The growth of tourist markets was accompanied with the growth of providers and increased competition,
particularly in the delivery of all-inclusive holidays. Although increasing turnover,
market share and price-wars have been dominant features of tour operators’
strategies, profit margins amongst large and medium sized tour operators,
particularly in the UK, have been narrow. The development of niche products
has been part of a wider structural process of diversification as the tourism industry
has sought to capture new, more profitable markets, either by internal development
and building a new customer base or by acquiring other (usually smaller)
companies that specialise in high value tailored products. Central to this
diversification process is the development and utilisation of ever more sophisticated
information technology in order to offer specific products almost directly to
consumers known to want those products.