Lecture 4 Tourism Product
Agenda for today Quick revision The tourism product
Revision Tourist are classified according to their needs and their personal reasons for travelling into FOUR main categories. What are the categories? Which types of tourists are included in each category? What is included in a tourist profile? What is the environmental bubble? Which factors make a person feel comfortable when travelling?
What is a product? A product is anything which is offered in a market for use or consumption by the consumers as per the market requirement is called a product. Philip Kotler said that A product is anything that can be offered to a market attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or a need.
What is a tourism product? Is the sum of physical and psychological satisfaction, it is provided to tourists during their travelling route to the destination.
The tourism product Tourism product is something that can be offered to tourists to visit a tourist destination. It satisfies the leisure, pleasure, religious or business needs at places other that the normal place of residence. It is offered in the market with a cost. Is the prime reason for tourists to choose a destination. It helps in fetching revenue for the destination, so it should be properly marketed and preserved.
It focuses on facilities and services designed to meet the needs of the tourist. It can be seen as a composite product, as the sum of a country s tourist attractions, transport and accommodation which results in satisfaction. Each component of the tourism product is supplied by individual providers of services like hotel, companies, airlines, travel agencies etc. The tourism product can be analysed in terms of its attractions, accessibility and accommodation.
Attractions Are very important. If an attraction is not existing, the tourist will not be motivated to go a particular place. Attractions are those elements in a product which determine the choice made by the tourist to visit a destination over another one. Attractions can be cultural (sites / areas of archaeological interest), historical buildings and monuments, flora and fauna, beach resorts, mountains, national parks, events, exhibitions, art or music festivals, games etc.
Activity In groups choose a destination and find minimum 5 attractions. You will then present them. SPAIN CYPRUS INDIA UK GERMANY FRANCE GREECE USA
Accessibility It is the way in which a tourist can reach the area where attractions are located. Tourist attractions which are difficult to be accessed by normal means of transport become attractions of little value. The tourist attractions located near the tourist generating markets and are linked by a network of efficient means of transport receive maximum number of tourists.
Activity Find worldwide attractions which are hard to be reached.
Accommodation The accommodation and other facilities complement the attractions. Accommodations plays central role and is very basic to tourist destinations.
Characteristics of the tourism product Intangible: cannot be seen or inspected before the purchase. Psychological: consumer satisfaction. Highly Perishable: cannot be stored also when consumption begins, it cannot be stopped interrupted or modified. Composite Product: cannot be provided by a single enterprise as a manufactured product can. Unstable Demand: demand is influenced by seasons, economic or political factors.
Fixed supply in the short run: the product cannot be brought to the consumer, the consumer must go to the product. Absence of ownership: the services are bought for consumption only, the ownership remains to the provider. Heterogeneous: not homogenous, it varies in standards and quality over time. Risky: because it has to be purchased before consumption.
Classification of tourism product Natural tourism products Man made tourism products Event based tourism products
Activity Find examples of each category of the tourism products.
Natural tourism products Beaches, islands, mountains, hills, desert, wildlife (flora and fauna), caves, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, rivers.
Man made tourism products Built by humans. Purposely designed for people: Museums, casinos, theme parks. Not originally designed to attract tourists: forts, palaces, temples. Usually include customs and traditions of a destination (folk dances, classical dance, handicrafts, fairs or festivals.
Event based tourism product Events where tourists are attracted as spectators, participants or even both.