers themselves. Consequently, along with knowledge of consumer demand, the key point in the implementation policy was its formation on the basis of studying the problems of consumer tourists.

Find the needs and satisfy them "- this expression is enough, fully characterizes the essence of the concept of marketing in tourism.

Currently, the tourism industry is one of the most successfully developing in the world in general and in Russia in particular. Every year the number of tourists traveling outside their country is growing. Thus, according to the forecasts of WTO experts, the number of tourist arrivals in the world by 2010 will reach 1 billion, of which 516 million will be in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, including the CIS and Baltic countries, where tourism will develop at a faster rate than in the European region. generally.

The essence of marketing in tourism

Marketing is the most important component of the activity of any organization. The main goal of marketing in the service industry is to ensure efficiency through complete customer satisfaction.

Definition 1

Marketing in tourism is a system of constant coordination of services being sold with services that are in high demand in the market, and which a tourism company is able to offer more efficiently from an economic point of view than competitors do.

Initially, marketing found its application in the manufacturing industry and only then began to be actively used by tourism enterprises. This has led to the growth of competition and the commercialization of the tourism industry, this has become the reason for the need to introduce key marketing elements into the practice of tourism enterprises. However, it is important to take into account certain features of tourism, which are associated with the specifics of the services provided, the form of sales, etc.

The main aspects to pay attention to when studying tourism marketing are the following:

1. Marketing is not a separate action, but a whole system: an interconnected process of providing services depending on demand.
2. Marketing cannot end in one action as the market is constantly changing and evolving. In other words, we can say that marketing is a continuous process.
3. All activities inside travel company must be consistent with the external environment.
4. Marketing should be based on planning and forecasting the state of the market under the influence of various factors.
5. Marketing is one of the main tools to increase the profitability of the company.

So, marketing is a kind of compass in the process of studying the supply and demand for a specific tourist service, setting prices for new services, developing advertising campaign etc.

Principles of marketing in tourism

The essence of marketing in tourism defines its key principles. Among them:

• focus on economic results;
• the complexity of the approach to achieve the intended goals;
• accounting market conditions and requirements and at the same time targeted impact on the market;
• all goals should be developed for the long term;
• active, offensive and enterprising steps in the process of responding to external stimuli.

Being a specific economic phenomenon, tourism marketing should be used under a number of conditions:

• saturation of the market with tourist services;
• the presence of acute competition between travel companies for the client;
• free market relations.

The first of these conditions determine the relevance of the application marketing approach. The third condition is designed to ensure the effectiveness of the use of marketing in a particular enterprise. A travel company, as an economically independent entity, must apply a systematic approach to managing its marketing activities, since in the presence of fierce competition, unsystematic management makes it a weak link in the market.

Key functions of marketing in tourism

It is customary to single out such key features tourism marketing, such as:

• establishing contact with the client in order to convince him that this service fully meets his needs and expectations;
• development for the purpose of designing innovations to find new markets and distribution channels;
• control, which involves the analysis of the results of marketing activities for their effectiveness.

Thus, with the help of marketing, it is possible not only to effectively satisfy market needs, but also to increase the competitiveness of a tourism enterprise.

Remark 1

So, marketing ensures not only the effective satisfaction of market needs, but also the success of the enterprise in the competitive struggle.

In foreign and domestic theory and practice, there is no consensus and approach regarding the content and sequence of the implementation of the marketing concept. Based on the fundamental methodology of marketing as a market management concept, we will try to find, in a sense, a universal approach to defining and describing marketing activities and bringing it into a logically consistent system.

If we consider marketing in tourism as a system, then we must proceed from the fact that it contains certain components. By identifying and considering them in interconnection and interaction, it is possible to outline the main contours of the implementation of the concept of marketing on tourist enterprise.

The process of marketing activity begins with the analysis of market opportunities. This problem is solved by carrying out a complex of marketing researches. Their result is an analysis of the initial situation and specific recommendations for determining the prospects for the activities of a travel agency, taking into account the most attractive areas for investing capital. Based on a comparison of the identified market opportunities with the goals and resources of the enterprise, its marketing opportunities are highlighted.

The definition of marketing opportunities allows you to select the most promising target markets for a travel company. This approach allows not to disperse marketing efforts, working on the entire market, but to focus them on meeting the needs of selected groups of customers that the company is able to serve and it is profitable for it.

One of the most important tasks of marketing is to establish the maximum possible regularity in the activities of the tourist enterprise. This is ensured by choosing the optimal marketing strategy. This reduces the degree of uncertainty and risk in marketing activities and ensures the concentration of resources on selected priority areas. Strategies are specified in programs.

The practical implementation of the marketing strategy is associated with the choice of means that ensure the materialization of the goals and objectives. Therefore, the most important place in marketing activities is the development of a marketing mix. This is a set of means of influencing consumers of the target market in order to evoke the desired response from them.

IN Lately Often there are several more components of the marketing mix:

• - personnel, their qualifications and training;
• - the process of providing the service;
• -environment.

Tourism business is unique in the sense that the staff of enterprises? it is part of the tourism product. Hospitality, friendliness? essential for all employees, not just direct customer service professionals. Marketing should be an integral part of the philosophy of the entire organization, and marketing functions should be performed by all employees. The key factor in the competitiveness of a tourist enterprise is the measures (activities) to mobilize the creative activity of the team. A well-known specialist in the field of service culture R. Norman introduced a special term "moment of truth". It occurs when the employee of the enterprise and the client come into direct contact. The consequences of such contact are weakly influenced by the firm. Skills, motivation, skills used by the representative of the tourism company, on the one hand, the expectations and behavior of the client? on the other hand, they create a service delivery process. Norman borrowed the idea of ​​R from the bullfighters, who used the term to describe the moment when the bullfighter stands in front of the bull in the ring. In spite of all the education and training of the bullfighter, one wrong move or the unpredictable movement of the bull can lead to a disastrous outcome. In the same way, in the interaction of employees and customers, a mistake made by an employee or an inability to fulfill an unexpected request of a client can result in him not being satisfied with the service. .

An important factor in high-quality customer service is the environment, the appearance of the building, office decoration, furniture, equipment, office equipment, etc. The atmosphere of a product offering (the physical environment) is perceived through the senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch) and influences purchasing behavior in four ways:

• - can serve as a carrier of information for potential consumers;
• - can serve as a means of attracting the attention of customers;
• - can be a carrier of a certain effect (colors, sounds and properties of the surfaces of the objects surrounding the client affect his consciousness and encourage him to buy);
• - can create a certain mood.

Considering the extreme importance of the marketing mix within the framework of the overall marketing strategy, private strategies are developed for all its main elements:

• - product strategy;
• - price strategy;
• -sales strategy;
• - communication strategy.

The product strategy provides for the development of a tourism product that best meets the needs of tourists, as well as the development and introduction of new tourism services to the market.

Pricing strategy involves determining the behavior of an enterprise in the market in the long term and pricing tactics for a shorter period in relation to each tourist product, as well as a specific market segment.

The marketing strategy includes the definition of channels, forms and methods of bringing the tourist product to the consumer.

The communication strategy defines the purposeful activity of a travel company to disseminate positive information about itself and its product. These activities include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, promotion, as well as participation in trade shows and branding. In the context of the development of relationship marketing, the development of a communication strategy should be given the closest attention. Within its framework, it is necessary to provide not only classical events, but also measures for the formation and optimization of personal communications, interactions, and interactions.

When developing a marketing mix as a whole and private strategies for its constituent elements, it is advisable to be guided by the following principles:

• 1. Sequence, which ensures the coordination of the elements of the marketing mix. For example, high quality tourism product must be accompanied by high-quality advertising and impeccable customer service;
• 2. A balanced approach, which involves researching and taking into account the sensitivity of the market to constantly changing variables that shape its conjuncture;
• 3. Accounting for changes in budget expenditures, which determines the need to comply with budgetary discipline and complexity in planning the structure of the marketing mix. Rationality and a reasonable combination of marketing tools for each specific market situation should be the basis effective use enterprise funds. Therefore, for each combination of elements of the marketing mix, it is advisable to determine the dependence of changes in sales volumes on marketing costs, as well as plan costing for the entire structure of marketing activities.

To ensure the effectiveness of marketing management, the development of its auxiliary systems is required.

• -marketing information;
• - marketing organizations;
• - marketing control.

The marketing information system ensures the receipt, systematization, evaluation and use of information characterizing the state of the external and internal environment tourism enterprise. Without objective, relevant, sufficiently complete marketing information, it is impossible to make operational and strategic decisions.

The marketing organization system is aimed at creating an appropriate organizational structure tourist enterprise, providing the implementation of marketing activities.

To continuously monitor the implementation of marketing strategies and programs, a marketing control system is being created.