TOURIST TRANSPORT

from Social Science Perspectives

- transport study (as well as tourism) is a multidisciplinary field of

study which has borrowed and refined concepts and theories
from other social science subjects
- problems for researchers when exploring the relationship
between transport and tourism in the context of tourist transport
systems
- social science subjects e.g. sociology, social psychology, and
business and management studies have an interest in tourism
and transport studies
- there are three (3) social science subjects which have made a
direct contribution to the analysis of tourist transport systems:
ECONOMICS, GEOGRAPHY and MARKETING
ECONOMICS
- economists have based their approach on TRANSPORT
ECONOMICS and Tourism ECONOMICS in analyzing tourist
transport
- Craven (1990: 4): Economics is the study of methods of
allocating scarce resources and distributing the product of
those resources, and the study of the consequences of these
methods of allocation and distribution.
- Scarcity: most resources in society are finite
- Resources (as defined by economists):
* natural resources (e.g. land)
* labour (e.g. human resources and entrepreneurship)
* capital (e.g. man-made aids to assist in producing
goods)
- these resources have collectively constituted the factors
of production which are used to produce commodities
that can be divided into:
* goods (e.g. tangible products such as an aircraft)
* services (e.g. intangible items such as in-flight service)

Demand
- the concern with the allocation of resources to satisfy
individuals desire to travel means that transport economists
examine the demand for different modes of travel and the
competition between such modes in relation to price, speed,
convenience and reliability
- transport is rarely consumed for its own sake but it is usually
demanded as a means of consuming some other goods or
service
- demand for tourist transport is characterized (Mill 1992: 83-4)
by:
* its almost instantaneous and unpredictable nature, which
require operators to build overcapacity in the supply to
avoid dissatisfied travelers
* the variability in demand, ranging from derived demand
(where tourist transport is a facilitating mechanism to
achieve another objective e.g. business travel) to primary
demand which is the pursuit of travel for vacation purposes
* non-priced item (e.g. service quality, reliability and
punctuality)

Supply
- supply of a commodity (e.g. tourist transport) is a function of its
price and the price of alternative goods
- price is often influenced by the cost of the factors of production,
but it is difficult to identify the real cost of travel in the case of
tourist transport
- supply of tourist transport can be characterized (Bull 1991: 78)
by:
* major capital requirements for passenger carriage (e.g.
cost of aircraft, passenger trains and ferries)
* government regulations and restrictions to monitor the
supply which is determined by state policy
 * competitive reaction from other businesses involved in
tourist transportation
* a high level of expertise required to operate and
manage tourist transport enterprise
- principal questions which economists are interested in from the
supply side (Bull, 1991):
* WHAT to produce
* HOW to produce it
* WHEN and WHERE to produce it
- the main objective in supply terms is: to maximize profitability
from the available capacity which is usually expressed in terms
of load factor co. can maximize passenger revenue by
minimizing costs and pricing their service at a competitive rate
GEOGRAPHY AND TOURIST TRANSPORT
- the study of tourist transport has largely been undertaken by
transport geographers as well as tourism geographers
- transport geographers study the relationships, interactions and
locational aspects of transport systems which have also applied
to tourism geography
- three (3) key concepts
* Space - area, usually the earths surface
* Location - the position of something within space
* Place - an identifiable position on the earths surface
- geographers are interested in the spatial expression of tourist
transport as a vital link between tourist-generating and tourist-
receiving areas (patterns of human activity associated with
tourist travel and how different processes lead to the formation
of geographical patterns of tourist travel at diff. scales)
- geographers analyze travel as response to satisfy human
desire for movement and spatial outcome of such journeys
- geographers also consider the spatial variables in transport
system (e.g. location and places) and how these affect the cost
and production of other social and economic activities
- in their analysis of transport system, geographers have
considered:
* the linkages and flows within transport system
* the location and places connected by these linkages
(centres and nodes)
* the system of catchments and relationships between
places between places within the network
- Pearce (1979) indicates that geographical research on tourism
initially focused on:
* the spatial analysis of the supply and demand for
tourism
* the geography of tourist resorts
* tourist movements and flows
* the analysis of the impact of tourism
* the development of models of tourist space to
understand the evolution and expression of tourism in
specific location
MARKETING AND TOURIST TRANSPORT
- limited # of marketing studies have focused on tourist transport
bcoz there is a tendency for marketing to be more visible and
results oriented rather than based on academic analysis of
good practice
- it is useful to examine the nature, organization and activities
undertaken by marketers to understand how marketing is
integral to the analysis of tourist transport;
therefore, it is important to examine the principles used in
marketing which can be applied to analysis of transport
- MARKETING: a process whereby individuals and groups
obtain the type of products or goods they value
~ goods are created and exchanged through a social and
managerial process which requires a detailed
understanding of consumers and their wants and
desires so that, the product or service is effectively and
efficiently delivered to the client
- Marketing has a fundamental role to play in analyzing tourist
transport; THREE (3) areas exist:
- Strategic Planning
- Marketing Research
- Marketing Mix
STRATEGIC PLANNING
- a formal planning process
- def: the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit
between the organisations goals and capabilities and its
changing marketing opportunies (Kotler and Armstrong, 1991)
- involved with several stages as in Figure 2.4
- businesses need to be aware of their position in the wider
business environment and how they will respond to competition
and new business opportunities within an organized framework
- First Stage : Definition of an organisations purpose
~ requires company to consider:
What business is it in?
Who are its customers?
What service do its customers require?
~ then, incorporate these principles into a mission
statement (focus for co.s activities)
- Second Stage : Setting companys objectives and goals
- Third Stage : Designing business portfolio
~ a co. analyses its own products/services in terms of its
own business expertise and how competitors
products/services may affect them
~ SWOT analysis of its prod./services in the business
environment (Table 2.4)
- Fourth Stage : Establish business unit, products and
marketing
- Fifth Stage : Formation of a marketing strategy for a
tourist transport service
MARKETING RESEARCH
- def: an organized process associated with the gathering,
processing, analysis, storage and dissemination of information
to facilitate and improve decision-making (Seibert, 1973)
- incorporates various forms of research undertaken by org. to
understand their customers, markets and business efficiency
- the actual research methods used to investigate different
aspects of a co.s business ultimately determine the type of
research undertaken
- six (6) main categories:
- Mktg. analysis and forecasting
- Consumer research
- Products (service) and price studies
- Promotion and sales research
- Distribution research
- Evaluation and performance-monitoring studies
(Table 2.6)
MARKETING MIX
- def: the mixture of controllable mktg. variable that the firm uses
to pursue the sought level of sales in the target market (Kotler
in Halloway and Plant 1988: 48)
- should consider four mktg. variables (4 Ps) ~ Product
formulation, Price, Promotion, Place ~ to achieve the goals
identified in mktg. strategy formulated through the strategic
planning process

- Product formulation
~ ability of a co. to adapt to the needs of its customers in
terms of services it provides, OR
~ ability of the co. to adapt to changes in customer needs
and wants
- Price
~ economic concept, used to adjust the supply and
demand of services
~ taking into account of sales target and turnover
- Promotion
~ to improve customers knowledge and make them
aware of the existing services/products
~ e.g. Advertising, Public Relation (PR), Sales and
Brochures used to achieve promotional aims
~ the largest proportion of marketing budgets
- Place
~ refers to the location customers make purchase: point
of sales (e.g. Travel Agents)
- mktg. process involves a continuous evaluation of how
businesses operate internally and externally
~ it is summarized as: the mgmt. process which
identifies, anticipates and supplies customers
requirements efficiently and profitably (UK Institute of
Marketing)
- to apply mktg. principles/concepts to tourist transport system
requires us to recognize that:
We are dealing with a SERVICE and the TOURIST
EXPERIENCE
TOURIST TRANSPORT AS A SERVICE
- defining service is difficult due to the facts that it is
INTANGIBLE, PERISHABLE and INSEPARABLE
- Intangibility
~ a service cannot be seen, tasted, felt, herd or smelt
before it is purchased
- Perishability
~ cannot be stored for sale or used at a later date/time
- Inseparability
~ usually produced and consumed at the same time; AND
~ cannot be separated from providers
*THEREFORE, it is difficult to define and communicate
the form of service to customers*
- however, it is possible to identify SIX (6) CORE ELEMENTS in
a service which are compatible with those of a product:
- The image of the service
- The image of personnel with whom customers interact
- Image differences (comparability) within the same sectors of
the service provider
- The customer group targeted
- The influence of physical environment in which the service is
delivered e.g. building
- The working atmosphere in which the service is formulated,
designed and delivered
- alternatively, service can be viewed as a process of
fulfilling/responding to the consumers needs
~ it is difficult to standardize a product/service to meet
every need since consumers are not homogeneous
- the challenge for transport provider:
to respond to the growing sophistication of tourists, so
that the entire tourism experience meets the expectations
of consumer
~ 3 key issues to be considered:
1. Service quality
2. Customer care
3. Service encounter
THE SERVICE PROCESS
- service provision needs to be seen as an ongoing process
- four stage system (Cowell, 1986) used to examine the service
process
: provider trying to offer a service in response to actual or
perceived customer demand
: four (4) concepts/stages involved (refer to Figure 2.6)
Consumer Benefit
Service Concept
Service Offer
Service Delivery System

1. Consumer Benefit
- provider tries to understand consumer wants and benefit
derived from the service
- detailed understanding of consumer behaviour is required
: includes factors that influence the purchase decision such as
social, economic, cultural, business and family influences
: how these factors have an effect on attitudes, motives, needs
and perception of consumers
- by assessing the consumer demands (by considering and
analyzing the previous factors), service provider translates
those demands into a service concept
2. Service Concept
- supplier/provider examines the means of producing a service
and distributing the service to consumers
- stage/concept (1) and (2) are important in assisting provider to
identify the specific market segment to target and the nature of
the consumer/producer relationship (e.g. sold direct or through
agent)
- lastly, provider identifies and develops the image which is to be
associated with the service

3. Service Offer
- give more shape to the service concept and develop the
concept within precise terms set by managerial decisions which
specify:
the elements the ingredients
the form how it will be offered to consumers
the level of service what the consumer will expect
to receive in terms of the quality and quantity of
the service
- need to consider the form of the service concept in terms of
how the corporate image will be communicated to the public
- also need to assess the technical aspects of service quality and
how it is rendered as part of the service offer
- consumers tend to judge service quality in a definitive way
e.g. tourist transport services which have a high degree of
customer contact need to be recognized when entering the last
stage Service Delivery
4. Service Delivery System
- developed to deliver the service to customer
- it comprises:
people responsible for different aspects of the
service experience
physical evidence e.g. the transport and
environment in which it is delivered
- problems/barriers often occur at this stage
- a focus of marketing research to identify deficiencies, monitor
the system and overcome dissatisfaction
- excellent service delivery: companies monitor consumers
wants and provide/fulfill the wants
- by providing quality in service provision, customer loyalty can
be developed and maintained
- therefore, need for delivery system which is customer
centered since customer is the key player in the service
process, being an active participant and important judge of
quality