Relationship marketing has grown in importance. This growth affects all industries, including the tourism, hospitality and travel industry. Of particular importance is the bond of relationship marketing between suppliers (principals) and retailers (travel agents) in the distribution channel. The research was undertaken to: determine whether Eastern Cape travel agents perceive relationship marketing as important; establish, what the key elements of relationship marketing strategies are,according to literature; determine what marketing strategies are currently applied by Eastern Cape travel agents; provide guidelines to Eastern Cape travel agents to implement or improve their relationship marketing strategies. Fifty self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the entire population of travel agents in the Eastern Cape. A total of 30 travel agents responded. The empirical findings showed that: Most Eastern Cape travel agents perceived relationship marketing as important; Travel agents realized the importance of the management of such relationship marketing strategies; Most travel agents were aware of or used retention strategies to enhance relationship marketing strategies; Travel agents realized that to survive relationship marketing should be part of their future planning; All respondents believed that to successfully implement relationship marketing, all staff, from front-line to top-management, need to be committed to the programme. In conclusion, relationship marketing is growing in importance and all role players need to acknowledge and manage this trend. However, this research has shown that there is a paradigm shift as more travel agents are moving away from the traditional marketing to relationship marketing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:10766 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Fisher, Gary |
| Publisher | Port Elizabeth Technikon, Faculty of Commerce and Governmental Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MTech (Marketing) |
| Format | ix, 110 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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