DEVELOPING A MARKETING STRATEGY FOR MTDC

RESORTS AKIN TO THE RESORT OPERATIONS

BRANCH AND RESERVATION BRANCH OF MTDC

A Report Submitted to

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, Mumbai

For the

Summer Internship Programme of MBA 3rd

Semester,

Department of Business Administration

Assam University, Silchar

In the Subject of

Hospitality and Tourism Management

Submitted By

KRISHNENDU CHOUDHURY

3rd

Semester

MBA, Assam University

Under the Mentorship of

Mr. Rohit Ahire

Executive Assistant

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, Mumbai

Under the Guidance of

Mr. Chandrashekhar S. Jaiswal

Deputy General Manager

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, Mumbai

PREFACE

In the recent years professional courses have reached a great height amongst the

present generation. The course of Master of Business Administration, (MBA) has

extensively developed for the students to meet high expectations and requirements to

be a part of the corporate sector and acquire knowledge in various aspects in business

administration.

As a part of the academic course curriculum in management, MBA students from

Department Of Business Administration, Assam University are sent to different

business organizations to undergo training to practice the theoretical knowledge

gained through studies and get accustomed to the day to day workings of an

organization.

I, Krishnendu Choudhury pursuing MBA course from Department Of Business

Administration, Assam University, Silchar. I took up this project on “A STUDY ON

DEVELOPING THE MARKETING STRATEGIES For The MTDC RESORTS

AKIN TO THE RESORT OPERATIONS BRANCH AND RESERVATION

BRANCH OF THE MTDC RESORTS.” and it has been my privilege to be

associated with MAHARASHTRA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CORPORATION, MUMBAI with the aim to obtain practical exposure.

[i]

ACKNOWLEGMENT

Grateful acknowledgement is here made to those who helped to gather data for this

paper. This work would not have reached its present form without their individual

help.

This training part of MBA programme taught me a lot to understand the key to

success in an organization. For the preparation of this project, many people have

helped me directly or indirectly since no project can be completed through the

individual effort only. Therefore, I would like to thank all those who helped me in

completion of my project. This project is not an individual effort but a collection of

efforts by each & every member associated with it. Working with MTDC has been a

gratitude to the following people without whose cooperation and help at every stage,

successful completion of the project would not have been possible.

I would also take the opportunity to thank my department, Department of Business

Administration, Assam University, Silchar, to put the theoretical inputs gathered at

the institute to practice.

I consider it my privilege to express a few words of gratitude to all those who have

guided and inspired me throughout the project. A successful project cannot be

completed with individual efforts alone. This project is done and completed with the

help of number of individuals. I shall remain grateful to those who have supported me

throughout the preparation of the project.

I take this opportunity to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Organizational

guide Mr. Chandrashekhar S. Jaiswal, DGM, MTDC, Mumbai for his help and

guidance, which greatly contributed to the effective completion of this project and

also my project guide Mr. Rohit Ahire, Executive Assistant (Resort Operation)

MTDC, Mumbai for his help and guidance.

Krishnendu Choudhury

[ii]

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I'FFIIr

RFE

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I)eclaration

I hereby declared that the project entitled "Dev'eloping a Marketing Sttategt for MTDC Resorts

akin to the Resort operation Branch and Reservation Branch of MTDC'" is a record of

independent research carried out by me at (MTDC, Mumbai), in partial fulfillment of the

requirement for the third semester, MBA degree aS per course curriculum offered by Department

of Business Administration, Assam university Silchar'

{t is an original plece of work done by me and has not previously formed the basis for award of

anv degree, diploma or sinrilar other titles in full or parl'

tl^fih^"^fuLWKrishnendu ChoudhurY V

MBA 2nd semester

Department cif Business Administration

Assam universitY , silchar

Iiii]

TO WIIO}I IT }LAY CONCERN

This is to certify that Mr. Krishnendu Choudhury student of MBA Assam University

Silchar , has successfully completed her SUMMER INTERNSHIP TRAINING from 25th may

to2lth July20l6 at our company (MTDC, Mumbai ).

During the training period she did the project on "Developing a Marketing Strategv for MTDC

Resorts akin to the Resort Operation Branch and Reservation Branclt of MTDC' and her

project was found satisfactory.

During the training period, he has been found sincere and hard working.

We wish him allsuccess in his future endeavors.

/ o ,/(-^,^.tP'

Mr. Chandrahhekhar S. JaiswalDy. General Manager

M.T.D.C., Mumbai

. t t l . Y Ju I t t < v

Mt*.ohit AhireExecutive AssistantM.T.D.C., Mumbai

Ii"]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TOPIC : DEVELOPING THE MARKETING STRATEGY FOR

MTDC RESORTS TO THE RESORT OPERATIONS

BRANCH AND RESERVATION BRANCH OF MTDC

RESORTS

AREA OF STUDY : HOSPITILITY AND TOURISM.

PLACE OF STUDY : MAHARASHTRA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CORPORATION LIMITED.

C.D.O. HUTMENTS, OPP. L.I.C. (YOGAKSHEMA)

BUILDING, MADAME CAMA ROAD, MUMBAI,

MAHARASHTRA - 400020

PHONE: 1800 22 9930

ORGANISATIONAL GUIDE: MR. CHANDRASHEKHAR S. JAISWAL

DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER (DGM)

MAHARASHTRA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CORPORATION LIMITED, MUMBAI.

PROJECT GUIDE : MR. ROHIT AHIRE

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT (Resort Operations)

MAHARASHTRA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CORPORATION LIMITED, MUMBAI.

[v]

ABBREVIATIONS

1. MTDC: - Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.

2. SOP: - Standard Operating Procedures.

3. USP: - Unique Selling Proposition.

4. UNESCO: - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization.

5. SWOT Analysis: - Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat Analysis.

6. WTTC: - World Travel and Tourism Council.

7. FTAs: - Foreign Tourist Arrivals.

8. TALC:- Tourism Area Life Cycle

9. HVAC: - Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning.

10. ISI: - Indian Standard Institute.

11. CRM: - Customer Relationship Management.

12. POS: - Point of Sale.

13. OTA: - Online Travel Agencies.

14. DOR.:- Dormitory

[vi]

INDEX

[vii]

SR.

NO. TOPIC PAGE NO.

1. Abstract 1-2

2. Introduction 3

2.1 About the organization 4

2.2 About the topic 4-5

3. Literature review of the research 6-7

4. Marketing Mix (4 P‟s of Marketing) 8-9

4.1 Product 9-11

4.2 Price 12-13

4.3 Promotion 14-16

4.4 Place, Quality and Tourism Potential in Maharashtra 17-21

5. SWOT analysis of the Organization 22-23

5.1 Strength(S) 23-25

5.2 Weakness(W) 26-28

5.3 Opportunities(O) 29-30

5.4 Threat (T) 31-32

6. Foreign tourist arrivals in India, 1998-2014 33-34

6.1 Graph showing the flow of foreign tourist 35

7. Top ten source countries for foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2014 36-37

7.1 Graph showing the percentage share of the top ten Countries 38

8. Number of domestic tourist visit in top ten states in India 39-40

8.1 Graph showing the growth rate of domestic tourist flows in top ten

states of India 41

9. Developing The Marketing Strategy For MTDC For Increasing The

Resort Occupancy Rate 42-46

9.1 Strategies To Increase the Occupancy Rate of MTDC Resorts 47-58

10. Current Occupancy status and Comparison between Current and

Expected Occupancy status 59-65

11. Applications And Recommendations 67-71

12. Conclusion 72-73

13. References 74-75

TOPIC: - DEVELOPING THE MARKETING STRATEGY

FOR MTDC RESORTS AKIN TO THE RESORT

OPERATION BRANCH AND RESERVATION BRANCH

OF MTDC

1.

ABSTRACT:-

The objective of this research is to explore marketing strategy in the hospitality

industry in terms of product offering, pricing, and promotion along with the

relationship of customers‟ satisfaction with such practices. The study was limited to

the resorts that provide sleeping accommodations and meal options in Maharashtra.

The findings show that the resorts are mostly sole proprietorship. They offer

discounts, assist and greet customers, work in a friendly manner, and provide clean

rooms. Also, no significant relationship was found between the level of marketing

practices and the business-related factors. Likewise, there was no significant

relationship between the level of customer‟s satisfaction and the marketing practices.

Implications and recommendations are provided for managers.

Key words: Marketing, products, prices, promotion, tourism.

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2.

INTRODUCTION:-

About the Organization and topic :-

2.1. Brief description of MTDC:-

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has been established under

The Companies Act 1956 and it was set up in 1975 by Government of Maharashtra

with an authorized share capital of Rs 25 crore for systematic development of tourism

on commercial lines and to double the tourist traffic into the state. It has been

involved in the development and maintenance of various tourist destinations of

Maharashtra and it owns and maintains resorts in all tourist centers such as

Harihareshwar, Velneshwar, Tarkarli, Ganpatipule, Matheran , etc. Apart from this, it

has 17 information and reservation counters located in the state. MTDC aims to

promote tourism in the state of Maharashtra and change its image from a favorable

tourist destination to a premier tourist destination. Apart from acting as the nodal

agency of the state for promotion and development of tourism, MTDC also projects

and enhances its historical, physical and cultural heritage. A State Tourism Board,

MTDC has been playing a pivotal role in projecting the multi-faceted culture and

heritage of Maharashtra among visitors from all over the country and the world. The

main role of this Government body is to act as the nodal agency for the development

of tourism in the state, run holiday resorts, Resorts, motels, restaurants, and produce

publicity and promotional material for tourists. It also organizes festivals at the

heritage sites and places of historical and tourist attractions in the state, such as

Banganga, Kalaghoda, Pune etc. It gets the support from Corporate and other

sponsors for such initiatives.

2.1 About the Topic :-

Traveling is a normal part of life for most individuals. Thousands of years ago there

were the pre-historic nomadic tribes who traveled for better weather, safety and to

seek food. Today, traveling is a part of everyday life for most working professionals.

In keeping with the increase in tourists desire to travel for pleasure or for business,

Hotels and Resorts are there ready to provide sleeping accommodations, food,

beverage, and recreational facilities. In India, travel and tourism as an industry has

performed a key role in the economy because of its capacity to generate more

revenues for the local municipalities and the country. Maharashtra is considered one

of most beautiful places in India due to its strategic location and the interesting

adventurous sceneries that are preserved and protected by the government to attract

repeat tourists. The tourism industry provides career opportunities for people of every

generation, experience and education. Hotels and Resorts play an important role in

the attainment and acceleration of the social and economic growth of the country. In

the province of Maharashtra the potential growth and development towards

industrialization and its programs to promote local and foreign tourism led to the

growth of the Hotels and Resorts that are now serving the province. Aside from being

one of the main educational centers in the country, Maharashtra province is fast

becoming a tourist spot because of the beauty of the natural resources and the

rich/cultural heritage such as the presence of ancestral building, Sea beach, Religious

temples etc.

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3.

LITERATURE REVIEW: PRODUCTS, PRICES,

PROMOTIONS, PLACE:-

Any Hotels or Resorts business can be formed as a sole proprietorship, partnership or

even a corporation, depending on the nature and type of the business. Regardless of

the type of business ownership, they all aim to create raving fans through customer

intimacy since they want all their guests to become repeat customers (Mujtaba and

Johnson, 2004). Etzel (2004) states that the business market consists of all individuals

and organizations that buy goods and services. So, any goods or services purchased

for a reason other than personal or household consumption is part of the business

market. The activity of marketing goods and services to business users, rather than to

ultimate consumers, is business marketing and a firm performing the activity is a

business marketer. Every retail store and wholesaling establishment is a business

user, as is the case with every Resorts, and restaurant. Business market demand

generally is derived, inelastic, and widely fluctuating. Business buyers usually are

well informed about what they are buying. Business market demand is analyzed by

evaluating the number and kinds of business users and their buying power.

Kotler (2009) argues that selling products and services to a company is

fundamentally different than selling to individuals.

Others disagree, claiming that marketing theory is still valid and only

involves some adaptation in the marketing tactics. In order for firms to be

competitive and remain in business, their products, prices and promotional activities

must be satisfactory and offer as good a value as most rivals and industry leaders

(Mujtaba and McFarlane, 2007).

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4.

MARKETING MIX (4 P’S OF MARKETING):-

According to Philip Kotler “Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables that the

firm can use to influence the buyer‟s response”. The controllable variables in this

context refer to the 4 „P‟s [product, price, place (distribution) and promotion]. Each

firm strives to build up such a composition of 4„P‟s, which can create highest level of

consumer satisfaction and at the same time meet its organizational objectives. Thus,

this mix is assembled keeping in mind the needs of target customers, and it varies

from one organization to another depending upon its available resources and

marketing objectives. Let us now have a brief idea about the four components of

marketing mix.

4.1. Product:-

A product is any tangible or intangible good or service offered to customers. To

satisfy customers, businesses should render quality products and services. Nankervis

(1992) mentions that productivity of Resorts in Southeast Asia assumes crucial

importance when compared with competitors; for example, in terms of intangible

services, even the check-in and check-out speeds and luggage delivery times should

be monitored, measured, and compared with Competitors by business managers.

Lovelock and Foster (1991) describe service as intangible and experiential.

According to Kotler (1996), service is an act or performance that one can offer to

another that is essential, intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything.

He further on Journal of Management and Marketing Research Marketing of Resorts

and Resorts, Page3 stated that service can be categorized into four groups: (a) pure

tangible goods (b) tangible goods with accompanying sources, (c) major service,

accompanying minor goods or service, and (d) a pure service which could also be

classified into people and equipment based. Peter and Donnelly (1991) stated that

service quality is paramount for all service providers. In recent years, more than forty

percent of all customers surveyed listed poor service as the number one reason for

switching to the competition while only eight percent listed price as a reason for

switching (Peter and Donnelly, 1991). It is easier and five times cheaper to keep an

existing customer than to recruit a new one. One special marketing challenge facing

most service businesses is to find ways of keeping their current customers and to

make their offerings more tangible to potential customers. According to Walker,

Boyd and Larreche (1996), some methods for keeping customers can include:

1. Designing recreational facilities and training personnel to serve as

symbol of service quality.

2. Creating a tangible representation of the service.

3. Tying the marketing of services to the marketing of goods. A service is

an experience, perishable and cannot be inventoried for future use.

Whether the company adopts a standardized or localized international

Marketing strategy the services and products offered must be at their

highest quality.

So service and product quality are paramount for all service providers and

organizations that want to survive.

4.1.1 Following shows how MTDC is relating to the product:-

Products Relating to MTDC Resorts:-

SR.

NO.

NAME OF THE RESORTS

(AS A PRODUCT)

UNIQUE SELLING

PROPOSITION(USP)

1. HARIHARESHWAR BEACH RESORT

2. VELNESHWAR BEACH RESORT

3. TARKARLI BEACH RESORT

4. TARKARLI HOUSE BOAT BEACH RESORT

5. GANPATIPULE BEACH RESORT

6. MATHERAN HILL RESORT

7. MALSHEJ GHAT HILL RESORT

8. MAHABALESHWAR HILL RESORT

9. PANSHET HILL RESORT

10. BHANDARDARA HILL RESORT

11. CHIKHALDARA HILL RESORT

12. ELLORA RESTAURANT AND BEER BAR WORLD HERITAGE SITE

RESORT

13. ELEPHANTA RESTAURANT AND BEER BAR WORLD HERITAGE SITE

RESORT

14. AJANTA “T” JUNCTION WORLD HERITAGE SITE

RESORT

15. AJANTA TOURIST RESORT WORLD HERITAGE SITE

RESORT

16. RESORTS SHIRDI PILGRIMAGE RESORT

17. TADOBA MOHARLI JUNGLE RESORT

18. NAGPUR TOURIST RESORT

19. KARLA NATURE RESORT

Source:- MTDC TARIFF

4.2 Price:-

Price is the amount that can be charged for a company‟s products or services. In the

setting of prices, managers/owners should see to it that prices are reasonably

affordable, fair, and competitive. According to McCarty and Perrault (1990), price is

what is charged for a firm‟s products or services since a business transaction can be

an exchange of money, which represents the price. Walker, Boyd and Larreche

(1996) state that companies find it difficult to adopt standardized pricing strategy

across countries because of reasons such as different transportation cost, exchange

rate, competition, market demand, objectives, government policies and regulation,

taxes and other factors. Pricing is an art and its main goals are to optimize profit,

reduce losses, and maintain market share for the organization and the industry.

According to Pagoso and De la Cruz (2000), price is a very important factor in the

operational market because this is the only element among the four P‟s of marketing

mix that generates income. Lao (2001) states that pricing is a science, but it is not

necessarily an exact science since it require some skill and research. Through an

exhaustive accumulation of decision-making information combined with the

company operation, managers can create a good pricing policy. According to O‟Hara

(1995), pricing plays a major role in any business establishment. He suggested that

the determination of prices involves three primary considerations such as cost,

competition and customers. The right price is one which the customers will be willing

to pay and at the same time it allows a reasonable margin of profit. As mentioned by

Salazar and Sanvictores (1990), there are various ways to figure the right price. Some

entrepreneurs use the cost-plus method wherein the costs of Journal of Management

and Marketing Research Marketing of Resorts and Resorts, Page 4 making an item

are calculated and an extra amount is added for profit. Others figure the prevailing

market prices and then use them as guide to their own prices, either a little above or a

little below the prevailing market price. Prices of products can be changed from time

to time due to fluctuation or an economic recession. Prices influence the market

share, competition, profit, product quality and the entire marketing program. An

example of pricing can include what a resort or Resorts charges for a room per night.

There are two major components of room rates as mentioned by Vallen (1985): first,

room rates must be large enough to cover costs and a fair return on invested capital;

and secondly, it must be reasonable enough to attract and retain the clientele to whom

the operation is being marketed.

4.2.1 Following Shows how MTDC relating to Price:-

Price Relating To MTDC Resorts:- (01-01-2016 to 30-04-2017)

SR.

NO. NAME OF THE RESORTS SEASON PERIOD OFF SEASON PERIOD

MAX.

TARIFF

MIN.

TARIFF

MAX.

TARIFF

MIN.

TARIFF

1. HARIHARESHWAR Rs. 2450 Rs. 2250 Rs.1750 Rs. 1550

2. VELNESHWAR Rs. 1700 Rs. 1200 Rs.1200 Rs.900

3. TARKARLI Rs.4700 Rs. 2400 Rs.3100 Rs.1700

4. TARKARLI HOUSE BOAT Rs. 10000 Rs.7100 N/A N/A

5. GANPATIPULE Rs. 4000 Rs. 2000 Rs. 2800 Rs.1400

6. MATHERAN Rs. 4000 Rs. 1100 N/A N/A

7. MALSHEJ GHAT Rs. 5600 Rs.1500 Rs. 4000 Rs. 1100

8. MAHABALESHWAR Rs. 4750 Rs. 1200 Rs.3150 Rs. 900

9. AJANTA “T” JUNCTION Rs. 1800 N/A N/A N/A

10. AJANTA TOURIST RESORT Rs. 1900 Rs. 1600 Rs. 1700 Rs. 1200

11. ELLORA RESTAURANT AND

BEER BAR N/A N/A N/A N/A

12. KARLA Rs. 8100 Rs.1400 N/A N/A

13. ELEPHANTA RESTAURANT

AND BEER BAR Rs. 1500 N/A Rs. 1000 N/A

14. PANSHET Rs. 10000 Rs. 1500 N/A N/A

15. BHANDARDARA Rs. 4850 Rs. 1100 N/A N/A

16. RESORTS SHIRDI Rs. 2000 Rs. 700 N/A N/A

17. CHIKHALDARA Rs. 4000 Rs. 2100 N/A N/A

18. TADOBA MOHARLI Rs. 2950 Rs. 1600 Rs. 2400 Rs. 1200

19. NAGPUR TOURIST RESORT Rs. 6000 Rs. 1500 N/A N/A

SOURCE:- MTDC TARIFF

4.3 Promotion:-

Promotion refers to the process of informing and persuading the consumers to buy

certain product. By using this process, the marketers convey persuasive message and

information o its potential customers. The main objective of promotion is to seek

buyers‟ attention towards the product with a view to;

– arouse his interest in the product;

– inform him about its availability; and

– inform him as to how is it different from others.

It is thus a persuasive communication and also serves as a reminder. A firm uses

different tools for its promotional activities which are as follows:

– Advertising

– Publicity

– Personal selling

– Sales promotion

These are also termed as four elements of a promotion mix. Let us have a brief idea

about these promotion tools.

A. Advertising: Advertising is the most commonly used tool for informing the

present and prospective consumers about the product, its quality, features,

availability, etc. It is a paid form of non-personal communication through

different media about a product, idea, a service or an organization by an

identified sponsor. It can be done through print media like newspaper,

magazines, billboards, electronic media like radio, television, etc. It is a very

flexible and comparatively low cost tool of promotion.

B. Publicity: This is a non-paid process of generating wide range of

communication to contribute a favourable attitude towards the product and the

organization. You may have seen articles in newspapers about an organization,

its products and policies. The other tools of publicity are press conference,

publication and news in the electronic media etc. It is published or broadcasted

without charging any money from the firm. Marketers often spend a lot of time

and effort in getting news items placed in the media for creation of a favorable

image of the company and its products.

C. Personal selling: You must have come across representatives of different

companies knocking at your door and persuading you to buy their product. It is

a direct presentation of the product to the consumers or prospective buyers. It

refers to the use of salespersons to persuade the buyers to act favourably and

buy the product. It is most effective promotional tool in case of industrial

goods.

D. Sales promotion: This refers to short-term and temporary incentives to

purchase or induce trials of new goods. The tool include contests, games, gifts,

trade shows, discounts, etc. Sales promotional activities are often carried out at

retail levels.

If the product is manufactured keeping the consumer needs in mind, is rightly priced

and made available at outlets convenient to them but the consumer is not made aware

about its price, features, availability etc, its marketing effort may not be successful.

Therefore promotion is an important ingredient of marketing mix as it refers to a

process of informing, persuading and influencing a consumer to make choice of the

product to be bought. Promotion is done through means of personal selling,

advertising, publicity and sales promotion. It is done mainly with a view to provide

information to prospective consumers about the availability, characteristics and uses

of a product. It arouses potential consumer‟s interest in the product, compare it with

competitors product and make his choice. The proliferation of print and electronic

media has immensely helped the process of promotion.

Promotion is a way of informing people about the services and products of an

organization. It is an important tool in business to persuade more and more

prospective customers in order to be successful in the industry. Promotion is a

technique that is designed and utilized by companies as a way of enhancing their

brand perception as well as to encourage customers to use their products and services.

As mentioned by Strong (1977), promotion can be improved through: (1) analysis of

spending and establishing objectives, (2) better selection of appropriate promotional

techniques, (3) pre-testing, (4) evaluation, (5) focusing on the long-term, and (6) the

development of more detailed information on the effect of promotion. Peter and

Donnelly (1991) mentioned that a seller‟s product can be promoted through

advertising in printed and electronic media. A message can be designed to inform,

persuade and remind people about the firm‟s offerings. Peter and Donnelly mention

that there are three basic factors to be considered in devising a promotion mix: (1) the

role of promotion in the over-all marketing mix, (2) the nature of the product, and (3)

the nature of the market.

As of now Maharashtra Tourism is well versed with its Products and Price

which is almost well known to the tourist visiting Maharashtra or willing to visit

Maharashtra while tourist are not aware about promotional activities conducted by

Maharashtra Tourism, It is worth mentioning here that Maharashtra Tourism should

have acceptable promotional activities which can be easily accepted and understood

by the tourist.

4.4 Place:-

Basically, place or distribution activities are used to transfer ownership to

consumers and to place products, services and ideas at the right time and place.

Distribution is made up of two components:

(1) Physical distribution

(2) Channels of distribution.

Physical distribution consists of the activities involved in moving products or

services from producer to consumer. Examples include:

1. Transportation

2. Warehousing and Storage

3. Order Processing

4. Inventory Control

5. Locations

Often, the objective of physical distribution is to move goods to consumers at

minimum cost. This can frequently be accomplished through cost trade-offs, as and

when an organization shifts from railways to air transportation, thereby increasing

transportation costs but possibly decreasing total costs because of substantial decline

in the cost of inventory. Sometimes, management considers the cost of lost sales in its

cost trade-off analysis. The cost of lost sales is that cost which results when goods are

not available at the time, place, and in the condition desired by consumers. Thus, if

air freight moves goods to consumers faster than trucks, the cost of lost sales can be

reduced.

The physical distribution network should be oriented towards the needs and desires of

target consumers. Thus, the target consumers for cut flowers may require very rapid,

fresh and damage-free transportation, thereby necessitating air freighting.

(e.g., sending roses from Bangalore or Nasik to Bombay by air). On the other hand,

target consumers of an item like steel or cement may look for reliability in delivery

schedules but relatively' unconcerned with speed of delivery suggesting the use of rail

transportation.

The channels of distribution are those routes through which the ownership of goods,

services and ideas flows on the way from producer to consumer. Thus, a rather

typical channel for consumer goods such as grocery items is from producer to

wholesaler to retailer to ultimate consumer.

In establishing channels of distribution, the marketer decides which marketing

functions are needed in order to satisfy target consumers, and then determines which

institutions can best perform these functions.

A typical marketing plan has the following components:

Description of the current marketing situation, i.e., `where we are' or situation

analysis, identification of problems and opportunities in the situation, definition of

objectives of the marketing plan, i.e., `where we want to be', designing the marketing

strategy, developing the marketing programme, and estimating the necessary

appropriations, i.e., budgeting, forecasting sales and estimating cost and profit

contribution. An important point that you should remember here is that marketing

planning, like any other planning process, is an iterative process and has to be done

on a continuing basis. In other words, what is needed is constant monitoring,

redefinition, adaptation, and re-evaluation of objectives and strategy, its

implementation and control in an effort to obtain maximum payoff from ever-

changing market situation.

Quality:-

According to McCarthy and Perrault (1990), quality means the ability of a product to

satisfy customers‟ needs. Resorts and resorts must focus on providing quality services

and products to their customers in order to keep them satisfied and perhaps make

them repeat clients. Foster (1992) pointed out that the dining experience and image of

a restaurant may be enhanced through a friendly welcome and devotion to the

slightest of customers‟ needs. Regardless of restaurant type, promptness and courtesy

should be offered to customers. Quality in many respects is derived from the

successful management of the other key products and services (Jones and Pizam

1993) and the two broad strategies for success in the hospitality industry can be

quality control and quality assurance.

Maharashtra has recognized tourism as a major thrust area for Economic growth in

the state because Sahyadri Mountain is the backbone of Maharashtra. Maharashtra is

a land of rich culture, tradition and festivals and is a major trade and tourist

destination of India, attracting thousands of tourists from across the world every year.

As a result Maharashtra is the first state to declare “Tourism District” for the tourism

development.

Marathi is the language of Maharashtra. Maharashtrian take great pride in their

language and history, particularly the Maratha Empire; its founder Shivaji is

considered a folk hero across India. There are many temples in Maharashtra, some of

them being hundreds of years old, and are constructed in a fusion of architectural

styles borrowed from North and South India, The temples also blend themes from

Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cultures. The temple of Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur is the

most important temple for the Varkari devoties of God. Other important religious

places are the Ashtavinayaka temples of Lord Ganesh; Shirdi is famous for Shri Sai

Baba, Bhimashankar which is one of the twelve Jyotirlings (Lord Shiva temples).

Ajanta, Ellora caves near Aurangabad and Elephanta caves near Mumbai are

UNESCO World Heritage Sites and famous tourists‟ attractions. Mughal architecture

can be seen in the tomb of the wife of Aurangzeb, called Bibi Ka Maqbara situated at

Aurangabad. Maharaja Ranjit Singh‟s endowment saw the construction of a beautiful

Gurudwara at Nanded around 1835 A.D. The Gurudwara features an imposing golden

dome with intricate carving and a breath taking Gurudwara. Maharashtra, like other

states of India, has its own folk music. The folk musical programme like Gondhal,

Lavani, Bharud, and Powada stands popular especially in rural areas. The state has a

separate department for tourism, set up in 1969, but the Maharashtra State Tourism

Development Corporation (MTDC), a government body to promote tourism was

established in 1975. The offices of the MTDC‟s are located in most of the major

cities of the state, and also outside state as in New Delhi, Goa and other places. There

is opportunity to develop tourism industry on large scale in Maharashtra. The

government of Maharashtra has shown keen interest to promote tourism activities in

all over Maharashtra since 1989.Under the aegis of the corporation a number of

tourist homes, resorts, and Resorts operate from several tourist sites to accommodate

visitors and provide information and also arrange guided tours. The corporation also

organizes numerous festivals at some of the well-known tourist places like the culture

and traditional performances, dance, and music providing visitors an opportunity to

experience the land, its heritage, its people and their customs. Some of these festivals

are the Ellora festival, The Pune Ganesh festival, The Gharapuri festival, Paryatan

Mahotsav in Murud (Raigad) and others. Maharashtra contains a number of sites of

historical importance. Of these, some monuments also figure in the list of World

Heritage Sites recognized by UNESCO. MTDC joined hands with Indian Railways

and launched the `32 crore luxury trains, Deccan Odyssey, to promote Maharashtra‟s

history, culture and cuisine. The luxury train travels the Konkan coast on a week-long

journey through Maharashtra and Goa.

On a 720 kms long strip between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, lie a host of

hidden beaches and creeks. Only a few of them are known to the regular beach

hopper. These solitary beaches, alongside the wild and verdant Western Ghats, are a

quiet alternative to the more boisterous goan counterpart. During a drive between

Mumbai, Ratnagiri, and Goa, one can spot dozens of unexplored beaches with white

sands, turquoise blue sea and calm and cooperative people. There is no dearth of

beautiful things to buy in Maharashtra: Kolhapuri-Saaj and Chappals, Paithani-Sari,

Solapuri-Chaddar, Irkali-Sari, Sawantwadi-toys, Warli-Paintings etc.

Tourism Potential in Maharashtra:-

Maharashtra is the third state of India, both in area and population, located on the

western coast of India with a 720 km long coastline along the lush green Konkan

region. Nestled in the Western Ghats and the Sahyadri mountain range are several hill

stations and water reservoirs with semi-evergreen and deciduous forests. The

Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, with its dense forest, is home to several wildlife

sanctuaries and nature parks. Thus all three regions of Maharashtra offer considerable

tourism potential. Maharashtra abounds in numerous tourist attractions ranging from

ancient cave temples, unspoiled beaches, ancient historical forts and monuments,

forests and wildlife, unique hill stations, pilgrimage centers, and a rich tradition of

fairs and festival, art and culture. So, the campaign slogan for Maharashtra Tourism

is “MAHARASHTRA UNLIMITED!”

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5.

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR THE STATE OF

MAHARASHTRA FOR TOURISM

The SWOT analysis is a business analysis technique that your organization can

perform for each of its products, services, and markets when deciding on the best way

to achieve future growth. The process involves identifying the strengths and

weaknesses of the organization, and opportunities and threats present in the market

that it operates in. The first letter of each of these four factors creates the acronym

SWOT.

HELPFUL HARMFULL

INTERNAL

ENVIROMENT

EXTERNAL

ENVIROMENT

Figure: - SWOT Analysis.

5.1. STRENGTH:-

„Strength‟ is something that has a positive implication. It adds value, or offers your

organization a competitive advantage. Strengths include tangible assets such as

available capital, equipment, credit, established and loyal customers, existing

channels of distribution, copyrighted materials, patents, information and processing

systems, and other valuable resources.

You may want to look at and evaluate your strengths by function, for example

marketing, finance, production, and support. Looking at things in this way can make

it easier to identify the positive attributes within each function. Certain teams may

have specialist or unique knowledge, education, credentials, contacts, reputations, or

STRENGTHS WEAKNESS

OPPURTUNITIES THREATS

backgrounds that provide a competitive advantage or add value to your product or

service.

The sort of questions you can ask to ascertain your strengths are:

● What do we do well?

●What qualities or aspects persuaded our customers to choose our product or

Service?

●What resources do we have at our disposal?

●What do others see as our strengths?

●What areas are we seen as being expert in?

●What advantages do we have over our competition?

However you judge the responses to these questions it must be from the perspective

of your operating environment and not from an internal aspect. For example, if

„guaranteed next day delivery‟ is the norm within your industry then this cannot

really be considered strength because your customers would expect it. On the other

hand, if „guaranteed next day delivery‟ is not normal in your industry then it could

legitimately be classified as strength.

Maharashtra is financially very strong and hence has a robust tourism promotion

budget. Maharashtra has highest number of world heritage sites compared to the rest

of the Indian states (Four world heritage sites and one Biodiversity World Heritage

Site). There are many more sites which are equally valuable. Maharashtra has 720

kms coastline region having beautiful beaches like Tarkarli and others. Tarkarli has

won the award of Asia‟s Best Beach. The state receives highest footfall of foreign

tourist, this gives opportunities to 237 convert these travelers to potential tourist.

Bollywood is the biggest attraction for the domestic tourist nationwide. Now the fan

following has extended to global sphere. Various amusement parks boost domestic

tourism. Maharashtra has ample scope for special tourism like Cultural, Rural,

heritage, wine and food festivals, Event tourism and Bollywood tourism. Maharashtra

has diversified tourist destinations which offer various avenues for tourism. Basically

the strength of MTDC is the Location and the fund given by the government. The

MTDC resorts are situated in fabulous places where the natural beauties helped them

for attracting the tourist and helped them to generate revenue for them.

Following are some key points which can be the strength of MTDC:-

1. The existence of financial resources and possibilities for refinancing.

2. Possession of patents and/ or technologies that give the company a competitive

nature.

3. The existence of distinctive competencies on the following areas:

organizational management, Research and development.

4. Improvement of the services offered to tourists.

5. Tourism market leadership.

6. The existence of the enterprise culture.

7. The existence of a well-organized and effective strategic planning system.

8. The diversification of the tourism offer and of the tourism products compared to

those of the competition, by additional attractive elements.

9. Flexibility and adaptability to market requirements.

10. The competitiveness of tourist services is determined based on the value for

Money, Marked by a strong seasonality.

11. The existence of a high occupancy rate of the Resorts company will increase the

efficiency of the tourist activity.

12. Extension of the tourist season.

13. Location, privileged geographical position

14. Increasing the tourists loyalty to the company‟s products /services.

5.2 WEAKNESS:-

These are the characteristics of your product or service that are detrimental to growth.

Weaknesses are those things that detract from the value of your offering or place you

at a disadvantage when compared with your competitors.

Factors that are identified as weaknesses can often be remedied with suitable

investment or restructuring. In the example above, it might be possible to relocate the

business or set up a distribution center in the south of the country, but both of these

things would require changes to the way the business currently operates.

The type of questions you would be asking and discussing to identify your

weaknesses are:

●What can be improved or altered?

●What do we do badly?

●How do we compare with others?

●How does our performance compare with our competitors?

●What have our customers told us?

●How did we respond to this feedback?

●What should we avoid?

●How do third parties judge our performance or service?

●Have we self-imposed any constraints?

The more accurately you identify your weaknesses, the more valuable the SWOT

analysis will be. However, because weaknesses are by definition internal there can be

a lot of resistance to admitting to them. In fact, highlighting weaknesses can be

synonymous with drawing attention to areas of the organization which have been

badly managed or where poor decisions have been made. This can make it very

difficult to talk about weaknesses objectively if you want to keep your job. Do not

lose sight of the fact that the existing senior management will be responsible for the

current state of the organization. This is often an obstacle to a full and frank

admission of organizational weaknesses. Assuming that you do feel able to discuss

your organization‟s weaknesses honestly, then it is important that you do so because

the more realistic your assessment is at this stage the more value the SWOT analysis

will have. Many organizations use a simple matrix to compare the importance and

significance of each of its strengths and weaknesses, referred to as a Performance-

Importance Matrix. The level of importance is often simply shown as high, medium,

or low, with the degree of significance rated as key, significant, minor, or neutral.

Those items you identify as being both important to your success and show a low

performance for the organization are the factors your strategy should be addressing.

The promotional campaign lacks in terms of visibility as compared to some of the

other state tourism campaigns and does not have a very strong tagline and visibility

which affects its brand recall. Maharashtra tourism highly depends on leisure tourism,

long-haul markets of UK, USA, France and Germany which is of very unpredictable

nature. Any security and safety issues at the destinations initiate cancellation of

vacations. Mumbai is the most visited destination site of Maharashtra; it gives the

state its first impression. Mumbai‟s poor conditions of highways, road traffic,

transport, touts and beggars creates very poor host ambience. Mumbai‟s transit

destination status: In spite of having highest foot fall of foreign tourist around 50%

tourist visiting India through Mumbai airport, only 5-8% of them travel to various

destination of Maharashtra. Due to Mumbai‟s traffic and transportation they are

skeptical to visit Mumbai‟s attractions. According to the World Travel and Tourism

Council (WTTC) research, India has the highest tax policy for tourist; tourist

pays around 40% tax. Mumbai is among the least, competitive destination with

highest tax burdens. Connectivity to destinations is poor. Mumbai‟s dependence on

Business tourism –most of the Resorts in Mumbai cater to the high return business

tourist and have not focused on leisure tourism. Tourism product of Maharashtra

lacks the innovative tour packaging which cater and impress tourist. Maharashtra

tourism lacks proactive information strategy to attract a tourist at the decision making

point. Web based resources should be used extensively. Overall increase in web-

based reservations reflected a growth of 400%. MTDC lacks the collections of data of

tourist arrivals-destination/country wise, spending patterns etc. which if researched

will help for decision making and future planning. Lack of quality human resources.

Load shedding and improper drinking water facilities are areas of concern. State fails

to establish itself as a brand in the tourism industries.

Following are the Key points which can be the weaknesses for MTDC:-

1. Number of tourists in permanent decline.

2. Old and outdated tourist structures.

3. The existence of inadequate infrastructure, physically or morally worn-out.

4. Reduced duration of the summer season.

5. Inadequate cost management strategies.

6. The existence of high costs and failure to act on them because of the obsolete

equipment that requires high maintenance costs.

7. Inappropriate management of the existing assets.

8. The business environment is unfriendly to foreign investors.

9. Population impoverishment.

10. Competition with the resorts in Anandvan Resort(Bhandardhara), Tiger

Trails(Tadoba) etc.

11. Underperforming management at all levels.

12. The lack of a clear strategy in this area.

13. Permanent erosion of the competitive position.

14. Because, in high season, there are significant deviations of competitiveness and of

the quality of tourism services, the consequences of this policy are manifested today

by the tourists changing preferences to tourist destinations abroad.

5.3 OPPURTUNITIES:-

Opportunities can occur for a variety of reasons and may result from changes within

the market, customer lifestyle changes, and advances in technology, new production

methods, etc. These opportunities for growth can also occur from a resolution of a

problem associated with your current product. For example, Skoda‟s market share

rose considerably once its cars were known to be reliable. Successful organizations

are constantly reviewing their market and services to see how they can increase their

market share.

Maharashtra happens to be the fourth most visited state by domestic tourists and the

most visited state by international tourists in India. The promotional campaign can

make use of the social media space for better visibility. Maharashtra offers a good

mix of tourist attractions including beaches, forts, hill stations etc. which the

promotional campaign can take advantage of. Maintaining the developed commuting

system and can further develop the transportation facilities. Internet and innovative

IT applications can be a boon for the tourism industry services. Many countries today

have large NRI (Nostalgia and Root Tourism population) e.g. UK, USA, SA and

Australia etc. can be tapped for the growing trend of nostalgia tourism. International

airport at Goa will boost the visit of foreign tourists to beaches of Konkan (e.g.

Tarkarli, Kankavli, Vengurla, Ganapatipule etc.). The government funds are the main

opportunities of MTDC.

Following can be the Opportunities for MTDC:-

1. The endowment with natural factors: the Black Sea, mud lakes or freshwater lakes,

climate suited to summer tourism.

2. The attractiveness of the resort where the accommodation and leisure structures are

placed.

3. The ongoing projects supporting future tourism activities: Motorways, Constanta

port expansion and modernization of rail transport, shipping terminals for tourists

etc.

4. Reconsideration of the seaside tourism by modern concepts.

5. Attracting investors, especially foreigners, with management input. The concession

of land on favorable terms to investors, including for setting new resorts.

6. Providing tax incentives for new investments, depending on the size of the

investment in the tourism businesses.

7. Free zone status for casinos.

8. Rehabilitation and restoration of cliffs, greening and maintaining beaches.

9. Organizing events in season beginnings and endings.

10. Promoting tourism abroad by developing regional strategies on attracting foreign

tourists (from the former Soviet area) by offering differentiated tourism products.

11. Amplifying and expanding tourism activities.

12. Completion and quality of infrastructure.

13. Decisions at national, regional/ local levels on finding solutions to the Pheno –

menon of the narrowing of beaches and water pollution in the Sea.

14. Diversification of tariffs for tourists, according to comfort and season, in order to

promote the tourism for young people, for low-income tourists and for students.

15. Tourist attraction by diversifying tourism packages, customizing them, and taking

into consideration the whole potential of Konkan region.

16. Interactive museums, Interactive craft workshops, Small industrial workshops

working at the tourist‟s demand: glass, ceramic, metal engraving, jewelry etc.

5.4 THREATS:-

The final part of the SWOT process involves assessing the external risks your

organization faces. These are referred to as threats and are made up of external

factors that are beyond your control. Even though they are external, which means that

you have little or no control over them, your organization should consider making

contingency plans, no matter how sketchy. This will ensure that you are not taken

completely by surprise, but perhaps more importantly, it can put items „on the

agenda‟ for discussion that people may be more comfortable ignoring. The greater

your ability to identify potential threats the more proactive you will be able to be in

your planning for and responding to such events. Anticipating and responding to your

competitors‟ actions is one of the biggest challenges your organization has to face

and clearly indicates the need for gathering good market intelligence.

Competition from other neighboring states: States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and

Goa are giving a tough competition to Maharashtra by aggressive marketing and

branding using the IT and social media bringing a noticeable change in their tourism.

States like Karnataka improved its road transport at large comparative to the state of

Maharashtra. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have much stronger

promotional campaigns. As Maharashtra is one of the most commercially driven

states of India, any fluctuations in the economy affect its tourism prospects. As

Maharashtra is traditionally not a tourist state it lacks in the area of tourism

infrastructure. The terrorist attacks and bomb blasts scares have caused a major

setback to tourism in Maharashtra. Present potential tourist market perceive the

destination‟s image, beyond its leisure, fun, shopping etc. in terms of their health and

safety. International airports at other cities of India will curtail the number of foreign

tourist visits to Mumbai, thus missing out on an opportunity to attract tourist for

further tourism in Maharashtra. The other states long term and visionary planning

with cooperative working of all the stakeholders towards the set goal (tourism) of the

state e.g. Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa. States like Gujarat and

Madhya Pradesh are doing aggressive branding which are getting recognized by

tourist with positive response. The Resorts which are near the MTDC resorts are

restricting the tourist for accommodate in their respective rooms by giving lower

tariff then MTDC resorts.

Following can be the threats for MTDC:-

1. Unattractive environment for foreign investors due to the fiscal policy of the state.

2. Obsolete equipment in the field of entertainment, catering, internet café, games for

children and adults.

3. The transport between and within stations is hampered by lack of road

infrastructure.

4. Bringing tourism to insignificant economic performance.

5. Recession at national and international levels.

6. Changes in tourists‟ preferences, needs, tastes.

7. Entry of new competitors on the tourism market.

8. The mounting pressure of competition.

9. Vulnerability to fluctuations in the business environment.

10. The infrastructure with varying degrees of disrepair.

11. Labor productivity in the business of tourism is heavily influenced by factors

such as:

- Degree of tourist attraction of the tourist area

- Size and intensity of tourist flows

- Weather conditions

- Circumstantial factors.

12. The companies located in resorts with low attractiveness will record lower

performance and will have to adopt an aggressive policy of investment.

-----

6.

FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS IN INDIA DURING

1998-2014

-----

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India, 1998-2014

Year FTAs in India (in

millions)

Percentage(%)

change over the

Previous year

1998 2.36 -0.7

1999 2.48 5.2 2000 2.65 6.7

2001 2.54 -4.7

2002 2.38 -6.0

2003 2.73 14.3

2004 3.46 26.8

2005 3.92 13.3

2006 4.45 13.5

2007 5.08 14.3

2008 5.28 4.0

2009 5.17 -2.2 2010 5.78 11.8

2011 6.31 9.2

2012 6.58 4.3

2013 6.97 5.9

2014 7.68 10.2 Source: - (1) Bureau of Immigration, Govt. of India, for 1998-2014.

(2) Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.

6.1. GRAPH SHOWING THE FLOW OF TOURIST IN INDIA:-

Figure: - Graph showing the pattern of foreign tourist footfall in India

-----

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Foreign Tourist visit In India

Foreign Tourist visit In India

7.

TOP TEN SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR FOREIGN

TOURIST ARRIVALS IN INDIA IN 2014

TOP TEN SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS IN

INDIA IN 2014

SR. NO.

Source Country

Tourist Arrivals

(in millions)

Percentage(%)

share

1 United states 1118983 14.57

2 Bangladesh 942562 12.27

3 United kingdom 838860 10.92

4 Sri Lanka 301601 3.93

5 Russian federation 269832 3.51

6 Canada 268485 3.50

7 Malaysia 262026 3.41

8 France 246101 3.20

9 Australia 239762 3.12

10 Germany 239106 3.11

Total Top 10 Country 4727318 61.56

Others 2951781 38.44

Grand Total 7679099 100.00

Source:- Bureau of Immigration, Govt. of India

7.1. Percentage Share of Top 10 Countries for FTAs in India in 2014:-

-----

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

Percentage Share of Top Ten Countries for FTAs in India

Percentage Share of Top Ten Countries for FTAs …

8.

NUMBER OF DOMESTIC TOURIST VISIT

ACCORDING TO THE TOP TEN STATES OF INDIA:-

NUMBER OF DOMESTIC TOURIST VISIT ACCORDING TO THE TOP TEN

STATES OF INDIA:-

Source:-

http://tourism.gov.in/sites/default/files/FTA/Revise%20DTVs%20FTVs%202013_

14.pdf

RANKING STATES YEAR

GROWTH 2013 2014

1 TAMILNADU 244232487 327555233 34.12%

2 UTTARPRADESH 226531091 182820108 -19.30%

3 KARNATAKA 98010140 118283220 20.68%

4 MAHARASHTRA 82700556 94127124 13.82%

5 ANDRAPRADESH 98017783 93306974 -4.81%

6 TELANGANA 54084367 72399113 33.86%

7 MADHYAPRADESH 63110709 63614525 0.80%

8 WEST BENGAL 25547300 49029590 91.12%

9 JHARKHAND 20511160 33427144 62.97%

10 RAJASTHAN 30298150 33076491 9.17 %

8.1 Graph Showing the growth rate of domestic Tourist flows in top 10 states

in India:-

-----

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

Growth Rate

Growth Rate

9.

DEVELOPING THE MARKETING STRATEGY FOR

MTDC FOR INCREASING THE RESORT

OCCUPANCY RATE:-

Maintaining the Tourism Area Life Cycle(TALC) of the particular place where

the resort is located :-

Before going straight way into the point, first we must understand that

What is TALC?

TOURIST AREA LIFE CYCLE:-

It basically constitute of 7 stages namely:-

1. Exploration :-

A few hardy and adventurous people looking for something different in a

holiday find a place that is special in terms of its culture, natural beauty,

history or landscape. There may be no tourist services available and local

people will not be involved in tourist money making activities.

2. Involvement :-

Now local people start to notice that there are increasing numbers of people

coming to their local area. They start businesses to provide

accommodation, food, guides, and transport.

3. Development :-

Big companies start to see the emerging potential of the area as a tourist

resort and therefore start to invest money in the region. They build large

Resorts complexes and sell package holidays (a package might include

travel, accommodation, food and excursions). This makes the numbers of

tourists swell dramatically and massively expands the number of job

opportunities for people in the local region, in both tourist related jobs and

in construction and services.

4. Consolidation :-

The local economy is probably dominated by tourism at this stage, and

many local people will make their money from this type of industry.

However, this can remove people from other industries such as farming and

fishing and these industries can suffer as a result. There will be continued

building and expansion of the resort BUT some of the older buildings will

start to become unattractive and a lower quality client base might result.

5. Stagnation :-

The competition from other resorts and a loss of the original features (e.g. if

it had a great beach but that is now crowded and full of rubbish) can cause

the resort to stop growing. The number of people going levels off then

starts to decline, threatening local businesses and services.

6. Rejuvenation :-

It requires a complete change in tourism attractions, and previously

untapped tourism may be found and as a result the place may again attain a

growth period.

7. Decline:-

If the place will unable to compete with newer tourism attractions,

holidaymakers replaced by weekend or day-trippers. Tourism facilities

replaced by non-tourism activities. Resorts or resorts may become

retirement homes or flats for local residents. Ultimately, the area may

become a tourism slum or drop out of the tourism market completely.

Now, on the behalf of above study on TALC we can understand that

how maintaining a tourist site or place is as important as maintaining

the resorts amenities because if the particular place is in a decline place

then the occupancy rate of any Resorts or resort on that particular area

will go on decreasing. So, from the above study on TALC we can see

that the TALC is directly proportional to the occupancy rate of resorts.

i.e., more sustain is the place more and more will be the occupancy level

of the resorts.

Providing or Giving effective offers for the valued customers:-

The customers who are regularly visiting the resorts they are basically is the

targeted customers for any organization so, to retain them for long run the

organization should provide a valued offer or incentive to them.

This offer may be a discounted rate on the rent which they will pay to the

resorts or some freebies should be offered to the customers or some

complimentary breakfast or lunch or dinner should be offered by the organization.

On this competitive era, organization should think some innovative ideas so

that with lesser cost we can retain the customer in a long run some of the ways

may be as follows:-

1. Wishing the customer on his/her birthday or anniversary.

2. Sending some gift on the auspicious occasions of the customer.

3. Giving a special offer to the customer who is very much valued to the

organization.

4. Providing the customer with some offer cards on the visit to the resorts.

5. Providing every possible amenity to the customers.

9.1. STRATEGIES TO INCREASE THE OCCUPANCY RATE OF

MTDC RESORTS:-

Running a successful resort is an ongoing challenge that requires the combined forces

of both management and staff. Policies must be in a place to make sure that daily

operations run smoothly and all resort guests are treated well. It is fair to say that the

primary goal of almost every owner and operator of resorts is to make as big a profit

as possible. To achieve such a goal the focus needs to be on both revenues and costs.

Resorts can boost their bottom line by increasing revenues or decreasing costs.

Following are 30 ways that resorts can do better and boost their bottom

line:-

1. Invest in a more efficient HVAC system

You never want to tell a guest that they can‟t keep their room as cool as they like

because you are try trying to conserve energy. Since resorts often spend more than 50

percent of their operational budget on air conditioning and heat, the best way to cut

those costs is to invest in a highly efficient HVAC system that uses less energy and

fewer kilowatts to cool and heat a room. As today‟s world believes in green

environment so we should use the energy in an effective and efficient manner. The

Electrical equipment which we will use in the resort should be of good quality and

should posses 5* marking and it should be certified by ISI (Indian Standard Institute).

The Electronics goods which are to be bought should be a branded one. So, that it can

work effectively and efficiently.

2. Differentiate your resort from your competitors

Give your guests a reason to choose your resort over a resort two blocks or two miles

away. You can differentiate your resort from your competitors on the basis of price,

policy and service. Offering all amenities and a 3:00 pm checkout are just a few

possibilities. While you do not want to get into a losing battle by dropping your room

rates 25 percent below your competitor‟s rates, you can have a policy where you are

always at or near the lowest rate in town. We have to show our uniqueness over the

competitors. We have to maintain a competitive edge over the other players in the

real field. So, that the resort can occupy more and more guest. Every guest want a

special welcome from the resort if they visit the resort more than once. So, for that

reason the resort should maintain a huge database to maintain the records. The resort

should maintain a great Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to maintain a

competitive edge over the others.

3. Make your employees happy

In the resort or any service-oriented industry, it is particularly important that your

employees project a friendly and outgoing attitude toward the customer. If you make

your employees happy by paying them fairly and recognizing them for their

achievements, there is no doubt that they will want to be good ambassadors for your

resort. When your employees go above-and-beyond their official duties to help out a

guest that creates tremendous goodwill and can lead to repeat visits and

recommendations. The higher management of the resort should always motivate their

employees so that the employee doesn‟t lose it faith over the work. There shouldn‟t

be a autocratic type of leadership because this led to demoralize the employee

mentality. The Higher authority should appreciate and also give some

incentives/rewards to the employee whenever the employee achieve some milestones

for the organization and also on the other side of the coin if the employee can‟t do the

work in a effective manner, it is the duty of the organization to look after the matter

i.e., where actually the fault is without scolding or demoralize him. In this way the

employee will be happy doing the work as they are the backbone of any organization.

4. Make your guests feel at home

Whether your guests are just staying for one night or for two weeks, you should

always do your best to make them feel like your resort is their home away from

home. Soften the decor by adding comfortable furniture, flowers and pictures on the

wall. Having a lobby and a breakfast area with comfortable seating areas makes your

resort feel more like a home and less like a sterile hospital room or nondescript

office. The guests who are coming to the resort for spending their leisure time in the

resort if they don‟t find a homely environment then it will create a negative

impression to the guest. So, to feel them like home environment the resort staff

should behave well should provide all the possible amenities which are needed for the

daily life. The Resort entrance, Reception, Rooms etc should clean and also it should

create a positive environment to the guest because according to the 93% rule First

Impression is the Last Impression to anyone. So, the guest should be treated like God

because in India we always say “ATITHI DEVO BHAVA”.

5. Sell resort branded products

We all know that resort guests like to help themselves to the little soaps and

shampoos that come with the room and that some will “accidentally” pack a couple

of towels in their bags before they check-out and head back home. You can add a

new revenue stream by making available for purchase branded resort products like

towels, linens and shampoos.

6. Interact with resort guests personally

Guest will take notice when the person at the front desk calls them by their name. If

the manager takes the time to walk around the breakfast area and asks you how you

are enjoying your stay, it makes a difference. It shows that you are important and not

just another face in the crowd. It is not only that the front desk people will attend all

the problems and queries of the guest, the manager of the resort should personally

interact with them and should ask for the feedbacks and suggestions from the guest

for better improvement on the facility they provide to the guest. This will create a

positive issue or positive concern to the guest. The guest will feel very important and

for this will work as positive marketing for the resort.

7. Be creative, proactive and productive

You do not have to always go by the book. If a guest has an unusual problem, be

creative to find a good solution. If you see something not quite right, be proactive and

fix it before it leads to a complaint. Whether it is engaging a customer or sweeping

the floor, a productive employee will help the resort function more efficiently.

8. Switch from incandescent to LED lighting

Switching to LED lighting, which is almost 10 times more efficient than incandescent

lighting can, in the long-run, save your resort thousands and thousands of rupees in

higher electric bills and the cost of buying and replacing burnt out light bulbs.

Investigate all of your lighting options and see which ones work best for you and

your resort. Switching from Incandescent to LED is a Green change in today‟s world.

As today‟s world believes in a GREEN environment.

9. Offer guests an in-room holiday tree

During the holidays, many guests would love to have a small holiday tree in their

guest room. You can charge extra for special holiday rooms with fully decorated trees

or you might offer guests a chance to buy ornaments to decorate their tree. When

guests leave, they can take home the ornaments as mementos of their stay.

10. Market directly to the resort guest

The personal touch is always a good way to reach out to past guests and encourage

them to stay with you again. Today, social media sites, smart phones and many other

types of technology, make it easy to talk to your past and future guests.

11. Take advantage of point-of-sale(POS) opportunities

Use your front desk or other designated area to take advantage of point-of-sale (POS)

opportunities. You can do things like sell tickets to attractions, rent cars or even sell

key chains and letter openers.

12. Focus on perceived value

Guests are usually willing to pay more if they feel like they are getting more value.

Actual value is not as important as perceived value.

13. Focus on customer satisfaction

The customer is always right is not just a catchy phrase, but also, one of the most

fundamental rules of the resort business. If your guests are satisfied, it will pay

positive dividends. On the other hand, if you upset a guest, that will come back to

haunt you with negative posts on resort review sites and the loss of a paying

customer.

14. Do an OTA audit

It is easy to get caught up in the OTA trap. Online travel agencies can send business

your way, but they also charge a commission and you usually have to sell those

rooms at a discount to the customer. In certain situations, using an OTA to increase

occupancy works well, but to know how much, or little, it is adding to your bottom

line, you should regularly audit your OTA sales and expenses.

15. Do an energy audit

In a similar vein, doing an energy audit can identify areas where you are

overspending. Check everything that uses electricity, gas or other fuel. You will see

where you are spending the most money and can make adjustments to lower your

overall expenses.

16. Host business and private functions

If you have the space, put more emphasis on using it to host business gatherings,

reunions or other social events. You can do everything from holding a training

session in a conference room to being the venue for a wedding on the grounds of your

resort.

17. Focus your marketing on your most important customers

Statistics show that 20 percent of a resorts customers account for 80 percent of their

revenues. If you have large corporate customers or do a lot of business with a travel

agency, it makes sense to give more direct attention in your marketing campaign to

those very important customers. The resort should always focus first on the most

important customers who are visiting regularly the resorts and should inform or

should give first preference for the offers if there is any and they should inform

regularly about the offers and discount provided by the resort in this way we can

retain them for long run.

18. Encourage guests to refer new customers

When you have satisfied guests, they can be a great source for new customers.

Encourage them to refer friends and family to stay at your resort by giving them

various incentives like a room discount on a future stay, free dinner, or perhaps, a gift

card. Perhaps organization can ask for referring some new customer for them as they

are providing their service for those loyal customers for a long period of time.

19. Make a few rooms pet friendly

Many travelers would love to take their pet along with them when they travel. If you

make your resort pet-friendly, you not only can attract a different segment of traveler,

but you can also charge more for your rooms. This is a new thing to attract a great

segment of people who loves pet a lot. So, to project these segment the resort should

capable of providing a special room for the pets which are carried by the guest on the

resort. This will create a great impression to the guest and also promote a positive

marketing strategy for the resort.

20. Offer discounts for extended stays

Some people are flexible with their travel schedule and might want to stay an extra

night. If you offer them 50 percent off on the third night when they pay the regular

rate for the first two nights, many will take the offer and you will generate

incremental revenue.

21. Network with other nearby businesses

Networking with other area businesses that tend to attract travelers and tourists

(amusement parks, museums, restaurants…) increases revenue for the resort and the

business partner, and at the same time, benefits the customer. A resort could offer

discounted tickets to local attractions that benefit current resort guests. Business can

be driven to the resort if the resort offers a special rate for anyone who books a room

and shows a ticket or receipt from the resort‟s networking partner.

22. Try to rise on the resort rating scale

You might be surprised how big a difference it can make if your resort goes from a 2-

star rating to a 3-star rating in a popular resort rating service. If you achieve a higher

star level, more people will want to stay at your resort and you probably can raise

your daily room rates based on your higher ranking. Better the service the resort

provides to the guest and also better the feedback the guest gives to the resort higher

will be the rating of the resort and this will create a good impression on the mindset

of the guest and more and more occupancy of the rooms will be there and as a result

more revenue is income by the resort.

23. Start a Honeymoon Bridal Registry

A unique way to increase your revenue is to make it possible for honeymoon couples

to enhance their stay at your resort. Proper marketing can make this another solid

revenue source that will differentiate your resort from others and create a whole new

way to book a honeymoon. Providing a special room or suite for the newly married

couple so that their honeymoon should be a special one and also they can recommend

other couples for the resort. The resort room should be very much sensational so that

the couple can pleased with the service they get.

24. Encourage all employees to be salesmen

If your employees are happy, they will be happy to talk positively about your resort.

In addition to relating positively to resort guests they encounter, you never know

when they will encourage a friend or family member to stay at your resort. Don‟t

ignore your employees. They are your most valuable asset.

25. Add some entertainment

Give your guests a little something extra to look forward to with some free or

inexpensive entertainment. You could have a local musician play his guitar out by the

pool or have concerts at the evening in the resorts. The new generation of today‟s

world wants many things so for that that reason there should a special arrangement of

dance floor on the resort also for the old generation there should be Bhajan kirtan on

the basis of the population residing on the resort that time. But, Most importantly

there should be a great arrangement of entertainment in the resort so that the guest

can‟t feel boredom on the resort and the life in the resort should LIVE.

26. Provide outstanding service

Always meet or exceed expectations and you will have happy resort guests. Every

human being expects an outstanding and special service for themselves. The resort

staff should provide an outstanding service before the guest arrive to the resort by

picking up facility from the Airports, Railway stations etc if the guest acquire those

facility, the bell boy should reach to the guest and pick up the luggage‟s of the guest

and also there should be a great welcome for the guest so that the guest get pleased

with the service and also there should be an service when the guest is leaving or

checking out of the resort, the guest should be ask for a dropping facility to the

Airport, Railways, etc. The bell boy should pick the baggages to the car and lastly

there should be a farewell ceremony for the guest to create a competitive edge on the

thinking of the guest. So they can again visit to that resort only.

The resort can do something beyond this also they can wish the guest on their

birthdays, anniversary, or any other auspicious day so that the guest find himself very

special and this will increase the goodwill of the organization.

27. Have a smart discount room rate policy

One of the world‟s biggest resort operators refuses to sell empty rooms to last-minute

arrivals at a discount to that day‟s regular room rates. It is not that they will not make

money on the room, but rather, they do not want to “train” customers to arrive at 5:00

pm and expect to pay half-price for a room. All resorts adjust their prices regularly,

depending on supply and demand, but they do not single out individuals for lower

rates unless there are special circumstances involved. The management should

provide or implement such a discount so that both the parties i.e. the guest and the

management both shouldn‟t incurs any lose. The policy should be like this if there is

a booking of three rooms by a particular guest for more than a week then the total rate

of the room should be discounted for 40% of the total rate. In this way the

organization can retain the guest for a long run.

28. Reward employees for good suggestions

If an employee comes up with a good idea that will help generate more revenue or

lower expenses for your resort, recognize and reward that employee. When

employees know that they are appreciated, they will continue to work hard and look

for ways to improve the resort. There higher organization should increase or should

give a hike or promote the employee if they give a suitable idea for the organization,

which will help to increase the revenue for the organization.

29. Publish a resort newsletter/magazine

Last, but certainly not least, you can give a boost to your resort by publishing an

effective newsletter/magazine. Guests can opt-in to receive an email subscription to

the newsletter/magazine and it is a great way to stay in touch with current and future

visitors to your resort. Always add great current content and offer incentives that are

only available by subscribing (for free) to the newsletter/magazine. This

newsletter/magazine should contain each and every possible information about the

resort. So, that the guest can‟t face any problem regarding anything on the resort.

This magazine /newsletter should print and should be available in both physical and

virtual forms. So, that guest can access it in a convenient way in which they will free

to read this.

30. Activities, Entertainments and Engagement in the Resorts:-

MTDC specially have Wild life resorts, Beach resorts, Hill resorts, Pilgrimage resort

and lastly World heritage resort. So, people visiting to the resort are not restricting

them to the resort only they want or they will wish to roam whole area or

surroundings near the resort. Each and Every human being is different in nature some

will like Trekking, Some will love for DJ nights, some will love adventure sports like

Boating, Bunging Jumping etc. So, MTDC should be preparing for all this

challenges, the organization should also provide some indoor games like Chess,

Badminton, etc. inside the resort. So, that the kids who come for the vacation in the

resort should enjoy a lot.

Following are some key suggested points which will increase the occupancy rate of

the resorts:-

If there is a River or a Lake near the resort, there should be an

arrangement of Boating, The organization can take a minimal charges

and it will income an amount of revenue for the organization.

If the resort is a hill station one and the resort is situated between two

valleys then some tourist can have a wish of viewing the hills through

ropeways. So, Organization should have tie-ups with all those

organization who are arranging these activities and they can take a

commission from that organization.

There should be a multi Gym facility in every resort as maximum people

are health conscious and these will create a good marketing strategy

also.

If the resort is booked by a group of 25 people and all are of a age group

between 25-35 years then there should be an arrangement of DJ Night.

So, that they can enjoy the vacation and can do a positive no paid

marketing of the organization.

If 30% of the total occupancy of the resort is booked by a particular

party then they should be given a complimentary incentive. So, that this

will great a fabulous goodwill to the mindset of the guest.

All the resort room should posses a free Wi-Fi facility because

maximum people are attached with the social media and they should

share the experience of the stay in the resort with their family, friends

etc.

If the resort is in a Wild life region then there should be a facility of

Jungle Safari for the Tourist. If there is no such facility then the

organization should tie-up with such type of organization who are

arranging such type of rides.

Special tariff should be for Pilgrimage Resort as most of the visitors will

be belonging to the senior citizen age group so they should get a special

tariff for visiting the respective place.

The Person sitting in the reception should be a charming one.

Form a separate panel comprising of representatives of Ministry of

Tourism, State Tourism Department, Head of Civic bodies of the

location

Brainstorming amongst the panel members to develop special

promotional events to attract foreign tourists and boost revenues

significantly from the recommended products

Preparation of presentations/ short films showcasing the location, it‟s

USP / Theme, available hospitality amenities

Motivating the airlines to incorporate features about the destinations in

their in-flight magazines, beaming films as a part of their in-flight

entertainment in their international flights

Motivating the Travel writers / journalists to write features about the

location

Develop incentive based programs for the Travel Agents/ Tour

Operators for promoting the destinations and motivating to the foreign

tourists to visit the same

Participation of elected panel members in overseas travel shows/ travel

marts and conventions about these locations

Utilizing India tourism offices overseas to proactively participate in

awareness campaigns involving the destinations with its new theme

-----

10.

OCCUPANCY STATUS OF MTDC :-

1. Statement of Total (Rooms & Dormitory) available and Occupied percentage

of MTDC's Resort for the period from April'12 to Mar'13.

Sr.

No. Name of the Resort

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

Average

Percentage

Tourist Stayed

Indian Foreigners

1. Titwala 1452 670 46 1430 0

2. Matheran 10963 3514 32 7587 12

3. Elephanta Under Renovation and Upgradation

4. Bordi Under Renovation and Upgradation

5. Mahabaleshwar 42861 20155 47 30537 0

6. Karla 27857 12062 43 27539 0

7. Harihareshwar 2920 1585 54 3637 0

8. Fardapur 10585 2173 21 2881 544

9. Ajanta “T” Junction 1825 505 28 943 86

10. Bhandardara 11384 6362 56 14467 67

11. Shirdi 16600 12636 76 33230 0

12. Malshej ghat 12775 3774 30 12260 4

13. Chikhaldara 4015 1713 43 7525 0

14. Tadoba 5152 2447 47 3097 2

15. Ganpatipule 39023 23141 59 34379 169

16. Tarkarli 10138 7124 70 10218 79

17. Tarkarli House Boat 830 274 33 590 4

18.

Arounda House Boat

( Not in operation

from June 2012)

122 5 4 10 0

19. Panshet 3223 657 20 1423 0

20. Veleneshwar 5475 1219 22 1950 3

21. T.R.C Nagpur 2432 819 34 780 0

22. Tuljapur 1638 240 15 686 0

Total 211270 101075 48 195169 970

Source:- MTDC Database

2. Statement of Total (Rooms & Dormitory) available and Occupied percentage

of MTDC's Resort for the period from April'13 to Mar'14.

Sr.

No.

Name of the

Resort

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

Average

Percentage

Tourist Stayed

Indian Foreigners

1. Titwala 1190 458 38 1103 0

2. Matheran 12616 4368 35 9084 7

3. Elephanta Under Renovation and Upgradation

4. Bordi Under Renovation and Upgradation

5. Mahabaleshwar 37695 14159 38 30260 4

6. Karla 26168 10568 40 28099 4

7. Harihareshwar 2920 1031 35 2083 0

8. Ajanta 9089 2401 26 3566 460

10. Bhandardara 8294 4297 52 9655 25

11. Shirdi 18886 11577 61 25938 0

12. Malshej ghat 14127 3016 21 9602 14

13. Chikhaldara 3520 1057 30 4004 4

14. Tadoba 5042 2743 54 5390 5

15. Ganpatipule 34244 18603 54 35024 231

16. Tarkarli 10950 6795 62 10609 34

17. Tarkarli House

Boat 1090 348 32 774 0

18. Panshet 3276 740 23 1716 1

19. Veleneshwar 5413 1320 24 2570 4

20. T.R.C Nagpur 2928 843 29 2004 60

21. Tuljapur 3285 809 25 2145 0

Total 17732 7489 42 16522 206

Source: - MTDC Database

3. Statement of Total (Rooms & Dormitory) available and Occupied percentage

of MTDC's Resort for the period from April'14 to Mar'15.

Sr.

No.

Name of the

Resort

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

Average

Percentag

e

Tourist Stayed

Indian Foreigner

s

1. Titwala Closed From 16th

April 2014

2. Matheran 10693 4173 39 8796 17

3. Mahabaleshwar 44446 15510 35 39996 16

4. Karla 26493 11270 43 31684 0

5. Harihareshwar 2616 1193 46 2683 0

6. Ajanta “T” Junction 1825 544 30 1096 55

7. Bhandardara 10727 4649 43 10079 11

8. Shirdi 17324 11164 64 23698 0

9. Malshej ghat 15671 4408 28 15068 17

10. Chikhaldara 3562 1452 41 4625 14

11. Tadoba 5080 2845 56 6213 128

12. Ganpatipule 27454 16216 59 24322 67

13. Tarkarli 10950 7007 64 10844 27

14. Tarkarli House

Boat 1392 349 25 802 0

15. Panshet 9072 1891 21 4543 6

16. Veleneshwar 5149 1477 29 3486 0

17. Tuljapur 3285 1037 32 2829 0

18. Ajanta 7424 1558 21 2444 525

Total 203109 86743 43 193208 85

Source:- MTDC Database

4. Statement of Total (Rooms & Dormitory) available and Occupied percentage

of MTDC's Resort for the period from April'15 to Mar'16.

Sr.

No.

Name of the

Resort

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

Average

Percentage

Tourist Stayed

Indian Foreigners

1. Matheran 14068 5200 37 11613 34

2. Mahabaleshwar 34319 14265 42 36270 5

3. Karla 26718 10034 38 28880 2

4. Harihareshwar 5107 2310 45 5264 0

5. Ajanta “T”

Junction 1830 537 29 1076 34

6. Bhandardara 13196 5006 38 13710 14

7. Shirdi 10826 8737 81 18932 0

8. Malshej ghat 17055 5595 33 17749 32

9. Chikhaldara 4753 2301 48 8327 0

10. Tadoba 13298 5854 44 14943 118

11. Ganpatipule 27298 16723 61 33686 102

12. Tarkarli 10980 7048 64 14639 11

13. Tarkarli House

Boat 1336 306 23 699 0

14. Panshet 11145 3004 27 8120 3

15. Veleneshwar 5490 2108 38 4585 3

16. Tuljapur 3294 1904 58 5302 0

17. Nagpur City 4095 520 13 918 2

18. Elephanta 672 44 7 88 0

19. Mozari Point 4862 1990 41 3407 0

20. Ajanta 10614 1953 18 3912 442

Total 220956 95439 43 232120 799

Source:- MTDC Database

5. Graphical analysis of MTDC Occupancy rate:-

-----

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016

MTDC RESORTSMTDC RESORTS

10. EXPECTED OCCUPANCY GROWTH RATE OF MTDC :-

Sr.

No.

Name of the

Resort

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

Average

Percentage

Tourist Stayed

Indian Foreigners

1. Matheran 14068 7800 55.44 11613 34

2. Mahabaleshwar 34319 22500 65.56 36270 5

3. Karla 26718 15000 56.14 28880 2

4. Harihareshwar 5107 3500 68.53 5264 0

5. Ajanta “T”

Junction 1830 900 49.18 1076 34

6. Bhandardara 13196 9000 68.20 13710 14

7. Shirdi 10826 9000 83.13 18932 0

8. Malshej ghat 17055 10500 61.57 17749 32

9. Chikhaldara 4753 3000 63.31 8327 0

10. Tadoba 13298 8000 60.15 14943 118

11. Ganpatipule 27298 20000 73.27 33686 102

12. Tarkarli 10980 8200 74.68 14639 11

13. Tarkarli House

Boat 1336 700 52.39 699 0

14. Panshet 11145 5500 50 8120 3

15. Veleneshwar 5490 3500 63.75 4585 3

16. Tuljapur 3294 2500 75.89 5302 0

17. Nagpur City 4095 1800 43.96 918 2

18. Elephanta 672 300 44.64 88 0

19. Mozari Point 4862 3500 71.98 3407 0

20. Ajanta 10614 4500 42.39 3912 442

Total 220956 138800 62.81 232120 799

Figures mentioned in above chart are indicative and approximate, If

MTDC applies all the applications and recommendations described earlier.

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE CURRENT AND

EXPECTED OCCUPANCY STATUS OF MTDC RESORTS

-----

Sr.

No.

Name of the

Resort

CURRENT

OCCUPANCY

AVERAGE

EXPECTED

OCCUPANCY

AVERAGE

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

Rooms

/Dormitory

Available

Rooms

/Dormitory

Occupied

1. Matheran 14068 5200 37 14068 7800 55.44

2. Mahabaleshwar 34319 14265 42 34319 22500 65.56

3. Karla 26718 10034 38 26718 15000 56.14

4. Harihareshwar 5107 2310 45 5107 3500 68.53

5. Ajanta “T” Junction 1830 537 29 1830 900 49.18

6. Bhandardara 13196 5006 38 13196 9000 68.20

7. Shirdi 10826 8737 81 10826 9000 83.13

8. Malshej ghat 17055 5595 33 17055 10500 61.57

9. Chikhaldara 4753 2301 48 4753 3000 63.31

10. Tadoba 13298 5854 44 13298 8000 60.15

11. Ganpatipule 27298 16723 61 27298 20000 73.27

12. Tarkarli 10980 7048 64 10980 8200 74.68

13. Tarkarli House Boat 1336 306 23 1336 700 52.39

14. Panshet 11145 3004 27 11145 5500 50

15. Veleneshwar 5490 2108 38 5490 3500 63.75

16. Tuljapur 3294 1904 58 3294 2500 75.89

17. Nagpur City 4095 520 13 4095 1800 43.96

18. Elephanta 672 44 7 672 300 44.64

19. Mozari Point 4862 1990 41 4862 3500 71.98

20. Ajanta 10614 1953 18 10614 4500 42.39

Total 220956 95439 43 220956 138800 62.81

11.

APPLICATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS:-

In today‟s marketing scenario it is important to focus on retention strategy rather than

acquiring strategy. New and feasible innovative ideas should be put forth to gain

competitive advantage. However the base for innovation today is not creativity but

curiosity. Today, economy is very uncertain hence under such a situation that the

Resorts should rethink and re-evaluate their marketing strategies since they cannot

afford wasting their funds allocated for marketing. Thus a well planned and well

implemented marketing strategies will be the key success factor for all the small and

standalone Resorts. These marketing programs should be measurable over a time

period, some are long term and some short term. However the results of these

programs must be measured against certain milestones to see whether the programs

are moving on the right path. The short term programs can be measured immediately

and see if they can be improved for the next time. Before implementing the marketing

plan it is important for setting the marketing goals and objectives as to where you are

now and where you want to be. You should be clear as to what you want to achieve.

One should also figure the marketing budget and revenue projection over a period of

time. First you need to analyze the trends in the Resorts industry that is what new

things are happening in the Resorts services, the changing tastes and preferences of

the customers, what new can be provided in rooms, food and beverage etc. and what

are the future trends. The customers should be grouped into specific market segments

like leisure travelers, business travelers etc. These customers belong to different

groups and hence they differ in their tastes and preferences. These groups must me

approached differently with different value proposition in order to increase the

Resorts revenue and this can be done only by understanding the customers in each

segment, their likes, dislikes and biases. Analyze local Resorts sales competition and

try to find out where the unique opportunities exist in your market that can be

exploited. By utilizing in-depth knowledge of local market conditions one can devise

marketing strategies for all the different groups of customers and offer best of the

best services to differentiate oneself in the market.

i. Good hospitality newsletter must be created for your Resorts website.

ii. Resorts newsletters must be posted on all the channels of online marketing.

iii. Offer discounts and packages to newsletter subscribers.

iv. Include all the information pertaining to your Resorts in the newsletter.

v. Include Resorts newsletter archive on the web.

vi. Newsletter subscribers email address must not be shared or sell with the

third parties.

vii. Resorts advertisements must be posted on different online classifieds. viii.

Submit to niche classifieds for your Resorts many of them are free to use.

Create a mobile-friendly website, 81% of the people use mobile apps and

internet to search products and prices (eMarketer 2010 survey), Slowly step

by step one can develop a mobile internet service from getting details of the

Resorts to booking of the Resorts rooms.

Loyal customers must be identified and rewarded in the form of giving bonuses,

discounts in the room rate, provide special rooms, chocolates, free beverages, etc.

This makes the customers feel special about the Resorts. Always update the staff

about the marketing actions and the objectives so that they are well aware of their

role. Conducting social gathering in the form of child art competitions, celebrating

festivals like Holi, Navratri, Diwali, Christmas and New Year Bash will increase the

awareness of the Resorts services in the near vicinity of the Resorts. Catering the end

to end event management programs for corporate and non corporate like organizing

the management training program, product launches, marriage parties, birthday party

etc. gives wide publicity to your Resorts. Organize local food cuisine festivals.

Display banners at city‟s prominent place and entry points. Sponsor mega events of

the city, Something unique, refreshing or innovative must be provided to the

customers which can be shared with their friends. This promotes the mouth to mouth

publicity, During the summer offer a free cold drink, juice or an ice cream at the

arrival of the guests, Establish good rapport with the local people including the

journalists who may write about your Resorts in the newspapers, Use of billboards,

displays at various suitable places and suitable ads in newspapers, magazines, yellow

pages and TV ads will increase your guests, In today‟s cut throat competition one can

adopt cooperation as the right strategy that is the Resorts service providers should

work together with the peers. They may be tourist agents or offices, local gatherings,

and other partners who are related to the travel and tourism industry like the airlines,

rent a car companies or credit card companies and develop joint e-mail marketing

campaigns, Participate in joint advertising, national and international promotional

campaigns, Get feedback from the guests and engage in continuous quality

improvement with rapid corrective actions, Differentiation strategy is an important

strategy which provides price inelasticity and customer loyalty, Cost-leadership

strategy generates the competitive advantage; this could be achieved by having cost-

saving Resorts designs and operational cost reduction, Spend less on papers as we

can now make use of electronics which will be more cheaper than the papers.

Today present world beliefs in a Eco-friendly environment and also Green

environment MTDC resorts should buy good quality Eco-friendly goods like Air

condition, Fans, Geysers and all other electrical equipments should be eco-friendly

and it should consume less energy. The resorts of MTDC should use some USP to

increase the occupancy rate of their resorts with respect to their competitors in respect

to Tariff, Services, Offers, Customer database etc. MTDC should take care of their

staffs/employees very well, they have to make them happy by giving them satisfied

monetary value, appreciate their work if the work is appreciable, and should take

concern of the employee if they are in some problem. As employees are the main face

of an organization and also they are the backbone of any organization. So, MTDC

should make their employee happy. Now the resorts should feel like home to the

tourist come over their so that the tourist can feel like home as in India we say that

“ATITHI DEVO BHAVA” and there is an old say that the first impression is the last

impression. So, the guest should get an awesome welcome to the guest house of

MTDC. So, that they can retain that memory for long time and in the near future if

they want to visit that place they can come and stay in MTDC resorts only. The

MTDC resorts Manager should be very Creative, Active for any tough situation like

any unusual problem faced by the guest etc, and the Manager should be Productive

also for the organization. If the guest is a regular visitor then the resort manger can

ask or request them for referring new customers for them. One new USP for the

resorts of MTDC can be make special rooms for pets as many tourist carry their pets

with them so, it will be a great idea for MTDC to target those tourists. MTDC resorts

can give a discount if the tourist stays for an extended period. Another USP for

MTDC will be introducing special rooms for the Honeymoon bridals. So, that they

can get a pleasant stay over there. The resorts should provide some outstanding

services like publishing Newsletter, Magazines in a weekly or monthly or annual

subscription for the tourist. So, that they can know about all the features and offers

providing by the MTDC resorts.

MTDC Wild life resorts, Beach resorts, Hill resorts, Pilgrimage resort and lastly

World heritage resort. So, the resorts should provide some extra ordinary facility to

the tourist so that they can extend their stay over there.

If MTDC applies all these applications the occupancy rate of the MTDC will get

increased. Ultimately what we will be achieving after employing such marketing

strategies, they are:

i. Increase in the room bookings,

ii. Reduction in operational costs,

iii. Improvement or increase in the rate of income,

iv. Build good brand image,

v. Gain popularity in the national and international arena,

vi. Gain competitive advantage to sustain and grow amidst of hectic

competition.

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12.

CONCLUSION:-

In a nut shell I conclude my project on Marketing Strategy for MTDC resorts in a

way that if MTDC applies my suggestions in an effective and efficient manner

then in the near future their resorts occupancy rate will increase and MTDC will

grow like anything.

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13.

REFERENCE:-

a) Marketing Management, Millennium Edition by Philip Kotler.

b) Research Journal of Management Sciences ISSN 2319–1171 Vol. 2(5), 14-19,

May (2013) Res. J. Management Sci. Marketing Strategies for Standalone

Hotels: With Reference to Mayur Aaditya Resort, Dharwad, India.

c) Indian Tourism Statistics at a glance 2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014.

d) MTDC occupancy rate 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2015-2016.

e) Bureau of Immigration, Govt. of India, for 1998-2014.

f) Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India.

g) MTDC resort Tariff sheet.