Term Paper

7 Ps of Travel Planners

1 | Page

TERM PAPER ON 7Ps OF TRAVEL PLANNERS

Prepared for:
SSM Sadrul Huda
Assistant Professor
Department of Business Administration
East West University.

Prepared by:
Name
Asif Sadat
Md. Wasek Rashid Choudhury
Md. Saydur Rahman
Morshed Alam Shuva
Md. Mamun Rahman
Arafat Rahman Tarafdar
Sec: 01
Course Code: MKT412
Course Name: Service Marketing

2 | Page

Id
2011-1-10-121
2009-1-10-171
2010-2-10-166
2010-2-10-043
2010-2-10-126
2009-1-10-240

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
December 06, 2013
SSM Sadrul Huda
Assistant Professor
Department of Business Administration
East West University.
Subject: Solicitation for acceptance of the report
Dear Sir,
With great pleasure we are submitting this report. This report contains the 7Ps analysis of Travel
Planners. This report may do not reflect the whole picture of Travel Planners but it may reflect the main
scenarios of Travel Planners.
We are really grateful to you for giving us such an important assignment which helped us to understand
marketing activities of a service oriented company, it will be helpful for our careers. This report is
authentically based on our true effort.

Sincerely Yours
Asif Sadat
Md. Wasek Rashid Choudhury
Md. Saydur Rahman
Morshed Alam Shuva
Md. Mamun Rahman
Arafat Rahman Tarafdar

3 | Page

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Travel Planners is one of the most leading Tour Operator and Travel Agency in Bangladesh. It is
an ideal company for 7Ps analysis in service industry because of the nature of the service they
offer. From the analysis of 7Ps of marketing activities, Travel Planners has created a good mix
of all the Ps. History of Travel Planners is that, since 2001 Travel Planners has been providing
tourism and travel related services in Bangladesh and the South-East Asia region to individuals
and corporate clients. Travel Planners offers these clients two type of product, one is package
tour and another is logistics. The organization gave more focus on E-commerce due its
international market. Travel Planners wants to build long term relationship with customers
through relationship pricing strategy. They also use different forms of promotion to pursue and
remind their customers. Also Travel Planners process blue print is a two-sided blue print where
both employees and customers participated in making the blue print. People are the main
component in Travel Planners services. Both customers and employees are handled with care. All
the components are covered by the organization management with lots of enthusiasms. So that
one day Travel Planners can be the number one tour operator and travel agency in Bangladesh.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 | Page

Topic Name

Introduction, Mission, Vision

Product

Page Number

06

07-10

Place

11

Price

12

Physical Evidence

13-14

Promotion

15-17

Process

18-20

People

20-23

Conclusion

24

Reference

25

5 | Page

Travel Planners is one of the most leading Tour Operator and Travel Agency as well as a
Destination Management Company (DMC) in the private sector located in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Travel Planners is a group of tourism professionals, who constitute the Travel Planners and
committed to extend their best assistance to their clients, coming from all over the world and
from the local market. Since 2001 Travel Planners has been providing tourism and travel related
services in Bangladesh and the South-East Asia region to individuals and corporate clients.
Within this short span of time, Travel Planners earned remarkable impetus by way of providing
various services to their clients. Employees are dedicated to providing the best tourism related
service, including travel advice, transport, ticketing and permission related assistance. Travel
Planners have developed their logistics in the form of transports, boats, resorts and branch
offices. Presently, Travel Planners have English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German & French
Language guides and interpreter for potential tourists. Travel Planners have specialized
particularly in Eco, Cultural and Heritage tourism in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a strong
background of these products which is unique in this part of the world. Travel Planners provide
all kinds of logistic support for any research team, film maker or media.
Travel Planners provide detailed and up to date travel information, tailor-made itineraries for a
wide range of destinations in and around Bangladesh, and reliable logistical services including
knowledgeable multi-lingual guides, transport & accommodation facilities. So, Travel Planners
services and facilities are developed in collaboration with local communities and in harmony
with the environment.

MISSION:
Travel Planners mission is to be the number one Tour Operator and Travel Agency in the country.

VISION:
Travel Planners is working to make Bangladesh an incredible diversity of attractions for
travelers.

PRODUCT:
6 | Page

Travel Planners is keen to diversify their product from others. So they have developed their own
line of product on the basis of customers demand. Travel Planners product offering can be
divided into two major groups.
1) Package tours: Package tours are the bundle offer Travel Planners have developed over
the year. These package tours are developed on the basis of benefit-driven pricing
strategy.
a) Day Trips: This tour takes travelers to the heart of Dhaka & beyond. Travel
Planners guide will lead trevelers to some of Dhakas treasures, including
Shankharia Bazar (Hindu Street), Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace), Sadarghat (River
front), Armenian Church, Star Mosque, Dhakeswari Temple and Lalbagh Fort. On
this highest 8-9 hours tour travelers will also get a glance of the Curzon Hall
(Dhaka University campus) and the National Assembly Building etc. For small
groups of travelers, guides can arrange a short rickshaw or boat ride upon request.
Some diversification of Day trips product line is given below_

7 | Page

i.

OLD DHAKA HALF DAY CITY S/S TOUR OF 4 HOURS

ii.

DHAKA & BEYOND FULL DAY S/S TOUR OF 8 HOURS

iii.

MUSEUMS - HALF / FULL DAY MUSEUM TOUR OF 4 / 8 HOURS

iv.

BAZAARS, BOUTIQUES & BARGAINS HALF/FULL DAY

SHOPPING TOUR OF 4/8 HOURS

v.

SONARGAON TOUR & JATIYA SANGSAD BHABAN ASSEMBLY

BUILDING VISIT

vi.

JATIYA SANGSAD BHABAN VISIT OF 3 HOURS

vii.

RIVER CRUISE FULL DAY R/C TOUR OF 8 HOURS

viii.

DHAKA AT A GLANCE - FULL DAY S/S & R/C TOUR OF 8-10

HOURS

ix.

SUNSET OVER SHITALAKHYA EVENING R/C TOUR OF 6-8

HOURS

x.

COMILLA-MOINAMOTI-SONARGAON FULL DAY EXCURSION

TOUR OF 10-12 HOURS

xi.

ARTISANS OF BENGAL FULL DAY EXCURSION TRIP TO

POTTERY VILLAGE OF 6-8 HOURS

xii.

PUBAIL RETREAT RURAL BANGLADESH UP CLOSE &

PERSONAL

xiii.

FULL DAY RETREAT TO PADMA RESORT OF 10-12 HOURS

b) Overnight trips: The package offer includes one or two days accommodation at
destination, all road journeys by reserved vehicle, local guide, and boat. Some
diversified line of overnight trips_
i.

VILLAGE HOME-STAY

ii.

OVERNIGHT TRIP TO PUBAIL

iii.

SRIMANGAL TEA CENTRE OF BANGLADESH TRIP TO

BIRISHIRI & DURGAPUR.

iv.

VISITING THE VERY OLD TRADITION OF OTTER FISHING

OVERNIGHT TRIP TO OTTER FISHING VILLAGE

v.

OVERNIGHT TRIP TO SRIMONGOL (TEA RESORT) BY TRAIN

vi.

RAJSHAHI & PUTHIA OVERNIGHT TRIP TO RAJSHAHI &

PUTHIA.

vii.

BIRISHIRI & DURGAPUR EXPLORING THE SCENIC NORTHERN

BORDER AREA OVERNIGHT.

c) Longer Package Tours: These packages are consists with all the Travel Planners
offerings. These packages can be divided into five major offering_

8 | Page

i.

Heritage trips

ii.

Trekking

iii.

Sundorban trips

iv.

Tea estate trips

v.

Boat rides.

d) Tailor made tours: To satisfy every type of customers, Travel Planners has
developed tailor made tours.

e) Outbound Packages: Travel Planners vacation packages in Bhutan, Nepal, India,

Malaysia & Thailand. These packages are co-produced with other companies.
2) Logistics: Travel Planners offers boats, vehicles, guides, fixer & interpreter, film & media
support, consultation. There are some terms & conditions need to be fulfilled to get this
offers.
a) Boats:

9 | Page

i.

Tourist boat 52 pax (Hired), this tourist boat was especially built for
cruises to the Sundarbans Forest and other areas of Bangladesh. It is
your best choice for large groups, as it provides accommodation for 45
people.

ii.

Tourist boat 12 pax (Hired), this tourist boat With its spacious cabins
and generous deck space, the boat caters particularly to the needs of
small, private groups with high servide standard expectations. This
vessel also offers the perfect platform for researchers, special interest
groups, film crews as well exclusive private parties

iii.

Tourist boat 20 pax (Hired), this tourist boat is the first vessel designed
and built exclusively for tourism purpose in Bangladesh. While it
mainly operates cruises to the Sundarban mangrove forest, other
destinations around the country can be reached with the boat.

iv.

Tourist boat 30 pax (Hired) , these two boats both above and below are
designed and built exclusively for tourism purpose in Bangladesh. Mainly
operates cruises to the Sundarban mangrove forest, other destinations around
the country.

b) Vehicles: All Travel Planners vehicles are air-conditioned. They provide the
vehicle with good and experienced driver, oil, fuel, parking fees and small
ferry charges. For booking of our transports, normally they need 50% advance
payment.

c) Guides, fixer & interpreter, film & media support: Travel Planners provide
experienced Fixers for assisting Film crews in the field. They will coordinate
all logistics, time schedules, helpers and related persons in the field. If
required, they will also act as translators (English/Bengali). For other
language translators, Travel Planners will recruit suitable persons. Assistants
for camera or sound can also be provided locally.

10 | P a g e

PLACE:
Customers can get Travel Planners service from three different distribution channels. Travel
Planners main focus is on their customers. So, achieve maximum customer satisfaction, it has
developed online service and there is also traditional distributor system like personal selling and
Travel Planner own office.
1) Travel Planner office: Travel Planners has built to different offices to be more
convenience for the customers. These offices are developed as a way of conveying the
quality of the service to the customers. Customers can get Travel Planners services from
below addresses_
a) Head Office
House # 27, Road # 05, Sector # 07, Uttara Model Town
Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh.
b) Coxsbazar Office

Bloc # B, Plot # 16, Hotel Sea Alif, Kolatoli Road, Coxsbazar, Bangladesh.
2) Travel Planners Website: To be more convenient for the International and local
customers, Travel Planners built their own website. All of their service can be purchased
from this website. For customers convenience Travel Planners named their website,
www.travelplannersbd.com

3) Personal Selling: Personal selling includes direct sell, telemarketing, sending brochures to
customers.

11 | P a g e

PRICE:
Customers are more likely to use price as a quality cue, Travel Planners has made attracting
price for their service. The price is depending on how many days they are on tour and where they
are going. They have different types of package and different price range. Travel Planners has
developed their pricing strategy in way that will encourage the customers to expand his/her
business with Travel Planners. So, Travel Planners implemented relationship pricing strategy as
price bundling. Some of the price bundle given below as example_
Packages

Price

Sundarban:
In Sundarban they have 5 days tour. 3 days and
2 nights.

Sundarban:
It will cost around 12,000 tk per person.

Coxbazar & Saint Martin:

There is 1 night stay in Saint Martin and 2
Nights stay in Cox Bazar.

Coxbazar & Saint Martin:

In Cox Bazar and Saint Martin tour the cost will
be 11,000 tk per person.

Rangamati:
Package includes Boga Lake, Nil Giri, Kaptai
Hanging Bridge, Shuvhalang Water Fall. It is 5
Days Package.

Rangamati:
Travel Planners have package tour in
Rangamati which will cost 8,000 tk per person.

Sylhet Tea Estate:

It is 5 days tour. In this tour the tourists will
know about the Tea Garden and how they
process the tea leaves. There is Bangladesh Tea
Research Institute.

Sylhet Tea Estate:

In this package the cost per person will be 9,000
tk per person.

Tailor made package & Logistics:

Tailor Made Package & Logistics:
The package made by the customers instruction. The price is offered on the basis of customer
demand.

12 | P a g e

PSYSICAL EVIDENCE:
Because the Travel Planners itself as a service is intangible in nature, Travel Planners needs to
incorporate some tangible elements into the marketing mix. Physical evidence will have value to
the customer and it builds up certain images in their heads, which they can talk about when going
back home. Considering these factors, Travel Planners should made sure e.g. the car for picking
up people from the airport is clean and proper, facilities are clean and well maintained, or there
will be always fresh flowers it the breakfast table. Other physical evidence can be retreat
brochures and business card. Within this short span of time, Travel Planners earned remarkable
impetus by way of providing various services to their clients. Today, their employees are
dedicated to providing the best tourism related service, including travel advice, transport,
ticketing and permission related assistance. They have developed their logistics in the form of
transports, boats, resorts and branch offices.
Some of the physical evidence of Travel Planners is:
1. Hotel: : Hotel reservation for customers anywhere in Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand,
Bhutan, India, Malaysia

2. Air: Travel Planners provides service as an agent of purchasing airline tickets.

3. Bus: Travel Planners provides service as an agent of purchasing bus tickets.

13 | P a g e

4. Consultation: Travel Planners provides consultation for every type of customer.

5. Boats: Travel Planners provides service as an agent of purchasing boat tickets.

6. Guides, Fixer & Interpreter: Travel Planners provides guides for every type of customer
and tour.

14 | P a g e

PROMOTION:
Promotion is the role of the marketing mix in tourism. It encompasses all of the ways that the
company markets and advertises the business. This may include typical types of marketing, such
as placing ads in tourist magazines and offering discount coupons in travel guides. It may also
include going from hotel to hotel in the area and leaving a postcard or flier for the service at each
hotel room door.
Travel Planners use some promotional method in order to adapt to and thrive in todays
environment, in which travelers want personalized attention, good value, and the convenience of
the internet. Some of the promotional method is:
1. Website: Travel Planners have websites that do them a disservice.

2. Specialized in online: Travel Planners Pick a few destinations or activities and resolve to be a
better expert at them than anyone else. Consumers now have access to so much travel
information, particularly at their fingertips via the Internet that they have themselves become
generalist travel agents. When they seek help, theyre seeking a true specialist.

15 | P a g e

3. Personalize in Magazine: Travel Planners differentiate themselves in magazine paper etc to

give consumers highly personalized service, recommendations, etc.

4. Develop a repertoire of unique experiences and special access: Travel Planners they are more
unique, they try more to get clients access to special events or people, in more differentiated way.
5. Work with net rates rather than take commission: Especially for custom tours, Travel Planners
consider getting net rates from suppliers and marking them up rather than taking commission.
This gives pricing flexibility and better cash flow, and reduces the hassle of collecting
commission.
6. Travel Exhibitions: Travel Planners are held regularly Travel exhibitions and you should
represent their company. These exhibitions are often several days long with the first day or two
being for those in the trade and subsequently they open up to Joe Public.
7. Social Media: Travel Planners have a Facebook Page for travel business. Get their clients to be
fans and to post reviews of your services. Engage them with insights and tips.
16 | P a g e

PROCESS:
17 | P a g e

Service blueprint of Travel Planners:

Customer

Physical Evidence

Telephone

Travel Planners
Website

Travel Planners
Office

------------------------------------------------- Line of visibility----------------------------------------------Travel Planners

Services

Bus Rail Vessel

Ticketing

Package Tours

Hotel Reservation

Mice

Airport Transfer &

Long Transfer

Consultation

Air Ticketing

Physical Evidence
Selected service

Payment
(cash/check/
credit card)

18 | P a g e

Travel
Planners Data
Storage

Conformation
mail or letter or
fax of purchased
service.

The above Travel Planners blueprint is a two-sided blueprint. So it is made with both point of
view of customers and employees. The entire process can be divided into six general steps. The
process in involved both visible and invisible activities can be seen by customers and employees.
Travel Planners blueprint shows its volume-oriented positioning strategy. Travel Planners wants
to provide service that satisfies every customer, so they try to provide tailor made services which
makes the divergence high. Among physical evidence Travel Planners give more focus on their
E-Commerce website because they want to attract more foreign customers.
From the above flowchart we can see the complex production process. It also shows the
direction in which process flow, job conducted in each steps. This working process has increased
Travel Planners efficiency.
The first step of the service process system involves customer and employees of Travel Planners
in case of personnel selling. There is presence of Physical Evidence in this step. Physical
Evidence plays an important role when customers visit Travel Planners office or website,
because it provides informational cue of the organization to the customers. Travel Planners
brochures, catalogs and photo albums helps customers in purchase decision. Travel Planners
gives more focus on their website because of the foreign customers.
The second step is details of different services that Travel Planners provides which helps
customer to pick the right one for them. Travel Planners tries to make tailor made services for
their customers so employees have a high degree of freedom at this stage.
Travel Planners Services Package Tours: Package tour of sundorban, coxs bazaar, hill tracks, eco agro tourism, tea estate
and rivers.
Hotel Reservation: Hotel reservation for customers anywhere in Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand,
Bhutan, India, Malaysia
Airport Transfer & Long Transfer: There is service for Airport transfer and long distance travel.
Air Ticketing: Travel Planners provides service as an agent of purchasing airline tickets.
Bus, Rail, Vessel Ticketing: Travel Planners provides service as an agent of purchasing bus, rail
& vessel tickets.
Mice: Logistics is provided for different type of event, research.
Consultation: Travel Planners provides consultation for every type of customers.
Third step is selecting the best service suited for customer. Both Travel Planners employees play
an advisor role in this step. Ultimately customers make the decision.

19 | P a g e

Forth step of the service production flow is the payment. Travel Planners takes 30% of the
payment as advance payment for package tours. Consultation, mice, reservation payment is taken
when conformation is delivered. Full payment is taken in case of transportation ticketing.
Payment medium is electronic and cash.
Step five is after payment is complete, all the data is stored in Travel Planners mainframe. Travel
Planners tries to maintain good data storage for their cliental.
The last step is the conformation of the service purchase. Conformation letters, mail or fax is
send to the customers with needed information and details of the services.
The entire flowchart has high level of divergence because of the nature of the service but it has
provided highly satisfied customer for Travel Planners.

PEOPLE:
Customer Segmentation: Travel Planners customers can be
segmented into three major groups on the basis of the nature of
service. Each group has their own unique attributes which is
different from others. These segmentations are

a) Vacationers: Vacationers is the large part of Travel Planners market share. This
segmentation can be further divided into two sub groups; those are domestic
customers and foreign customers. During the winter season the amount of customers
20 | P a g e

both foreign and domestic increases. During festival season domestic customers
increases. Vacationers are mostly family people, they wants package tours to coxs
bazaar or tea estate or sundorbon.
b) Adventure seekers: Adventure seekers customers are divided into bike riders and

trekkers. These customers are young people, mostly university students. Tailor made
services is more attracting to them instead of package tours. Experienced guides and
logistics are involved in this segmentation.
c) Researchers & Corporate Clients: Researchers & Corporate Clients are consists of

both domestic and foreign customers. Researchers & Corporate Clients mostly seek
tailor made services. High amount of logistics for research is needed for this segment.
It is the second most profitable segment for Travel Planners.
d) Others: Some of the customers use Travel Planners as an agent. Foreign and domestic
hotel reservation, ticketing, consultation etc is main demand of this segment.
Categories of Uncooperative Customers:
a) Egocentric Edgar: Travel Planners employees have to deal with egocentric edgar who
place his/her needs above other. Travel Planners employees are instructed to be fair in
their service delivery process.
b) Bad-Mouth Betty: Customers are loud, crude and abusive are in this category. Travel
Planners guides follow selective agreement to calm them down.
c) Dictatorial Dick: This type of customers is regarded as control freak. Travel
Planners put them in barnacles category of customers.

Employees of Travel Planners:

21 | P a g e

1) Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Chief Executive Officer is at top of the management.
CEO gives direction the managers and receives feedback from them.
22 | P a g e

2) Executive Managers (Finance & Accounting): Managers responsible for financing of the
organization and accounting.
3) Executive Managers (Marketing): Managers responsible for communication mix of
Travel Planners.
4) Executive Managers (Management): Managers involved with strategic management
decision.
5) Executive Managers (Operation): Managers involved with the total operation process of
Travel Planners. They are involved with the human factor of the organization. Under
executive managers of operation are the boundary spanners of Travel Planners. Boundary
spanners are divided into two major groups due their nature of job. Subordinate service
roles are played by the contact personnel and sales personnels. Contact personnels
directly interact with customers. They transfers information and they also represent
Travel Planners to the customers. Professional service role is played by the consultants,
guides, travel agents and crews of Travel Planners. These employees are considered as
experts in the line of work.
6) Contact Personnel: Contact personnels are the telephone operators, secretaries,
receptionists of the organization who has subordinate service role.
7) Sales Personnel: Sales personnel also play subordinate roles because customers purchase
decisions are entirely discretionary.
8) Consultants: Consultants are highly involved employees. They give effective advice to
customers and influence their purchase decisions. Consultants are highly trained
employees.
9) Guides: Guides are expert in their own dimensions. They plays crucial role in satisfying
the customers. Travel Planners gives specialized training to their guides.
10) Travel Agents: Travel agent job is more technical than any other job in Travel Planners.
Travel Agents are highly qualified customers.
11) Crews: Crews of the Travel Planners are the logistics providers of the organization. They
operate machineries which help to provide services. Drivers, cameraman, navigators etc
are in this category.

23 | P a g e

Travel Planners believes in ecotourism, they want to introduce Bangladesh as land of natural
beauty and exotic culture. Travel Planners ultimate goal is to make Bangladesh a travel
destination for everyone. Keeping this in mind, Travel Planners is providing services to their
customers and corporate clients.

24 | P a g e

REFERCES:
www.travelplannersbd.com
Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, & Cases by K.Douglas Hoffman and John E.G.
Bateson

25 | P a g e