MODERN APPROACH DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

Abstract

Distribution is an important element of the marketing mix and is the entire chain of activity that is required to get the product or service from where it was produced to where it is consumed. In general, a product or service can not be reached directly to the customer, so there is a need for intermediaries or a distribution channel. An organisation that manufactures industrial products can reach to the final consumer by using any distribution channel. However, since tourism products in the tourism sector are not related to physical aspects but linked with promotion and information activities, distribution process works in reverse. In this context, due to the nature of the tourism sector, consumers (tourists) are being carried where products and services are provided, and the most striking difference between them is that they can not try products and services without reaching to the destination.
In recent years, developments in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have revolutionized distribution channels. As a result of these developments, the economic borders of the countries have abolished, resulting in sweeping changes in the management and marketing strategies of the tourism industry, both in macro and micro aspects. From the production of tourist products and services to the marketing and destination management, from the supply to marketing strategies thus leading to the emergence of new technical and operational structures in the modern (contemporary) system as well as neo-classical systems instead of traditional (classic) systems which have been used for many years in distribution channels. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this study aims at the modern (contemporary) approach the roles of suppliers and travel organisations, their approach to the distribution channels and how they are influenced in the context of new business models