India As A Tourist Destination Tourism Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

The term 'marketing' has a very important meaning in the area such as retailing, branding and other similar areas such as event marketing. On the other hand, marketing in tourism and hospitality sectors are still legging comparing with the other areas. In this paper, different elements of tourism marketing will be explained with the help of understanding the concepts of marketing theory and research within tourism and hospitality sectors (Williams, 2006). Tourism is broadly defined as a business activity which is connected with providing accommodation, service and entertainment for people who are visiting a place for pleasure, recreation, leisure, business and so on (Chaudhary, 2010). It becomes an integral part of today's lifestyle. Hence, tourism marketing is also one of the important sectors where more effort and concern has been given to increase the standard of tourism all over. The reason behind this new trend is due to the increase of cross-cultural activities and due to the passion of people for visiting new destination. Also, the volume of tourism activity and the value is increasing compare to holiday destinations. This creates an inconsistency between tourism demand and supply, thereby creating under-utilized tourism capacity (Kaynak & Kucukemiroglu, 1993).

Position: Scope and the Objective of the study

This paper discuss about the different marketing concepts which are used in tourism marketing and their application to generate different marketing strategy. In this paper, India has been chosen as the holiday destination. Hence all the research and analyze has been done to identified different marketing strategies to increase and promote Indian tourism all over.

Scope and Objectives:

The objectives of this research are as follows:

To study the theoretical framework for marketing in tourism and the concept of marketing strategy in the tourism industry this includes: PEST analysis, marketing mix, segmentation, targeting and positioning.

Conduct surveys and analyze India as a holiday destination and compare it with other holiday destination

To explore the perception of India as tourist destination

Global Tourism Industry

Today's era, the tourism Industry is booming all over the world. Tourism has become one the significant ingredient of mankind. A new tourism industry is rising which is driven by new consumers, new technologies, new ideas and new management techniques (Poon, 1993). The opportunities in the tourism industry are increasing with time and it is considered that at the end of 21st century, the tourism industry will generate more than 500 million employments whole over the world which will results in the increase of GDP by the tourism industry upto 15% (LCS Parking, 2012). Emerge of special marketing concepts including special tourist segments where the special segment refers to the "the provision of customized leisure and recreational experiences driven by specific interests of individuals and groups" (Sung, 2004) increases the number of tourists all over. According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, despite of economic crisis in some of the major outbound markets around world, the total number of international tourists travel between the January to April 2012 is more than 285 million which indicates a growth of 5.4% compare to the last year (UNWTO, 2012).

The main consideration of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) is to provide with the best possible facilities and service for a distinct and specific need of the tourists (Sung H. H., 2004) and ensure benefits for consumers, business, local people and the environment. To provide the best facilities there is an immense change in the Tourism Industry (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2012). The infrastructure and accommodation is one of the key sectors of the tourist industry. Even the advanced and sophisticated communication technology helps the actual and potential tourists all over with their expectations, personalities, and ever-changing needs (Pyo, Uysal, & Chang, 2002).

Expected Result of the study

Literature Review

A General Overview of Tourism

What is Tourism Marketing?

A product can be 'idea, goods, or service'. Since the tourism industry is primarily a serviced-based industry, the main products provided by tourism business are recreational experiences and hospitality. This are intangible products and much more difficult to market than the tangible product. The intangible nature of services makes quality control difficult but crucial. It also makes it more difficult for potential customers to evaluate and compare service offerings (Chaudhary, Indroduction to Tourism Marketing, 2012). In addition, instead of moving the product to the consumer, the customer must travel to the product (area/community). Travels forms a significant portion of time and money spent in association with tourism experiences and is a major factor in people's decisions on whether or not to visit a place (Vukonic, 1983).

Tourism marketing or the marketing in relation to tourism means the process of achieving voluntary exchange between:

Tourist who want to appreciate/ experience product and service.

Organisations which put together and offer the product and service.

The WTO defines tourism marketing as a "management philosophy that in the light of tourism demands makes it possible through research, forecasting, and selection to place tourism product on the market most in line with the organization's purpose for greater benefits".

Nature of Tourism Marketing

Marketing is different perspectives that provide an understanding of the nature of marketing and tourism marketing (Panda, 2009).

Marketing is an activity:

Marketing is explained as an activity that is carried by a marketer to give its offer to customers. For example, marketing of a tour packages involves assembling the package, promoting it, and arrange it for sales. The focus in this perspective is to make the activity cost-effective and efficient.

Marketing is an economic process:

Marketing generates revenues directly through transactions and indirectly through its multiplier effect and employment generation. Here efforts are made to maximize economic benefits. Tourism marketing in its initial phase focused on economic benefits.

Marketing is a social process:

Marketing as a social process involves interaction and relationship between participants coming from different walks of life and society. The social process make host-guest relationship an important part of tourism marketing. Right to travel and pro-poor tourism have developed in response to the different social process.

Marketing in managerial process

Marketing is considered to be a business function that undertakes all managerial functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling to carry out different activities.

Overall, marketing can be combined together. It can be the economic, social, managerial process and activity at the same time. However, its different natures may dominate at different times.

Process of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing is a cycle process that begins with the understanding of drives, needs, wants and demands of tourists who are satisfied through suitable offers by entering into an exchange process with the marketers. The feedback of exchange is used by both the parties for the future relations. The different elements of a cyclic process give an insight of tourism marketing.

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Fig: Tourism Marketing Process

Understanding Needs, Drives, Wants and Demands of Tourists

It is very important to know the tourist behavior as it will helps in delivering desired satisfaction. This begins with the identification of their needs, drives, want and demands.

Need:

Need is the felt gap between the existing and the desired state. Need motivates a person to act when it reaches the threshold level and it can be both physical and psychological. Marketers identify the need of people that direct their tourism behavior and offers alternatives to satisfy their needs. Maslow's framework can be used to understand these needs. It divides the human needs into five categories of physical, safety, love and esteem and self-actualization. Tourists need a minimum acceptable level of food and accommodation at a place before travel. Safety need is reflected in the form of tourists' need for law and order. That makes tourists avoid places of war, terrorism and conflicts. Need for love is the acceptance of tourists in the host society. In most of the cases, tourists prefer open societies than closed one. Esteem needs are tourists' expectation that the host society would understand their importance and recognize the same. Lastly, self-actualization is undertaking trips that always been dreamt.

Drive:

Drive is the force created by needs. Unsatisfied needs create tension that drives the consumers to look for solutions. These solutions take the form of specific products. Buyers search for the best solution for their needs. The stimuli present in the environment give direction to drive.

Want:

Want is an expression of need in the specific form. Want are the thing which someone like but not really necessary. The need of recreation, leisure people generally tend to go for holiday. Marketers fit into the want framework other by redesigning offers or by assisting buyers in learning about new forms of product, services or idea.

Demand:

Demand is want accompanied by the purchasing power. It decides if the buyer has enough money to purchase. Demand changes with prices, substitutes, marketing efforts, inflation levels,

income, etc. Demand can be created by building the purchasing power. For instance, when the demand for air travel has gone up than companies has introduced budget airlines.

Growth of Tourism Marketing

Tourism marketing evolved with the growth of tourism. The concept of tourism is very old, but its modern organized form started in the eighteenth century. Earlier, travel was undertaken for business and religious purpose. Tourism as a full- fledged a full- fledged business did not exist. Its marketing started with the first organized tours offered by Thomas Cook in 1841.

Evolution of Tourism Marketing:

Tourism marketing and its orientation has changed with the growth of tourism. Internationally, tourism came of age in 1950 and since then has seen a continuous change in the approach towards its development (Wang & Pizam, 1998). The stages of tourism development and the corresponding marketing approaches are discussed below.

Boosterism approach in the 1950s:

It was the beginning of modern tourism and the emphasis was on boosting the tourism activity. This approach was based on the following assumptions towards tourism.

Tourism is inherently good and should be developed.

Cultural and natural resources should be exploited for tourism develop

Economic Planning approaches in 1960s:

As a result of the efforts of the earlier phases, the economic potential of tourism was well understood and new assumptions towards tourism were as follows.

Tourism is like any other industry.

Tourism can be used to create jobs, earn foreign exchange, and improve terms of trade, encourage regional development, and overcome economic disparities.

Physical and spatial approach in the 1970s and the 1980s:

The earlier approaches resulted in the massive growth in the massive growth of tourism. Mass tourism was not without consequences and its negative impacts on environment became visible and well known. This changed the earlier assumption of it being inherently good and harmless and new assumptions were formed. These were as follows.

Tourism is a resource user. It exploits and destroys the natural resources used as tourism attractions.

There has to be an ecological basis for its development to preserve the natural resources and tourism attractions.

Tourism development can be geographically distributed to reduce the impacts.

Community approach in 1990s:

As tourism continued to developed, their social impacts were noticed. Particularly the local communication felt alienated. There were inconvenienced by the growth of mass tourism and were not in a position to decide on tourism development. As a result, tourism was opposed. It led to the focus on the following assumptions.

Local community control on tourism development in the area is needed.

Need for balanced development of tourism and search for alternatives to 'mass' tourism.

Social impact of tourism on a community and their attitudes toward tourism should be understood.

Sustainable approach in the 1990s:

Large-scale tourism development forced tourism planners to think of tourism development in a more holistic manner where the economic, environmental, and socio-cultural issues could be balanced. The concept of sustainable tourism was adopted for this purpose.

The assumption for this approach is that a suitable balance must be established between environmental, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions of tourism development to ensure its long-term sustainability. Marketing orientation too becomes socio- environmental to balance the interests of tourism, marketers and the environment (Verbeek, Bargeman, & Mommaas, 2011).

Marketing Concepts for Tourism

The marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than the competitors do. Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the two important paths to sales and profit. Hence, the marketing concepts depend on the determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively than competitors do (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, 2008).

Different marketing concepts are used in tourism industry are as discussed below.

PEST Analysis in Tourism Market

It is important to know about the market environment first for any marketers. In tourism this competition is fiercer, since the competition is almost in the destination of various states as well as countries. Market environment refers to the constitute forces which exist in the environment and influence the customer decision making. For scanning the tourism-marketing environment in India, the PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological)

Political Environment: Political environment influence tourism marketing through pressure groups, policies, rules and regulations, and legislation (Bennett & Strydom, 2001).

Pressure Group: These groups in society use political influence for the furtherance of certain issues. Green groups work for ecotourism, consumer group for tourist protection, cultural groups for protection of heritage and culture, industry groups for reduction of taxes and so on. These try to influence law-making bodies to create a suitable mechanism to address their concern.

Law and Policies: The government regulates tourism with the help of laws that govern its different sector. The government creates policies as guidelines to provide direction for the development of tourism. For instance, the Tourist Policy 2002 guides tourism growth in India.

Rules and Regulations: Rules regarding land allocation for hotels and tourism development, tax concessions, permits, registrations of tour operators and travel agents, open sky, budget airlines, and tourism police gives a direction for tourism growth.

Economic Environment: The general economic environment of a country influences any economic activity.

Growth of new sector: Growth of new sectors, such as information technology (IT), travel and tourism, retails and banking has given jobs to young people. This income is finding its outlet in recreation, including travel and hospitality.

Growth of economy: Growth of new sectors lead to growth of economy.

Easy availability of foreign exchange: Increase of foreign tourism leads in increase of foreign exchange.

Social Environment: The social environment decides buying patterns of the tourists and the response of the society to tourism. The socio-cultural environment of a place decides the holiday choices regarding the type of destination, activities, duration of holiday, expenditure pattern and so on.

Group behavior: Indians are group oriented. This makes group travel acceptable and likable. The reference group in framing opinions is also very important.

Lifestyle changes: Globalizations has changed the lifestyle of people. People take tours frequently for a change and rejuvenations.

Technological Environment: Technology has completely altered the way the tourism business is conducted.

Transportation: Transportation technology has given faster and better vehicles to facilitate the movement of tourists to far off places.

Information and communication Technology (ICT): Major changes have been introduced by information and communications technologies in tourism. Internet and online distribution systems have been improved.

Marketing Mix in Tourism Market

Tourism Product

Tourism product is a mix of tangible and intangible elements. Kotler (1984) conceptualizes 'product' as "anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that, might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, service, persons, places, organization and ideas". This takes the concept of product beyond physical objects and can very well include tourism.

Medlik and Middleton (1973) conceptualize tourism product as a bundle of activities, services and benefits that constitute the entire tourism experience. The bundle consists of five components: destination attractions, destination facilities, accessibility, images and price. According to Smith (1994) a tourism product consists of five elements in a series of concentric circles. The core is tangible and more controllable by management but the outward progression marks more intangible elements and greater consumer participations. The tourism product is a synergistic combination of these elements. These elements are as follows.

The physical plan: This is the core of a tourism product where the main attraction is produced. It can be natural such as landscape or waterfall, or facilities such as conference hall, theme park, hotel, etc.

Service: Service refers to the performance of specific tasks required to meet the need of tourism. A hotel needs management, front desk operation, housekeeping, maintenance, and food and beverage provisions to function as a hotel.

Hospitality: Consumers expect 'enhanced service' or something extra. Hospitality is that extra provided over professional service.

Freedom of choice: It refers to the necessity that the traveler has some acceptable range of options for a satisfactory experience.

Involvement: This is participation by consumers in some degree in the delivery of service. Tourism is known to be a participative activity.

Hegarty (1992) explain tourism product through the following components.

Environment: It is the raw material of tourism that gives a tourist destination its particular appeal. It has natural, cultural, and social elements.

Activities: These are based on and derived from the environment. Foe example, trekking, rafting, sightseeing and so on.

Accommodation: A tourist must have a place to sleep and eat

Transport: There must be ways of getting around the destination.

Services: There are various services that support tourism such as information, health, booking and customs.

Infrastructure: Tourism cannot work without basic infrastructure like roads, airports, telecommunication and medical support.

Destination Life Cycle and Tourism Area Life Cycle:

The concept of life cycle is applied to destination as TALC (Tourism Area Life Cycle) or DLC (Destination Life Cycle). It is defined as stages a destination goes through, from exploration to involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, rejuvenation, or decline (Howie, 2003).

Tourism Area life cycle.PNG

Fig: Tourism Area Life Cycle

Butler (1980) proposed the tourism area life cycle model of a tourist destination that identifies the stage of exploration, development, consolidation, stagnation, and decline.

Exploration: This is the beginning of the destination for tourist activities. At this stage the destination is relatively unknown and visitors initially come in small numbers restricted by lack of access, facilities and local knowledge.

Development: The destination see development of amenities as more people discover them and word spreads about the attraction.

Stagnation: Tourists arrivals grow rapidly some theoretical carrying capacity which involves social and environmental limits. The rise of 'exploration' to 'stagnation' often happens very rapidly, as implied by the exponential nature of growth curve.

Decline or Rejuvenation: A destination would decline if it follows trajectories C, D, and E as shown in the above Figure. This will happen if the very attractions that created the destination are lost. However, it may continues to draw some tourists with increased consumption and unsustainable development but not for very long.

Tourism pricing:

Price is the momentary value decided for exchange of goods and services between the buyers and sellers. Both parties want maximum benefits from this exchange.

Factors Influence Tourism Pricing

Tourism pricing is influenced by a large number of factors relating to supply, demand and the environment. The cumulative effect decides the final price.

Supply-side Factors: Supply of tourism services is characterised by perish-ability, geographical restrictions, and domination by intangibles, and with consumption that takes place instantly with production. All this affects pricing. The specific supply-related factors affecting prices are discussed below.

Perishable: Tourism services tend to perish if not consumed. For example, if a place has a carrying capacity for 5,000 tourists per day, it will host 35,000 in a week. It cannot host all tourists in one day. Hence, tourism services are to be consumed as and when produced. To bear the cost of maintaining supplies throughout the year, the prices may fluctuate.

Intangible: Tourism Services are dominated by intangibles and putting a momentary value for these is very difficult. Intangibility is used by the hotels to price rooms differently depending upon various factors. For example, room facing sea will be perceived differently from the one facing a road.

Geographically restricted operations: All tourism services come defined with geographical constraints. For example, a diner's clientele can get services at a particular place only where the diner is placed. Tourists can enjoy a national park only after getting there. This limits the potential of the restaurant and the park only to the people who get there.

Fixed Capacity: Tourism supplies have a fixed capacity. In tourism, supplies are limited; hence prices tend to rise in relation to demand. For example, in a hotel double room cannot accommodate more than two people.

Substitutes: Availability of substitutes increase total supplies and tourists shift to different options for reasons such as higher prices, non-availability, and so on. For example, paying guest accommodation is being a substitute for storage of hotel rooms. However, all components of tourism cannot have relevant substitutes.

Costs: Costs decide the minimum level of revenue to be charged from the buyers. But if the costs are high because of inefficiencies of production, prices too are unreasonably high. Cost of tour packages are often not in the hands of marketers, when most of the components are bought from other suppliers. Both fixed cost and variable costs are accounted for pricing. Actively-based costing (ABC) is used to calculate costs in tourism.

Competition: Competition in the market increases supplies, reduce inefficiencies and bring down prices.

Demand-side Factor: Tourists' option about services affects demand as well perception of price. The specific demand-related factors affecting prices are discussed below:

Value Perception: Value perception of price is subjective and varies among and within market segment. It also varies with time and location.

Level of Demand: The level of demand impacts prices. High demand leads to high prices as tourists compete among themselves for the experience.

Demand Pattern: Tourism demand often marked by seasonal fluctuations with majority of tourists travelling during the tour season for the best experience. As a result, demand exceeds capacity in peak period and facilities remain underused in the off season. Prices are adjusted to the match the demand pattern and also to influence demand to balance it with supply.

Environmental Factors: External environment constitutes many forces that directly or indirectly shape demand and supply factors and price.

Tax Structure: The tax structure in the form of surcharges, airport tax, luxury tax and service tax adds to the cost and the final prices. Consequently, when the service tax rate is changed, final prices changes immediately.

Market Structure: Type and level of competition in the market has a direct bearing on price. Competition can be easy or intense, negative or positive, with similar or dissimilar, government regulated of free. Less competition results in higher prices whereas the healthy competition leads to reduction of prices.

Government Policies: Marketers have to abide by government policies on price. For example, India has a dual price policy wherein foreigners pay in dollar and Indians in rupees.

Price is the momentary value of goods and services and fixing this value right is critical for the success of a firm in the market. The cost-based, buyer-based and competition-based methods are commonly used in tourism industry. Once a price-level is determined, pricing strategies are used to respond to the continuously changing environment. The strategies often used are market skimming, market penetration, price-quality combination, discount pricing, geographical pricing and differential pricing.

Tourism Promotion:

Promotion mix is the combination of different methods of promotion. Each method is suitable under different conditions and a right combination can be very powerful. Tourism promotion is persuasive communication for the target market. It follows the general rules of human communication and applies it to marketing (Jayapalan, 2001). The goal of promotion is to contribute to marketing goals but it has its specific objectives in terms of attitudes and sales behavior of the market. Promotion is carried out with the help of different methods and together these are called promotion mix.

Important Promotional Tools in Tourism

A few promotional tools, such as brochures, events and movies are more apt for tourism because of their distinct nature.

Brochures: Brochures are popular form of promotion used for direct sales. These are defined as booklets or pamphlets used for sales and promotion. This has the following advantages.

It targeted more specifically.

If retained, it will have greater reminder value.

It can also have secondary or pass-along audience.

Events: Events are organized occasions of significance. They are used to promote and highlight the tourism potential of a destination. The following and many more types of events are used for promotion tourism.

International trade fair: This fair bring large number of buyers and sellers to a place, and who are likely to spread the word about the products showcased there.

Cultural fair: Destination-specific festivals like carnival etc., brings a large number of tourists to these place.

Cultural events: Cultural events, such as film festivals, dance shows, musical events, etc., brings destination in news.

Sports events: Sports events, such as Common Wealth Games, show that tourism can be promoted in the different city in the country.

Tourism Distribution

Tourism distribution is transfer of tour and associated facilities from the suppliers to the tourists through the tourism distribution system. It delivers many benefits to the tourists. These are as follows.

Accessibility and availability: Attractions are made available conveniently by arranging transfer of tourists.

Information: Tourists get information about places, flights, trains, routes and so on.

Counseling and advice: Tourist may not be able to decide about travel destinations and plans and may ask for advice.

Arrangements: Tourists want arrangements to be mad for them so that they have minimum hassles on tour.

People in Tourism

People are an important content of tourism marketing mix. The tourism experience depends upon sellers, tourists, other service providers, residents, and tour group member. Some people understand the importance of tourism but others may not and their behaviors or encounters with the tourists might spoil the whole tour experience. Customer can look for one time encounters or relational long-term encounters. In long-term encounters, customers get attached to the service provider or brand. Long-term relations give marketers a brand-loyal market and consumers get good service. The difficulty is created in encounter with the other service providers, tour group members, and other tourists at the destination who are not directly concerned with marketing. These too have to be marketed the idea of creating a good service environment. The main focuses of the firms are discussed below.

Internal environment: The main focus of the firms remains its internal environment and it manages its employees and customers for the same.

Transactional Intervention: It is use to improve and control employee behavior. It includes building awareness, training in relationship building, behavioral flexibility and professionalism, empathy, interpersonal skills non-verbal communications and improved physical surroundings.

Customer relationship management: It implies entering into, building, maintain, and sustaining relation with customers.

Process in Tourism Marketing

Process is an important element of tourism marketing mix because of the service-intensive nature of tourism. Tourism service process or delivery of tourism service involves procedures, task schedules, mechanisms, activities, and routines by which a product or service is delivered to a customer. It is an operating system of workflow activities and their integration.

The main objectives of service delivery are to build improved, simplified, real-time, on demand, guaranteed, cost-effective service. The process of service delivery includes activities and flows, procedures, mechanisms of transfer, time and cost of transfer, and involvement of tourists in transfer.

Physical Evidence in Tourism

Physical evidence performs specific functions in tourism and form an integral part of the marketing strategy. The important functions performed by evidence are as follows.

Functional: Airline tickets for information, seats for comfort, interiors for mood creation, good transport for speed and safety, hotel room for relaxation, phones for communication, etc., are cases of evidences that create and enhance the functional value. Evidence creates different functional utilities for tourists and firms both. It enhances competitiveness, save time and money, simplify use and improve performance, improve safety and preserve tourist recourses.

Cultural: Physical evidences are culturally perceived. For instance, comfort features of a tour, décor and layout, food have distinguished cultural evidence.

Personal: Tourists may require certain evidences for purely personal preference. For instance, location of hotel room, type of transportation modes etc. totally depends on personal choices.

Structural: Physical evidences are designed to achieve different objectives of organization. For instance, heritage building should maintain its look and character to be called a heritage attraction.

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning in Tourism Market

In tourism marketing, market segmentation can be defined as the process through which tourists with similar needs, wants and characteristics are grouped together or the total market can be divided into smaller parts that can share common characteristics (Bennett & Strydom, 2001).

Bases for Segmenting Tourist Markets:

This one is the most important decision for the marketing manager. A number of bases or criteria are used for segmenting tourism markets; Segmentation generally involves combining many bases to develop a complete profile for different market segments. The total market for any product is likely to be quite wide, but by describing the difference between segments, it become possible to create focus and cost-effective strategies for each one. Within the general group there are many variations. For examples

Age: Perceptions vary with different life spans across countries.

Income: Aged people on pension differ from others who are working

Activity levels: There is a world of difference between house-bound senior citizens and active citizens.

Other than the above, some common bases of segmentation are disused below.

Demographic Segmentation:

Demographic and population features are the most simple and meaningful bases for segmenting markets. The main demographic categories are as follows:

Age: Tourist behavior is closely related to the age, a deciding factor behind stamina, stress and activity. Thus, the adventurous destinations may appeal to the 18-30 age range, whereas visiting historic destinations mostly popular with the 25-45 age range. Age is regularly used to define the behavior of certain market.

Gender: It determines the consumption patterns. Compare to men mostly for women travelers it is considered to have modified interior and better facilities in hotels. Also, women given more weight to security and that decide the choice of hotels, flight timings and so on.

Economic Status: Income influences the expenditure on travel purchases. For instance, people with restricted income will prefer to stay in budget hotels whereas people with high income will prefer to stay in luxurious hotels.

Nationality: Depend on the mind-set, some nationalities have a greater propensity to travel or indulge in certain activities compare to others.

Occupation: It decides the lifestyle, interests and the choice of tourism activities. Different professional's people from same income group will have different preferences.

Geographic Segmentation:

People travel for geographic reasons. This can be climate, topography or political boundaries. The main geographic categories are as follows:

Regions and Zones: Geographic borders define a region having particular topographic features. These may provide particular types of tourism. For instance, different regions and zones have distinct and diverse tourism attractions.

Countries, States, cities: This can be used if they give substantial business with distinct culture or distinct tourist attraction. Even such travels are taken for its charm than the other considerations.

Climate: Generally, tourists travel in winter in a warmer place and to a colder place in summer.

Topography: The attractiveness of locales such as beaches, mountains, dessert, etc. and their tourist potential depends upon the topography.

Segmentation of Tourists in Indian Context:

Fit, Conference, family, heritage, medical,

Targeting and Positioning in Tourism Market

The decision to select target markets and develop strategies for each is market targeting. Selection of target market is the result of strengths, weakness, opportunities, and the threats (SWOT) analysis by the firm.

The firm establishes an image of its offer in the market called position. Though position is result of many forces, yet marketing plays an important role in it. It is a deliberate process of selecting attributes on which a firm want to establish its image and communication to its tourists. Hence, Segmentation, targeting and positioning form a continuous process with the change in market environment.

Tourism in India: Survey and Analysis

Overall India as a Tourist Destination

Travel and tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world. In 20th century, tourism has been the largest global industry, and also it is predicted that in the 21st century it will grow faster. India, with its diverse culture and heritage has a momentous potential for becoming a major global tourist destination. In India, since the opening up of economy in 1991, the government has taken a huge initiative to promote growth in the tourism sector. Even government had advanced many incentives to develop better infrastructure to improve the tourism industry throughout the country. Moreover, the tourism industry is the second highest foreign- foreign-exchange earner for India; the government has given export -house status to organizations in this industry (Devashish, 2011).

Famous Destination for Tourism in India

Taj Mahal: One of the seven wonders in the world

Taj Mahal is situated in Agra which located in the northern part of India. Taj Mahal is listed in the seven wonders in the world. The Taj Mahal is the epitome of Mughal art and one of the most famous buildings in the world. It is an enduring monument to the love of a husband, Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor for his favorite wife Mumtaz (National Geographic, 2012). It's also eternal evidence to the artistic and scientific accomplishments of a wealthy empire. It has been estimated that every year from the last decade more than three million travelers visit Taj Mahal (Burke, 2008).

tajmahal.jpg

Fig: The Taj Mahal

Goa: The Beach Paradise

Goa is situated western coast of India in the coastal belt known as Konkan. It is the tourism hub of India and well-known for its beach delight, vibrant nightlife, churches and its cuisine. The architectural splendors of its temples, churches and old houses and the magnificent scenic beauty and have made Goa a favorite with travelers around the world (Government of Goa: Department of Tourism, 2012). It has been estimated that around 26, 70,937 numbers of tourist has visited Goa in the year 2011 and out of which 22, 25,002 numbers are domestic tourists and around 4, 45,935 numbers are international tourists. Also, the statistic shows that there is increase of 0.98% number of tourists compare to 2010. Moreover, it has been observed that the average duration of stay in Goa for the international travelers are comparatively higher than the domestic travelers (Government of Goa: Tourism Statistics, 2012). Beside beaches and sea, Goa has a prominent unique history, rich culture and has magnificent natural scenery.

'Kerala: God's Own Country

Kerala is situated in the southwestern part of India on the tropical Malabar Coast and is also well-known as 'God's Own Country'. Kerala is a major high-end tourism destination in the Indian sub-continent and has cited as "one of the fifty destinations to be visited in one's lifetime" by the National Geographic Channel (2004) and it is also a 'partner state' to the World Tourism and Travel Council (Travel and Culture: Intelligent Travel, 2009). Kerala is famous for its rich art and culture, moderate climate, colorful festivals and diverse natural. It is also very renowned for its unique products like backwater tourism and Ayurvedic treatments and spas which emerged as the innovation of tourism industry which attained international recognition (Government of Kerala:Department of Tourism, 2012).

Kerala Backwaters - Tourist Attraction Iin Kerala India.jpg

Fig: Houseboat in Backwater, Kerala

It has been estimated that around 1, 01, 14,440 numbers of tourist has visited Kerala in the year 2011 and out of which 93, 81,455 numbers are domestic tourists and around 7, 32,985 numbers are international tourists. Kerala tourism department claims that they have earned around 173.48 (Rs. in billions) in the year 2010 due to the astonishing increasing numbers of tourists (Anil Kumar, 2012).

Rajasthan: Rich Heritage and Culture

Rajasthan, also well-known as the 'land of Rajas and Maharajas' is situated in the north-western part of India and shares international boundary with Pakistan. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations for both domestic and international tourists. Rajasthan is renowned for its rich heritage, vibrant and colorful culture, thrilling desert safaris and exotic wildlife (Rajasthan Tourism, 2012). Rajasthan is a state where tradition blends with modernity where every city has different and interesting history to share. Jaipur, also known as the 'Pink city', is famous for ancient pink structure and Udaipur for its lakes and magnificent historical architectures (Henderson, 2007). It has been estimated that around 2, 68, 22,400 numbers of tourist has visited Rajasthan in the year 2010 and out of which 2, 55, 43, 877 numbers are domestic tourists and around 12, 78,523 numbers are international tourists (Rajasthan Tourism, 2012).

Comparison between Indian Tourism with other Tourist Destinations

It is very difficult to compare different countries in terms of tourism. Different countries have different climate and topography conditions, diverse culture, and different economy status. Every country has some unique and individual tourist attractions. The selection of the tourist destination is mostly based on personal choices. In this paper, few other tourist destinations have discussed which are similar to India in different ways.

Thailand: Amazing Thailand

Thailand is situated in the south-eastern part of Asia. Thailand is well-known for its shinny white sandy beaches and the magnificent coral beaches, ancient temples, scenic views and shopping. Thai cuisine is also one of the special attractions of Thailand. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is now one the most advanced cities in the world with the blend of both traditional and modern in harmonious way. Tourists around the world choose Thailand as their holiday destination for the search of colour, rhythm and vibrant life (Thailand Tourism, 2012).

Tourism is one of the major modes of the country's economy. The tourism authority of Thailand claims that 1,332,986 numbers of overseas tourist had visited Thailand in the year 2011 which results in 18.15% increase in total economy (Tourism Authority: Thailand, 2011). Hence, the Royal Thai Government completely supports and co-operates for the development of the tourist facilities and tries to gives the best possible service. Even the branded hotel chains like Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott are located in Thailand to provide the best services (Patawari & Sharma, 2011).

Malaysia. Truly Asia

Malaysia is also situated in the South-eastern part of Asia. Malaysia is well-known for its multicultural diversity, where Malays, Chinese and Indians are the most prominent ethnicity, which makes Malaysia home of many rich cultures, colorful festivals, and different cuisines. The wide contrast of high-rise skyscrapers and the essence of the wooden house made Malaysia distinctly differ from other countries (Malaysia Tourism, 2012).

lens10070021_1269017563MalaysiaTrulyAsia.jpg

Fig Marketing Campaign 'Malaysia, Truly Asia'

The government of Malaysia has focused on the different strategies to increase the tourism rate of the country to diversify its economy. The worldwide launce of the marketing campaign 'Malaysia, Truly Asia' on the year 1999 was a huge success and the Malaysia tourist Authority claims that this campaign have earned revenue around 12 billion dollars and also the number of overseas tourists increase to 300,000 per month (Adoi Magazine, 2009). The campaign portrayed the country as the combination of different Asian civilization and truly reflects the country's natural, cultural and historical diversity which results in attracting tourist from whole over the world.

Indonesia- Bali:

Indonesia is also situated in the south-western part of Asia. Tourism is one of the basic sources of income in Indonesia to earn foreign currency. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is famous for royal palaces, local handicraft and traditions which attract tourists who are culturally inclined ( Woderful Indoensia, 2012). Beside culture and tradition, Bali is one of the preferred destinations for the tourists who are more fascinated with adventures as well as those who are concerned with a relax holiday destination. The growth of tourism has a big impact of the tradition and the lifestyle of Indonesian (Bali Tourism Board, 2012). The combination of culture and landscape make Indonesia a holiday destination for the overseas tourists.

It has been recorded that in 2011, the number of the foreign tourist visited Indonesia is 7.65 million which has increased 9.24% compare to 2010 (Marchelo, 2012).

Summary:

With the increasing number of tourist destinations surrounding India, different strategies have to pertain to maintain Indian tourism in the race. India is a large country with strong diversity in climatic and geographic conditions compare to other small countries surrounded nearby. This makes India better choice as the holiday destination and has potential for the growth of tourism.

Research Methodology

The Research Process

In undertaking research there are a series of steps which should be followed. The number of steps varies from six according to Reid (1989) to nine in Kinnear and Taylor (1991).

Identify and define the Problem: Before beginning the task of gathering information it is first necessary to identify the problem for which the research is required. As well as formulating an aim, specific research objectives should be stipulated at the outset. The objective will determine the type of information required.

Investigate available sources: There is little point embarking upon a research programme involving the collection of primary data if information is already available. Therefore, the next step is to seek out the information which is available. This will involve a trawl of internal data generated and recorded by the organization and an examination of secondary data available. Such information then be assessed to establish the extent to which the research question can be tackled using the information alone. It may well be the case that a partial answer is provided but further research is needed to satisfy the full objective.

Determine research plan: Once all available source of data have been evaluated, a plan is formulated to identify what further information is required and how it should be collected. This involves generating hypotheses to be tasted and determining the manner in which information is to be collected (methodology). Methods that may be used include surveys, interviews and observations.

Data Collection: Upon development of research plan, data should be collected using different methods selected.

Data Analysis: The method used and the type of information collected will determine the analysis needed. For example, qualitative information will require a different type of analysis to information of a more quantitative nature.

Present research results: Information needs to be tabulated and interpreted such that recommendation can be made regarding an appropriate course of action to take.

Research Design

The research design will explained for the data collection for the research. Data collection for research can be distinguished according to secondary and primary types. The research design will describe how the research has been conducted.

Research Approach:

Inductive and Deductive research

Collection of Secondary Data and Primary Data:

Secondary Data: Secondary data include both quantitative and qualitative data. Secondary data are useful not only to find information to solve the research problem, but also to better understand and explain the research problem. Secondary data is data which already exists for an established purpose (Ghauri & Gronhang, 2005). It is also referred to as documents and desk research. Secondary data can help in the following manner.

Answering research questions or solving some or the entire research problem.

Helping in problem formulation and devising more concrete and focused questions

Deciding about the appropriates of a certain research method or even suggesting better research methods for particular problem

Providing benchmarking measures and other finding that can be compared later with the results of study at hand.

Types of secondary data: In business research, secondary data are broadly divided into two types: Internal sources and External Source.

Secomdary data.PNG

Fig: Types of Secondary Data

In this paper, both internal as well as external sources have been used. It includes books, journal articles, online data sources and so on.

Primary Data: When all potential sources of secondary data have been exhausted, then primary data is used. This involves collection of new data. There are numerous methods which can be employed including the survey or questionnaire, the interview, observation and so on. The survey is one of the most commonly used forms of data collection (Ghauri & Gronhang, 2005). It is particularly useful sources for obtaining descriptive information and it is usually based on questionnaire mostly conducted over direct mail or personal interview.

Type of Primary data: In business research, primary data are divided into three type: Experiment, Observations and Communication.

Primary Data.PNG

Fig: Types of Primary Data

For this paper, for the primary data collection mostly focused on the questionnaire, personal interview and focus discussion methods.

Combination of Qualitative and Quantitative Data Analysis

Quantitative Data Analysis: It refers to all such data and can be a product of all research strategies. It can range from simple counts such as the frequency of occurrences to more complex data such as test score, prices or rental scores (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009).

Qualitative Data Analysis: It refers to all non-numeric data or data that have not been qualified and can be product of all research strategies. It can range from short list of response to open-ended questions in online questionnaire to more complex data such as transcripts of in-depth interviews or entire policy documents (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009).

In this paper, both qualitative as well as qualitative data analysis has been used since the research approach is the combination of questionnaire, personal interviews and focus groups. SPSS software is used for the data analysis for the questionnaires

Questionnaire

Questionnaire is most commonly used in the marketing research as it is an ideal way to amass a considerable amount of data about the research objective in a shorter span of time.

Purpose for conducting Questionnaire Survey in the Research:

For the research, two sets of questionnaire have been used focusing on the research objectives. Each set contains ten sets of questions related to Indian tourism and tourism industry as a whole. The questionnaires are the combination of different types of questions ranging from direct questions to multiple choice questions. The questionnaires were sent to random people of different countries through social networking site (Facebook) and email. The questionnaires are about the follows

Nationality and gender

Reason of travelling

India as holiday destination

Expense of holiday trip in India

Promotion of Indian Tourism

Famous holiday destination

Comparison of other holiday destination with India

Elements like personal safety, health and hygiene, medical facilities and infrastructure in India

Holiday and accommodation preference

Duration of holiday

Around 38 people had participated in completing the questionnaires.

Personal Interview

Interviews demand real interaction between the researcher and the respondent. It is often considered that interviews are the best data collection methods. This can be done via mail, telephone or in person. In research there are two types of interview. The first is structured interview, where a standard format of interview is used with an emphasis of fixed response category. The second type is unstructured interview, where the respondent is given full liberty to discussed reactions, options and behavior of particular issue.

Purpose for Conducting Personal Interviews in the Research:

For the research, interviews have been conducted with five people of different countries where different concerns of the Indian Tourism have been discussed. The interview conducted was unstructured interview where the respondent has given full authority to discuss all minor issues. The main discussions in the interviews are about the follows:

Overall India as a tourist destination

How does Indian tourism can be more prominent and well-known compare to other tourist destination.

What can be done to improve overseas tourist attraction in India

With high potential, why India is still lagging behind

How Indian tourism effecting Indian economy

Focus Groups

Focus groups, as a data collection method, take many different forms, such as discussion groups, focused interviews, group interviewing and group research. In this method the group interviews should be a small number of individuals, normally form six to ten peoples.

Purpose for Conducting Focus Group Interviews in the Research:

For the research, interviews have been conducted with three different groups where in each group there were five to six people. And the interview last for around half-an hour for each group. The main discussions in the interviews are about the follows:

Focus Group Number1:

About famous tourist destinations in the world

India as a tourist destination

Difference between India and other destinations

Indian culture, people, festivals

Focus Group Number2:

What are the specialist of Thailand as a tourist destination

What services Thailand provided to attract more tourists

Comparison between India and Thailand as a tourist destination

India's tourist attraction

How can Goa can be promoted to attract more tourists

Focus Group Number3:

Safety issue in India

Infrastructure and transportation and its influence in Indian tourism

Accommodation: about branded hotels and resorts in India

Approximate expenditure for India as a holiday destinations.

Analysis and Interpretation

Analysis and Interpretation

Questionnaire Survey

Personal Interviews

Focus Group Discussion

India's Image as the tourist destination

PEST Analysis of India as a tourist destination

SWOT Analysis of India as Tourist Destination

Limitations, Recommendation and Conclusion

Limitations of the Research

Recommendations for the future research

Conclusion