NN GRADUATION THESIS INVESTIGATION INTO THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING MARKETING STRATEGY FOR TOURISM SERVICES OF THE SANNA JOINT STOCK COMPANY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION THESIS HUYNH TRAN NHU LY INVESTIGATION INTO THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING MARKETING STRATEGY FOR TOURISM SERVICES OF THE SANNA JOINT STOCK COMPANY GRADUATION THESIS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DA NANG – May 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION THESIS HUYNH TRAN NHU LY INVESTIGATION INTO THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING MARKETING STRATEGY FOR TOURISM SERVICES OF THE SANNA JOINT STOCK COMPANY Major : English for Tourism Code : 702 Supervisor: DOAN THI DIEU LAN, M.A DA NANG – May 2021 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A ACKNOWLEDGEMENT  After the last internship period, I have learned how to successfully negotiate and interact with many people throughout the working day I am better equipped to handle whatever challenges come my way.That is the reason why I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Duy Tan University and Faculty of English first for arranging and creating the condition for me to join in an early internship that begins from 20th of January to 17th of March 2021.Besides, I like to genuinely thank Mrs Doan Thi Dieu Lan - my supervisor for not only giving me comments on how to handle problems but also answering all my questions about my internship Secondly, I would like to send my thanks to Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company for allowing me an to put my knowledge into practice, gaining practical experience, and getting valuable experience while working in the tourism industry Especially, Ms Nguyen Thuy Ngoc Sang - Director of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company guided me through my internship process with advice, tips, feedback, and shared user experience despite her busy work Thirdly, I could not have achieved great success without my colleagues’ support and help They are amazing co-workers, I have had a lot of fun during the internship time and I will never forget all the things they have done for me as well Last but not least, I truly thank my friends and especially my family who caring and supporting me wholeheartedly The role they have played in my life is immeasurable I could not overcome many difficulties without their support I am grateful to all of you I wish all of you good health and success Yours sincerely, Student Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in the whole or in part from a thesis by which have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Danang, May 27th, 2020 Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A ABSTRACT This graduation paper focused on the real situation of Sanna Tour Company It is an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Marketing Department and some policy marketing at the Company In my paper, I give some tables of the number of guests as well as the business of Sanna Tour Company to make more clear Through discussing these problems, I will provide some suggestions to improve the marketing strategy for tourism services at Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A TABLE AND FIGURES DIAGRAM Picture Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A TABLE OF CONTENTS Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale Along with the development of the country, the tourism industry has made much progress and achieved many remarkable achievements The assessment results through the indicators of the number of tourists, the proportion of GDP, and employment have confirmed the role of the tourism industry in the national economy The tourism industry has made important contributions to economic growth, poverty reduction, social security, preservation and promotion of cultural values, environmental protection, and security and defense However, the tourism industry still has many shortcomings and shortcomings, many difficulties and obstacles have not been satisfactorily resolved, has not had a breakthrough development step to confirm that it is truly a key economic sector, the results are not similar is commensurate with the country's potentials and advantages, development but still contains many dangers and unsustainable factors For businesses operating in the tourism sector in Vietnam, the advantage of the beautiful natural landscape, the abundance of traditional cultural, historical and social values as well as the rapid development infrastructure, and especially the supportive policies from the Government have helped them to have remarkable growth However, in the context of increasing competition in the tourism industry, businesses need to have reasonable business strategies to continue to make more successful steps In particular, tourism companies need to build their marketing activities, bringing benefits both in the short term (sales, profits) as well as in the long term (image, brand) Sanna Joint Stock Company is one of the newly established but active companies in the tourism industry and generates outstanding revenue Therefore, it can be said that Sanna Company is one of the typical companies for the tourism sector in Viet Nam, especially in the Central region Researching marketing activities at the company will have a deeper view of the nature of implementing activities in a Vietnamese travel agency so that lessons can be drawn for other businesses The internship at Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company has helped me, master the theories learned, checked, and contacted the offices of the Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A departments of the Travel Company, especially the marketing department From there, I came up with the idea of wanting to contribute my understanding to the Company During the learning and internship process, I realized the role of the marketing department in the business strategy of the Company, from the assessment seen under the lens of an intern, I noticed the marketing work The company's limitations have many limitations so I decided to choose the topic “An Investigation into the Marketing Department and Some Solutions to Improving Marketing Strategy for Tourism Services of the Sanna Joint Stock Company” as the subject of • • • the graduation thesis Aims and Objectives Systematize theoretical bases related to the strategic marketing tourism services Analyze and evaluate marketing activities at the company Plan a suitable marketing strategy in 2020 Propose solutions to develop marketing activities of the company Scope of the Study • Researching the subject of the topic are some solutions to improve tourism strategy of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company • Space: Study the planning content in the marketing of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company • Time: Study tourism service marketing strategy at the company Expected in the • • • range from 2017-2019 Method of the study I used the following methods: The collecting method The statistical and synthetical methods The comparative and analytical methods Organization of the Study CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Including the Rationale, Aims and Objectives, Scope of the study, Method of the study and organization of the study in this case CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Focusing on some basic definitions related to tourism, tourists and marketing tourism Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 10 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A CHAPTER CASE DESCRIPTION Introducing general information about Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company CHAPTER ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION Focusing on analyzing Marketing activities for tourism services and evaluating and commenting on Marketing activities of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company CHAPTER DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS Proposing some solutions to improve Marketing strategy CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS conclusing and suggesting improvements for study subjects (intern companies), study tourism majors of the Faculty of English and Duy Tan University Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 44 Satisfaction Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A Very good Good Normal Bad Too bad 16 35 46 _ 20 35 45 _ _ 24 35 41 _ _ 29 18 50 10 28 57 _ 20 45 27 _ 52 12 27 Marketing staff set up diverse and attractive travel programs Staff is enthusiastic and friendly Staff always answer customer questions The staff is always interested in the needs of the desired customer Marketing staff deploy preferential and reasonable price _ policy to crowded tours Marketing staff provided information and services to customers through distribution channels Marketing staff has well implemented the tourism program promotion policy According to the customer survey for the Marketing department at Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company, the marketing staff has not created to the attraction to attract customers Many employees are not professional in their work and have not built a unique tourism product The price policy is also evaluated by customers who are not satisfied with the price policy for crowded tours Besides, the construction of distribution channels and advertising policies also received bad reviews from customers Table 4.7: Evaluation of service quality of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Satisfaction Very Good good The tour program is diverse for Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 Normal Bad Too Bad GRADUATION THESIS 45 each age group and each trip Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A 21 69 _ during the trip Accommodation service with 30 54 16 _ _ modern and comfortable 24 56 18 _ televisions, seat belts) are clean, 19 31 45 attractive, and suitably equipped Reasonable places to visit Attachment service 18 35 46 _ • Massages and Spa 21 31 44 _ the journey Satisfied with the promotion 45 25 28 _ program for loyal customers Customers want to recommend the 50 25 24 _ company's services to friends 47 27 24 _ purpose Good food service and quality equipment Vehicles (air conditioners, • The coffee Friendly tour guide throughout According to the survey, most tourists rate the marketing department's service quality as average after using the service at the company Despite modern means of transport and a team of professional guides, the quality of the menu and dishes of the restaurant is still lacking in variety The restaurant service is not good According to guests' comments, they are quite satisfied with the location and the marketing department's promotions, but they are still not satisfied with the quality of accommodation services Therefore, not only the quality of the tour program, but also the bad food and rest services also affect the service quality of the marketing department Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 46 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A 4.5 Evaluate comments on marketing tourism services of Sanna Tour Joint Stock 4.5.1 Strong points To meet the needs of customers, Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company has been constantly competing and developing in recent years Thanks to the contribution of the staff, the company has grown significantly compared to other companies Especially the Marketing department has constantly tried to bring success to the company Some outstanding advantages have helped the Marketing team to excel: - Marketing staff is always interested in the needs of the desired customer - Marketing staff who know how to use office computers fluently is quite important for advertising design, tour program design - Working honestly and seriously but equally diligent and meticulous - Marketing staff has the ability to organize programs and solve problems quickly In addition, agility, dynamism and flexibility in handling situations are indispensable - Marketing staff are always respectful and ready to help customers when customers request 4.5.2 Weak points Besides those strengths, the marketing department also has some limitations: - The establishment of unique and attractive travel programs is limited - Marketing staff is still limited in implementing preferential and reasonable price policies for crowded tours - There are very few marketers who create a distribution channel.This makes it difficult in bringing tourism products to customers - Marketing staff not implement the tourism program promotion policy well 4.5.3 Opportunity Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 47 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A The constant tourism development of Da Nang city has attracted a large number of tourists from all over the country and internationally The constantly expanding tourism environment creates favorable conditions for the staff at Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company This helps the company take advantage of many favorable conditions at home and abroad to build a more effective marketing strategy The more the market expands, the more the company can reach more groups of customers with different needs, the needs are increasingly rich and diverse, from which Marketing has more opportunities to attract customers to the company Since then, Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company will accumulate a lot of experience in program organization, market research and marketing strategy planning 4.5.4 Challenges Along with the opportunities, the Marketing department itself at Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company also has to face many challenges such as: The larger the market, the more the marketing strategy has to compete with more companies Market challenges are getting more intense The first requirement that Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company brings is product quality along with the fact that customers require cheap and reasonable products, perfect service, accurate delivery time, profitable distribution channels Therefore, the Marketing department must come up with reasonable strategies for customers to choose services at the company Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 48 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A CHAPTER 5: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS 5.1 Difficulties Prices of services and tours in Vietnam are still high compared to other countries in the region This is one of the reasons why tourists hesitate to come to Vietnam Marketing department faces increasingly fierce competition in the context that Vietnam still has many difficulties and limitations such as: Underdeveloped infrastructure system (behind ASEAN countries), road system, goods no, wharf, still backward and low Quality The information and telecommunications system has not been developed synchronously, the quality is still limited, the service prices are much higher than other countries in the region The system of hotels, motels, and service facilities serving the needs of rest, dining, entertainment and Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 49 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A entertainment is lacking and of limited quality The quality of tourism products is not high, the products are not diversified and not rich The legal regulations on tourism management are incomplete and have not yet approached the tourism business Most of Vietnam's tourism businesses are small in scale, with limited service quality, low management capacity, and weak international competitiveness Many businesses have not yet created a reputation, doing business with the nature of capturing and slashing customers In many places, activities take place spontaneously, divisively, and even troubling tourists, affecting Vietnam's tourism This also causes great difficulties for the marketing department of the company Besides, the human resources of the company's Marketing department are poorly trained, weak in professional qualifications, foreign languages, and inexperienced In particular, the Marketing department still lacks highly qualified managers and service staff in tourism business establishments in the field of hotels, restaurants, resorts, amusement and entertainment establishments Therefore, tourism has not met the needs of international economic integration Human resources of the Marketing department are too small, so they cannot guarantee the quality to implement the company's marketing strategy that will affect the service quality and tour program of Sanna Tour company Facilities not meet the needs and working spirit of the Marketing department, leading to inefficient and poor quality work 5.2 Some solutions to improve marketing strategy for travel services of sanna tour company 5.2.1 Completing Product policy: Through the research process, the company's products are not much different from other companies in the industry In the coming time, along with the expansion of the tourist market, the company should also diversify its products by opening new routes Be well prepared right from the start About the company's current travel programs are still simple, this is the general limitation of Vietnam tourism products The construction of the company's travel programs is still less important, just connecting tourist destinations, Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 50 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A redefining related services and setting prices The programs are mostly unscientific, unattractive and almost lacking in additional services included in a tour program Diversifying products is a necessity because the number of tourists tends to increase, tourism demand is getting richer and more diverse In the coming time, the company needs to focus on building new tourism programs These products should be aimed at the target markets of the company already implemented, for example, in addition to the existing programs, the company should exploit more thematic tourism such as hunting tourism, sports tourism 5.2.2 Completing price policy Reasonable price policy is built on the basis of studying influencing factors such as service quality, uniqueness of the tour, tourism resources The current pricing mechanism of the company is enough to cover costs and be profitable on the general market price level in competitive conditions Currently, the price of the company's travel programs is relatively reasonable and lower than the prices of some competitors Besides, the company should use measures to save costs Currently, the company's price incentives are discounts for regular customers, discounts for large groups beyond a certain limit, discounts for out-of-season trips, and discounts for long stay guests The company should have measures to discriminate prices according to each type of customer In general, the company should have a flexible pricing policy, offering a discriminative price to competitors but still have to ensure service quality and should distinguish the price policy for each type of customer 5.2.3 Completing distribution policy To contribute to increase business efficiency and reduce risks, the company should expand more distribution agents, link travel agents Currently, in the Da Nang tourism market, there are quite a few small and medium tourism businesses The number of visitors of these companies is usually very small, so organizing a private tour for them is quite difficult The company should establish good relationships with these businesses to attract customers through organizing joint Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 51 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A tours from the sources of these businesses Sanna Joint Stock Company needs to open more representative offices to respond to information and services for customers 5.2.4 Completing Mixed promotion policy - Advertising The company should develop an Internet Advertising Strategy In addition, the company should cooperate with domestic and foreign companies to coordinate advertising with travel agencies as well as with relevant agencies to help the company implement advertising activities in its strategy themselves - especially for airlines and restaurants and hotels - Promotion Normally, the peak tourist season starts from May, so the company needs to release information on promotions as soon as the festival purchase ends (around the end of March) The offer of promotions before months when the peak season, tourism starts, it will stimulate consumer consumption, giving customers time to choose and prepare more carefully for their trip - Public relations: In the coming time the company must move forward conduct more public relations activities to attract customers but should only be done within the scope of its own resources only by the scale of its operations the company is not that big The company should participate in the travel fair international calendar to introduce and promote yourself to international markets Besides, the company should also participate in sponsoring some special meaningful programs such as: the city sports competitions, charity music nights, donations to groups charity, programs aimed at protecting the environment Marketing departments need to add additional requirements for their actual working capacity, specifically skills to work in the digital marketing market In the era of technology 4.0, Digital Marketing is becoming more developed and competitive than ever, especially for some specific fields such as shopping, entertainment, travel requires human resources of the Marketing department of the Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 52 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A enterprise to have knowledge and ability to effectively use online marketing tools Recruitment criteria of the division should be changed and supplemented based on this requirement to be able to more complete, meeting the growth rate of the market Need to add more staff in marketing department to improve working efficiency CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 6.1 Summary of the Findings Through my internship at Sanna Joint Stock Company, I have learned a lot of useful things and experiences I have applied my experience and knowledge to my graduation article: “An Investigation into the Marketing Department and Some Solutions to Improving Marketing Strategy for Tourism Services of the Sanna Joint Stock Company” The study consists of six chapter Chapter include the Rationale, Aims and Objectives, Scope of the study, Method of the study and organization of the study in this case Chapter focus on some basic definitions related to tourism, tourists and marketing tourism Chapter introduce general information about Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company Chapter focus on analyzing Marketing activities for tourism services and evaluating and commenting on Marketing activities of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company Chapter propose some solutions to improve Marketing strategy Chapter conclude and suggest improvements for study subjects (intern companies), the Faculty of English and Duy Tan University 6.2 Summary of Suggestions From learning about Marketing activities of Sanna Joint Stock Company, we have drawn out many suggestions on improving Marketing strategy for tourism Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 53 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A business in general and Sanna company in particular We need to come up with product and price strategies to suit the needs and psychology of customers Besides, it is necessary to develop and expand more distributors to bring brands and images closer to customers In addition, it is necessary to invest in advertising programs, promotions and community programs to connect and build images From the above proposals, the company will develop and become closer to tourists 6.3 Suggestion for Internship Site and University 6.3.1 Suggestions for the Internship Site The company needs to enhance creativity and improve the work efficiency of marketing staff Regular meetings to exchange information, experience, raise problems for Marketing staff to offer the best suggestions and solutions Need to recruit more Marketing staff to ensure the job because the Marketing department currently has quite a few employees Moreover, the company needs to invest in facilities to create working spirit for Marketing staff and improve work efficiency In addition, the working environment is also paid great attention by the company's leaders in order to create a good and competitive working environment for marketing staff 6.3.2 Suggestions for Faculty of English Every month, the departments should organize seminars and seminars for lecturers in the department exchange experiences and expertise with each other Strengthen activities of dialogue, question and answer between lecturers and students in teaching to stimulate students' thinking of research, research and selfstudy It is necessary to invest in designing the curriculum and teaching volume Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 54 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A accordingly and modernly the tendency to attach importance to skills and social needs and practices REFERENCES English Books: [1] Coltman, Michael M, Tourism Marketing [7] J.Christophe Hollway, Marketing For Tourism [8] Alastair M Morrison, Marketing And Managing Tourism Destinations [9] Phillip Kotter, Marketing 4.0 Online references: [2] https://gonatour.com/cac-loai-hinh-du-lich-o-viet-nam/ [3] https://asialion.vn/kinh-doanh-du-lich/ [4] https://customerthink.com/definition_marketing/ [5] https://tourismnotes.com/tourism-marketing/ [6]https://tuyensinhso.vn/nhom-nganh-dao-tao/nganh-marketing-c16292.html Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 55 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A QUESTIONAIRE Dear Valued Guest, Concerned about a continuous improvement of our services and in order to come up to your expectations, we set up this satisfaction questionnaire We would be grateful if you would fill in this questionnaire and then leave it in the box provided for it • • • Name of client : Tour No or destination: Date of Departure: I TRAVEL AGENTS, CONSULTANTS AND SUPPORTERS Very Satisfied satisfied Not very Very satisfied dissatisfied Ease in finding the Tourist Office Ease in parking close by Opening Hours Staff Attitute Other Opinions: ………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… II TRAVELLING MEANS Very Satisfied Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 Not very Very 56 GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A satisfied satisfied dissatisfied Travelling time Availability Comfortableness Driver Other Opinions:…………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… III MARKETING STRATEGIES Very Satisfied satisfied Not very Very satisfied dissatisfied Discount tour price Gifts ( thing) Voucher Other Opinions:…………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… How many times have you come to Sanna Tour ? What channels you know about Sanna Tour company? ? (can choose more than one option)  Newspapers and magazines  Travel agency  Internet  Relatives and friends  Others What is the total expenditure for domestic travel trip?  Under million VND/person  From 3-6 million VND/person  From 6-9 million VND/person  Over million VND/person What type of hotel did you choose for this trip?  1- star Mini Hotel/ Hostel  2- star hotel  3- star hotel  - star hotel  - star resort  Other:…………………… Which restaurant you like to eat at? (multiple options can be selected)  Roadside eateries, local eateries  Beach restaurant  Luxury restaurant  Eat at the hotel/accommodation Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 57 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A  Other:…………………………………………………… Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 GRADUATION THESIS 58 Supervisor: Doan Thi Dieu Lan, M.A SUPERVISOR’S COMMENTS Student: Huynh Tran Nhu Ly Code: 2320315607 ... decided to choose the topic “An Investigation into the Marketing Department and Some Solutions to Improving Marketing Strategy for Tourism Services of the Sanna Joint Stock Company? ?? as the subject of. .. strategy of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company • Space: Study the planning content in the marketing of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company • Time: Study tourism service marketing strategy at the company. .. 3.1.2 History formation of Sanna Tour Joint Stock Company Sanna Tour Tourism Joint Stock Company officially came into operation in Da Nang city center from March 2017 From here, the image of the prestigious