NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

---🖎🕮✍---

GRADUATION
INTERNSHIP REPORT

RESEARCH ON INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

FOR FIRM’ PACKAGED OUTBOUND TOURS AT
GREEN INTERNATIONAL TOURISM REAL ESTATE COMMERCIAL
INVESTMENT JOINT STOCK COMPANY

Student : Mai Ngọc Linh

Class : Enterprise Management 62

Student ID : 11205777

Supervisor : PhD. Nguyen Thu Thuy

(Em Linh: Em thưa cô, vì lí do hiện tại công ty thực tập của em đang tập trung
hoàn toàn vào sản phẩm tour du lịch outbound nên em mong muốn có thể thêm
phần thông tin về sản phẩm tour vào phần tên của bài báo cáo ạ. Em mong có thể
nhận được sự góp ý từ cô về phần bổ sung này. Em cảm ơn cô rất nhiều ạ!)
 TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT........................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................7
1.1. Theoretical basis of Integrated Marketing Communications....................7
1.2. The meaning of Integrated Marketing Communications.......................... 7
CHAPTER 2: CURRENT STATUS OF INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS IN GREENTOURS COMPANY.................................9
2.1. General information of Greentours company.............................................9
2.1.1. History.....................................................................................................9
2.1.2. Company key milestones.......................................................................10
2.1.3. The organizational structure of the company........................................ 11
2.1.3.1. Organizational structure chart of the Company............................11
2.1.3.2. Functions of departments..............................................................12
2.2. Assessment of Business performance......................................................... 13
2.3. Assessment of Integrated Marketing Communications........................... 17
2.3.1. Current Situation of the Market Segmentation Process........................ 17
2.3.1.1. Market Segmentation....................................................................18
2.3.1.2. Selecting the target market........................................................... 20
2.3.1.3. Positioning brand.......................................................................... 22
2.3.2. Current Situation of Marketing Mix (4Ps)............................................ 22
2.3.2.1. Product Policy (Products)............................................................. 22
2.3.2.2. Pricing Policy................................................................................24
2.3.2.3. Distribution Channels (Places)..................................................... 25
2.1.2.4. Integrated Marketing Communications (Promotion)....................26
2.3.3. Current Situation of Greentours' Outbound Tour Package IMC activities
27
2.3.3.1. Advertising................................................................................... 27
2.3.3.2. Personal Selling activities............................................................. 32
2.3.3.3. Promotional Activities................................................................. 36
2.3.3.4. Direct Marketing Activities.......................................................... 37
2.3.3.5. Public Relations Activities............................................................37
2.3.4. Evaluation of Outbound Packaged Tour IMC Activities by Greentours..

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 38
2.3.4.1. General Evaluation....................................................................... 38
2.3.4.2. Evaluation of Advertising Activities............................................ 39
2.3.4.3. Evaluation of Personal Selling Activities..................................... 40
2.3.4.4. Evaluation of Promotional Activities........................................... 41
2.3.4.5. Evaluation of Direct Marketing.................................................... 41
2.3.4.6. Evaluation of Public Relations Activities.................................... 42
2.5. Analysis of Causes of Limitations in Company's Outbound Tour IMC
Activities.............................................................................................................. 42
2.5.1. Subjective Causes..................................................................................42
2.5.2. Objective Causes................................................................................... 43
CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPING INTEGRATED
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN GREENTOURS COMPANY..... 44
3.1. Goals and development directions of Greentours.....................................44
3.1.1. Business Plan in the period 2025 - 2028............................................... 44
3.1.2. Development Direction of the Company...............................................44
3.2. Human Resources Solutions....................................................................... 45
3.2.1. Marketing Department.......................................................................... 46
3.2.2. Sales Department...................................................................................46
3.2.3. Leadership team.................................................................................... 47
3.2.4. Other Departments:............................................................................... 48
3.3. Solutions to Enhance Greentours' Outbound Tour IMC Activities........48
3.3.1. Solutions for Advertising..................................................................... 49
3.3.2. Solutions for Personal Sales Activities................................................. 52
3.3.3. Solutions for Promotional Activities.....................................................53
3.3.4. Solutions for Direct Sales Activities..................................................... 53
3.3.5. Solutions for Public Relations Activities.............................................. 54
CONCLUSION................................................................................................... 56
REFERENCES................................................................................................... 57

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 INTRODUCTION

1. Rational

The impact of the global financial crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic will
continue to hinder Vietnam's economic recovery prospects. The economy's
underlying weaknesses are becoming increasingly evident, such as excessive
capital and energy consumption, low added value of export products, and
heightened worker inefficiency. These pose significant challenges to our country's
enterprises in the face of rising competition in the market economy. Every
business should be aware of this fact. It is therefore critical for businesses to
design ways to overcome these obstacles and achieve the socioeconomic
development goals set for the years 2021–2025. Firms must use management
measures and tools strategically to achieve resilience and long-term growth.

Greentours, a travel company that has been adversely affected by the COVID-19
pandemic for two years, faced numerous difficulties in its business operations,
particularly during the peak of the pandemic when almost all travel activities
were halted, leading to a decline in the company's revenue and significantly
impacting its employees' incomes. However, with the support of the city and the
government, along with the combined efforts of the entire leadership team and
staff, Greentours managed to weather the storm of the pandemic admirably. In the
post-COVID-19 era, the company made certain changes in its integrated
marketing communications activities to enhance the efficiency of its tour
business. However, Greentours' IMC activities have yet to make a profound
impression due to limited interaction and feedback from customers. In today's
context, communication activities are crucial for businesses to meet the
increasingly high and stringent demands of customers, especially regarding
packaged outbound tours. Therefore, Greentours needs to adapt its IMC activities
to better align with the general psyche of the potential outbound tourist market
segment of the company.

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Recognizing the importance of IMC activities for businesses, I have chosen the
research topic: "RESEARCH ON INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATION FOR GREENTOURS’ PACKAGED OUTBOUND
TOURS”. This specialized report aims to provide a comprehensive and realistic
overview of the current state of the company's IMC activities and contribute to
proposing solutions to improve their effectiveness, thereby helping the company
address its shortcomings and achieve business success.

2. Research Objectives

General Objective:

To propose solutions for the development of IMC activities for Greentours'

packaged outbound tours.

Specific Objectives:

- Analyze and evaluate the data collected on the IMC activities for
Greentours' packaged outbound tours.
- Identify the reasons behind the inefficiency in the IMC policies.
- Based on the analysis and evaluation of strengths and weaknesses, propose
specific and feasible solutions to enhance the effectiveness of Greentours'
IMC activities for packaged outbound tours.

3. Methodology

To conduct this study, I have chosen to combine two specific research methods as
follows:

Data collection, synthesis, and analysis method: The data in this report are
collected from internal sources within the company's departments (analytical
documents, business reports, customer visit reports, etc.) as well as from relevant
articles and research studies publicly available on social media related to the IMC
activities of Greentours travel company. Using the provided information, I have
synthesized and analyzed to provide evaluations, comments, and conclusions
from the most objective perspective.

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Observation method: This method has been consistently utilized throughout the
research process. It has helped me to identify the most practical and in-depth
aspects of the issues and challenges in the IMC activities of Greentours travel
company. Through observations of employees, customers, and the organization of
IMC activities within the company, I have analyzed and proposed feasible
suggestions with the aim of improving the effectiveness of IMC activities.

4. Research Scope

Space:

The study will be conducted at Greentours travel company.

Time:

The research will focus on studying the IMC activities during the period of
2020-2023.

Content:

The research will concentrate on examining and evaluating the current status of
IMC activities and proposing solutions to enhance the effectiveness of IMC
activities for Greentours travel company.

6. Research structure

The specialized report consists of 3 sections:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Literature review

Chapter 2: Current status of Integrated Marketing Communications in Green

International Tourism Real Estate Commercial Investment Joint Stock Company

Chapter 3: Solutions for developing Integrated Marketing Communications in

Green International Tourism Real Estate Commercial Investment Joint Stock
Company

Conclusion

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 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. Theoretical basis of Integrated Marketing Communications

There are many different definitions when it comes to the concept of Integrated
Marketing Communications (IMC). The adapted definition of IMC is: IMC is
a process of strategic planning in order to determine the most consistent message
and expose it to target audience through the synergy of marketing communication
instruments and media.

Definition of IMC explained through four aspects:

- Process of strategic planning – due to changes in the market, such as
second digital revolution, IMC changed from being a tactical tool to
strategic process and in order to be effective in implementing IMC, a
strategic plan must be followed.
- Determining the most consistent message – in order for a brand, product
or service to have a favourable image a consistent and distinctive message
is needed to ensure that all messages are “working” to each other’s benefit.
- Expose it to target audience – instead of IMC being limited only to
consumers it is believed and proved that it is meant for all stakeholders
such as customers, prospects as well as internal and external audiences.
- Through marketing communication instruments and media – American
Association of Advertising Agency (4As) as well as many scholars believe
that in order to develop awareness, build brand image and also have a
behavioural response from target audience it is necessary to use all or
most marketing communication tools.

1.2. The meaning of Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is defined as the coordination of all

tools, directions, and communication sources within a business into a seamless
program aimed at maximizing impact on customers and end users with minimal
costs. This integration affects all relationships between businesses, marketing
channels, customers, and internal communication activities.

Furthermore, IMC functions as an agile marketing plan because it is established

and monitors communication strategies closely - where it acknowledges and
utilizes a large amount of customer information. IMC also ensures that all forms

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of communication and messages are carefully linked together to achieve specific
objectives.

IMC is one of the elements of Marketing Mix (4Ps), which consists of four main
elements, i.e. product, price, place and promotion. There is a difference between
IMC àn Marketing. IMC is used to integrate the various promotional tools and
methods a company uses to ensure that consistent messages are conveyed,
creating a stronger impact on the minds of consumers. . On the other hand, the
purpose of Marketing is to create brand awareness and generate sales. Therefore,
in my research, I will analyze the Marketing Mix first, and then IMC (Promotion)
later in order to get a comprehensive picture of the company's marketing
activities.

The important tools of Integrated Marketing Communication include:

Advertising, Promotion, Public Relations, Personal Selling, and Direct
Marketing. Therefore, in this research, I will also analyze the tools within IMC
and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each tool.

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 CHAPTER 2: CURRENT STATUS OF INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS IN GREENTOURS COMPANY

2.1. General information of Greentours company

2.1.1. History

Green International Tourism Real Estate Trading Investment Joint Stock

Company was officially put into operation with an initial charter capital of
79,000,000,000 VND (Seventy-nine billion VND) under international travel
business license No. 01 /414/2017/TCDL-GPLHQT dated November 28, 2000,
signed by the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment with the following
basic information:
- Name: Green International Tourism Real Estate Commercial
Investment Joint Stock Company.
- Business registration address: No. 6, Lot A Thanh Cong, Thanh
Cong Ward, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi City, Vietnam.
- Tax code: 0101121392
- Representative: Hoàng Mạnh Hùng
- Position: Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director
- Phone: 0243.846.5999 Fax: 0243.726.0530
- Branch Type: Foreign joint stock company
- Charter capital: 79.000.000.000vnđ (Seventy-nine billion VND)
- Main business lines: Based on the Company's Business Registration
Certificate, the main business lines of the Company are four. Specifically
includes:
+ Retailing drugs, medical instruments, cosmetics and hygiene items
in specialized stores;
+ Providing transportation support (e.g., selling air tickets,
transporting tourists);
+ Providing short-stay services at hotels;

+ Organizing conferences, seminars, and trade fairs both domestically

and internationally.

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2.1.2. Company key milestones

Since starting a business on November 28, 2000, with modest capital, Mr. Hoang
Manh Hung has led Greentours International Tourism Investment and Trading
Joint Stock Company (Greentours International) for more than two decades.

In 2003, Greentours International launched an office in Hanoi's Old Quarter,

extending plane ticket sales and taking the first move toward broadening its
commercial activities. The General Department of Tourism gave the organization
an international travel business license in 2005, allowing it to extend its foreign
tour services and set the groundwork for global growth.

In 2010, Greentours International opened a representative office in Ho Chi Minh

City, marking the expansion of its operating network. In addition, business
registration in the United States and increased human resources have increased
competitive strength and access to international markets.

In 2012, Greentours International acquired level 1 agent certification with

sustained income, collaborating with Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air. In 2015,
they joined the worldwide Aviation Association (IATA), which strengthened their
position and reputation in the worldwide market.

In 2016, Greentours International achieved success with a total income of over

112 billion per year and has grown into a large family of hundreds of workers and
agents both domestically and internationally. The average monthly pay per
employee has climbed to more than 10 million VND.

In 2017, the company officially moved to its new headquarters - Green House
Building, No. 6, Lot A, 57 Lang Ha, Thanh Cong, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, marking an
important step in the process of physical development. facilities.

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In 2020, Greentours International recorded a historic milestone when it exceeded
the threshold of 200 billion in revenue, demonstrating perfection in service and
global partner network. Participating in investing and accompanying many
multi-industry, multi-service projects, Greentours International continues to
affirm its stature and strength in the international tourism market, creating a
unique and valuable image. reputation among customers.

Following the success of 2020, Greentours International will continue to innovate

and extend its operations in the future. In 2023, the firm plans to focus on
expanding its worldwide network of travel and tourism partners. This allows
Greentours International to broaden its area of operations, offering diversified and
high-quality travel services to consumers on many continents.

In the period from 2023 to 2024, Greentours becomes part of the Green Holding
group, a strategic integration between businesses. This reflects Greentours'
commitment to striving to become a leading corporation in the field of providing
aviation and travel services.

Green Holding Group provides an excellent opportunity for Greentours

International to utilize the resources and extensive experience from a variety of
partners. This not only boosts competitiveness, but also extends research and
development capabilities, with the goal of becoming one of Vietnam's Top 10
tourist enterprises.

2.1.3. The organizational structure of the company

2.1.3.1. Organizational structure chart of the Company

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 Graph 2.1: Management Structure

(Source: Financial - Accounting Department)

2.1.3.2. Functions of departments

Director: Mr. Hoang Manh Hung is the company's director, and he is directly
responsible for the company's legal representation as well as its commercial
performance. Be the person in charge of making final choices on key long-term
and short-term corporate initiatives. Sign contracts with partners.

Human resource department: is in charge of arranging human resources to

satisfy quantity and quality standards. Work include planning labor resources,
performing recruiting, signing contracts, and training employees for productivity.
Create working regulations, reward and disciplinary systems, and wage
structures.

Accounting department: Make a list of tourists on each tour, create budget

estimates. Accountants are also responsible for contacting and communicating

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with other service providers, such as restaurants and hotels. Accountants are
responsible for preparing financial reports on costs, taxes, business performance
reporting, and business efficiency at the conclusion of each company period.

Sales department: Creates overseas trips for Vietnamese nationals or foreigners

in Vietnam looking to visit abroad. Inform travelers about travel programs that
interest them, or help them learn how to construct new trips based on their
preferences.

Airline Ticket Department: assists travelers with travel transportation, such as

bus, train, and plane tickets. Consultation on gathering standard paperwork for
visa applications. For example, Airline tickets will be available via Vietnam
Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Jetstar... Car rentals will feature 4 seats, 7 seats, 29
seats, or 45 seats, depending on the demands of the tourists.

Marketing Department: Post pictures, videos, travel information, and tourist

product information on social networking sites where potential clients are present
to boost capacity to communicate with them. In addition, this department track
client comments regarding the company on social media. This department is
critical to the business's capacity to attract consumers and sets the company's
image while presenting before the media, customers, and partners of Greentours
Company.

2.2. Assessment of Business performance

Throughout many years of operation, the company's business activities have

produced extraordinarily positive outcomes, which are displayed in the period
2020-2023 as follows:

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 Table 2.2a: Business results of the Company in the period 2020-2023
Unit: million VND

No Targets 2020 2021 2022 2023

1 Revenue from sales and 732.576,3 740.156,6 737.645,8 800.798,7

service provision

2 Business costs 380.475,7 286.391,5 384.711,1 390.832,1

- Cost of goods sold 369.569,3 275.389,8 373.752,4 380.247,4

- Enterprise management 7.033,8 8.624,1 6.500,5 8.901,4

costs

- Financial expenses 3.072,1 1.000,2 3.774,8 934,5

- Other costs 800,5 1.377,4 683,4 748,8

3 Profit before taxes 2.652,6 3.754,5 3.054,6 4.140,5

4 Submitting national budget 630,34 789,78 650,99 788,39

5 Profit after taxes 2.022,26 2.964,72 2.403,561 3.352,11

(Source: Financial - Accounting Department)

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 Table 2.2b: Difference in the Company's business performance

from 2020 to 2023.

Unit: million VND
Difference Difference Difference
2021/2020 2022/2021 2023/2022

No Targets
Amount Amount
Amount
% of % of %
of money
money money

1 Revenue from sales 8.004,3 3,94 -3.510,8 -1,43 7.976,9 3,94

and service provision

2 Business costs 5.915,8 3,28 -1.680,4 -0,90 6.121,0 3,31

- Cost of goods sold 5.820,5 3,43 545,6 28,59 6.495 3,74

- Enterprise management 1.590,3 22,61 214 45,59 1.079,9 13,81

costs

- Financial expenses -1.195,9 -38,53 -1.637,4 -0,93 -1.365,3 -55,64

- Other costs -299,1 -38,92 -802,6 -9,31 -88,6 -12,96

3 Profit before taxes 3.101,9 41,64 -599,9 -18,74 2.085,9 35,75

4 Submitting national 200,47 55,69 -160,978 -18,64 180,088 23,23

budget

5 Profit after taxes 2901,43 38,00 -438,922 -18,64 1905.812 39,40

(Source: Financial - Accounting Department)

The company's revenue from sales and service provision fluctuates unevenly over
the years. In 2021, revenue increased to 7,580.3 million VND, equivalent to an
increase of 5.71% compared to 2020. However, in 2022, the number decreased to

15
2,510.8 million VND, corresponding to a decrease rate of 1. 82% compared to
the previous year. Meanwhile, 2023 will see growth with revenue increasing to
63,152.9 million VND, meaning an increase of 4.58% compared to 2022.

The increase in the number of products consumed is mainly the result of the
company's joint ventures with major partners in the aviation and hotel industries,
typically Vietnam Airlines and Vingroup. The increase in production and
business next year compared to the previous year has strengthened the company's
position in the market. In recent years, the tourism industry has begun to show
signs of improvement, making the tourism industry more competitive than ever
before. The company has succeeded in winning the trust of customers. The
company's products not only reach increasingly high quality but also increase in
quantity.

The company's business expenses fluctuate unevenly over the years. In 2021,
costs decreased to 94,084.2 million VND, equivalent to a decrease of 3.28%
compared to 2020. Meanwhile, 2023 sees growth with costs increasing to
390,832.1 million VND, equivalent to an increase of 1.01% compared to 2022.

The fluctuation in annual costs reflects the stability and continuity in the
company's product consumption process through planning cycles. Expenses
related to sales and business administration activities have increased, but they are
maintained according to the plan and annual revenue growth rate. The company
has been successful recently, demonstrating the effectiveness of implementing
savings in materials, labor and overall production to reduce product costs and
improve competitiveness with competitors.

Following the increasing and decreasing trend in sales revenue and service
provision as well as business costs, the company's profit after tax also fluctuates
over the years. In 2021, profit increases to 943.46 million VND. On the contrary,
in 2022, the number will decrease to 561,159 million VND, corresponding to a

16
decrease rate of 12.33% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, 2023 will
see strong growth with profits increasing to 948,571 million VND.

This shows that the travel company not only can do business effectively but also
manages investment capital well. However, at the same time, profits from
financial business activities have not yet achieved significant growth, posing
challenges in optimizing this activity to achieve better financial performance,
especially in the context of the company's industry operating in the field of travel
and tourism.

2.3. Assessment of Integrated Marketing Communications

2.3.1. Current Situation of the Market Segmentation Process

STP is a business tool that helps companies identify market segments, select
target markets, and thereby position their brand. Currently, most travel companies
apply STP analysis strategies to target a market segment with high potential
rather than pursuing the entire market. This enables businesses to develop
promotion strategies to easily appeal to the psychology of potential customers,
making it easier to sell and achieve certain business outcomes.

Figure 2.3: STP Model

(Source: https://www.mindtools.com/)

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Recognizing the importance of market segmentation for potential customers, the
outbound tour department of Greentours travel company has developed a specific
process to identify potential customer profiles. This makes it easier for the
company to approach and implement suitable IMC activities, resulting in high
efficiency in the outbound tour business.

2.3.1.1. Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is the activity of dividing customers in the target market
into smaller groups. Segmenting the market helps businesses gain a better
understanding of the potential customer groups they are targeting, identifying the
characteristics of their needs, psychology, and behaviors to develop appropriate
sales strategies.

At Greentours, market segmentation in outbound tourism is divided based on the

following criteria:

Table 2.3: Characteristics of market segmentation in Greentours' outbound

tourism.

No. Criteria Characteris

tics

1 Demograph Age Retirement age group (from 65 to 75 years

ics old)
Middle-aged group (from 40 to 65 years old)
Early career stability and advancement
group (from 30 to 40 years old)

Income Customers with average income (10-20

million per month)

Customers with high income (>50 million

per month).

Occupation The high-income consumers are frequently

successful entrepreneurs in private
enterprises: Sales staff, Managers, Directors,
Business owners.... or retired or freelance

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 workers: Freelancers, Shop owners,...

The second group consists of those with an

average salary working in offices, especially
in state-owned enterprises: Police officers,
doctors, Military personnel, State
auditors,....

Educational Intermediate, College, University,

level Postgraduate (PhD, Professor,...)

Nationality Vietnamese citizens

2 Phychology Lifestyle The high-income people have flexible

working hours, and use Facebook, Zalo, and
online newspaper websites every morning.

The second one is those with an average

salary work in offices from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m and spend more time on social
networking sites like Facebook, Tiktok,
Zalo, and YouTube during breaks, lunch, or
dinner.

These two target groups have something in

common: They all use Facebook and Zalo to
stay up to date on news and connect. They
enjoy indulging and desire to explore and
experience many places.

Personality Outgoing, open-minded, self-assertive

3 Behavior Frequency Have experience traveling abroad

of traveling Haven't traveled abroad

Frequency Have purchased tours from the company

of Haven't purchased tours from the company
purchasing
tours from
the
company

Purpose of Asserting status

purchasing Enjoy exploring new cultures
tours Relaxation, stress relief
Enhancing bonding among members (if

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 traveling with friends, family)
(Source: Marketing and Sales Department)

To easily identify potential customers, the sales and marketing department

primarily focuses on evaluating from the following factors:

Income: This is the primary determinant of a tourist's purchasing ability. A

customer with a high income, possessing substantial disposable income for travel
purposes, would be a potential customer for Greentours as they are likely to
afford higher spending.

Occupation: To take customers from Vietnam abroad for tourism, it's usually
necessary to demonstrate their occupation to avoid the suspicion of illegal labor
migration. Customers with transparent occupations are the prime target for
Greentours as this greatly facilitates the tourist visa application process.

Travel purpose: For Greentours, a potential customer is someone whose travel

purposes stem from a passion for tourism, an appreciation for the company's
products, aiming to affirm their status.

Using these three major criteria, firms can quickly identify potential clients and
promote their all-inclusive outbound travel packages.

2.3.1.2. Selecting the target market

Greentours' customer market can be divided into 2 main components as follows:

Domestic customer market: The company has served domestic tours for many
customers ranging from individual tourists to group tourists. Some preferred
destinations in the domestic customer market include: Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Da
Lat, Da Nang... In addition, to meet the tastes and new travel trends of domestic
tourists, the company also explores new destinations with fresh experiences such
as Ha Giang, Yen Bai, Pu Luong, Quy Nhon...

International customer market: The international customer market consists of

customers with high purchasing power divided into 2 segments: Inbound
tourists (international tourists coming to Vietnam) and Outbound tourists

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(international tourists leaving Vietnam). Firstly, before 2019, the company had
plans to vigorously promote and successfully bring tourists from potential
markets such as China, Russia, South Korea, the US, the UK, France... to use
long-term tours in Vietnam. Since 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, the company has suspended its services

Furthermore, the outbound tourists are the primary market and accounts for a
high proportion, bringing in significant revenue for the company. Currently, the
company has operated tours to various countries on different continents such as
Europe (UK, Germany, France, Switzerland...), Asia (Southeast Asian countries,
India, China...), Africa (South Africa), America (USA, Canada...).

Figure 1.7: Greentours' customer structure from 2020 to 2024

(Source: Sales Department)

Based on the chart, it can be seen that 2023 was a very successful year for the
company. Greentours served nearly 2 thousand tourists with outbound customers
accounting for the largest proportion. Meanwhile, the number of tourists
participating in inbound and domestic tourism activities was relatively modest.

After analyzing the market and customer segments as above, Greentours selects a
target market that is suitable for its products. The current target customers of

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Greentours are aimed at high-end customers who have a demand for
purchasing high-priced outbound tour packages: Aged from 30 to 60 years
old, with a high income of over 50 million VND per month. These people have
flexible working hours, and use Facebook, Zalo, and online newspaper websites
every morning. They have a desire to travel for various reasons: they enjoy
exploring new cultures; relaxation, stress relief; or organizing tours for family
and friends to enhance bonding among members.

2.3.1.3. Positioning brand

Based on the results of the two steps above, Greentours Travel Company has
taken steps to position its brand to always create a positive impression with
customers.

Figure 2.2: Positioning of Greentours' outbound tourist market

(Source: Sales Department)

2.3.2. Current Situation of Marketing Mix (4Ps)

2.3.2.1. Product Policy (Products)

The main products offered by Greentours Company are comprehensive outbound
travel packages including transportation, accommodation, meals, sightseeing,
visa arrangements, tour guides, etc. Initially, when the demand of tourists was

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limited to Asian countries, the company has diversified its outbound travel
products to include destinations across Asia, Europe, Australia, and the
Americas. This expansion entails a focus on research, product development,
sales, and post-sales customer care. Specifically, the classification of outbound
travel products by Greentours is as follows:

Table 2.3. Classification of Greentours' Outbound Travel Products

No. Region Destinations

1 Asia Thailand, Singapore, Destinations with low to

Malaysia, Indonesia, moderate costs
South Korea, Taiwan,
Dubai, Japan

2 Europe France, Netherlands, Destinations with high costs

Germany, Switzerland,
Italy, United Kingdom

3 Americas United States, Canada

4 Africa South Africa

5 Australia Australia
(Source: Sales Department)

During the years 2020-2022, Greentours organized several outbound trips, with a
gradual increase in activity from 2021 to 2022, and a more concentrated effort in
2023. This trend was primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,
which virtually halted the international travel market. Greentours opted for travel
products with affordable prices for customers facing economic difficulties,
focusing on destinations nearby and ensuring safety measures against the
pandemic. Since March 15, 2022, as the tourism industry fully reopened, the pace
of outbound travel activities has significantly increased. Particularly, from the
second half of the second quarter of 2023, Greentours resumed its programs to
distant markets such as Europe, the Americas, serving as a lever to revive the
company's outbound tour business. Long-haul travel products to Europe, the
Americas, Japan, or short-haul trips to South Korea, Thailand,
Singapore-Malaysia, Taiwan, etc., are actively promoted and researched by the

23
company to design unique itineraries, enhancing competitiveness against
competitors.

2.3.2.2. Pricing Policy

The pricing of the company's products is currently determined based on the cost
method, meaning it is based on fixed costs and variable costs, with the total cost
plus an appropriate profit margin as stipulated by the company's regulations,
typically set at 8% of revenue. Currently, the company calculates tour prices for
customers based on the number of participants in the program. Depending on the
number of participants, the tour price decreases as the number of registrations
increases. The detailed pricing for the company's popular programs for
Vietnamese customers traveling abroad is shown in the table below:

Table 2.4: Price list of products for Vietnamese customers traveling abroad
(applicable to individual customers joining group tours)
No. Program Name Duratio Published Group Price (Million VND)
n Price
(Million 3-5 5-7 7-10
VND) people people people

1 USA 10D9N 98.5 97 96 95

2 Canada 10D9N 98 96 95 94

3 France - Italy 10D9N 79 78.9 78 77

4 Germany - 10D9N 75 74.9 73 70

France -
Netherlands

5 South Africa 9D8N 66 64.9 62 60

6 Australia 8D7N 69 63.9 62 60

7 Dubai 6D5N 50 55 53 52

8 Japan 6D5N 38.9 30 29 28

9 South Korea 6D5N 33.9 35 34 32

10 Singapore - 6D5N 14.4 22 20 19.5

Malaysia

24
11 Thailand 6D5N 9.8 9.5 9.2 9
(Source: Sales Department)

Looking at the table above, we can see various destinations, aiming to diversify
products to meet the increasingly high demands of customers. The most notable
aspect is that prices will vary depending on the group size and the quality of
accompanying services. Currently, the pricing policy for products is one of the
most focused policies. This is how Greentours stimulates customer purchasing
behavior and provides customer satisfaction by offering discounts.

2.3.2.3. Distribution Channels (Places)

In the current situation, the company is establishing partnerships with service
providers to form complete tour packages or individual components, which are
then sold through the following channels:

Figure 2.3: Distribution Channel Diagram of Greentours

(Source: Sales Department)

Greentours operates as a direct distribution channel. The Greentours Travel

Company reaches customers through platforms such as its website, social media
channels like Facebook, Zalo, and provides comprehensive services directly to
customers.

Overall, the assessment of Greentours Travel Company's service distribution

channels does not differ significantly from the distribution channels of other
travel companies.

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2.1.2.4. Integrated Marketing Communications (Promotion)
Greentours utilizes all five promotion channels including Advertising, Promotion,
Personal Selling, Direct Marketing, and Public Relations. These tools are
coordinated to achieve the common goal of increasing the effectiveness of
outbound tour package business. The effectiveness of these five promotion
channels is illustrated in the chart below:

Figure 2.4: Effectiveness of Integrated Marketing Communications

Activities at Greentours
(Source: Marketing Department)

It can be observed that personal selling remains the most effective activity,
bringing in the highest number of customers as Greentours leverages the
capabilities and long-standing experience of its sales department employees.
Advertising, promotion, and direct marketing activities are less effective due to
the lack of coordination between the marketing and sales departments. Public
relations activities serve more as a supportive role rather than a primary tool in
promoting Greentours' outbound tour packages.

26
2.3.3. Current Situation of Greentours' Outbound Tour Package IMC
activities

2.3.3.1. Advertising
Before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Greentours invested heavily
in advertising. However, during the period from 2019 to 2021, travel demand
sharply declined due to the pandemic's impact, leading the company to
temporarily suspend advertising activities. By 2022, when outbound travel
activities resumed from March 15, 2022, the company presented plans that still
focused on advertising to increase customer reach while saving costs as much as
possible. Greentours concentrated on using the following advertising channels:

Printed Materials:
Internal printed materials served the company's business processes with
brochures or printed materials containing information about the company and the
outbound travel programs needing promotion to reach customers.

Internet and Social Media:

In the era of Industry 4.0, travelers primarily seek information about tours
through the internet. Greentours endeavors to utilize this to reach and attract
customers. Currently, Greentours uses the following online platforms:
- Website: https://greentours.com.vn/
The website serves as a hub for all the company's travel products, including
outbound travel programs. On the homepage, the company highlights
promotional travel programs to attract customers. This advertising method for
tour packages in the hot tour category aims to stimulate customers' curiosity,
prompting them to explore these travel programs further.

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 Figure 2.5: Description of Discount Catalog on Greentours Website
(Source: Greentours website)

Greentours' marketing department has built a website with comprehensive

content, providing customers with all the information they need. Outbound tours
are listed separately to make it easy for customers to find. Upon accessing this
page, Greentours has categorized travel regions such as Asia, Europe, America,
Africa, etc., and then listed the countries with tour programs for easy
understanding and access by customers.

Figure 2.6: Description of Outbound Tour Catalog

(Source: Greentours website)

Furthermore, understanding the customer's need for information, Greentours has

focused on developing news sections on the website. Here, the company regularly
updates travel blogs, shares articles with images from famous destinations
worldwide, provides typical outbound travel experience suggestions, etc., to
facilitate the advertisement of the company's tour packages. These articles not
only contribute useful information to customers but also create an impression of
the company's attentiveness, knowledge, and dedication.

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 Figure 2.7: Description of News Section
(Source: Greentours website)

Despite the company's investment in website design and information updates, the
number of website visitors as of the end of 2023 remains very modest.

Figure 2.8:Number of Visits Related to Outbound Tour Information on

Greentours Website for the 4 Quarters of 2023
(Source: Marketing Department)

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 - Facebook:
The company's official fanpage was established on June 24, 2010, under
the name "Greentours - Simply a Journey, Truly a Service". The fanpage
was created with the purpose of advertising tour programs, including
outbound tours, updating the latest information about destinations of
interest to customers, providing updates about the company, sharing
customer feedback, videos, and attractive travel guides.

Currently, Greentours' official fanpage has attracted 3K likes and 3.1K followers.
This number demonstrates the customers' interest in a travel company. On
average, Greentours updates one post related to travel topics every day, which
helps increase customer engagement and enhance the company's visibility.
Although the number of posts is consistent and the fanpage has a high number of
likes and followers, the number of likes for each post does not exceed 20 likes
per day, with very few posts receiving comments and shares.

The company's fanpage serves as the main advertising tool to stimulate the
market with the latest and most attractive tour programs. The marketing
department uses methods such as changing cover photos and profile pictures for
major events aimed at promoting to customers. Additionally, the company
utilizes the fanpage to advertise prominent outbound tours, tapping into
customers' curiosity and interest.

Figure 2.9: Greentours Fanpage Interface

(Source: Greentours Fanpage)

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However, because advertising on Facebook now costs a lot of money, Greentours
only runs ads for overseas tours that are really effective. To assess which ads are
most effective, the Marketing department normally conducts 7-day ad trials for
all tour goods. Then they compare the results of each product before deciding on
the top 1-3 products that spark the most customer interest. Greentours can save
money on advertising by using this trial method and focusing on products that
provide significant returns for the company. The statistical table below
demonstrates the success of reaching customers:

Table 2.5: Reachability of advertising posts on Facebook

No. Tour Program Average Daily Reach

1 Hanoi - Busan - Gamcheon - Hanoi 50

2 Hanoi - Germany - France - Netherlands - 138

Hanoi

3 Singapore Malaysia Tour - Visit Genting 112

Highlands, Kuala Lumpur capital

4 Dubai Tour - Explore the Museum of the 97

Future in 2071 - Experience the luxurious
capital Abu Dhabi

5 South Africa Tour - Admire the purple 80

spring - Explore the wild nature
(Source: Marketing Department)

It can be said that the effectiveness of customer reach through advertising on

Greentours' Facebook page for various tour programs is quite good. This
indicates the level of interest from customers, helping the marketing department
attract attention from customers, making it easier for the company's business
activities. Despite the good level of interest, only about 5-10% of customers have
a genuine interest in Greentours' outbound tours. This poses a significant
challenge for the marketing department in improving advertising effectiveness
through Facebook.

With these media channels, Greentours has attracted a certain number of potential
customers, as shown in the following chart:

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 Figure 2.10: The conversion rate of outbound tour bookings based on
advertising activities in the four quarters of 2023
(Source: Marketing Department)

It can be seen that the conversion rate of customers when exposed to

outbound tour products is not yet high. Advertising activities have not fully
utilized the potential when bringing in the number of customers who book tours
at peak months, with the conversion rate mostly fluctuating around or below
10%, rather than reaching the threshold of 20%.

2.3.3.2. Personal Selling activities.

As the most interactive tool with customers and the one that generates the most
revenue, Personal Selling is considered the primary and crucial activity in IMC at
Greentours. This channel is essential for the company to provide products to
customers, reach potential customers, and build close relationships with them.

Personal Selling is a process that involves gathering communication, interaction,

and direct exchange between salespeople and potential customers to persuade and
encourage purchasing behavior and increase future sales opportunities.

Implementation method:
The key personnel in this promotional channel are the employees in the sales
department. This is Greentours' advantage as they have experienced staff who

32
possess solid, flexible, and professional sales mentality and skills. Each employee
is responsible for different markets, so they must thoroughly understand and
grasp all information about destinations within their scope of work. This helps
provide information to customers more easily, enhances professionalism, and
avoids vague information from sales staff that could affect the consultation, sales,
and tour booking process.

Process of Personal Selling:

Step 1: Understanding Customer Needs
Through exchanges with customers, Greentours employees continue to
understand their preferences, concerns, and needs regarding the type of product.
From there, they provide similar suitable products.

Step 2: Product Introduction

After understanding the customer's needs better, Greentours sales staff skillfully
integrate, introduce the company's outbound tour products and present to
customers the benefits, uses, and characteristics of the products. Finally, they
demonstrate that the product can satisfy their desires.

When consulting tour programs, although Greentours guides employees on the

process, they do not impose a specific framework on them because each
employee will have a different style and approach to approaching and consulting
with customers. This creates the individuality of employees that helps leave an
impression on customers.

Step 3: Closing the Deal

After product introduction, sales staff have identified potential buyers and the
time they will purchase the product. This step requires the skill and subtlety of
the salesperson to stimulate and encourage customer purchasing needs and
proceed to close the outbound tour.

Greentours sales staff have integrated various tools such as promotions,

advertising, etc., to stimulate customer psychology and promote customer
decision-making. However, although they want the ultimate result to be customer
bookings, Greentours employees always maintain a subtle attitude, acting as sales
advisors rather than pressuring customers to make purchases.

Step 5: Customer Care

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Due to the intangible nature of outbound tour products, customer care is more
challenging and requires sales staff to accompany customers throughout the
process before, during, and after departure.

Before the trip: Organize group meetings, provide necessary information for
customers to prepare such as clothing, equipment, documents, profiles. Ensure
visa submission time to get results earlier than scheduled or expected for tours
requiring visas.

During the trip: Continuously inquire about customers, especially group leaders
about the situation and difficulties encountered during the trip. Then provide
timely solutions at the time of receiving feedback.

After the trip: The sales department is responsible for obtaining customer
feedback, receiving, filtering customer opinions, contributions to find solutions to
overcome shortcomings for future tours.

Sales Management Method of Greentours:

To perfect the personal selling tool, the company's leadership always sets
requirements and skills that employees need to achieve before directly
communicating and advising customers.

First is the requirement for attire: Attire must always be conservative, modest,
and dignified, adhering to the company's uniform dress code to convey a
professional image, better positioning the brand in the customers' minds.

34
 Figure 2.11: Greentours uniform
(Source: Greentours fanpage)

Next are the requirements for skills:

- Specialized Skills:
Ensure knowledge of the tourism industry, understanding of tourism products and
services. As the department focuses on selling tour programs to domestic market
segments with high demand for overseas travel at high expense, sales staff need
to have basic to in-depth knowledge about destinations to easily develop tour
programs and advise customers.

Ensure knowledge of visas, procedures, and legal regulations for visa extension
services, temporary residence permits, work permits, or approving expert visas to
easily serve and advise customers when they need to book tours.

- Communication, Consultation, Negotiation, and Persuasion Skills:

A outbound tour salesperson always needs to be sensitive, observant, and
attentive to quickly grasp customer desires, thereby introducing suitable products
and persuading customers to purchase the company's products and services
instead of those of other companies.

35
 - Teamwork Skills:
Working in a service environment, especially the processes of departments that
are always interconnected, teamwork is a crucial skill that determines the
effectiveness and success in work. Outbound sales staff at Greentours always
need to have collaborative cooperation with customer-facing departments such as
operations, tour guides, finance, etc., throughout the tour design and construction
process to the consulting process, handling unforeseen situations. Having good
teamwork skills will help employees achieve efficiency and success in their work
more easily.

However, outbound sales staff do not have regular contact and collaboration with
colleagues in the marketing department. Information about promotional products
from the Marketing department is based on the most common tourism products.
This makes customers unable to distinguish the competitive advantages of
Greentours from its competitors, thereby reducing the effectiveness of advertising
campaigns.

2.3.3.3. Promotional Activities

In the realm of IMC activities, promotions play a vital role in attracting customer
attention. Especially for outbound tours, which typically involve substantial
expenses, promotional activities are always considered by Greentours to
stimulate customer purchasing decisions. The company's sales, leadership,
marketing, and finance departments have carefully considered and selected the
following promotional tools:

Promotions through Direct Price Reductions:

This is a common method aimed at clearing out remaining tour slots, increasing
the number of bookings to offset discounted costs, etc. Direct price reduction
helps Greentours tap into customers' psyche more effectively than any other form
of promotion.

Greentours' sales department currently employs two main forms of direct

discount promotions: first, direct discounts for loyal customers, and second,
direct discounts for group bookings of three or more people. Both of these
activities have proven effective for the company's business operations as they
encourage customers, especially those sensitive to prices, to purchase tour
packages. Some promotional programs are pushed by the marketing department
onto the website's hot tour section and the highlight section of the fan page to
generate attention from the first interaction.

36
Promotions through Conditional Purchase Vouchers:
At cultural exchange events, travel fairs, etc., Greentours offers customers
vouchers with conditions such as discounts on outbound tours if they purchase
the company's tour packages.

2.3.3.4. Direct Marketing Activities

This is how marketers reach customers through a medium such as Email,

Catalog, phone calls, etc. This will make customers feel more comfortable. Users
can choose the appropriate marketing method and not feel disturbed by sales
representatives when they do not have a need.

Providing Travel Service Information through Email Marketing:

Sending emails is a method Greentours employs to achieve the following
objectives: Enhance the company's brand image and recognition among
customers; Promote information about the company's travel programs and
services to customers: "Promotional information, discounted tours, travel times at
the most beautiful destinations of the year."

Direct Consultation via Phone Calls:

Every day, the marketing department distributes a large number of phone
numbers evenly to each salesperson. Sales staff are tasked with calling customers,
introducing themselves, inquiring about customer needs, and providing direct
advice.

While this activity is not unfamiliar, Greentours has not executed it effectively.
Many phone numbers are often duplicated, and repeated calls to customers over
several days lead to significant customer frustration. Additionally, many phone
numbers belong to partners, employees of the company, hotel hotlines,
restaurants, etc. This results in negative psychological effects on employees and
wasted time without yielding results.

2.3.3.5. Public Relations Activities

Public relations (PR) help establish and maintain beneficial relationships between
the company and the community, customers (current and potential), investors,

37
and the media. While advertising involves one-way communication from the
sender (marketers) to the receiver (consumers or retailers), PR considers multiple
stakeholders (consumers, employees, suppliers) and employs two-way
communication to monitor feedback and adjust messages along with
organizational actions to maximize benefits.

With Customers:
Customers are the primary focus of Greentours in building and maintaining
relationships because they provide the revenue necessary for the company to
sustain its business operations. Maintaining these relationships is demonstrated
by regular contact with loyal customers, inviting them to participate in major
company events such as travel festivals, anniversary celebrations, travel fairs, and
sending vouchers to loyal customers to maintain their loyalty to the business. For
customers who have never purchased services from the company, Greentours
always strives to use mass media to reach them.

Media and Press Agencies:

To enhance its credibility with customers and business partners, an important
public relations activity of Greentours is to establish and maintain relationships
with media and press agencies. At the company's major events, the leadership
also extends invitations to media agencies such as Vietnamnet,
tapchidulich.net.vn to report and help them get closer to the public.

Public Relations Tools Used by Greentours Include:

- Websites, Blogs, and Social Networks such as Facebook: Providing useful
information about the company, its services, and products in a powerful
way to reach many people is a primary PR tool because it is cost-effective
and yields high efficiency.
- Corporate Identity Materials: These materials include logos, stationery,
advertising materials, trademarks, business cards, office buildings,
uniforms, hats, travel backpacks, and company vehicles.

2.3.4. Evaluation of Outbound Packaged Tour IMC Activities by

Greentours

2.3.4.1. General Evaluation

Advantages:

38
Overall, Greentours performs quite well in its IMC activities by utilizing 5
promotional tools to promote and reach potential customers.

Greentours has a team of experienced staff in the tourism industry with extensive
specialized knowledge and good customer advisory skills. This leverage makes
the promotion of outbound packaged tours easier.

With over 20 years of business operations in the tourism sector, Greentours has
established a loyal customer base. In the current tourism market, the company's
reputation is also affirmed through awards such as being recognized as one of the
top 10 reputable travel companies. This has enabled the company's promotion
activities to be conducted more effectively and widely.

Disadvantages:
There is a lack of communication among the company's departments during the
implementation of IMC activities. Additionally, uneven task assignments are
found within Greentours. Consequently, inconsistent information is disseminated,
and employees are overloaded during peak seasons, leading to a decrease in the
quality of promotion.

It can be seen that personal selling still brings the highest effectiveness, bringing
the highest number of customers as Greentours has leveraged the capabilities and
long-standing experience of its sales department employees. Advertising,
promotions, and direct sales have not been very effective due to the lack of
coordination between the marketing and sales departments. Public relations
activities serve more as a supplementary tool rather than becoming a primary tool
in Greentours' outbound packaged tour IMC activities.

2.3.4.2. Evaluation of Advertising Activities

Advantages:
Greentours' designs for promotional materials, images, brochures, printed
products, etc., are visually appealing, harmonious, and eye-catching. This helps
increase the effectiveness of attracting customers.

Disadvantages:
Due to the impact of previous years' pandemics, the budget allocated for
advertising activities has been maximally reduced and not heavily invested in.
For example, in running advertisements through Facebook and Google, the

39
leadership has directed to limit and only use them for essential tours to avoid
waste. This has reduced the ability to reach the customer market.

Two forms of advertising are not effectively used:

- For the company's website, many posts about travel programs use
repetitive and inaccurate images, failing to highlight the attractive aspects
of the destinations that need to be promoted. The image quality in these
travel programs is not high, and they are not clear, making it difficult for
customers to understand the information. At present, the content of the
posts on the website is outdated. There have been times when the
company temporarily suspended operations on this platform.

- Regarding Facebook, the quality of posts is not high, and they fail to hit
consumer motivations. This is evident through the posts on Facebook,
with an average of fewer than 20 likes per day. This poses a significant
challenge for the sales and marketing department in creating keywords,
designing posts on social media platforms.

In terms of personnel, the lack of coordination between the Marketing and Sales
departments in advertising creates a significant weakness. For example, the sales
department does not check the content of travel programs before approving them
for publication by the Marketing department on various platforms. This reduces
the accuracy in providing information to customers.

Overall, the effectiveness of outbound tour business resulting from advertising

activities is not high, as seen very clearly through the chart showing the ratio of
customers closing outbound tours based on advertising activities.

2.3.4.3. Evaluation of Personal Selling Activities

Advantages:
Two-way interaction: Through customer interaction during the sales transaction,
salespersons can easily address individual issues promptly.

Greentours' personal selling activities have the advantage of meticulous attire,

which easily impresses incoming customers, reflecting the professional attitude
the company aims for.

Disadvantages:

40
Due to Greentours assigning each employee to a specific market, when a
customer with inquiries visits while the designated salesperson is absent, it leads
to confusion among other employees who may not be familiar with the travel
program. This results in disorderly information and creates a negative impression
on customers.

2.3.4.4. Evaluation of Promotional Activities

Advantages:
The company has good priority promotional policies for loyal customers such as
discounts, gifts, sending vouchers for future trips, which effectively maintain
customer loyalty, retain fixed revenue sources, and enhance advertising
capabilities as these customers may refer their acquaintances, friends, etc., to
continue purchasing the company's services.

Disadvantages:
Although Greentours applies discounts on tour prices, the discounted value is not
high and does not correspond to the tour price that customers have to pay. For
example, a long-term tour to Europe with a price of nearly 100 million VND, but
the gift items only worth 1-2 million VND.

2.3.4.5. Evaluation of Direct Marketing

Advantages:
Thông điệp bán hàng được cá nhân hóa, điều này giúp việc tiếp thị dễ thành công
hơn. Công cụ này ngoài ra còn giúp đo đạc được mức độ hiệu quả của hoạt động
tiếp thị nhờ vào tỷ lệ phản hồi và nội dung phản hồi, thái độ của khách hàng.

Disadvantages:
Many emails sent to customers end up in spam, preventing Greentours from
conveying its desired information effectively.

As mentioned above, the process of collecting phone numbers from potential

customers is indeed problematic, causing negative emotions for both sales staff
and recipients of calls. Since multiple calls to the same phone number for those
who are not interested result in negative feelings and a very unfavorable
impression of Greentours.

41
2.3.4.6. Evaluation of Public Relations Activities
Advantages:
Events aimed at fostering relationships with the public are consistently and
creatively maintained by Greentours, featuring innovative activities that leave a
positive impression on customers.

Brand positioning materials such as travel backpacks, hats, banners, slogans, etc.,
are always invested in by the company as gifts to establish brand positioning in
the minds of customers, making it easy for them to recognize and associate with
the brand.

Disadvantages:
Although some company events are organized regularly, they may not yield high
communication effectiveness as they are held on weekdays, not holidays,
resulting in relatively low attendance. Unnecessary program length can also lead
to boredom among attendees. Moreover, these events incur significant costs but
do not deliver the expected results.

2.5. Analysis of Causes of Limitations in Company's Outbound Tour IMC

Activities

2.5.1. Subjective Causes

Firstly, the primary reason lies in the way tasks are assigned to employees,
specifically regarding the allocation of human resources and their coordination in
the work process.

Market segmentation for each employee leads to overload during peak seasons,
resulting in stacked workloads that significantly impact the quality of
consultation. When a particular employee is absent, others may lack
understanding of the tour programs, leading to inconsistent and interrupted
information during customer consultation, affecting the quality of IMC through
personal selling.

42
Furthermore, the coordination between the marketing and sales departments is
not seamless, lacking in exchange. Some programs organized by the leadership
are mostly managed by the marketing department, without much input from the
sales department, which interacts directly with customers and better understands
their needs. Such unprofessional coordination reduces the effectiveness of
outbound tour IMC activities.

Lastly, while marketing initiatives have been implemented, they have not been
sufficiently invested in overall, with some promotional methods being cut due to
budget constraints.

2.5.2. Objective Causes

Promotional activities are dependent on seasonal fluctuations in tourism, with
higher risks when booking deposits for services during peak periods such as New
Year's Day, Lunar New Year, April 30th, May 2nd, Christmas, etc. Therefore,
strategic promotional directives still have a market exploration nature and lack
professional sales pitches, resulting in the ineffective utilization of resources in
achieving marketing goals.

The outbound tourism market is highly competitive, and the prices of Greentours'
outbound tours are relatively higher compared to many other companies.
Moreover, the company's unique selling points are not significantly different.

43
 CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPING INTEGRATED
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN GREENTOURS COMPANY
Through self-analysis of the limitations and both subjective and objective reasons
leading to constraints in promoting outbound tours, Greentours Travel Company
has identified persistent issues, aiming to continuously strive for new strategies
and solutions to make its outbound tour business more effective.

To enhance effectiveness in promoting and selling outbound tours, the company

needs more comprehensive investments in both human resources and finances. It
needs to foster higher specialization in marketing activities in general, market
positioning, and promotional activities in particular. Specific solutions are
required to improve the effectiveness of selling outbound tours through various
promotional channels to achieve the company's business objectives. Below are
some proposals to address these issues and leverage Greentours' strengths while
mitigating its weaknesses in outbound tour promotion activities.

3.1. Goals and development directions of Greentours

3.1.1. Business Plan in the period 2025 - 2028

The performance of the travel company in achieving development goals
from 2025 to 2028:
- Revenue growth: Target a 10-15% annual revenue growth rate
- Market expansion: Aim to expand tourism activities into Japanese
markets, with a plan to achieve a 20% revenue growth from new markets
- Increase customer satisfaction and ratings: Aim to achieve a customer
satisfaction rate above 90% by the end of 2028
- Operational efficiency: Target a 5-10% reduction in operating costs
through process optimization and technology.

3.1.2. Development Direction of the Company

In the coming years, to ensure sustainable development, Greentours must

prioritize fixing remaining problems from the previous year while consistently
upgrading management practices. Monitoring departmental activity and investing

44
in people and technology will be critical to improve the company's overall
success.

Marketing research requires updating and improving the research and

performance evaluation procedures. Using measurement techniques, such as
social listening, may help the Marketing Department focus on the proper
customers and develop engaging ideas to attract them. This will broaden the
company's reach and participation on social media channels, resulting in new
appeal and higher sales and services.

Greentours should create a chain method to give services to clients by

combining every department. Specifically, after obtaining information that has
reached consumers from the Marketing and Sales departments, the ticket and visa
or travel departments swiftly advise clients. The using stage, as well as what
happens after clients utilize the product or service, must be addressed.

To solve the problem of late salary payments and avoid potential harm,
companies need to take measures to improve the salary payment process and
optimize the internal financial management system. This not only helps maintain
a positive work environment but also maintains the company's reputation in the
business community.

Because the company's existing management cannot accomplish the

needed level of connection and comprehensiveness across departments,
Greentours must engage in Internal Communications efforts to ensure that all
information is delivered from superiors to employees in sync. At the start of each
week, the firm should arrange a meeting amongst departments to grasp its current
state and the work of existing departments with short and long-term goals.

3.2. Human Resources Solutions

As analyzed above, a major subjective reason leading to limitations in
Greentours' IMC activities lies in the assignment of tasks and resource allocation
for its staff. To achieve effectiveness in promoting outbound tours, Greentours
should orient its staff that outbound tour promotion is the responsibility of all
departments. Specifically, task assignment needs to be more specific to ensure
primary responsibilities and supporting roles.

45
3.2.1. Marketing Department
The Marketing Department is primarily responsible for marketing activities in
general and specifically for promoting outbound tours. This department generates
continuous creative ideas to promote sales through various means such as
advertising, public relations, and promotions. To carry out promotional activities
effectively, the Marketing Department needs specific changes:
The marketing department needs to regularly update new promotional trends and
creatively develop unique promotional ideas to implement them in the business
environment. Currently, platforms like TikTok are vibrant advertising tools with
significant viral effects. Investing time to research the feasibility of new
promotional tools, exploring interesting design ideas for printed materials, and
creating innovative content to attract customer attention will make Greentours'
promotional activities fresher than traditional models. Additionally, this approach
helps the company easily access new customer preferences to provide timely
solutions to enhance the effectiveness of outbound tour promotion activities.
The marketing department needs to collaborate more effectively with other
departments, especially the sales department, to synchronize the dissemination of
promotional campaigns, discount programs, etc., to customers. Collaborative
efforts between departments not only make promotional activities easier but also
increase clarity, transparency, and consistency in information exchange.
Greentours should regularly conduct specialized training programs for marketing
experts to identify weaknesses and provide advice on how to overcome them to
ensure the effectiveness of IMC activities.

3.2.2. Sales Department

In addition to the marketing department, the sales department also plays a crucial
role in promoting outbound tour packages through direct sales and personal
selling. Sales representatives are the ones who interact directly with customers,
convey information, advise them on outbound tour programs, and address any
inquiries to facilitate and drive the sales process. To enhance the effectiveness of
promoting outbound tour sales, the sales department should undergo certain
changes in terms of perception and execution, as follows:

Greentours needs to reassess the fair and manageable distribution of the market
among its sales staff. Assigning one employee to handle one market segment
might lead to overload during peak seasons, affecting the quality of personal sales
consultations and direct sales. Besides the main sales representatives, the
company should designate additional support staff to assist each other in

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achieving higher business efficiency. Moreover, apart from their primary market
segment, sales staff should also familiarize themselves with other markets
handled by their colleagues, enabling them to proactively advise customers when
the primary sales representative is unavailable.

Greentours should conduct regular training sessions on operational procedures,

customer consultation processes, and seminars to share experiences from
high-performing sales representatives. This will enable employees to learn from
each other's experiences, exchange ideas, and adopt more effective sales methods
to achieve higher efficiency in their work.

3.2.3. Leadership team

To enhance the effectiveness of promoting outbound tour sales, the leadership
team needs to be directly involved in directing, decision-making, advising the
main responsible team, and implementing specific management measures:

The leadership team should collaborate with the marketing department and sales
department heads to develop specific directions for the company's promotional
activities. They should request regular progress reports related to promotional
activities through specific metrics such as website traffic, social media
engagement, and conversion rates to assess the situation, evaluate performance,
and make timely adjustments.

The leadership team needs to refine the process of developing and implementing
outbound tour IMC policies, establish specific procedures for staff to follow,
devise promotion programs, execute them, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Organize in-depth training sessions on IMC activities on a small scale, utilizing

the company's meeting space. Each training session should be conducted for a
reasonable duration, not too lengthy, and the number of participating employees
should be limited to 10-15 to avoid disrupting their work.

Regularly organize networking sessions to increase cohesion among employees,

fostering easier communication and teamwork. Given the nature of outbound tour
sales, which often involve medium to high-priced programs with high risks,
employees may face pressure if they fail to meet specific targets. The company
needs supportive policies to help employees relax after stressful work periods

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during peak seasons, thereby improving their physical and mental well-being,
ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of future IMC efforts.

3.2.4. Other Departments:

In addition to the marketing and sales departments responsible for outbound tour
promotion, other departments such as administrative services, domestic tour
operations, inbound tour operations, and tour guides should proactively learn
about the outbound tour programs the company is launching and promotional
events. They should be able to promote and advise customers who are interested
in exploring outbound tour programs.

3.3. Solutions to Enhance Greentours' Outbound Tour IMC Activities

In general, from my perspective, Greentours needs to prioritize investing its
current resources and budget into the following factors, in the following
order: Product quality; Advertising and Public Relations; Brand reputation
and Pricing. The proposed order for addressing the IMC issues is based on
studies of consumer motivation and the choice behavior of domestic and
international travel companies.

The first action the company needs to take is to invest in "enhancing product
quality" to create Unique Selling Points (USPs). Specifically, the company can
enhance quality by:
- Committing to comprehensive services from A to Z for customers,
including services such as hotels, transportation, and dining, ensuring
cleanliness, safety, enthusiastic and responsible tour guides with rich
knowledge about destinations.
- Offering products that meet the needs of high-end customers, with diverse
travel product lines.

Greentours has strengths in providing tour packages and foreign visas with quick
consultation and feedback processing. Particularly, the company is collaborating
with airline partners, providing a significant competitive advantage in
transportation services compared to other travel businesses. This is a notable
point that needs to be preserved and utilized by using advertising and
communication tools to promote this unique selling point.

The second action the company needs to take is to invest in Advertising and
Communication. Based on internal studies of Greentours, I believe that

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Greentours' market share in selling travel products is very small, insufficient to
compete with large companies such as Vietravel, Saigontourist, Bestprice travel,
etc. The reason is that Greentours has not effectively invested its budget into IMC
tools. In reality, to capture a larger market share, the company needs to invest in
advertising to attract more customers instead of investing in personal selling tools
as it is currently doing. The scope of promotion through Personal Selling will
limit consumer access compared to Advertising. I will propose detailed solutions
for each IMC tool below.

The final factor is Brand Reputation and Pricing. After investing in the above
two activities, the company has established a solid foundation to consistently
ensure the quality of its travel products and build trust with customers, and brand
reputation promotion should be prioritized. Next, pricing should be considered
last. Because the current target customers of Greentours are high-end customers,
they are more sensitive to the quality of the travel products the company provides
than to the price. Therefore, the prices of international travel products only need
to be reasonable, diverse, and commensurate with the services provided.

Below are my detailed proposals for solutions to enhance Greentours'

outbound tour IMC tools:

3.3.1. Solutions for Advertising

Regarding Advertising Content:
Effective advertising is when it resonates with consumer motivations. The first
step to making tour advertisements more effective than the current situation is to
research, conclude, and propose advertising content that hits the tourist
motivations. According to the research on "Motivation of Tourism Participants"
(Eva Šimková, 2014), the primary drivers for traveling include needs to escape
from daily routine and workplace, as well as social needs such as meeting other
people, experiencing something unique or unusual. Based on this research,
Greentours can develop advertising campaigns targeting these main tourist
motivations. Especially for the high-end customers the company is targeting, they
may have a need to travel abroad to relax or to interact and learn about the new
culture of a country, which can motivate them to work and generate new ideas for
their business and management activities.

The second content that should be advertised is the Destination Imagery - the
factor that has the strongest influence on destination choice, according to the

49
research on "Factors influencing tourists' destination choice" (Nguyễn Xuân
Hiệp, 2016). The imagery should include high-quality images of infrastructure
and accessibility, history and culture, entertainment and relaxation conditions,
political and economic environments, cuisine and shopping, and landscape
environment.

The third content to appear in advertisements should be Greentours' competitive

advantages compared to other competitors. Greentours' unique selling points
include strengths in providing comprehensive tour package services, with many
customers giving positive feedback on visa services and transportation
consultancy provided by the company. The company can use reviews from
previous customers and promote products based on the reputation it has built
with them.

Regarding Advertising Formats:

Eliminating Leaflet Advertising:
This advertising medium has the advantage of wide reach, low cost, and quick
access, but it also has the disadvantage of short lifespan. With the desire to focus
resources and budget on the most effective tools, the company should temporarily
suspend leaflet advertising activities to invest in other activities.

Advertising on Social Media Platforms:

To reach more customers and increase brand recall, Greentours needs to have a
stronger presence on social media platforms.

For Facebook, Greentours should leverage its strength in owning a fan page with
over 3 thousand likes to run effective advertising campaigns. To boost likes and
views on the Facebook fan page, the company should take the following
measures:

- Employees of Greentours should actively like, comment, and share new

posts from the official Marketing department on the official Fanpage, as
well as new videos on the company's official YouTube channel. This will
increase the likelihood of reaching customers from various sources
through social media.
- Greentours should explore new trends on Facebook, such as creating short
videos under 1 minute with diverse content, such as promoting tour
programs, travel tips for foreign trips, essential notes for customers who

50
 have never traveled abroad. This helps condense the information to be
conveyed, making it easier for the business to reach customers if the video
becomes trending.

For the website, Greentours needs to be more careful in selecting representative

images of destinations when posting a travel program. The images should be of
high quality and depict the actual trip. To avoid duplicating images of travel
programs, the process of posting images on the website should go through 3
steps: Selecting images - Reviewing and posting images - Checking the posted
images again. This will provide customers with quality information and quickly
correct any duplicates or incorrect images. Currently, the posted content is
outdated and not updated. The Marketing staff should propose to the
administrator to invest in redesigning the website and regularly posting content
on the website.

In addition to the familiar advertising channels, the marketing communication

department of the company needs to update additional advertising formats such
as collaborating with celebrities, travel YouTubers, expanding its strong presence
on Instagram, TikTok, etc., to increase brand recognition, credibility, and reach
more young customers as they are not only potential customers but also directly
influence the purchasing decisions of their relatives.

Tour guides are also a communication tool that Greentours should utilize to
convey information to existing customers. During the process of introducing
them to various travel programs, tour guides can experience and advertise
additional special travel programs, especially for groups of older customers who
have more free time to stimulate their exploration needs.

Leveraging technology:
The company needs to improve the quality of posts on the website or Facebook
by using social listening technology tools. Social listening (listening to and
monitoring social network information) is the process of monitoring words and
phrases on social networking platforms and websites. The higher quality and
SEO (Search Engines Optimization) compliance of a post, the higher its chances
of appearing at the top when customers search on Google.

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3.3.2. Solutions for Personal Sales Activities
Regarding Uniforms:
Given the nature of outbound tour sales, which involves frequent interaction and
information exchange with customers, Greentours should increase the number of
days its employees wear the company uniform to about 3 days, or even the entire
week. This helps enhance the company's image and professionalism in the eyes
of customers. Moreover, wearing uniforms also helps increase brand recognition,
making it easier for customers to remember the company.

Figure 3.6: Greentours staffs

(Source: Greentours Fanpage)

Regarding Personal Selling Skills:

The company needs to regularly organize training courses to enhance the sales
advisory skills of its staff, keeping them updated on new advisory trends and
solutions for emerging issues to meet the constantly changing market demands.
Advisory scripts should be regularly updated to maintain freshness.

Additionally, Greentours should implement individual performance indicators

(KPIs), requiring each employee to clearly define their sales goals and understand
the department's and company's overall objectives. Maintaining sales journals is
also important, helping to avoid missing customer information, prioritize tasks
efficiently, accelerate the tour booking process, and prevent customers from
waiting or experiencing inconvenience, which could lead to comparisons with
competitors' offerings.

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3.3.3. Solutions for Promotional Activities
For Existing Customers:
Greentours needs to have clear promotional policy documents for loyal customers
to maintain their loyalty. It could consider implementing a point-based reward
system or offering discount vouchers for their next tour, as well as providing
birthday discounts to encourage repeat bookings.

For New Customers:

To increase purchasing decisions, the company should continue offering
group-specific discounts. Additionally, it should introduce more attractive
promotional programs during holidays such as October 20th, March 8th,
February 14th, etc., to stimulate demand and encourage customers to finalize
their bookings.

Regarding Gifts:
Depending on the tour value, Greentours should reconsider the value of gifts for
customers. For tours with average prices in markets like Thailand,
Singapore-Malaysia, and Bali, the company could offer items such as hats, shirts,
or travel backpacks. For higher-value tours to destinations like Europe, the
Americas, and South Africa, the company should increase the value of gifts, such
as travel suitcases or skincare sets.

3.3.4. Solutions for Direct Sales Activities

The sales team needs to have consistent communication with customers through
various channels to avoid conflicting information that could lead to negative
feedback from customers. Greentours needs to continue strengthening direct sales
to promote effective sales through tools such as:

Phone Calls:
This is perhaps the most pressing issue for the company. The frequent duplication
of customer information often leads to frustration when customers are regularly
called without having any needs. Moreover, the problem of filtering customer
information persists as the calls often jump to hotline numbers of partners,
restaurants, hotels, and even internal staff within the company. Greentours needs
to find a solution to filter data to avoid duplication and focus on contacting

53
customers who actually have needs. The company should seriously consider
hiring a data analyst with expertise to address this issue.

Online Communication Tools:

In this form, the company should utilize communication tools specifically for
business purposes such as Zalo, business suite, and the Fanpage to quickly
respond to comments and messages received from advertisements or directly
from customers. The company needs to establish principles regarding response
speed to customers. With comments received within 5 to 10 minutes, employees
need to respond promptly. This helps satisfy customers' emotional states of
concern, making it easier to understand their needs, provide timely information,
and prevent them from seeking responses from other businesses. Greentours
needs to develop scripts for greetings, concise quotations, and quick responses to
messages to save time for sales representatives.

3.3.5. Solutions for Public Relations Activities

Building Community Relations and Social Responsibility:
Engaging in philanthropy and participating in community entertainment activities
are exemplary public relations activities that Greentours should consider
incorporating into its implementation plan. These activities not only express the
company's obligations and responsibilities to the community but also serve as a
quick way for the public to develop a favorable impression of the company.
However, philanthropy should come from the heart. If overly promoted, it can
immediately negate the effectiveness of public relations activities. Greentours
may consider contributing to charitable activities in education for students
majoring in tourism as a form of volunteering, encouraging student participation
in the tourism workforce in the future.

Additionally, Greentours needs to closely collaborate with foreign embassies in

Vietnam to leverage support and broad diplomatic policies to facilitate visa
applications for customers, simplifying cumbersome procedures such as the need
for travel or sponsorship letters, proof of financial means. The company needs to
closely collaborate with tourism bureaus of countries with representative offices
in Vietnam, such as the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the Korea
Tourism Organization (KTO), the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), to
leverage financial support for marketing and IMC to encourage Vietnamese
tourists to travel abroad to those destinations.

54
With Media and Press:
The company's online presence will help customers feel more believed and at
ease when choosing the company's services. Therefore, Greentours needs to
re-establish relationships with media and press agencies in the city such as Hanoi
Moi newspaper, Hanoi radio and television stations, and some reputable tourism
newspapers such as Vietnamnet, VnExpress... by regularly sending them updates
to attend the company's major events and providing specific nurturing sessions.

For Internal PR Activities:

Perhaps this is the area Greentours needs to focus on the most in the near future
because internal PR helps members of your business understand more about the
goals of your brand, thereby contributing to the collective development and
success of the business. It also strengthens the relationship between members and
leadership, motivating them to contribute fully to the business's growth. To
achieve this, Greentours needs to allocate time for employees to sit down,
exchange information together about specific PR goals, and address any
obstacles. Additionally, the company can give promotional gifts to employees
with logo-printed items to increase brand recognition or launch competitions to
boost employee morale.

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 CONCLUSION

With the reputation built in the market over the past 20 years, Greentours has
always been dedicated and meticulous in every business activity to make
customers feel the professionalism and enthusiasm of its staff. Greentours has
provided outstanding outbound tour programs, offering differentiation without
compromising quality to reduce prices. IMC activities have been conducted
seriously and systematically with an experienced and eager-to-learn staff.

In reality, the promotion of the company's all-inclusive outbound tour packages

still faces certain shortcomings due to various subjective and objective reasons.
The outbound market in Vietnam is dynamic, highly competitive, with many
major competitors emerging, making the company's promotion activities more
challenging. If Greentours continues to promote using traditional models, it may
face many challenges that could reduce its business efficiency. With the
continuous development of science and technology, the company needs to
constantly adapt, change, and innovate practical, effective, and unique promotion
methods through both traditional and modern platforms.

Through this research, based on practical knowledge gained after 12 weeks of

internship along with knowledge acquired during 4 years at university, I have
synthesized data to evaluate and analyze the current situation of Greentours'
promotion activities for outbound tours. From there, I continue to propose
solutions to improve and enhance the effectiveness of these activities to help
Greentours improve the quality of its all-inclusive outbound tour business and
expand its market, continuously affirming its position in the industry.

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