Japan’s Tourism Industry Marketing
Japan’s Tourism Industry Marketing
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Japan’s Tourism Industry Marketing
Tourism can be defined as the travel that is done for either pleasure or the organization or instead for business. It is an activity that has become part of very many people’s day to day activities as millions of people in the world use their free time or the leisure time for traveling and visiting their places of interest. Just like any other industry in a country and the world; generally, tourism has flourished in various countries, and Japan happens to be one of them (Berger, 2010). Japan is known to be an island country that is found in East Asia. It is even ranked as the fourth out of the 142 countries overall and happens to be the best in Asia.
Tourism in Japan just like in any other country has played a significant role in the overall economic growth as well as playing a vital role in the upholding of the Japanese culture. In the year 2010, there were about 2.4 million people who visited Japan, and this amounts to about 27% of the tourists in the country this year. Chinese are recorded to be the highest spenders in this country as tourists. In the years between 1995 to around the end of the year 2012, it is said that Japan’s tourists increased by around 6% whereby it had risen from 3.3 million to up to about 8.4 million (Uzama, 2009). In late 2017, the number of tourists in Japan had significantly increased to around 28.7 million which has never been experienced in the past years. It is foreseen that the tourism industry would soon become the engine motivation for the economic growth of Japan (Jimura &Takamitsu, 2011). This country has around 21 sites that are known heritage world sites. This industry has helped in creating job opportunities in the country. As per today, the tourism industry in Japan has created an approximate of 4.2 million jobs which represent about 6.4 % of the Japanese employment.
It is also a dream for the country that when it comes to 2020, more than 4.5 million jobs in the country would be purely based on this industry of travel and tourism. Tourism as an industry is known to help in the following:
Help in the boosting of the economy or instead helps in the economic growth
It has also helped in the growth of unity and oneness in the societies
It is also a significant source of employment in many countries especially in Japan where it has created millions of jobs.
The tourism industry can generally be said to have helped in the enriching of many lives of Japanese. For the areas that act as the tourist attractors or the so-called the tourist attraction areas, they have expanded and grown and thus helping in the development of Japan and many countries in the world as a whole (Nozawa, 1992). A good marketing plan, strategies or rather all the activities encompassed in the marketing work ensures that any organization or business has done well and therefore, the tourism industry is of no exception at all. For the tourism industry of Japan to continue growing and flourishing well, then it is of great importance the marketing work of this country be looked at keenly.
The marketing strategies and the marketing plan should not be left out as well when the overall marketing work is being looked. Marketing plan as a vital tool in the field of business and marketing to be specific is a well-known strategic document and helps in foreseeing of the coming financial year, and sometimes it can be a month. A marketing plan helps an organization or industry is focusing its resources, and it also helps in tracing of growth of success of an organization.
Many factors will and have always affected the success of a business, and therefore, market planning helps in understanding the different elements. It is the marketing plan that allows a company in setting its goals and objectives. During the planning, the organization can set the objectives and goals that are in line with laid out strategies. Looking at Tokyo which is a major foreigner attraction in Japan, then we can be able to analyze its marketing work and see how it has been effective in this region as well as what needs to be done or rather improved to improve the results or the performance (Uzama, 2009). Marketing plan as an essential tool in the marketing plan as earlier mentioned, it is made up of various components which are very crucial in the planning.
Tourism is a source of revenue in Japan and therefore, it is right to conclude that it is a business and thus just like any other business, then it’s necessary to analyze its marketing plan and strategy. For any given market and this matter the tourism industry, Tokyo, in Japan should ensure that it has created a variety of destinations and tourist attraction areas to ensure that the people who visit t this country have varieties of tourist attraction sites.
It is also crucial that the country Japan, tries to collect data or conduct research and find out what their customers want and also what they lack about their interests and it’s after this that they can be able to satisfy their needs and wishes. Objectives and goals are a necessity for any organization to succeed (Yasuda, 2010). This is because, it is one of the few ways of measuring the success of a business and therefore, the tourism industry in Japan should be able to set realistic objectives and which they should all work into achieving them. Many resources are always wasted when an individual or a business cultivate it in a place where is not much important. Therefore, when a company or an industry come up with unique and relevant tourist areas, then they can invest their resources where they are needed and avoid wastage of resources as well as time that would have been involved in unnecessary destinations.
Good marketing should be composed of various components which are as mentioned below, and each of them will later be discussed about the Japan tourism industry.
The Set Objectives
The environment of the industry
Market strategy
Region or the country profile
Market identification
The set budget
Implementation
Evaluation.
For an industry or business to be successful, then each of the segments mentioned above should be put into consideration and as well be worked upon to give the best results for the business. When one of them is violated or is not aligned according to the market strategies, then the whole company may be prone to collapsing (Leung, & Baloglu, 2013). It’s then important to look at them individually.
The Set Objectives.
It is quite necessary for any organization or industry to set its objectives and goals to have a guideline. It helps the industry in striving to achieve the set goals and in return would as well meet the overall success of the business. It is therefore essential that the tourism industry in Tokyo, Japan, set up realistic goals and objectives and this will help them in realizing their dreams for they would track the progress of the sector (Swans & Edgell 2013). It gives the business something that they can work towards achieving. The set objectives they sometimes act as a motivation to the members of the organization for they all understand what is required of them at the end of the day. Some of the objectives that have been set by the travel and tourism industry of Japan are:-
To increase the number of tourists (international) visiting the country to 18 million
To also be able to boost domestic tourism and ravel consumption.
The above mentioned were the set objectives by the year 2016 for Japan, and this country has always worked towards achieving the already set goals or rather the objectives.
Environment
The environment is an important factor, and it as well affects the performance of a business. It can be defined as anything that surrounds an organization or in this case the tourism industry and has a significant influence on it. The environment should then be well analyzed to identify how it is affecting the business, and an adverse effect is detected, it’s then controlled before it goes too far. Under this element of the market plan, some segments make up the environment and are very crucial in the industry (Assaf, 2012). These are – Competitors, technology, demographics. Some major classifications are the political, social and physical environments.
For the tourism industry to grow well under minimal challenges, it should then study and understand how the political trends, as well as the government legislation and rules, affect the industry. Are there some legalities and formalities needed in the business? If any, have you fully adhered to them to ensure the proper running of the industry?
Tokyo should understand the effect of the government in the travel and tourism industry in Japan, and if it has adhered to them and if not, what then they can do for better performance. Competitors are always there in every good business, and they still help put the company on toes. Japan as a country, has very competitors in this industry since many countries have the same industry and still yearning to be the best.
It is thus vital that this country analyzes different countries which have the industry and are doing relatively well and be sure to note what is that they do which Japan as a country does not do and has had a competitive advantage over it. Personal analysis is also important, and therefore, Japan should be able to tell its weaknesses that the competitors take advantage of and try to improve on the same. Look at your strengths and as well try to modify them and use them as an advantage over your competitors (Henderson, 2016). Are they offering better prices as compared to your industry? Tourism and travel include accommodation in most cases and therefore, find out how favorable your rooms and facilities as a whole are.
Consumer needs, tastes, and preferences will always change as time goes by. Find out the available technology that can help you in the satisfaction of these tastes and preferences. Ensure that your industry id up to date with the new technology to be able to fight fairly with your competitors.
3) Market Strategy.
The elements under this segment can be controlled by the industry itself. It is therefore right to say that, it is a total combination of different factors which their effect can well be influenced as well as controlled by the industry itself. Some of these elements which are so significant in the industry and can be controlled are the product, price, place or the location as well as the promotion of the product itself.
To kick off the marketing strategy is the product which can be referred to as anything that is provided in the market to be able to satisfy the customer needs and wants (Uzama, 2009). It can be useful, or sometimes it can be serviced. In the case of tourism industry of Tokyo in Japan, what they offer to satisfy their customers is a service and in this case, is the one treated as a good. A right product should be of very high quality and be sold out at very affordable prices.
It is therefore important that the tourism industry ensures that their services are high quality and that every consumer which are tourists, in this case, would be interested in visiting their destinations. As an industry, find out what features the products of your competitors have and how this has helped to propel in the industry.
The set price is also a major factor to consider. As an industry, do not offer rates that are way too high as compared to your competitors as consumers tend to go for that which is cheap (Berger, 2010). It is also not good to set the prices way too low as most of these customers will deem your services of poor quality based on the set price.
Therefore, it is thus suitable to look at something well known as the price equilibrium and then be able to set your prices accordingly. As the industry sets its prices, let it have in mind the costs that were incurred in the production of the service. Do not then set the prices and place your industry in the situation of being affected by loses. Every sector and in this case the tourism industry in Tokyo, Japan, has a target customer or rather the potential customer (Leung & Baloglu, 2013). Find out how accessible these customers are able to access your destinations. It is therefore crucial that the country, Japan, ensures that the places set as the tourism destination areas are accessible and when a first timer tourist comes there wishes for more visits, unlike that customer who wants they had chosen a different and a better destination than that which you are offering.
Lastly in this segment but not least, is the promotion. How well do you want your industry to be known countrywide as well as worldwide? Then this can only be possible through advertisements, road shows and so on which are some of the elements of promotion. Promotion is essential as it helps in public awareness. People, both the target customers and others can know what you offer and as well be able to identify the prices.
Sometimes, as an industry, give the various destinations that you offer in the industry, and you can sometimes highlight what is expected in the goals you have quoted.
4) The Profile.
In this that the region, the country or the destination points out what they offer as a tourist attraction area or destination (Takamitsu, 2011). Explain vividly all the facilities that are available giving full descriptions where necessary. It is at this point that the travel and tourism industry is expected to list down all the tourism destinations they have and be sure to convince the customers that it would be of great essence to them as it is in line with their needs and wants.
5) Budget.
For any business or industry to do well both economically or financially, physically and socially (well-being of others especially the tourists), it is then necessary that a budget is set or instead proposed. A budget can be said to be the expected total income as well as expenditure throughout a given time. The one and most important essential things n budgeting is to ensure that, the set budget is very realistic and can be achieved. It makes no sense when an industry comes up with large amounts in budgeting that seem unrealistic to meet at the end of the set period. Japan has also not been left out in this as the government has always allocated some right amount for this sector in its financial budgets (Nozawa, 1992). In the current fiscal year which the government agreed to start as from 1st April 2019, the budget for tourism in Japan was drafted as 71 billion.
6) Implementation.
In this stage, everything said in the market plan, the strategies and everything encompassed in the marketing work is put in place. In the implementation stage, the goals, aims, and objectives that have been set are put into consideration. The budget should also be considered as it is an important tool in this stage of implementation. When an industry messes at this stage and puts in practice some market strategies different from the planned ones, or maybe does not consider the budget put in place, then it is seen to be in a verge of collapsing and sometimes it indeed collapses. Therefore, when the tourism industry is at this stage, then it should be sure to include and consider all the above-discussed segments and the elements under them.
7) Evaluation.
It is at this stage that everything that was implemented in the previous step is checked and verified. It is done so to check whether it was done according to the expectations. For the evaluation to be practical, then the set goals and objectives are considered, and then the industry should then check it was quite useful (Uzama, 2009). For the case of Japan where one of their objectives is to increase the number of tourists, then it can be checked at the end of the process whether this was achieved.
Assuming it was not achieved, then the deviations that might have occurred should be checked and controlled. Evaluation is mainly done to take measures and initiatives the worse gets to the worst. It helps the business avoid losses that may be accompanied but these deviations.
Conclusion.
Japan is ranked among the best countries in East Asia when it comes to the issue of travel and tourism. For Japan to hold this position and as well keep on growing, then it is necessary for it to keep on reviewing and analyzing its marketing work and ensure that it is about the overall objectives of the industry. This is one of the major and most effective ways of tracing the success of a business, an enterprise or an organization. When production and a country as a whole does what is expected of them, then within no time Japan will be in a position that many travel and tourism industries in many countries always wish for. The key secret to all of these is to have a good, well organized and well-researched marketing work.
References
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