Some Solutions To Improve Marketing Activities Of Tourism Trade And Investment Joint Stock Company

tourist security force... suitable to the actual situation of the locality, with the highest goal of bringing safety, friendliness and attractiveness to tourists.

Conclude:

Despite many economic difficulties, the world tourism industry still maintains a stable growth rate. Especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where the tourism growth rate is the highest in the world. Thus, tourism is still an attractive investment channel with many development opportunities. Speaking specifically about Vietnam tourism, with its natural advantages and unique cultural and culinary features, we have been receiving the attention of international tourists. The Government and related departments have been taking measures to promote tourism development, creating a safe, friendly and attractive tourism environment for domestic and foreign tourists. This is a positive signal for travel businesses in 2014.

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3.3. SWOT matrix analysis of Tracotour Company

3.3.1. Strengths

The Company's Board of Directors recognizes the difficulties the Company is facing and has directions for future business development. In the current situation, the Company's Board of Directors focuses on improving the quality of existing services instead of expanding business and spreading investment. Costs are managed more closely, the allocation of resources is continuously assessed and adjusted. In particular, investment in infrastructure and brand building and promotion continues to receive attention.

The staff is qualified, professional and trained in the travel service environment. Each officer and employee understands their role in bringing satisfaction to customers and their contribution to the sustainable development of the Company. The activities of the Trade Union, Women's Union, and Veterans Association are of interest and create cohesion among employees of the departments. The operating and management mechanism continues to maintain stability and consensus within the Company.

Diverse tourism products with types such as: Eoreka resort tourism - Linh Truong, Cua Lo, Sam Son, Quan Lan, Kim Boi Hoa Binh, Tam Dao, Hue, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Con Dao, Phu Quoc ...; tourism to explore Ha Long Bay, explore the Northwest, explore 8 Western provinces ...; spiritual tourism to the source: Bai Dinh Trang An, Duong Lam Ancient Village, Yen Tu, Tuyen Quang Tan Trao ... and 40 overseas tour programs, the Company has been exploiting famous destinations, beautiful landscapes of Vietnam.

Facilities are also a major factor affecting the quality of tourism services. With

With many years of experience in the field of tourist transportation, Tracotour can be confident about

safe and economical trips with a modern fleet of vehicles and experienced drivers. Huong Duong Hotel has also been upgraded to meet three-star hotel standards and is continuing to invest in expansion, adding more floors, and investing in interior and exterior equipment to meet the increasing needs of customers.

The information technology system in the enterprise has achieved certain effectiveness in customer relationship management, internal management, improving the quality of after-sales customer care services and reducing management costs.

3.3.2. Weaknesses

There is no specific, systematic, long-term strategy for building and promoting the brand. The Tracotour and tourdulich365 brands have not created their own personality, lack modernity and are not attractive to tourists.

The customer exploitation channel is still limited. The number of international visitors to Tracotour is still low, mainly Chinese and Thai visitors...

The company website has not invested much in terms of image and content. This is not an effective channel to attract customers.

The Company's headquarters was built in the 2000s, so it is now degraded and lacks modernity.

3.3.3. Opportunities

Tourism industry maintains growth rate: Although the economy is still facing many difficulties, the tourism industry still records growth. With beautiful nature, mild climate, many historical relics and stable politics, Vietnam is considered a safe and friendly destination, an attractive investment destination. On some international rankings, Vietnam tourism is ranked high. This is a good opportunity for travel businesses to invest in business development.

Political instability in the region: Violence and political instability are factors that kill the tourism industry of a country. Any tourist does not want to travel because danger is always lurking at any time. Since 2008, the political instability in some countries in the Southeast Asian region such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia has had a significant impact on the country's economic sectors, in which the tourism industry has suffered significant losses. However, this is an opportunity for Vietnam's tourism industry to develop when tourists turn to choose Vietnam as a safe destination for their vacation.

Potential for MICE service development: Vietnam is increasingly integrating deeply with the world not only in trade, import-export, finance but also in the fields of culture, sports, education. Tourism today is not only to meet the needs

sightseeing, exploring and relaxing but also to find partners, develop business, develop the market. That is the reason for the formation of MICE tourism, an abbreviation of four English words: Meeting, Incentive, Conventions, Exhibition. In recent years, MICE tourism has been developing quite strongly in Vietnam. The most famous tourist areas chosen in MICE tourism programs are Phu Quoc, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hue, Nha Trang, Hanoi...

State policy: Currently, to stimulate consumption and increase spending among people, the Government has made decisions to extend people's holidays. Accordingly, on holidays and Tet, people often have a day off on the weekend and work the following week. The number of days off for each holiday increases to 3 to 5 days, which is very convenient for individuals and organizations to plan short trips.

Travel conditions are getting easier: Transport infrastructure and administrative procedures are getting easier for travel within the region. Today, Vietnamese tourists can visit Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. to shop, have fun, visit friends at low cost and without spending too much time on travel procedures. Conversely, international tourists also find it easier to come to Vietnam. Specifically, from December 8, 2011, Vietnam Airlines has opened a direct flight route between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and London (UK), with a frequency of 4 flights/week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays using Boeing 777 aircraft. With this direct flight route, London will become the 4th gateway in Europe, alongside Paris (France), Frankfurt (Germany), Moscow (Russia), and increase the total number of direct flights between Vietnam and Europe directly operated by Vietnam Airlines to 8. In addition, according to information announced during the meeting on August 25, 2014 between Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Indian airline Jet Airways plans to open a direct flight route between the two countries from November 2014. During his working trip to the US from September 15 to 19, 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh met with US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. The two sides exchanged information on the implementation of major US commercial projects in Vietnam, affirming their determination to implement the plan to open a direct flight between Vietnam and the US in 2015.

3.3.4. Challenges

Impact of economic recession: Economic recession is still affecting and will continue to affect the world economy in general and the Vietnamese economy in particular. Although signs of recovery have appeared, the recovery rate is forecast to be slow. According to the announcement of the General Statistics Office, the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 increased by 5.42% compared to 2012.

compared to 2012. Meanwhile, the national CPI in 2013 increased by 6.04%. The reasons for the increase in the CPI include: adjusting the price of medical services, implementing the roadmap to increase tuition fees, increasing the price of gasoline, electricity, gas... It can be seen that the increase in essential goods such as healthcare, education, gasoline has been creating a burden on people's spending. Individuals and organizations will still be cautious and consider carefully when choosing a quality tour program with reasonable prices. This also poses a challenge for Tracotour in balancing costs and ensuring the quality of its services.

Competition is becoming increasingly fierce: In fact, tourism products of travel agencies are similar. Tourists can easily find products that satisfy their travel needs from many different businesses. Currently, there are 1,383 international travel agencies nationwide; countries in the region are also constantly launching special programs to promote local tourism. The increasingly tight connection between travel agencies and local restaurants, hotels, and accommodation facilities has created a monopoly that is difficult to break. Businesses with small market shares are easily squeezed and forced to reduce prices to attract customers. In the long term, businesses may face a capital crisis. Thus, Tracotour will have to face fierce competition from competitors in the industry. In the domestic market alone, we can mention a few competitors such as SaigonTourist, Viettravel... big names that have been and are known to both domestic and foreign tourists.

Customers have easy access to information sources: In the boom of the digital age, customers can easily look up information about businesses, evaluate and compare companies with each other. They can also find information about services and destinations based on many different sources of information from friends, relatives and forums, social networks on the internet. Tourists are increasingly knowledgeable so they become more demanding when choosing a travel company for themselves. To attract customers, Tracotour needs to build a difference for itself and communicate more strongly.

Conclude:

From the analysis of the internal and external environment of the enterprise, we can see that the strengths that Tracotou possesses lie in the human factor as well as the experience gained over many years in the tourism industry. However, in today's era of integration, the Company is weaker than other enterprises in terms of branding and promotion. In the face of the strong competition of domestic and foreign travel businesses, Tracotour needs to invest more to promote the brand as well as gain market share. In addition, Tracotour needs to constantly improve the quality of service, increase the satisfaction of tourists. From there, the Company can exploit its strengths.

nature of the country, take advantage of business development opportunities, contribute to the development of Vietnam's tourism industry in general.

3.4. Some solutions to improve marketing activities of Tourism Trade and Investment Joint Stock Company

3.4.1. Proposal to improve product policy

3.4.1.1 Proposal for product development

From the analysis of the internal and external environment of the enterprise, we can see that the Vietnamese tourism market still has a lot of potential to exploit, especially the domestic market. Although the impact of the economic recession is still present, the demand for travel of the people is very large, especially the demand for short-term tours. In this opportunity, Tracotour needs to review and redesign tour programs, set quality standards to meet customer needs, and at the same time increase investment in some currently popular tourism products.

MICE tourism products : This is a type of tourism that combines conferences, seminars, awards, and events. Tracotour has been implementing this type of tourism. Customers using MICE tourism products are often high-class people, leaders of large companies and organizations. They have very high requirements for infrastructure, service quality, and professionalism in organizing events, conferences, and seminars. Before and after the event, customers using MICE tourism products have very little time to rest, so the amenities right at their place of stay such as health care services, beauty, specialties, aristocratic sports, shopping, etc. are great pluses to retain customers and stimulate spending. Therefore, in addition to improving event organization capacity, developing scenarios to deal with unexpected situations that occur during the event, Tracotour needs to choose destinations with good tourism infrastructure and increase support services right at the destination. Accordingly, the selected locations should be cities with a system of hotels, luxury accommodation facilities, stages, and halls that meet 3-star standards or higher. In addition, the destination should have shopping centers, supermarket systems, spa services, and high-end resorts to meet entertainment and shopping needs.

Free and Easy tourism products : This is a series of tourism products that combine air services with ground services to bring customers the most complete and convenient products, while the cost is lower than the price when passengers buy individual services. This form of tourism is suitable for dynamic young people who do not like to be constrained by existing programs, want to freely travel and explore, not be bound by pre-built tour programs and are often longer than 3 days and 2 nights. Accordingly, the Free and Easy tourism package only includes the most "minimalist" services including air tickets, hotels, airport pick-up and drop-off, the rest is up to the tourists. Tourists will

enjoy the following benefits: airfare and hotel prices when booked through the Company will be more preferential than customers who book directly; free breakfast at the hotel because all hotels from 3 stars and above have breakfast service included in the room rate; there is a shuttle from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the airport. With its existing advantages, implementing this type of tourism is completely possible at Tracotour. However, Tracotour needs to promote communication for this type of tourism, helping tourists clearly see the value they receive. In addition, the Company needs to build and manage a fast, convenient booking system, meeting the needs during peak season.

Teambuilding tourism products : Nowadays, many organizations are interested in developing and maintaining good internal relationships. This is the reason for the formation and development of tourism combined with group activities (teambuilding). The tour program will be combined with outdoor group activities. Different from the MICE type - tourism combined with organizing conferences and seminars, the teambuilding tourism type brings more experience and effectively connects internal emotions, increases enthusiasm and passion for the company, thereby indirectly improving labor productivity, helping new employees quickly integrate into the group. To implement this form of tourism, Tracotour needs to focus on content and logistics for outdoor activities. Before that, the company's staff must conduct research on the area and survey the terrain to be able to design suitable group activities and ensure safety for the members of the group.

Flower-based tourism products : The trend of tourists choosing destinations associated with typical flower seasons, flower festivals, and flower farms is increasing. Beautiful natural scenery and colorful flowers will make tourists' trips more interesting. Domestic tours can choose destinations during the buckwheat flower season in Ha Giang, the white mustard flower season in Moc Chau, plum and peach blossoms on the Northwest routes, flower festivals in Da Lat... International tours include cherry blossom festivals in Japan, Korea, the United States, tulip festivals in the Netherlands, Canada... Besides, there are Chelsea flower festivals in the UK, Floride flower festivals in Australia... lavender farms and paradises in France, Japan, sunflowers in Italy, Tibet... To implement this form of tourism, the Company needs to spend at least 3 months preparing before the flower season and flower festival takes place: booking rooms, booking air tickets, festival tickets, negotiating price stabilization, monitoring the official festival time, the annual festival theme and conducting communication activities to provide information to tourists. Time and weather are two factors that Tracotour needs to pay attention to because the flower season often takes place in a short time. In which, the time factor, the Company can control

controlled through the ticket booking system, room reservations and customer support procedures. Weather is a factor that the Company cannot control, so it is necessary to have a response scenario when the weather is not favorable.

Sea and island tourism products : The unstable situation in the East Sea in the first months of 2014 is both a challenge and an opportunity for sea tourism to develop. Nowadays, people are more interested in Vietnam's sea and islands, and appreciate and treasure the values that the sea brings. Resorting and relaxing by sea and island tourism is forecasted to be the main trend of domestic tourism in the summer of 2014 and 2015. Tourists choose this form of tourism as an act of expressing their patriotism. Vietnam has the advantage of a long and beautiful coastline, so Tracotour can completely design and provide attractive sea and island tour programs for tourists in two forms: resort tourism and experiential tourism.

Online registration service : In addition to developing new and diverse tourism products to meet the needs of domestic and foreign tourists, Tracotour should invest more in online registration services through the system of 3 websites tourdulich365.com.vn, khachsan365.com.vn, xedulich365.vn. Develop these 3 websites into channels for quick and convenient information lookup on tours, hotels and car booking. This service will effectively support the Company's product sales.

3.4.1.2 Proposal on building brand identity

Tracotour is a joint stock company with many different investment categories. When building a tourism brand, the Company should build a separate tourism - travel brand branch, separate from the name Tracotour. The requirement when building a brand identity for the Company is to be modern, attractive and bring a sense of trust, exactly what Tracotour wants to provide to customers.

First, build a unified identity. At present, the Company can completely build a brand based on the three available domain names and should only use one unified set; avoid the current situation of many logos and slogans. This new identity needs to include all three areas: tour dulich 365, hotel 365 and xe dulich 365. It can be seen that the three websites of Tracotour have one thing in common: the number 365. Thus, the Company can completely use a unified logo for all 3 online pages: tourdulich365.com.vn, khachsan365.com.vn, xedulich365.vn with the number 365 highlighted. The author suggests that the Company use a globe logo with the large number 356 in the middle and the names of the 3 websites arranged in a circle surrounding the globe. The number 6 is stylized with the tail shaped like a pair of binoculars, meaning “looking out into the world”. The main colors used are blue and white, bringing a youthful, modern look.

This logo is used consistently in all documents related to customer transactions and on the Company's website system.

Figure 3.1. Logo proposed by the author

Second, the Company should focus on communication efforts for the new identity. After building a unified brand for all three service areas, the Company should focus on communication efforts so that more people know the travel brand on "Tour du lich 365". Instead of using many slogans as it is now, the author suggests using only one slogan "Delivering service - Keeping trust". This slogan can be used for all three service areas that the Company is providing as an affirmation of the quality and reputation of the brand.

3.4.2. Proposal on pricing policy

The Company's pricing policy is flexible pricing. As analyzed in Chapter 2, this policy helps the Company balance costs and benefits for customers. However, customers may question the lack of consistency in tour program prices, with differences between the prices on the website and the prices quoted in the contract. The following suggestions are intended to help improve Tracotour's pricing policy:

First, the basic price of each tour program should be set at different levels corresponding to different time frames. Specifically, in a week, there should be a basic price for weekdays (from Monday to Friday) and a basic price for weekends (Saturday and Sunday). In a year, there should be a basic price for weekdays and holidays (April 30, May 1, September 2, etc.). Spring and summer, the peak tourist season, also have their own price range. Normally, the basic price range for weekends, holidays and peak tourist season will be higher than the price for weekdays.

Second, from the basic price calculation according to the time frame, the Company needs to give a price premium of about 10 - 15% to calculate into the basic price of a tour program to cope with inflation and unusual price increases.

Third, limit the frequency of changing the price offered to customers. Prices should only be changed quarterly or every 6 months, and each price change should be synchronized across all agents, websites, and printed publications.

Fourth, it is necessary to inform customers about prices in a public, transparent and comparable manner. Specifically, the price list must clearly state the price difference between weekdays and weekends.

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