MARKETING RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL PACKAGE HOLIDAYS TO MILLENNIALS

MARKETING RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL PACKAGE HOLIDAYS TO MILLENNIALS

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Introduction

Tourism and Travel Industry

The onset of the global pandemic has set the UK tourism and travel industry back with an estimated £22 billion lost since 2020 (Roberts, 2021). However, the discovery of vaccines has reignited hope that a once vibrant industry could see an uptick and normalcy by 2022. Prior to the pandemic, the UK tourism and travel industry was estimated at £24 billion (Visit Britain, 2019). Also, according to (Gelfeld 2018), the millennial generation was travelling at a higher rate than the baby boomers and Generation Z. Moreover, in most cases, the travel destination choice of some millennials was inspired by how aesthetically pleasing the place would look in photos purposely taken for social media (Magill, 2017). Therefore, this report explains how marketing managers can use social media to ethically influence millennial consumer behaviour in buying responsible travel package holidays.

Market Segment

The tourism and travel industry has increasingly become millennial-centric because they are travelling at a higher rate compared to previous generations (Leonhardt, 2019). Leonhardt (2019) explains that millennials make five trips a year on average, with three of these being international trips. Baratti (2021) also explains that millennials are 50% more likely to travel in the wake of the global pandemic than generation X and baby boomers. Moreover, Leonhardt (2019) explains the millennials are responsible travel planners because they spend an average of £4,400 compared to £6,600 by baby boomers and £5,400 by Generation X. For marketing managers, there is a window of opportunity to appeal to the millennial generation to purchase responsible travel package holidays through social media.

Marketing Objective

The proposed marketing objective is to use social media to ethically influence millennials into buying responsible travel package holidays. Social media has increasingly become essential for millennials because they spend an average of 2 hours and 34 minutes on social media each day (Marketing Charts, 2021). Furthermore, millennials have increasingly adopted social media as a tool to determine their next holiday destination. (Constantoglou and Trihas, 2020). Some millennials scour highlight reels on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for aesthetics, cost-efficiency and hospitality to make a decision on where they would like to travel next

Some millennials travel for leisure and escapism from their day to day lives. In other words, they are looking for emotional balance in a world where work-life balance is scarce (Ketter, 2020). (Chen and Petrick, 2013) argue that such a concept is an element of mental health. Research by Kroesen and De Vos (2020) has also shown that tourism and travel significantly improve a person’s mental health because they counter stress, depression and anxiety. In most cases, millennials will choose a travel package that benefits them both financially and emotionally.

Moreno et al. (2017) also explain that millennials will often prioritize trust while making purchases for goods and services. The reason for this is the millennial inclination towards feeling like they are part of something bigger. Also, (Grier 2017) explains that since travel is considered a luxury, people who buy travel packages associate an added level of trust to a company that offers them a generally positive experience. Sung et al. 2014) explains that customers who purchase goods and services deemed to be luxurious will carefully assess the brand’s image to enhance their own perceived personality. Chances of re-purchasing are high if the customer deems a brand personality as able to help a customer to “treat themselves”. Moreover, Carpentier, Van Hoye and Weijters (2019) explain that social media has coincided with the ability of brands to express their brand personalities.

Looking at travel as a luxury, Reed et al. (2012) offer a framework to look at the aspect of “treating yourself” in tourism. Reed et al. explain that the influence of positive connotations derived from the consumption of luxurious goods and services are directly linked to the principle of the ideal self. Critically, one can also discern the influence of positive connotations in the ethos, pathos and logos of marketing campaigns done for travel package holidays. In most cases, these ads are plastered all over social media and are auto-signalling in nature (Chu, Deng and Cheng, 2020). Therefore, one can argue that akin to the purchase of luxury goods and services, purchasing travel packages transcends individual feelings of success, achievement and pleasure.

Constantoglou and Trihas (2020) explain that some millennials travel because of the band-wagon effect. In other words, they travel because their friends and relatives are travelling. Research by Ubank (2018) also explains that over 47% of millennials derive a level of satisfaction from impressing their friends through purchasing goods and services deemed to be luxurious. A further 27% of millennials are said to derive great pleasure from using social media to impress their friends. Therefore, such criteria justify the use of social media to ethically influence the millennials into buying responsible travel package holidays.

Furthermore, the tendency of millennials to dabble in social signalling justifies the use of social media for the current campaign. The concept is rooted in conspicuous consumption, which centres on extrinsically motivated customers (Todorova, 2013). In this case, the external motivation for the target market millennials is their social media friends. These social media friends motivate millennial customers to purchase a good or service only to reward them with likes and comments on a post. Charness and Chen (2020) also explain that phenomena like priming in men compel them to spend on travel packages to highlight success and show off to potential suitors.

The correlation between the snob effect in millennial travellers and conspicuous consumption also justifies the use of social media as a marketing tool. For instance, when an individual purchases a travel package that is deemed to be financially out of reach for others, the snob effect comes into play (Uzgoren and Guney, 2012). The snob effect is especially characteristic of UK millennials and their social media use. For marketing managers, this snobbish behaviour can be leveraged because the millennial market has accurately portrayed signs that can be successfully turned into successful marketing campaigns. Moreover, most travel agencies have increasingly developed authentic and custom marketing techniques such as blogs and influence marketing (Chu, Deng and Cheng, 2020). The influencer marketing phenomenon also bodes well for the source credibility theory, as explained by Umeogu (2012), because most social media influencers are believed to be credible. This somewhat explains the success of travel agencies in marketing their travel packages using social media influencers.

Also, based on the source credibility theory, travelling is a visible cue that millennials use to present themselves to friends as well as strangers. The interrelationship between social media use and millennial travel tendencies helps some create an online identity and achieve a form of self-actualization (Magill, 2017). One can also look at such self-presentation through the Looking Glass Self theory (Anderson, 2012). Herein, perception is reality, and most millennials take into account the reaction to their travel photos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter from friends as well as strangers. For marketing managers, such a scenario can be leveraged to market responsible travel package holidays to millennials. To do this, the marketing managers can position the travel package as a need to a pertinent need of the typical millennial traveller. Such a campaign can be curated by adhering to the fundamentals of the marketing concept.

Alternatively, millennials are just like any other travellers. In this case, however, the millennial traveller is motivated by push and pull factors proposed by the Push and Pull theory (Su, Johnson and O’Mahony, 2018). For most travellers, the push factors are intrinsic and include the desire for escapism, relaxation, rest, health, fitness, prestige, social interaction and adventure. On the other hand, pull factors include the aesthetics of the destination, including cultural attractions, recreation facilities, beaches and weather (Su, Johnson and O’Mahony, 2018). For the marketing managers, the success of a marketing campaign to convince millennials to buy responsible travel package holidays hinges on appealing to their push factors while leaving room for the negotiation of their push factors.

Ultimately, it is deducible that the marketing managers can market the responsible travel packages using social media because of the susceptibility of millennials to peer influence and influencers. Likewise, the travel packages can be marketed as a solution to a need already held by the millennials because of the millennial need to “treat themselves”. However, the managers ought to ensure that they leave some room to manoeuvre and market to the millennial travellers who are influenced by push and pull factors just like the average traveller.

Recommendations for Marketing Managers

Using the SOSTAC Framework, the recommendations to managers are made based on situation, objectives, strategy and tactics (Reed, 2014). The situation aspect covers the current situation for the marketing managers. The objectives appraise where the managers should aim to be. Finally, the tactics section delves into how the managers can reach the desired goals and objectives.

Situation AnalysisThe outbreak of the global pandemic has devastated the tourism and travel industry in the United Kingdom. However, the discovery of vaccines has provided hope that the social distancing stipulations and lockdown orders will gradually ease up tourism, and travel will fully reopen (Choudhury, 2021). Social media has also been a vital cog in the marketing and promotional efforts of tourism and travel companies before and after the onset of the global pandemic. Certainly, the time is right for marketing managers to offer responsible travel package holidays to the millennial generation.

Objectives

The chief aim of the marketing managers should be to increase their social media engagement numbers with the millennials. The marketing managers should aim at gaining 15 to 20% more comments, interactions and impressions on their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram posts.

Strategy

The marketing managers should adhere to theories discussed in the critical analysis section, including the marketing theory, the pull and push theory and the hierarchy of needs theory. The marketing managers should also adhere to psychographic segmentation because it allows for the millennial generation to be broken down further. Psychographic segmentation can offer more insight into buying behaviours, values, beliefs, social status, lifestyles, activities and opinions of different millennials.

Tactics

The marketing managers should use celebrity social endorsements, social media influencer endorsement and the vast google advertising network. The marketing managers should look at digital nomads like Richard Quest, who possesses a huge following and has established connections with reputable networks like CNN. Furthermore, the marketing managers should look at travel influencers on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to promote the responsible travel package holidays to potential clients. However, emphasis should be put on Instagram mostly because of its graphic richness compared to Facebook and Twitter. @Travelbabbo On Instagram is a possible candidate as a social media influencer.

Performance Measurement

The performance should be measured using a Management by Objectives basis (MOB). In other words, the success of the respective tactics should be measure based on pre-determined goals and objectives (Synnott, 2017). It has been established that the goal is to achieve 15-20% more engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts. Therefore, when the engagement numbers exceed or range between 15 to 20%, then the campaign can be deemed to be successful. However, if the engagement numbers fall below the range, then the campaign would be unsuccessful, and a change of strategy would be necessary.

Conclusion

The trends and themes in the tourism and travel industry all point to a resurgence after the discovery of vaccines. This resurgence can be leveraged by marketing managers to sell responsible travel package holidays to millennials. Using the marketing concept as a basic theory, the marketing managers should aim to boost social media engagement levels by 15 to 20% to appeal to a tech-savvy millennial generation. The success of each respective campaign can be gauged based on a management by objectives basis.

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