Marketing policy components: Implications for tourism development in Nigeria

By Omotayo Gbede, Vice President,
Strategy & Planning, NIMN
Adetokunbo Kayode,
Minister of Culture and Tourism.

IN the past, people used to believe that all that is needed to capture the tourism market is to have historic sites, attractive beaches and nature’s hot spots and offer the product to the tourism market at affordable price with little or no marketing activity or real investment being done. The buying public, both at local and international level, are beginning to appreciate the good products from the country and are responding by overwhelmingly choosing Nigeria as a tourism hotspot, hence making Nigeria benefit a lot from a sector which had become some sort of gold mine for other countries. The orientation in this regard is referred to as “product orientation.”

However, product orientation can only succeed in a period where there is an excess of demand over supply or where the country is a tourism monopoly. In a perfectly competitive market where tourists are free to make choices from a variety of competing tourism products and countries, product orientation as a national tourism policy will fail as tourism will flock to those countries where they can get value for money.

What tourism is
The World Tourism Organisation describes tourism as “the activities of people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environments for more than one consecutive day for leisure, business and other purposes”. From all indications, this shows the multi-dimensional aspect of tourism and its implications for national economic development.

Marketing environment for tourism development
For tourism to become a veritable industry in Nigeria, it is essential to develop tourism marketing and tourism- related policies that will boost private sector initiative in that sector as well as tourism infrastructural development and marketing. This calls for the development of conducive environment for tourism development and marketing. There is no gainsaying that with the correct environment, there will be inflow of investment and customers into the sector.

The tourism marketing environment involves all the factors and variables affecting the development and management of tourism as a potent force for economic development. As with all markets, the tourism market also has its own environment. Components of the tourism marketing environment include the regulators, the operators, the consumers and other associated people. Other aspects of the environments include the various factors that impact on that environment like the legal, economic, political, socio-cultural and technological factors, among others.

The regulators include the government, its agencies and its legal and security arrangement as far as tourism and tourists are concerned. The primary regulator in Nigeria is the National Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) while states have their own tourism development corporations. The operators include tourism companies, hotels, airline operators, travel and tour agencies, operators and custodian of tourist attraction sites among others. Customers can be either local or foreign tourists. Marketing environment factors, as far as tourism is concerned, are many and varied. They include: • The availability of genuine tourist attraction that can bring in visitors.
• The degree of hospitality or hostility of the host environment.
• The socio-psychological nature of the customers (e.g. their beliefs about the country, its people and their beliefs and norms).
• Tourists’ attitude to risks.
• Political stability of the country.
Other environmental factors include those interest groups and stakeholders affected by tourism.

Factors affecting tourism market
In evaluating the tourism market environment, it is very essential to evaluate those factors that influence the market. These include:
• the degree of development of the tourism industry.
• the capacity of the industry.
• the problem of security in the country.
• the crime rate .
•the stage of the economy, whether or not it is in boom, recession, depression or recovery.
• the amount of investment made in the tourism industry
Other environmental factors affecting tourism marketing in Nigeria include competitive environment and Nigerian tourism industry must understand the degree of competition posed by countries like Kenya, Egypt and South Africa and develop policies to counter competitors onslaught.

Economic environment: These are the economic factors that the tourism industry has to take into consideration in the formulation and implementation of marketing policies and strategies. As regards the economic environment, it is necessary that the tourism manager be familiar with the purchasing power pattern of its targeted market and how to encourage then spend the money in Nigeria. This goes for both internal and international tourism.

Technological environment: The technological environment is one of the environmental factors affecting the tourism marketing function. Tourism companies have to move along with technological innovations and changes and the tourism manager must be aware that technological advancement brings along with it more risks hitherto not considered. The use of cable train for transportation at the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State and the building of a panoramic elevator at the Olumo Rock in Abeokuta are shining examples of how technology can boost tourism. Packaged tours can also be sold better via the internet thus harnessing the powers of computer technology.

The tourism marketer must also study the technological environment so as to harness the technology for increased value delivery to its customers. For example, the use of the internet in the marketing of tourism products has revolutionised tourism marketing, threatening to make paged tours salesmen and brokers to be redundant, cutting the operating cost of tourism companies and creating a paradigm shift that is capable of totally transforming the tourism industry.

The tourism company must be on the look out for new technologies and perfect ways of discovering, acquiring and using the new technology so as to gain a competitive edge over other companies in the industry This means that the tourism industry in Nigeria must either invest heavily in research and development with a view to discovering new innovations or must perfect a way of adopting new technologies discovered by others for its own use.

Socio-cultural environment:The socio-cultural environmental factors include the totality of the ways of life of the people of the country which can be of interest to tourists. Great examples include the Osun Oshogbo festival in Osogbo, Olojo Festival in Ile Ife, Argungun Carnival in Kebbi, among others.

Political environment: In the evaluation of success-oriented marketing policies, it is highly essential to consider the governmental laws, regulations and decisions that impact on tourism development. Political factors also concern the question of political stability, which may easily affect the rate of organisational growth vis-a-vis that of the market.

Legal environment: The marketing environment should also be evaluated by considering legal factors. As much as possible, every tourists coming to Nigeria should be driven by the key factor, that is the intention to do business. There are other factors with minimal problems which have a lot of legal implication on the tourism industry. The effect of bodies like the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission comes tyo mind in this directive. However, the Commission should be on the look out for foreigners and tourists who are wont to play sharp practices when they come visiting.

Market analysis: Panacea for corporate success Market analysis has the objective of establishing the actual size of the market as well as the potential size Apart from these market parameters, it is also necessary tha the tourism industry determines the rate of growth in the market and this must be matched with the growth rate desired by the market. The entry and exit barriers in the market should also be evaluated to determine whether they are high or low. It is the size of the market, the nature of the entry and exit barriers as well as the depth of the profit pool that will determine the degree of industrial retaliation or tolerance that will reign in that market. Where there is “competitive overcrowding” in a market, the degree of expected retaliation is likely to be high

From the foregoing, it is essential that the promotion and channel consideration in the industry be considered. The success-oriented tourist company must evaluate the possibility of creating its own channel or evolving totally, new forms of channels in what can represent a paradigm shift in the possible commencement of tourism on the internet, which will herald the dawn of e-tourism in Nigeria.

Factors affecting internal environment of tourism
These are those environmental factors and variables that characterise the inner climate of the business enterprise and which affects marketing as a managerial function. It determines what the internal climatic atmosphere of the business will be like; whether it will be conducive to business activities, especially marketing or not. The internal environment of business enterprises which affects marketing is made up of and determined by the factors which include the nature of corporate leadership, the degree of interaction among workers, the communication system in the organization, the degree and quality of workers motivation and welfare as well as the availability of inputs and resources

Implications of understanding the environment
One basic objective of understanding the environment is for the tourism marketing manager to be able to anticipate shifts in marketing variables and be able to take appropriate steps to react to such shifts. Anticipated shifts in this regard can be customers shift, capital base shift and risk shift

Customers shift: This occurs when old customers begin to demand newer and more exotic tourist attractions and when the traditional segment(s) which the tourism company is serving disappear(s). The tourism company will need to adapt its offerings to the new segment or offer new product to retain its traditional customers.

Capital base shift: Due to market and regulatory exegensies, it may become necessary for the tourism company to always prepare for additional fund injection to be able to cope with the demand for infrastructural improvement. For example, the company may need to build a new “Disney land”

Risk shift: Risks can be very dynamic, changing its forms several times over. Old risks may fade and new risks may come to the fore. A good example is the new risk of kidnappings and terrorism occurring at hitherto popular tourism hotspots in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.. It can therefore be said that for the marketing of tourism services to be carried out efficiently and effectively, there must be a conducive enabling environment for its development and operation.

Marketing policies: This is the perception of marketing management activities needed to be carried out by top management in the performance of its marketing function. From this perspective, strategic (i.e. top) management must perceive marketing as the process of defining and understanding the needs of the market, planning for and creating products of value to meet the needs at a price adequate enough to ensure profitability, while designing the strategies of organising, directing and controlling the promotion, distribution and delivering of the product to the ultimate consumer whose needs the products had originally been designed to satisfy.

The foregoing emphasises that strategic (top) management must regard marketing as a process.That is, starting at a given stage, progressing through other stages and culminating at a final stage when the marketing objectives would have been achieved.
The first stage, according to the foregoing analysis, is the definition of and understanding of the needs of the target market which the company seeks to satisfy. This must essentially be carried out before planning for and creating the product will commence. The fabrication of the product must take into consideration the various needs of the target market which the product seeks to satisfy.

Planning as part of the strategic marketing management involves effective creation of programmes and procedures aimed at ensuring that the right overall marketing strategy is formulated and implemented in such a way that the market is satisfied at the right time with the right product and at the right price. Marketing management essentially is the management of the process of satisfying the need of the market as evidenced by their demand for product characterised by certain market predetermined peculiarities.

As part of marketing management, top management must carry out market research, market planning and forecasting to gain an effective understanding of the market and be at home with its varying dynamics. Marketing research, planning and forecasting go a long way in assisting the top management in making decisions as to what to produce, when to produce it, for what market segment, at what price, as well as decisions as to the best advertisement strategy to use. After these decisions have been made, implementation becomes a sine qua non and this essentially involves. organising the workforce in a way that will ensure the effective execution of formulated decisions, directing the implementation, coordinating the total marketing efforts and controlling the entire marketing activities at every stage of planning and implementation.

Marketing policies and marketing mix:
To achieve market success, it is imperative for tourism company to craft marketing strategies that can give it sustainable competitive advantages in its target market. Therefore, sound marketing policies must be designed. In designing sound marketing policies, customers satisfaction should be the most important factor. Hence, for effective marketing, the tourism marketer should take into cognizance all the variables that will increase the customers urge to buy. Customers buy for variety of factors contributory to their satisfaction, This variety of package of satisfaction is what is referred to as the marketing mix. Marketing mix therefore can be said to be a package for satisfaction provided by the marketing function to the consumer. It represents what variables the marketer must combine in order to influence the largest number of consumers to buy his product. It can be defined as a combination of product objectives, pricing and distribution policies and practices and the methods used in promotion.

Components of the marketing mix
The marketing mix concept which was introduced by Neil Borden in 1962 represents the pot pouri of ingredients that goes into the marketing efforts to ensure the reailsation of marketing objectives. Marketing mix can be traditional or enhanced. The traditional marketing mix includes price, promotion, product and place aptly referred to as the 4Ps of marketing. However, modern marketing philosophers had agreed with Harlan Sanders (the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) who christened additional 3Ps to arrive at the enhanced marketing mix. These 7Ps of the marketing mix include the traditional 4ps as well personnel, physical facilities and process management. These extra 3 Ps are more applicable to services marketing than to physical goods.

Product: A tourism product essentially is a service. Issues relating to the product in the marketing mix include the quality of the product (in terms of tourism products, this can be regarded as ability to satisfy tourists’ needs for safety, entertainment, surprise, exhilarating experiences, etc.), the convenience and perfection in packaging (as regards product features meeting desired needs in case of tourism products). Other issues include the positioning of the Nigerian tourism products in the mind of the customers in terms of the various features possessed by the products and their associated utilities.

Place: This includes the process and procedures, physical and otherwise of making the tourism service available at the right place and the right time. Consideration in this regards includes the selection of the appropriate channel(s) of distribution whether through direct marketing using own staff and agents, or whether indirectly through brokers, airlines, embassies, trade missions etc. In doing this, the most effective channel(s) should be used. Other distribution media of importance include the telephone, electronic mail, the internet and all other connection providing media linking to the prospective tourists.

Price: The pricing of a new tourism product is not easy as the appropriate pricing is one that incorporates the degree of risk inherent in tourism services. These prices are affected by several factors like legal instruments, regulatory authorities’ pronouncement, industry norms, customers reaction as well as competitors reaction among others. Prices may be determined by the richness and quality of such tourism products. Pricing holds a psychological influence on both the seller and the buyer as it is the primary indication of consideration between them since it constitutes the means of exchange of value between the two parties. Price plays a very crucial role in the marketing mix as it is easy to manipulate for easy formulation of alternative marketing strategies. Pricing can also be used to attract customers, create the psychology of elitism for high class customers, as well as a veritable tool for price discrimination and market segmentation.

Promotion: This includes all methods used in providing information to the consumer about the product in a bid to induce him to buy. It includes, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations. Promotion is now big business, with its potential growing by the day. Promotion appeals to the psychology of the customer to buy. A lot of sentiments are used by promotion to induce buyers, who are delineated into well defined appeal groups according to sex, age, income groups etc. The promotional methods to be used include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity and public relations. For example for tourism to be well developed in Nigeria and well accepted outside, the image of the country need to be attended to.