Group Touring Chapter 13 Quick Trip 3.1 Presented by: Team Jamaica Corlyn “Camping Out” Bailey, Sam “Super Swimmer” Gonzalez, Nic “At Nite” Sheldon, and Mallori “The” Skipper

Today’s Agenda Brief Introduction of Group Members and Ice Breaker!! Group Touring: Past and Present Misconceptions about Group Touring The Buying Process Markets Trends Popular Group Touring Destinations References

Group Touring: Past Guided tours have been a part of the history of tourism since the days of the Grand Tour. They offer significant employment opportunities within the global tourism industry.

Group Touring: Past They can facilitate the careful management of fragile attractions and events. They can also solve a number of tourist problems in areas such as language, orientation, security, structural interaction and understanding of the site or activity. (Encyclopedia of Tourism Jafar Jafari 2000)

Group Touring: Present Group travel has been very popular with the older generations, but the average age of tour-goers has dropped from mid-60s to mid-50s as the baby-boomers have aged. Perks of group touring include quick service, ease of paperwork, avoiding long lines, and private tours.

Group Touring: Present As well access to a guide that know the area of which you are visiting, and meeting new people who may share common interests and backgrounds. Recent studies are showing the popularity of multi-destination travel, specifically in the international travel.

Group Touring: Misconceptions Heavily structured Exhaustive itineraries Extremely large

Overcoming the Misconceptions Many companies are working on giving people a more relaxed trip by giving them more down-time in the particular city they are visiting. Companies are also creating new ways of getting people involved by offering new activities like cooking classes, hikes, and tours.

The Buying Process Attention and Awareness Brought to the awareness or attention of the potential traveler Knowledge and Comprehension Knows what the destination has to offer Comprehends what it is all about Attitudes, Interest, and Liking Create or reinforce existing positive attitudes Evaluation, Preference, and Desire Develops a preference and desire for the trip

The Buying Process Intension and Conviction Convinced that the trip will meet their needs and wants Intention to purchase Purchase, Trial and Action Barrier of lack of money or time Purchase Adoption Provided with a quality experience Repeat customer

Marketing Trends New market segments Young adults are a more difficult to market towards because of the typical family structure The younger age group of year olds would be the newest trend in group touring

Marketing Trends One way to market towards the college crowd would be to advertising during television shows like “Amazing Race” and “Road Rules” to show how exciting a group tour can be.

Marketing Trends “More than one out of every five tourists is a single person traveling alone. TravelersMeet.com is the venue for connecting with other adventurous travelers from all corners of the globe.” – TravelersMeet.com

A Destination Choice Model Based on Activities and Benefits

Model Explanation Traveler and socio-psychological variable (A): This variable includes the needs, wants and motives, and personalities of travelers, and the external, influences such as previous travel experience, culture, age, income, education, available time, and family life-cycle stage.

Model Explanation Destination marketing variables and external inputs (B): This includes the marketing by destination areas plus information that travelers get through travel trade intermediaries, word of mouth, and other external sources of information.

Model Explanation Images of destination areas (C): These are the perceptions or images of alternative destination areas. Moscardo et al. suggest that activities and benefits may be the most important attributes of these in influencing destination choice.

Model Explanation Destination choice (D): The choice of a destination area is made on the basis of there being a match between what activities and benefits they perceive that each destination area offers. Destination areas (E): The actual activities and benefits offered and promoted by the destination areas.

Popular Destinations: Australia, New Zealand, China, Africa, Bolivia, Amazon, Greece, Spain, Scotland, National Parks, and big city destinations such as Magnificent Mile in Chicago and Ellis Island in New York.

References Pearce, Philip L. “Guided Tour”. Encyclopedia of Tourism. Page 269. New York Jafari, Jafar “About Us”.TravelerMeet.com. 19 October Mill, R. C. & Morrison, A.M. (2002). The Tourism System-A Introductory Text., Kendall/Hunt Publishing: Dubuque, Iowa.

Questions?????

Come Away With Me….. Get together with your group Grab a provided travel guide Plan your ideal group tour