Travel and Tourism Industry and Challenges of COVID-19

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Introduction

Despite the omnipresent adverse economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple businesses across the globe, the industry of travel and tourism has been impacted disproportionately. The countries’ lockdown, the restriction of cross-border travel, and the closing of attractions to minimize social interaction during the pandemic have caused significant monetary losses for small and large travel businesses. In the UK, the scope of issues associated with the COVID-19 crisis has expanded from financial losses, customer flow decreases to market share losses, and the need for completed restructuring of marketing strategies.

Hays Travel is one of the largest travel enterprises in the UK that provides holiday planning services using UK-based tour operators. As the pandemic hit the industry, Hays Travel has been severely impacted by the traveling restrictions that have led to demand reduction, consumer shortage, employee reduction, and ultimate monetary losses. Being a leader in the industry, the company faces a significant challenge of meeting the competition when winning the interest of prospective customers, as well as occupying the market share necessary for stabilizing its brand reputation and financial situation. In order to improve the company’s situation in the market, this report presents an analysis of the current business situation identifying the impact of COVID-19. Also, possible marketing tools capable of helping the company to overcome the difficulties of lockdown are introduced and followed by a proposed marketing plan that pursues the strategy for enhanced consumer outreach and increased market presence. The report is designed to provide the framework for the future strategic marketing campaign for Hays Travel’s sustainable growth after the coronavirus crisis.

The Range of External Factors Affecting Hays Travel at the Current Time

Hays Travel is a company with headquarters based in England that occupies a leading position among independent travel agents in the UK. The company has over thirty years of experience and has expanded to a chain of numerous travel shops around the country (Hays Travel, undated). The company, with an annual turnover of around £1 billion, serves thousands of travelers and normally employs over 7,500 employees (Hays Travel, undated). However, the global lockdown because of the pandemic of coronavirus has led to significant monetary and workforce losses for the company.

To provide a comprehensive analysis of external factors affecting the business entity, PEST analysis might be used. It allows for investigating the external marketing factors that influence a company’s performance (Baines et al., 2019, 132). The political factors include the governmental policies in response to the COVD-29 situation. Indeed, according to the collected data, Hays Travel was forced to reduce its staff by 878 workplaces due to governmental restrictions for the operations of travel agencies (Marris, 2020). Such a tendency is observed across the tourism sector and adversely impacts numerous businesses in the UK and the world (Jolly, 2020). Thus, the political aspect plays a significant role in Hays Travel’s current situation.

Economic factors include the financial constraints imposed by national policies and the economic crisis that follows the pandemic. According to Marris (2020), at the beginning of the lockdown, “the government covered 80% of staff monthly salaries up to £2,500” but later, despite the restriction to reopen and the rules of social distancing still being in force, the employers became responsible for “paying national insurance and pension contributions for their staff” (para 8-9). However, the economic uncertainties place the business at risk by demanding employee coverage despite blocked performance. Socio-cultural factors include the target population’s fear of travel because of the danger of becoming infected with the virus, as well as the burden of economic uncertainty related to the financial crisis. Since traveling and tourism are not regarded as the services of immediate need, people tend to save money and not spend it on recreation. Such a tendency diminishes the opportunities for the company to renew its operations in the nearest future. However, technological factors might facilitate Hays Travel’s opportunities for sustainable growth due to the growing rates of online platforms’ use for communication.

Marketing Opportunities to Stimulate Interest in Travel and Tourism After the Lockdown

The pressure of the global lockdown of the borders between the countries and the restrictions for international travel have set significant challenges before companies like Hays Travel and other entities involved in the tourism business. As the restrictions ease, it is expected that the consumers will be likely to restart their common traveling habits. However, the financial, employment-related, and psychological threats imposed by the pandemic might obstruct the willingness of the customers to use the travel agency’s services to the same scope as they used to before COVID-19.

To stimulate people’s interest in travel and tourism, the concept of marketing mix might be applied to trigger the most influential marketing factors. The four Ps marketing mix consists of four basic elements, which might be used as tools to influence the target market of a company; they include product, price, place, and promotion (Armstrong et al., 2018). Firstly, the product, or in the case of Hays Travel, the service, might be reconsidered in terms of its availability to specific segments of the target market. The population of prospective customers should be analyzed as per their needs, expectations, and financial capabilities to adjust the services accordingly.

This idea relates to price since the costs of the services also need to be adjusted, addressing consumer capabilities, competitive opportunities, and the company’s budget considerations. Within the context of the travel industry, the place might be considered as the destination locations or touristic attractions, which need to be researched in terms of their availability during the partial lockdown to ensure customers’ best experience. Finally, promotion is one of the most important elements, since it will ensure the information dissemination for the achievement of the desired rate of demand. Digital marketing tools must be applied to pursue this goal.

Proposed Marketing Plan for Hays Travel

The process of marketing planning involves structuring a set of steps designed to comprehend the current situation and outline the steps for future actions that would lead the company toward its ultimate strategic objective. Therefore, a marketing plan should include marketing analysis, marketing strategies, marketing goals, and implementation (Baines et al., 2019). For Hays Travel, the following marketing plan would be applicable to encourage people to book holidays.

Marketing Analysis

To analyze the market, it is necessary to review the market needs, the competitors, and conduct a SWOT analysis. At present, the market needs affordable and safe travel that would ensure consumers’ wellbeing and financial security. Also, since the lockdown has affected all entities within the travel industry, the competition is very high. In the case of Hays Travel, the company’s strengths are its long history of operations, leading positions among competitors, and the large chain of travel shops around the country (Hays Travel, undated). As for the weaknesses, the company is financially insecure and understaffed. The threats include governmental restrictions’ pressure, economic crisis, and unpredictable competition after the lockdown. However, the opportunity for the company to re-enter the market includes the decreased number of competitors after the lockdown.

Marketing Strategies

Hays Travel might concentrate on achieving sustainable growth via customizing services, mitigating price policies, and gaining competitive advantage via expanding trusting relations with the customers. The services should be positioned in the market from the perspective of their relevance to a particular segment. Also, it is important to ensure consumer satisfaction that will contribute to sustainability. Ultimately, the company’s strategy in the marketing campaign is to expand its market presence by means of market segmentation and service diversification.

Marketing Goals

The market share that is expected to be gained should reach the point of the one before the lockdown. The number of travel shops reopened after the lockdown should exceed the minimum of half of all shops. Also, the level of brand recognition and consumer trust should be increased by means of enhanced feedback, obtaining programs, and marketing research. The number of bookings should reach at least half of the number of bookings of the previous fiscal year.

Implementation

The achievement of these marketing goals might be possible by using well-planed implementation procedures. The marketing research should be conducted to identify consumers’ needs, as well as the level of competition in the industry. The services should be updated accordingly to facilitate the consumers’ traveling experience in the time of the pandemic. Enhanced safety and self-protection measures should be implemented to increase the level of trust. To the same extent, financial security policies should be updated to cover consumers’ losses in case of unpredicted health problems under the burden of the COVID-19 situation. Given the relevance of the digital sphere during the time of quarantine, the Internet, social media, and other online tools should be used to promote the company after the lockdown.

Digital Media Marketing to Supporting a Customer-Focused Approach

The contemporary business world, as well as the global society in general, has shifted to a digital way of communicating within the various realms, including trade, education, recreations, and others. Consumers of all industries are willing to access information and products online. Also, they communicate with others by means of social media, share experiences, and feedback about services and products. Such a tendency requires marketing specialists to adjust to the new expectations and implement digitalized techniques to reach the target audience and influence their buying decision-making (Dibb et al., 2014). From this perspective, the impact of the digitalization of marketing, especially given the trends of globalization, is omnipresent. For Hays Travel, a digital marketing campaign might be a valuable contribution to the overall strategic marketing plan due to the advantages the digital space might provide for reaching consumers in such hectic times like the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual tours might be introduced to expand clients’ traveling experience. Social media advertising campaigns and internet-based surveys might be used to promote the company’s services and to identify the target population’s interests, needs, requirements, and limitations.

Conclusion

When summarizing the issues discussed in this report, one might underline the key relevance of digital marketing tools as the most relevant given the hectic business situation and the social interaction constraints. Hays Travel is now in a state where the lockdown ease might provide a space for action toward market expansion after several months of obstructed performance. Despite the governmental restrictions, economic crisis burden, and the socio-cultural trends of fear of instability, Hays Travel should adhere to the strategy of achieving sustainable growth by implementing a marketing campaign. The marketing plan for the company should address the extensive market research to identify the shifts in the target population’s needs and expectations, adjustment of services and prices, as well as enhancement of promotional actions using digital means.

Reference List

Armstrong, G. M., Kotler, P., Harker, M., and Brennan, R. (2018) Marketing: An introduction. London, UK: Pearson.

Baines, P., Fill, C., Antonetti, P., Rosengren, S. (2019) Marketing. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, W. M., and Ferrell, O. C. (2019) Marketing: Concepts and strategies [ebook]. Abingdon, UK: Houghton Mifflin.

Hays Travel (undated) About Hays Travel. Web.

Jolly, J. (2020) Shearings coach travel owner SLG collapses with 2,500 job losses. The Guardian. Web.

Marris, S. (2020) Coronavirus: Hays Travel to cut up to 878 jobs as pressure on tourism sector increases. Sky News. Web.

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