The tourism organizations can come up with newer products for the purpose of maximize market share. Eco tourism has been such a product that has proved to be beneficial for many of the regional and local markets of the developing nations. One can turn his attention to that of the case of Costa Rica. The tourism organizations have used the superb biodiversity present in the country to the advantage of the tourism products. The rain forests, the volcanoes, the scenic beaches and the wildlife all have been the products for the tourism organizations of the country. Such measures have been tremendously successful for the country as it brings in almost 1 million tourists in the country per year and approximately US $ 1 billion of revenue. The strong environment, as the product for the tourism organizations have also strengthened the position of the country in the international community and those have been funded by the bodies like International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The case study of Costa Rica confirms that there are ample opportunities for the local and the regional tourism organizations if it can understand and promote the various opportunities that the nature has provided (American University, No Date).
As discussed, price can indeed be one of the crucial deciding factors for the industry of tourism in this era of tremendous competition. The tourism organizations, in order to inform the group of target customers, come out with brochures that list all the products and the related prices of the products. Each of the tourism organizations has various schemes to cater the differing needs of the customers. In this regard, the case of Thomson, the leading tour operator of the United Kingdom can be considered. The tour operator has 144 unique hotels within its axis. The pricing of such hotels varies to the wide extent. It is quite astonishing to note that such hotels have 620 different packages of pricing to be offered to the customers. Again, the pricing of the tour operator like Thomson differed widely in terms of geographical locations and the season. Studying the case in details, it can be understood that the pricing of the same category (say, 4 star hotels) of the same group might not be exact same for the hotel situated at France and that of Tunisia. The season and the rush also have been major factors to decide the pricing in the tourism sector. In the off peak seasons, the tourism organizations came up with bundled products and reduced rates with various schemes like discounts and rebates (Cleridis, Et Al, 2003).
The tourism organizations should keep no stones unturned to promote their product. Without the adequate means of promotion, the entire effort of the tourism organizations i.e. the product and the place are bound to fall flat. For the interest of the regional tourism to prosper, it is prudent for the tourism organisations to have dedicated websites. Also it is better to promote the regional tourism through the websites of the allies of the venture. In this perspective, the case study of Pearl River Delta can be regarded as the benchmark. The promotion of one operator was done through the website of the other. As Law & Lo observes, the case study depicted that "the higher, the level of cooperation in a partnership, the better the performance of the partners' respective websites in the evaluative features. The applicability of the developed framework has been shown on the websites of the selected regional tourism alliances". It validates the fact that internet has come up a major medium of promotion of tourism as the world has become shorter place to live in (Law & Lo, n.d.).
In the off peak periods, the tourism organizations, should not depend only upon the internet based promotions. Rather, they should be involved with strategic partnerships and other sales promotion techniques. The regional and local tour operators should involve measures like advertorials in newspapers, sponsorships of sports and events and other sales promotion techniques. It should emphasise on the quality so that the promotional technique of word - of mouth can be optimally used.
The third 'P' of place or distribution has experienced paradigm shifts in case of tourism industry. The electronic medium has done wonders to the industry. The customers of the regional and local tour operators are increasingly found to switch to the internet to access information end even to purchase the bookings from them. The case of the Finland holds due importance in this respect. The recent survey of the data of Finland revealed that all most all of the Finnish internet users take help of internet to know about the tourism particulars. The data reveals that though only a small portion uses the service actively, yet the fact is that more of people are getting inclined towards it overwriting the traditional tour operators and booking agencies (Bill, 2003).
Such interpretation reveals that internet is the medium of the hour and the regional and the local tour operators should have their products available in the internet too. In order to have the flow of market even in the off-peak periods, the tourism organizations should be able to sale its products through other mediums of distribution like tourism fairs and tie - ups with international players. It should also have certain schemes in the distribution channels to attract more of the customers in the off-peak periods.
- Bill, A., 2003. Consumer Intentions in Terms of Electronic Travel Distribution: Implications for Future Market Structures. Indiana University Press. [Online] Available at: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/eservice_journal/v002/2.2anckar.html [Accessed 12 January 2010].
- Cleridis, S. K., Et Al, 2003. Price and Quality in International Tourism. Yale University. [Online] Available at: http://www.econ.yale.edu/seminars/apmicro/am03/clerides-030410.pdf [Accessed 12 January 2010].
- Dasenbrock, J. No Date. The Pros and Cons of Ecotourism in Costa Rica. [Online] Available at: http://www1.american.edu/TED/costa-rica-tourism.htm [Accessed 12 January 2010].
- Law, R. & Lo, A, No DatE. Evaluations of Cooperation Levels on Regional Tourism Promotion Alliances' Websites. Hong Kong Polytechnic University. [Online] Available at: http://ertr.tamu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1086%3Aevaluations-of-cooperation-levels-on-regional-tourism-promotion-allicances-websites&catid=135%3Athird-china-tourism-forum-&Itemid=64 [Accessed 12 January 2010].