SANDAL RESORTS MARKETING PLAN

Sandal Resorts Marketing Plan

Sandal Resorts Marketing Plan

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to develop a marketing plan for the Sandal Resort, Jamaica for the UK market for 2011-2014. This marketing plan includes the PEST analysis, competitor analysis, SWOT analysis and the promotional plan. Sandals Inn is part of Sandals' classic collection, and the ideal resort for couples looking for a romantic resort experience. This resort is only five minutes from the international airport Sangster. Sandals Inn, may be the smallest resort, but at great warmth and charm. No other, all-inclusive resort of this size, can offer so much at such a great value holiday. Its "Stay-on-one play in six" program gives guests all the amenities offered at all 6 Sandals Resorts in Jamaica, including free transportation from neighbouring Sandals Montego Bay and Sandals Royal Caribbean.

Discussion

Sandal resorts are considered to be the most popular resorts in Jamaica. They are planning to attract the outbound travelers of UK. Almost more than 200,000 nature lover prefer to visit Sandal resorts every year. It is estimated that ever year the tourists and the visitors spend almost $270 million for the recreational activities and food at Sandal Resort.

Sandal resorts is planning to start a marketing campaign to attract the outbound tourists of UK. UK outbound tourism industry is growing day by day. Therefore, it is very advantageous for the Sandal Resorts to attract the outbound tourists of UK. Private overseas travel in UK was officially permitted only in 1983 and was limited to those whose purpose was to visit family members living outside the UK. A more liberalized policy was adopted in 1997 that allowed the British to travel abroad for leisure purposes, as long as the travelers joined tour groups organized by a handful of authorized travel services. Their choice of destinations was first confined to Hong Kong and Macao and was gradually expanded to include Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. (Butler 1995 34)

In only ten years of development, UK has been considered by many countries as a lucrative outbound market, outspending many major markets from the Asian and Western countries. In 2005, 31.5 million Mainland British residents took outbound trips. According to WTO, UK will be the fourth largest origin country with 100 million visitors by 2020. Figure 2-1 shows the growth of UK outbound tourism since 1996 in terms of number of visitors.

SWOT Analysis

Following is the SWOT analysis of Sandal resorts:

Strengths:

Security, peace and tourist service for the general population

The existence of transport and communication infrastructure: road network with good connectivity to national and district levels

Natural Resources great singularity, as esters of Cords (RAMSAR area),

Cultural Resources notables include museum of the Industrial Revolution and town centre with a strong identity profile of the immigrants that gave rise among others.

The definition of tourism, as an economic edge departmental priority, addressing their development from strategic planning.

Availability of highly trained staff, having the required expertise and quality ...