Inclusive tours and commodification: The marketing constraints for mass-market resorts

Abstract

This paper is concerned with traditional mass-market resorts and the marketing con straints that are imposed upon them by their innate characteristics and the influence of the distribution channel. As a result of these resorts' reliance upon intermediaries, inclusive tour ( IT) clientele forms the core market of many of the resorts as exempliffied by the patronage of the main Spanish resorts by clients of Northern European tour operators. This has led to the commodification of the resort product by intermediaries and the need for resorts to differentiate their offering in a highly competitive market. In recognition of these issues and the changing tourism marketplace, many resorts are currently setting new objectives for their marketing, and revising their strategies to take into account the wish to seek new ways to target and serve their preferred clients.1 How ever, inclusive holidays are a key element of business for these resorts, and the inclusive holiday industry is characterised by a high degree of differential power, where the initia tive is often vested in the major tour operators. This suggests that many mass-market resorts are unable to put into effect the strategic mar keting and planning approaches that theory often suggests as solutions to the problems faced by resorts in this stage of development. In addition, resorts are often debilitated in their attempts to implement marketing by stakeholder interests and the nature of public sector organisation. It is the aim of this paper to provide a framework for the understanding of the constraints upon the implementation of marketing that are experienced by mass- market resorts.