The popularity of tourism increases with references to the emergence of different ways to spend holidays effectively. The opportunities of tourism become more available for the public because of the increased competition within the industry. Today, a customer has an opportunity to choose the ways to spend holidays according to their interests and possibilities, and the main task of a tourism operator is to attract more customers.
During a long period of time, the distribution of brochures containing the important information about the tour and services provided by the tourism operator remained the most effective way to draw the target audience’s attention to the product and services. Producing well designed brochures, tourism operators focus on marketing strategies in order to emphasize the advantages of the product and advertise it successfully.
In this case, brochures are necessary to promotion and persuading customers to choose the certain services. Thus, brochures are important for tourism operators to market their product because they are used to attract more customers, to provide the detailed information about the tour and services, to evoke the public’s interest in relation to the definite tour, to stimulate the customer’s buying behaviour, and to contribute to the effective work of a travel agent; furthermore, the effectiveness of a brochure depends on the quality of information included in it.
The Purpose and Importance of Brochures
The main purpose of working out a brochure is to present the information about the tourism product and services while persuading the customer to buy this product. Thus, an effective travel brochure should attract the customer and include the message which can stimulate the customer’s positive buying behaviour.
According to Bhatia, “since tourism is an intangible product which cannot be pretested by the prospective consumer prior to the purchase, the brochure becomes the important channel of informing a customer about the product and also motivating him to buy the product” (Bhatia 2006, p. 247). Potential customers react to the information in brochures as on effective advertisements. That is why, a brochure should be well designed and organised.
A brochure is important for all the parties participating in the process of selling-buying the product or services. Thus, a brochure is important for customers who can learn all the necessary information about the tour or hotel only with the help of a brochure. From this point, a brochure is designed for a customer.
In this case, the tour operator should focus on the idea that the information and materials presented in the brochure are provided to be effective and interesting for customers. The focus on customers’ interests and needs guarantees that customers receive the information which is most appealing for them (Ivanovic 2008). Customers read brochures in order to find the information which is important for them that is why tour operators can use brochures effectively when they take into consideration this tendency and present the materials which customers want to learn (Beaver 2005).
A brochure can be discussed as effective for the customer when it contains all the information which is required for spending the holidays successfully. Brochures are important for promoting the product when customers receive the necessary information easily. Providing the information on hotels, destinations, services, visa and health requirements, tour operators stimulate the potential customers’ interest to choose this concrete tour or product.
Thus, effective and vivid descriptions of services and destinations should guarantee that customers feel desire to contact the tour operator and choose the definite service (Wicks & Schuett 1991). The importance of brochures is in the fact that the materials provided in them can be discussed as the source available for customers to decide about their choice (Molina 2006). The increased competition within the industry makes tour operators pay more attention to the attractiveness of the information provided in brochures.
It is also important to focus on the potential of brochures as the sources of credible and reliable information on services and products proposed. As a result, the information presented in brochures generates the customer’s interest. Moreover, the first or title page of the brochure is as important for effective promotion of the product as the detailed information presented in the sections of the brochure.
Brochures are important to attract several categories of customers, including those ones who plan holidays and their tours as well as those persons who hesitate about tourism (Sirakaya & Sonmez 2000). An effective brochure can help customers to decide about their choice and focus on the opportunities proposed by the definite tour operator. In this case, a brochure attracts the customer’s attentions, generates the customer’s interest, and influences his or her decision and the buying behaviour (Rozier-Rich & Santos 2011).
All the details are important to affect the customer’s attitude to the advertised tour. Thus, a tour operator should concentrate on including high-quality photographs and presenting or not information on prices. To generate the customer’s interest, a brochure should be organized according to definite standards followed in the industry, but it should be more attractive than the other brochures of that kind.
Effective brochures are important for tourism operators because they encourage sales significantly. Easy-to-understand brochures function as successful advertisements. The combination of the work of a travel agent and the information presented in a brochure can stimulate not only the customer’s interest in the services but also general increases in tourism sales.
Brochures can be used to encourage sales and promote products when they are designed according to the certain principles which are the focus on customers’ attention, interest, desire, and action (Page & Connell 2006). If a customer decides to buy the tour proposed in the brochure, it can be discussed as effective. It is important to note that those brochures which are organised according to the above-mentioned principles are really effective in stimulating more sales because brochures are still actively used in the industry.
Moreover, it is necessary to concentrate on the role of brochures for travel agents. The marketing techniques used by travel agents can become more effective if they use brochures to support their descriptions and explanations. A brochure as a source of the visual and factual information can attract more customers’ attention than speeches and descriptions which are not associated with demonstrating photographs and maps.
Nevertheless, the problem is in the fact that today brochures should be perfect in order to attract the customer’s attention and contribute to the work of a travel agent because of the tendency to use the Internet sources in order to find the necessary information (Wang 2002). Thus, travel agents always used “the prime marketing tool of tour operators – the glossy holiday brochure.
However, more consumers are now turning to new media channels to browse and learn about what holidays are available” (Reaching the Consumer 2004, p. 2). The situation changed, and there are more requirements to the brochure to be effective. That is why, it is important to focus on elements which should be included in the brochure.
The Information Which Should Be Included in the Brochure
To function as an effective marketing tool, a brochure should include the information on the facts which are interesting for the customer. It is important to avoid the misleading information because this fact can affect the reputation of the tour operator negatively.
There is a list of components which should be included in a travel brochure, thus, the tour operator can rely on the effectiveness of the brochure when it contains the high-quality photographs of the places and destinations, the complete but concise description of the services or products proposed, the information on hotels, culture, transportation, shopping, maps, and contacts.
To attract the attention of the audience, the brochure should have the appealing cover page with effective headings, mottos, and photographs which emphasize the quality of the holidays spending in this hotel, city, or any other location. The next stage is the generation of the customer’s interest that is why it is necessary to present more information on the services provided.
Effective descriptions of locations and destinations should be concise, but vivid and attractive (Cooper 2008). Today, people can find all the necessary information with the help of the Internet, and all the facts presented in the brochure should be supported with photographs which demonstrate the advantages of spending holidays in this concrete place (Morgan & Pritchard 2013).
Thus, expressive headings are important to draw the customer’s attention to significant facts. The emotionally vivid language can be used in brochures because a brochure should communicate the potential client directly, evoking definite positive emotions and feelings along with the desire to buy the proposed products, tours, and services.
A brochure should answer all the possible questions which can be interesting for customers in order to motivate them to do the right choice and contact with the help of the provided e-mail addresses, web addresses, and phone numbers with the tour operators and travel agents. The contact information is usually presented on the last page of the brochure (Chiou 2008).
To decide about the effectiveness of hotels’ locations, it is necessary to include maps in brochures in order to provide the customer with an opportunity to explore routes and particular features of transportation at the territories. A travel brochure is the effective marketing tool used by tourism operators in order to encourage sales and attract more customers.
Thus, brochures are designed to complete the promotional purpose as well as the informational purpose because of providing the materials which are interesting for the customer and which can stimulate the customer’s positive buying behaviour. The brochure is important to influence the sales within the tourism industry when it is competitive.
That is why, tour operators pay much attention to designing brochures which are attractive for customers. The advantages of brochures are in their portability and informational character. Furthermore, the design and distribution of brochures is the significant part of the tour operators’ promotional budget because the effective brochure should guarantee the increase of sales and positive changes in relation to the positions of the tour operator within the industry.
Reference List
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