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Unlock This CourseYou've already studied the individual reasons why marketing is important things like increasing sales, building loyalty, creating a positive image and gaining competitive advantage. Now it's time to step back and evaluate the bigger picture. That means asking: How important is marketing, really? Does it always work? Is it worth the cost? And does it matter equally to every organisation?
This is the skill that separates a Grade 5 answer from a Grade 8 answer in the iGCSE exam. Anyone can list reasons. Evaluation means you can weigh them up, compare them and reach a reasoned conclusion.
Key Definitions:
Marketing costs money. A TV advert can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. A social media campaign needs staff time and creative resources. Even a simple leaflet costs money to design and print. So organisations must ask: does the benefit outweigh the cost?
The honest answer is: it depends. And that's exactly the kind of nuanced thinking the iGCSE examiners want to see.
A new budget airline launching in a competitive market needs marketing to get noticed. Without it, nobody books a seat. Marketing directly drives revenue. For organisations like Ryanair or easyJet, aggressive price-based marketing transformed them from small operators into European giants. Here, the ROI is enormous every pound spent on advertising can generate many pounds in ticket sales.
A luxury boutique hotel in the Maldives relies heavily on word-of-mouth and TripAdvisor reviews. Spending a fortune on TV adverts might reach millions of people who can't afford to stay there anyway. For niche, high-end operators, the quality of the experience does much of the marketing work. Over-investing in mass marketing could actually be wasteful.
One of the most important evaluation skills is recognising that marketing importance varies by organisation type. A small independent travel agent in a market town has very different marketing needs to a global hotel chain. Let's compare some examples.
Marketing is critical. Airlines operate in a highly competitive market with near-identical products (a seat from A to B). Marketing creates brand identity, drives bookings and fills seats. Without constant marketing, customers switch to rivals instantly. Emirates spends billions annually on marketing because the return justifies it.
Marketing is very important but loyalty programmes do much of the heavy lifting. Marriott's Bonvoy programme means millions of repeat customers book directly, reducing the need for expensive advertising. Here, the initial marketing investment in loyalty pays dividends for years.
Marketing is important but targeted. A small eco-tourism company in Costa Rica doesn't need a Super Bowl advert. It needs a strong website, good reviews and presence on specialist travel platforms. Smart, low-cost digital marketing can be just as effective as expensive campaigns.
TUI is one of the world's largest integrated tourism companies, operating airlines, hotels, cruise ships and retail travel agencies. In 2023, TUI spent over €400 million on sales and marketing globally. Why so much? Because TUI sells a huge range of products to millions of customers across dozens of countries. Without sustained marketing, customers simply don't know which TUI product suits them. TUI's marketing links all parts of its business together when a customer sees a TUI advert for a beach holiday, they may also discover TUI's cruise or city-break options. Marketing here doesn't just sell one product; it cross-sells the entire portfolio. The result? TUI consistently holds a top-three position in European package holiday market share. This is a clear case where marketing investment is directly linked to market dominance.
When evaluating marketing importance, you should always consider both sides of the equation: what does it cost and what does it deliver?
When COVID-19 devastated the travel industry in 2020–21, airlines that maintained their marketing presence recovered faster. easyJet kept its brand visible through digital campaigns even when planes were grounded, reminding customers of its low fares and easy booking. When travel restrictions lifted in 2022, easyJet saw a rapid surge in bookings partly because customers already had the brand front-of-mind. Airlines that went completely silent during the pandemic struggled more to rebuild customer confidence. This shows that marketing has value even when immediate sales aren't possible it maintains brand equity for the future.
Here's a genuinely interesting debate for evaluation: is great marketing more important than a great product? In travel and tourism, this question is particularly relevant.
In a crowded market, customers can't try before they buy. A holiday is an intangible product you can't test it in a shop. Marketing shapes expectations and perceptions before the customer even books. A mediocre resort with brilliant marketing can outperform a genuinely excellent resort with poor marketing, simply because more people know about it. First impressions, created by marketing, drive the initial booking decision.
In the long run, no amount of marketing can save a bad product. Thomas Cook's collapse in 2019 wasn't caused by poor marketing it had decades of brand recognition. It was caused by financial mismanagement and failure to adapt its product to changing customer needs. Meanwhile, some outstanding small hotels gain global reputations purely through excellent reviews with minimal marketing spend. Quality creates its own marketing through word-of-mouth and online reviews.
The balanced conclusion? Both matter and the most successful travel and tourism organisations invest in both. Marketing without quality leads to disappointed customers and negative reviews. Quality without marketing means nobody finds you in the first place.
Another layer of evaluation is considering when marketing matters most. Market conditions change and the importance of marketing shifts with them.
When a destination or sector is booming (e.g. cruise holidays in the 2010s), marketing is important to capture market share before rivals do. Early, aggressive marketing can establish a brand as the market leader, making it harder for later entrants to compete.
When demand is falling (e.g. traditional package holidays in the 2000s), marketing becomes vital for survival. Organisations must either reposition their brand, target new customer segments, or risk losing relevance entirely. TUI successfully rebranded from Thomson Holidays partly through sustained marketing.
After a crisis a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, a pandemic destination marketing organisations (DMOs) use marketing to rebuild confidence. Visit Thailand and Visit Egypt both ran major campaigns after political instability to reassure tourists it was safe to return. Without this, recovery takes far longer.
VisitBritain is the national tourism agency for the UK. Its entire purpose is marketing Britain as a destination to international visitors. After Brexit uncertainty and the COVID-19 pandemic, international visitor numbers to the UK dropped sharply. VisitBritain launched the "See Things Differently" campaign in 2022–23, targeting high-value visitors from the USA, Australia and Gulf states. The campaign focused on lesser-known UK destinations beyond London, aiming to spread tourism spending more widely. The result? International visitor spending in the UK reached £28.4 billion in 2023, approaching pre-pandemic levels. This case study shows how destination marketing by a public organisation can have enormous economic impact not just for one company, but for an entire national economy.
Evaluation also means thinking about who benefits from effective marketing it's not just the organisation itself.
It's important to recognise that marketing isn't always purely positive. Over-tourism is partly caused by highly effective destination marketing. Barcelona, Venice and Amsterdam have all suffered from too many tourists partly because their marketing was too successful. Local residents face overcrowding, rising rents and environmental damage. This means organisations and governments must evaluate not just whether marketing increases visitor numbers, but whether those increases are sustainable and beneficial for all stakeholders. Responsible marketing now includes managing visitor numbers, promoting off-season travel and directing tourists to less-visited areas.
The iGCSE Travel and Tourism exam frequently asks you to evaluate the importance of marketing. Here's exactly how to structure a strong answer.
Question: "Evaluate the importance of marketing to a travel and tourism organisation of your choice." (8 marks)
Strong answer structure:
Examiner's tip: Answers that only list reasons why marketing is important will reach Level 2. Answers that weigh up the evidence and reach a justified conclusion will reach Level 3–4 and score the highest marks.