midterm lec1

• Tourism distribution channels - avenues tourism products and services are made accessible to consumers
• indirect distribution - if brokers or travel wholesalers are involved,
• chain of distribution in tourism - businesses and platforms involved in selling, distributing, and bundling tourism products
• four steps to the distribution chain:

  1. suppliers
  2. wholesalers
  3. resellers
  4. end customer
• Distribution Channel - set of independent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available to the consumer or business user
• examples of distribution channel:

  • trip advisor - america
  • trivago - germany
  • agoda - singapore
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) - active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage
• Upstream - set of firms that supply the raw materials, components, parts, information,finances,and expertise needed to create a product or service.
• Downstream - marketing channel partners, such as wholesalers and retailers,form a vital link between the firm and its customers
• value delivery network - chain of system where after each system more and more value is added to the productor services there by increasing its overall value for the customer
• value delivery network - made up of the company, suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, customers who “partner” with each other to improve the performance of the entire system
• intermediaries - a set of interdependent organizations that help make a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or business user
• distribution channel functions:

  • information
  • promotion
  • contact
  • matching
  • negotiation
  • physical distribution
  • financing
  • risk taking
• direct booking

  • booking made directly with the provider of the tour or activity
  • best type
• point of sale bookings (POS) - phone or in-person booking
• direct online tour booking - bookings made directly on the provider’s website
• online travel agency (ota)

  • website or online service, which sells travel related products to customers
  • 3rd parties
  • offer many of the benefits
• Global distribution system

  • computer network, which empowers service providers in the travel industry to carryout seamless transactions
  • often used by a travel agency
• Travel Agents - represent a major distribution channel for those in the hotel industry, helping them to connect with a greater number of leisure travelers and corporate guests
• Tour operator - organization, firm, or company who buys individual travel components, separately from their suppliers and combines them into a package tour, which is sold with their own price tag to the public directly or through middlemen
• Tour wholesalers - assemble travel packages usually targeted at the leisure market
• Tourbrokers - link between a client and a service provider
• Junket reps - liaison between casinos and proven premium players, making all the arrangements and accompanying the players
• Hotel representatives

  • A company serving the travel agent channel that serves as the booking contact for a hotel or group of hotels.
  • Localized sales team.
• Restaurant distribution systems

  1. Online reservation systems
  2. Delivery, Take-Out, Drive-Through Window
  3. Concierge
• Factors that Increased Its Importance

  1. competition
  2. globalization
  3. electronic distribution techniques
  4. perishability of the product
• Direct distribution channels - company uses on its own without the assistance of independent intermediaries
• Indirect distribution channel - uses the assistance of independent intermediaries to distribute its products
• channel 1 - direct marketing channel where there si no intermediary level

  manufacturer - customer
• channel 2 - where the manufacturer passes on the product or service to a retailer who sells it to the end consumer

  manufacturer - retailer - customer
• channel 3 - contains two levels where the goods pass through a wholesaler and retailer before reaching the consumer

  manufacturer - wholesaler - retailer - customer
• channel 4 - contains three levels

  manufacturer - wholesaler - jobber - retailer - customer'
• jobber - sells to small retailers who are not normally serviced by large wholesalers
• strategic alliances

  • arrangement between two companies that have decided to share resources to undertake a specific, mutually beneficial project
  • less involved and less permanent than a joint venture
• delivery systems

  • easy way for consumers to have food conveniently brought to where they are
• Quick Delivery - enables restaurants without their own delivery facility to have access to this distribution system