Customer empowerment in tourism through consumer centric marketing (CCM)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain consumer centric marketing (CCM) and adopt this new technique to travel context. The paper seeks to outline the benefits and disadvantages of the CCM together with warnings of typical caveats. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an exploration of the CCM concept and demonstrates several applications in the tourism, travel and hospitality industries. Findings – CCM will be expected as the norm in the travel industry by customers of the future, yet it is only the innovators who gain real tangible benefits from this development. Practical implications – The paper offers tangible examples for the travel industry on how to utilise this new technology. The technology is already available and the information communication technologies (ICT) companies are keen to establish ways as to how consumers can utilise it, i.e. by providing “content” for these ICT products the travel industry can fully gain from these developments and also enhance consumers’ gains from it. This can result in more satisfied customers for the travel (as well as ICT) companies thus truly adopting the basic philosophy of marketing. Originality/value – The paper outlines current and future opportunities to truly place customers at the centre and provide organisations with some real savings/gains through the use of ICT.