Business
2016-07-06
New Product
The travel company “Traffic Light” is the object of the current research. This company specializes on the trips to the European countries. At the same time, the Asian market grows rapidly and more people are more interested in travelling to India, China, Thailand, Sri-Lanka and other countries.
In this case, the senior management of the company “Traffic Light” has decided that it needs to open a new division in the company. It will offer tours to Asian countries. They can be ethnographical tours or tours for health and recreation.
The proposed new product for the new company’s division is the tour to Sri-Lanka. One of the most interesting types of innovation is the proposal and development of the new tourism products. For example, it can be a unique health-improving tourism. In addition to this innovation company can assume the improving of the consumption types of well-known tourism product, as well as the services of restaurants and hotels and improving the methods of organization of marketing and management in tourism. There are many different resources, which contribute to the development of health tourism in the world (Koutoulas, 2004).
The interest among tourists to rest in Sri Lanka increasingly grows. This island that is called Ceylon by the British is famous for not only the best tea plantations in the world. It also has a picturesque golden coast, beautiful bays and coves, national parks, which have lovely flora and fauna, historical architectural structures and a huge number of spa hotels that offer treatments through the traditional medicine “Ayurveda”. Thus, the island Sri-Lanka can be called as a gem of the Indian Ocean (Mowforth & Munt, 2003).
Customer Needs and the Company’s Advantages
The division addresses customer needs through the forming the complex product. The proposed tour can include regular diagnosis at the doctor, Ayurveda menu made for each individual, depending on the disease and yoga lessons. It should be noted that the proposed tour differs from others and it is more useful for potential tourists.
The new division of the travel company “Traffic Lights” has the following competitive advantages:
the competition in the chosen segment of the market is quite small;
compliance with service standards and the development of its own policy control over the quality of customer service;
corporate identity of the company;
tiered pricing, discounts, use of other incentives, allowing evenly distribute the demand in time; introduction of the system of pre-orders for services.
It should be noted that tourism products characterize by four features that distinguish them from others: intangibility, inseparability of production and consumption, volatility and the inability to storage (Smith, 1994).
At the present stage, chosen travel company and its new division with all of its functions should be adapted to the needs of the market. It is not blind adjustment to the desires and needs of the customers. It means an active and purposeful influence on the customers. In addition, the new company’s division should also be responsible for the social and ecological environment.
Vision and Business Model
The success of commercial activity in the tourism market is determined, first of all, an attractive new tourist product. It should be noted that the vision, mission and the whole value of the new product are connected with the new company’s division. The vision is to satisfy all the needs of the customers. The mission is more specified. It is that the company must provide high quality products to customers and as a result to develop effectively and profitably.
The concept of the life cycle of products is based on the fact that each product, no matter how great consumer qualities it may possess, sooner or later, can be displaced by other more perfect product. The existence of needs is permanent. At the same time, means to satisfy customers’ needs can change (Holden, 2003).
Each product has its own specific life cycle in which it finds its customers. As with any product, tourism product passes through a series of successive stages of its development, which are characterized by fluctuations in sales and profit. In this case, the proposed business model must be directed to the extension of the tourism product life cycle.
Division’s Strategic Direction
Strategy of division must contribute the forming of the complex product and its further promotion on the market. The new division characterizes by the strategy of the diversified growth. The new product should be directed to the consumer of the basic product. At the same time, the new product should be concomitant one by its features to produced products. An important condition for the implementation of this strategy is the preliminary assessment of the company’s own expertise in the production of a new product. This is one of the most difficult development strategies, since its successful implementation depends on many factors:
the competence of staff (especially, managers);
seasonality of the market;
availability of the necessary amounts of money;
others.
Guiding Principles and Values for the Division
This division of the company is the customer-focused. Also, it has an innovative mission statement. Differentiation of the new product consists of its uniqueness and different additional services, which are offered in the package tour.
One more principle that relates to the social responsibility as well as ethics is that advices and recommendations to clients regarding alleged routes and types of service associated with these routes are very important. It can help make the right choice, if a customer plans a trip and is not familiar with the route or wish to visit certain places and do not know how he can use the mode of transport.
The next principle of the effective operation of the new company’s division is the developed marketing activity. The main tools of public relations in the promotion of tourist product are the following:
information for the press,
press – conferences,
study visits (trips),
participation in the trade fairs,
organization of events.
Travel company, “Traffic Lights” admits that its sales and profit largely depend on the manner in which it motivates the consumer, travel agents and sales agents of tourist services. Thus, a sales support is one of the guiding principles of the new company’s division.
Conclusion
In conclusion one can say that the process of forming new product and its introduction on the market requires serious preparation. The vision and mission must be accurately identified before offering a new product to the customers. At the same time, the new company’s division should understand that adaptation to the customers’ needs is not always effective decision. In this case, the company’s division can use the business model of extension of the product life cycle as well as changing the customers’ needs.
References
Holden, A. (2003). Environment and Tourism. London: Routledge.
Koutoulas, D. (2004). Understanding the Tourism Product. In Interim symposium of the Research Committee on International Tourism of the International Sociological Association. Mytilini. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1861406/Understanding_the_Tourism_Product
Mowforth, M. & Munt, I. (2003). Tourism & Sustainability: Development and Tourism in the Third World (2nd ed., p. 352). New York: Routledge.
Smith, S. (1994). The Tourism Product. Annals Of Tourism Research, 21(3), 582-595. Retrieved from http://s1.downloadmienphi.net/file/downloadfile4/147/1389984.pdf
