ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by explaining the essential idea of voluntary exchange between two parties, which underlies all marketing theories of the conduct of business. It proceeds to discuss what marketing orientation means in terms of management attitudes. This leads into formal definitions of marketing, from which five propositions are derived. The most important of these is that marketing is a system comprising a series of stages, which are represented in an important diagram shown in Figure 2.1. The final part of the chapter discusses the combined effect of the five propositions and explains the growing significance of marketing in the new century. While every aspect of this chapter is relevant to travel and tourism marketing, the intention is to introduce the subject as it applies to transactions generally for all types of goods and services.
