LEARNING EPISODE 3

Sources of Information on Destinations

(Tourism Promotion Services)

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:

a. Define information in tourism;

b. State the sources for such information at appropriate places in the print media and internet; and

c. Understand the importance of information on tourism for a professional.

SUBJECT MATTER

Topic: Sources of Information on Destinations

Lesson: Lesson 2: Source & Provide Destination Information and Advice (DI)

Materials: Laptop/Cellular Phone, PowerPoint Presentation

References: https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/11450/1/Unit-2.pdf

PROCEDURE

Daily Routine

a. Prayer

b. Greetings

Motivation

SCRAMBLED WORD! The teacher will show a scrambled word with its definition and the students will guest what word is that.

Lesson Proper

The teacher will begin or continue the lecture by discussing the learners about the sources of information on destinations. As she discussed the lessons, she will ask the students some questions regarding the topic.

Discussion

Information in Tourism

Information is an important element of any system or industry to exist and prosper. Tourism industry as a matter of fact requires large amount of information on different areas. The role of information in tourism is an important for everyone. The important information covers image of destinations, products, competitor’s offering, prices, quality and services, promotional and selling activities, channel and experience of tour operators.

Importance of Information in Tourism

1. Planning

Planning is the backbone of tourism services and operations. Even when you have to repeat the operations year after year, there has to be fresh input of planning each year. In fact a four-pronged strategy for planning in tourism services seems to work well. The elements of this strategy are:

• retrospective analysis,

• current perceptions,

• introspective analysis, and

• Futuristic vision.

2. Managing

Managing to satisfy the customer is the life of tourism industry. It is at this level that a tour can make or break. “Admirable management” is the most common accolades for making a tour memorable experience. Besides training, therefore, it is the different kind of information input that tourism professionals require in managing his/her tour as an important component.

Some major areas under which information is generally needed while managing tours are:

• Tourist profiles,

• Kinds of tour packages available,

• Different modes of travel that can be arranged,

• Types of accommodation,

• Knowledge of the destination area, and

• Kinds of ancillary services that can be procured.

3. Promotion

Promotion is what facilitates the selling of tours. The central objective of all promotional efforts is to inform, generate interest and involve. Here again, interest and involvement may be generated by providing the tourist with interesting, attractive and useful information as much as to convert need in to a purchase.

Some of the more common and often repeated methods of promotion are:

• Presentation – introductory in nature and essentially aimed at providing information.

• Publicity – a more vigorous promotion and exercise, with the help of detailed information, and

• Advertising – is a tool providing specialised information with promotional mix.

•

4. Future Orientation

Future orientation is possible. How do we manage our future is an important consideration.

Specially for getting the desired results at present, future orientation becomes an integral part of development and expansion of your operations. Analysing forecasts about tourist movements, emerging trends, nature of competition etc. all depend on information.

5. Image Projection

The magnitude of image problem influences the intensity of success. It is difficult for any organisation to exist if the image problem continues. The projection of a fair image thus becomes the integral part of our marketing strategy.

Key Sources of Information in Tourism