Marketing Mix Strategy Of The Kenya Tourist Board

The Kenya Tourist Board will develop a good marketing mix strategy to attract target customers from Asian tourism market. The marketing mix will encompass 4P’s analysis that includes tailored tour packages, pricing strategies, well-designed service channels and promotion programs.

Kenya is positioned as a unique and attractive holiday destination that people would like to visit. Kenya tourist Board will coordinate with travel agencies, local organizations, airplane companies, and service operators to ensure tourists have an excellent and unforgettable experience when they are visiting Kenya. The Kenya Tourist Board will plan its tour such that tourists obtain satisfactions from all touch points of services. Tourists’ feedback will be very important for the board to review and adjust its strategies.

Kenya is well established as a leading safari destination with unique wildlife attractions in the western market. The Kenya Tourist Board will continue to provide and improve safari tour as its core product to Asian tourism market. Major safari attractions such as the Great Migration, the Big Five and Maasai Mara Reserve – namely the new Seventh Wonders of the World will be focused on and promoted to Asian tourists. The Kenya Tourist Board will also plan and design special safari tours targeting at high-income earners who are willing to pay special prices to luxury activities such as balloon safari and game viewing.

In recent years, Asian countries are becoming more interested in business opportunities in Africa. As the commercial center for East Africa with good facilities and hotels, Kenya is well positioned to attract MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions). The Kenya Tourist Board will work with business organizations and companies to attract and promote conference and business events to Asian countries.

The Kenya Tourist Board will plan beach and resort tour packages targeting mainly to business and family holiday tourists who tend to travel in large group size. The tourists will relax and experience the paradise of Kenya beach and shores. The tourists may choose to lay back and enjoy themselves or go out and explore Kenya’s unique coastal culture.

British Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged in Kenya in November 19, 2010. This is a good change for the Kenya Tourist Board to promote and boost Kenya tourism. The engagement has worldwide publicity that will enhance Kenya’s profile as a romantic holiday destination. The publicity will continue into year 2011 when the wedding will be held. The Kenya Tourist Board will promote Kenya as a romantic holiday destination to Asian tourism market along with this romance.

The Kenya Tourist Board will design pricing strategy carefully because of high-competition in tourism industry from many countries and places. The board will communicate with agencies to make sure that Kenya tour package price is affordable to Asian middle-class tourists. The board will ensure that tour agencies could operate with profit, and at the same time they will not over-charge customers. Since Asian tourism market is new market for Kenya tourism, the Kenya Tourist Board will start with good promotion price to attract more tourists from Asia.

Since Kenya is remote country to Asia, information availability to Asian tourists is vital for promoting Kenya tourism in Asia. The Kenya Tourist Board will set up operation offices in major Asian cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, New Delhi, and Tokyo etc. The board will collaborate with Asian local travel agencies to promote Kenya tourism to potential customers. The Kenya Tourist Board’s headquarter in Nairobi will serve as main office and coordinate the operations of offices in Asian cities.

The “Magical Kenya” is the official Kenya travel and tourism web site owned by the Kenya Tourist Board. The web pages describe attractions and provide travel guide to tourists in English and other languages including Japanese. The Kenya Tourist Board will translate the web pages into Chinese and Korean so that the board will reach Asian customers more effectively since China and Korean are the leading Internet users in the world.

Promotion strategies will be discussed in details in marketing communication strategy section.

Marketing Communication Strategy

The Kenya Tourist Board will develop and implement marketing communication strategy for Asian tourism market. The marketing communication strategy is to focus on brand development, Internet marketing, partnership, advertisement and promotion.

Brand Development

In today’s competitive and crowed tourism market, it is essential for Kenya to create a strong brand identity to differentiate itself from competitors. The brand image should bring not only physical experience but also emotional feelings in customers’ mind. Kenya is potentially one of the strongest brands in Africa for its unique African wild life and diverse landscape. However, currently Kenya is not a strong and well-known holiday brand in Asian tourism market. The Kenya Tourist Board will ensure to establish a consistent brand image of Kenya to Asian tourists through different communication channels.

Internet Marketing

Internet is cost-effective and easy way to reach mass customers. Many tourists especially high-educated and high-income ones search information on the Internet when planning holiday trips. The Kenya Tourist Board will make sure of Internet medias and tools effectively to promote Kenya tourism. The board will translate “Magical Kenya” web site into Asian languages and keep on improving the web site. The Kenya Tourist Board will sponsor Internet users to set up forums, blogs, twitters and facebooks of Kenya tourisms. Emails and newsletters with Kenya tourism news and information will be sent daily to registered users. The Kenya Tourist Board will encourage tourists to tell their stories of Kenya by giving free gifts or prizes. The Kenya Tourist board will also collect tourists’ feedback from Internet to improve its services and products.

Partnership

The marketing communication strategy and plan will not be successful without considering local culture. To conquer communication barrier, the Kenya Tourist Board will establish partnership with local agencies, companies and government organizations. The Kenya Tourist Board will collaborate with Asian government organizations to organize road shows or events like Kenya Week to promote Kenya tourism industry. The Kenya Tourist Board will help local agencies to train local staff to service customers more effectively.

Advertisement and Promotions

The Kenya Tourist Board will advertise and promote Kenya tourism from all touch points. The Kenya tourism magazines and brochures will be placed in Kenya Airways planes, major Asian airports and travel agencies. The Kenya tourism will be advertised on newspaper, magazine, Google web and TV program. The promotion prices will be offered to customers on Asian holidays such as National day, Chinese New Year etc.