Tourism Products
Tourism products are bundles, not single objects. The exam tests whether you can separate the core benefit from facilitating and supporting elements, classify products, and explain why tourism products are perishable, inseparable, variable and seasonal.
Product layers
- Core: the benefit the guest buys - rest, discovery, status, family time.
- Facilitating: must-haves that enable the core - transport, beds, meals, permits.
- Supporting: extras that add value - guided walk, folk performance, souvenir.
- Augmented: differentiators - free airport pickup, flexible check-out.
Classification
Natural (lakes, hills, wildlife), man-made (museums, theme parks), cultural (festivals, crafts, cuisine) and niche (wellness, adventure, MICE). A destination product combines attraction, accessibility, amenities, accommodation and activities.
Worked example
Design a two-night farm-stay product in rural Punjab. Core: farm life and local food. Facilitating: room, transfers from the nearest town, breakfast and dinner. Supporting: tractor ride, folk dance, craft demo. Augmented: free pickup and late check-out. Price by summing direct costs, adding overhead allocation, then a margin. Reasoning: the tractor ride is supporting, not core, because the guest would still buy the stay without it; airport pickup is augmented because it differentiates from competitors.
Traps
Treating a hotel room as the whole product; confusing supporting with facilitating; ignoring perishability when pricing unsold rooms; forgetting seasonality in demand forecasts; pricing below cost to win business.