TRAVEL AND TOURISM

Public Relations and Promotion in Travel and Tourism

Assignment 1: Planning a Public Relations and Promotion Campaign for a Destination1

Task 1 A - Scope of Public Relations as a Promotional Tool in Egypt1

Marketing Public Relations (MPR)1

Task 1 B -Tourists and other Stakeholders Analysis in Egypt2

Task 2 - Internal and External Environmental Analysis4

SWOT Analysis4

Strengths4

Weaknesses4

Opportunities4

Threats5

PEST Analysis5

Political / Legal5

Economic6

Socio-Cultural6

Technological6

Market Analysis and Social Media7

Task 4 - Public Relation Plan - Implementation8

Target Audience8

Gender8

Age8

Socio-Economic Status8

Interests9

First Phase9

Second Phase9

Third Phase9

Promotional Vehicle10

Advertising10

Public Relations10

Internet11

Assignment 2: Implementation of Media Strategy for a UK based Travel and Tourism Organisation11

Task 3 A - Suitable Media for Public Relations in the Travel and Tourism Sector - easyJet11

Background of EasyJet11

Products and Pricing12

Promotion13

Slogans13

Advertising14

The Website14

Valentine's Day Promotional Campaign14

Task 3 B - Effectiveness of IT as the Selected Medium in Travel and Tourism Sector16

The Future17

References18

Public Relations and Promotion in Travel and Tourism

Assignment 1: Planning a Public Relations and Promotion Campaign for a Destination

Task 1 A - Scope of Public Relations as a Promotional Tool in Egypt

Public relations have often been defined as the process by which a positive customer preference is created via third-party endorsement. Until early 2000s, PR was underutilized by hospitality marketers. However, following the tragic international events like 9/11, SARS epidemic, Iraqi war etc all of which greatly reduced tourism, the importance of PR has increased, as evidenced by the large number of academic publications addressing this issue in the period 2003 to 2006 (Kotler, Kotler, Bowen & Makens, 2006, 55-89). For instance, destination managers found that following such crises travellers respond better to information from third parties because it appears more to be more "genuine”. Hence, it can be said that public relations is a process rather than a single technique. Managers can either take a proactive or reactive approach to this process. A proactive approach uses the PR tools such as news events, publications, community relations, and other PR techniques as a means to distinguish the organization/destination in the marketplace (Kotler, Kotler, Bowen & Makens, 2006, 55-89).

Marketing Public Relations (MPR)

Marketing public relations (MPR) is a new promotional discipline (hat comprises specialised application techniques garnered from activities which support both marketing and public relations. Although definitions and interpretations of MPR vary widely, in this context the term can be defined as the process of planning, executing and evaluating programmers that encourage purchase and consumer satisfaction through credible communication of information aimed at the needs, wants, concerns and interests of consumers. In the promotional mix, MPR not only complements other marketing efforts, but also serves the unique purpose of giving a product, service or market added credibility, exposure and newsworthiness (Beirman, 2002, 167-176).

Hence, public relations are used as a corrective of and complement to marketing in many circumstances. For example, public relations can play an important role in directing support for an organisation's marketing activities (by keeping the organisation's publics informed about new product development), in explaining policy changes (to prepare the ground for marketing activity) and in offering a public explanation or apology in the case of a ...