Tourism Product – A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Like the manufactured product, the potential tourists can’t feel, touch, taste or sample a package tour. The toursim product is a non-material intangible thing. Every product is aimed at some market and its marketing success depends essentially on its ‘fit’ with the market. This makes it essential that the tourist professionals must continually strive for improving the effectiveness and increasing the profitbaility. More so when it is noticed as a multi-segment industry, the task of formulating a sound product mix for the tourist organisations is found a bit difficult and challenging. The challenge for the marketers is to transfer the dreams into the realities. It is the accepted fact that selling holiday is selling dreams. It is essenial that the product offered to a tartget market must satisfy the users. Thus the formulation of a sound product mix includes a wide range of activities like designing a package tour, credit delivery services, branding etc. Thus the formulation of a sound product strategy focuses on the formualtion of a sound product mix that makes possible designing of a profitable product portfolio by including and eliminating the core and peripheral services in the face of results received from the product portfolio. An optimal product strategy necessitates in indepth study of the product life cycle. An amalgam of core and peripheral services needs a microscopic study of different services in order that the decisions related to inclusion, elimination are found productive. An expert rightly remarks, ‘Strategically the core service is theprimary benefit that consumers as a service industry matures. Consumers expect the organisation to be competent in offereing the core service. The result is that peripheral services often become the way in which the customers’ heart is won.