Systemic Linkage Between Supply and Demand: The Impact of Marketing

- Promotion organizations : national tourism agencies; regional tourism agencies; provincial and city tourism agencies; tourism promotion associations.

1.1.3.3 Tourism supply and demand relationship

Tourism supply and demand are mutually binding and affect each other. Supply stimulates curiosity and enjoyment, which affects tourists and stimulates demand, while demand affects the development of supply through increased consumption. Due to the specific needs of the tourism market, supply and demand are far apart, so tourism marketing is extremely necessary. Tourism motivations are biological needs and emotional needs of people. The driving force for tourism supply and demand is economic factors, the expansion of international relations, tourist psychology, facilities, advertising information, tourism resources, tourists' leisure time and the impact of the state.

In the field of marketing, market research is of particular importance. The market is the main subject, the decisive factor influencing the effectiveness of marketing activities. Through the relationship between market supply and demand to explain the interaction method between the five main areas of the tourism industry, namely: accommodation organizations, transportation organizations, travel organizations, promotion organizations, tourist destinations to influence and regulate the needs of tourists.

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1.2 Tourism Marketing

1.2.1 Concept of tourism marketing

According to Robert Lanquar and Robert Hollier (2002), tourism marketing is a series of methods and techniques supported by a special spirit and method to satisfy the unspoken or spoken needs of customers, which can be for leisure purposes or other purposes including family work, business and meetings.

According to Ha Nam Khanh Giao (2011), tourism marketing is a process of research and analysis (customer needs - tourism products - supply methods and support of the organization) to bring customers to the product to satisfy customer needs and satisfy profit goals.

According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), "tourism marketing is a management philosophy that, through research, forecasting, and selection based on tourist needs, can bring tourism products to the market in a way that is suitable for the purpose of generating the most profit for that tourism organization."

From the above concepts, we can see the common point when referring to the concept of tourism marketing: it is a continuous sequential process, through which the management level in the accommodation and travel industry researches, plans, implements, controls and evaluates activities designed to satisfy the needs and desires of customers and the goals of tourism organizers.

1.2.2 The role of tourism marketing

The characteristics of tourism products are different from commodity products and customers are often far away from the product. And the nature of tourism marketing is to discover needs and find ways to satisfy them to achieve the business goals of the enterprise. In tourism business, the application of tourism marketing is necessary to understand the needs of tourists and the art of responding to them for effective business.

The role of marketing in tourism is to systematically link supply and demand in the tourism market and to influence the demand of tourists. This role is shown in the diagram in Figure 1.1:

Figure 1.1 shows the relationship between market demand generated in the localities where tourists live and the supply of tourism products at the destinations. This diagram helps explain the interaction between the five main areas of the tourism industry to influence and regulate tourist demand through marketing tools (marketing mix).

THE IMPACT OF MARKETING

(marketing complex)

Market demand

in the original area)

Product supply

(at destination)

National Tourism Office Regional Tourism Office

Local tourist office

Visitors Tourists

Visitors during the day International and domestic visitors

Activities

Attractions Accommodation

Other means

Travel companies, travel agents, other organizations

Means of transport: Air, Road, Sea, Train

Travel Operator Destination Operator

(

Infrastructure and Transportation to Destination

Figure 1. 1: Schematic diagram of the systematic linkage between supply and demand: the impact of marketing

(Source: Ha Nam Khanh Giao, 2011)

1.3 Destination Marketing

1.3.1 The concept of destination marketing

From different approaches, we can understand the concept of tourist destination is summarized as follows: tourist destination is the place where tourists go to perform recreational activities, entertainment and overnight stay. Tourist destination is the place where many tourist attractions and accommodation systems, transportation and other tourist services are concentrated,

is the place where economic and social activities caused by tourism take place (Goeldner et al., 2000). Therefore, a tourist destination is a country, region, city, province, etc.

Destination marketing is the process of communicating with potential tourists to influence their choice of a tourist destination. Destination marketing is an important part of the “doing” process, it is the articulation and communication of the destination’s values, vision and competitive attributes. The key actions taken in destination marketing are highlighted and reinforced by the findings of the “destination marketing plan”, the process and then the activities” (Mules T & Huybers T, 2005).

In other words, destination marketing is a management process that allows marketing organizations to create and maintain relationships between tourist destinations and current and potential tourists, through forecasting and meeting tourists' needs for the destination and being able to easily communicate with the tourist destination.

1.3.2 The role of destination marketing

Destination marketing is carried out by many organizations, service providers and producers. National and local tourism organizations are not tourism product producers. They do not directly provide quality products and services.

Destination marketing requires the coordination and coordination of activities among key attractions (both public and private) to attract tourists. The marketing activities of the destination management organization focus primarily on promoting the destination as a whole, which should create a destination image in key international markets.

Products at tourist destinations are provided by many organizations and businesses. The tourism destination marketing organization must connect them to coordinate with each other to create tourism products that satisfy tourists' needs and achieve the common goals of the tourist destination.

Destination marketing is no longer seen as a tool to attract visitors, but also as a mechanism to facilitate the achievement of destination development goals.

1.4 Local tourism marketing activities

Nowadays, tourism is developing very strongly, tourism needs are quite diverse. Marketing activities are conducted from market research, market segmentation and selecting target markets and proposing marketing mix strategies to achieve marketing goals.

1.4.1 Market research

Market research is a process of collecting, recording, analyzing and processing market information on issues related to marketing activities. The market is a vital factor for any production and business activity. Therefore, to penetrate and develop the market effectively, it is necessary to segment the market, select the target market, and then position the tourist destination.

1.4.1.1 Market segmentation

Market segmentation is defined as: “a process of dividing a total market of tourists, or a market sector such as a holidaymaker, into groups or segments for marketing management purposes. Its purpose is to facilitate more efficient, effective marketing through the promotion, development and distribution of products designed to meet the identified needs of the target groups.” (Ha Nam Khanh Giao, 2011, pp. 80-81).

Currently, there are many studies on tourism market segmentation using different segmentation criteria including demographic and geographical characteristics, requirements for tourists' benefits from the trip (Ho & Phetvaroon, 2009), and characteristics of tourists' travel behavior. Specifically as follows:

- Segment the market according to the benefits tourists get from the trip, the purpose of the travel, the needs and motivations. Understanding the goals and motivations of customers will find a way to strongly influence the purchase decision.

- Segmentation by buyer behavior: segmentation according to the types of behavior or characteristics of product usage that customers exhibit.

- Segmentation by demographic, economic, geographic and life cycle characteristics: customer segments are identified by basic descriptions of age, gender, occupation,

income groups, places of residence, and physical characteristics at each stage of life of the vast majority of people .

- Psychographic segmentation: dividing buyers into different groups based on social class, lifestyle or personal characteristics. Psychographic segmentation can provide us with a better understanding of our target market, by looking at: how customers spend their time, their interests and what they consider important, their opinions and thoughts about themselves and the world around them.

- Price segmentation: customer segments are identified and positioned to meet different price ranges. This form of price segmentation will also be classified under purpose, benefits sought and user characteristics in the order of segmentation methods .

Research can use one or a combination of criteria to segment the market. Only a few studies use a single criterion, the majority use a combination of criteria because it helps to define segments more clearly and effectively (Morrison, 2002).

1.4.1.2 Identify target market

Not all tourists are interested in a particular locality, so it would be a waste of money for a locality to try to attract everyone. Therefore, the locality must implement a targeted approach to attraction and clearly define its target groups.

A target market is a group of people with similar needs and responsive to marketing activities that is derived from the process of market segmentation. A target market is a relatively homogeneous group of potential customers, consisting of people with similar needs or characteristics. That is, dividing the market into different groups that may require separate products or separate marketing mixes.

Once a locality has identified a natural target market, the tourism authority must figure out where to find these visitors. The tourism authority ranks potential visitor categories in order of preference and focuses on them.

Focus on attracting the most profitable segments in the portfolio. Target market selection options include:

Single-segment focus: all marketing efforts are focused on a single, specific target market segment. For example, only the Chinese tourist market, or the elderly tourist market.

Selective specialization: can choose two or more target market segments that fit the goals and capabilities. For example, target market selection is not only aimed at the international business travel segment but also expanded to the pure tourist segment with high spending ability.

Market specialization: focusing on one type of product but satisfying the diverse needs of separate customer groups, but with similarities in tourism consumption. For example, focusing on meeting tourism products but for different types of meeting purposes.

Product specialization: products focus on satisfying the diverse needs of a specific customer group. For example, resort tourism creates health and relaxation services for many different customer groups.

Full market coverage: tries to satisfy each customer's desire for all the types of products they need.

1.4.1.3 Locate the destination

Destination positioning is the intentional transfer of a distinct identity into an image in the minds of tourists.

Destination positioning is approached in two ways. Most studies are based on traditional positioning, that is, based on the attractiveness of the product itself. Other studies focus on identifying the attributes in tourists' perceptions of the destination and consider this as the basis for destination positioning. Destination positioning in this way is associated with building an image or a brand for the destination.

The key to positioning a destination in the minds of customers is whether the visitor experience meets their expectations. To position local tourism

Success requires a combination of improved product and service quality and a clearly perceived image in the minds of customers of the benefits provided by the destination. At the same time, the product and service combination of the destination can be differentiated from other destinations. The goal is to provide customers with a positive, favorable image of the destination.

1.4.2 Local tourism marketing activities

The components of tourism marketing include 4P, 7P, 8P. Within the scope of this thesis, the author only emphasizes 7 components of marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence.

1.4.2.1 Products

Tourism product is defined as a whole consisting of heterogeneous tangible and intangible components. (Tran Ngoc Tam et al., 2008).

A tourism product can be a specific item such as food, or a non-specific item such as service quality or atmosphere at the resort. (Michael M. Coltman).

A local tourism product includes all services provided with all the socio-cultural, environmental resources and public goods of that locality. (Kotler et al., 1996).

Tourism products are the tourists’ experiences of a tourist destination. Therefore, the more diverse and interesting the experience a destination offers to tourists will determine its success in competing to attract tourists. Therefore, in addition to the differentiation strategy, the strategy of diversifying products and improving the quality of tourism products is essential so that tourists have more choices and more experiences at a destination.

In another study (Ljiljana Stankovic and Suzana Đukic, 2009) it was found that tourism products, linking neighboring localities to creative collaboration are also very important for tourist destinations. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on coordination and resonance of local tourism products.

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