Tourism

2. What is a Marketing
Positioning?

 Position is a form of market communication that
plays a vital vital role in
enhancing the attractiveness of a tourism
destination.
 On this module we will describe the different parts
of the positioning process and applies it to the case
of positioning a U.S. destination to Japanese
visitors.
 The World Travel and Tourism Council claimed
that tourism was the world's largest industry in l991
(World Travel and Tourism Council, 1991).

3. What is a Marketing
Positioning

 The past few years have shown a steady increase in
the volume of international travel, and along with
this growth in travel, the number of tourism
destination choices has also increased as many
policy-makers have recognized the value of tourism
to the economies of their regions.
 To some extent, this increased travel can also be
attributed to an increase in advertising, as tourism
marketers try to enlarge their share of the global
tourism pie by promoting their destinations to
specific target markets.

4. Increasing
Advertisement

 For example in 1987, Canada and Australia decided
to increase advertising in Japan and this resulted in
an increase in Japanese visitors of 55% and 33%
respectively.
 One of the most effective tools in tourism
marketing is positioning.

5. What is the objective of
Positioning?

 The objective of positioning is to create a
distinctive place in the minds of potential
customers. A position that evokes images of a
destination in the customers mind; images that
differentiate the destination from the competition
and also as a place that can satisfy their needs and
wants.
 Positioning is a communications strategy that is
the natural follow-through of market segmentation
and target marketing.

6. Market Segmentation

 Since market segmentation is based on the notion
that different tourism destinations appeal to
different types of tourists, target market segments
must be selected before tourism marketers can begin
to entice these potential customers. An effective
positioning strategy provides a competitive edge to
a destination that is trying to convey its
attractiveness to the target market

7. To Gain a Competitive
Edge

 On this Tourism Module we will discuss the vital role
played by positioning in tourism marketing and to
present various approaches to positioning a tourism
destination.
 Positioning is more than just image creation. This
important form of market communication helps to
distinguish tourism destinations from similar
destinations so that customers can choose the one that is
the most attractive.
 Thus, true positioning differentiates a destination from
its competitors on attributes that are meaningful to
customers and gives it a competitive edge.

8. Effective Positioning

 According to the basic principles of
marketing, products and services are created to
solve customer "problems" (i.e., to satisfy needs and
wants) and provide benefits.
 Thus, to be effective, positioning must promise the
benefit the customer will receive, create the
expectation, and it offers a solution to the
customer's problem. If at all possible, the solution
should be different from and better than the
competition's solution set, especially if the
competitors are already offering a similar solution.

9. Positioning Intangibles

 One of the biggest challenges faced by tourism
marketers is that the product is largely intangible.
 Some would argue otherwise, because what is
more important than the hotel room, the meal, the
beach, the ocean, and the mountains? These are all
tangible aspects of the tourism destination.
However, these tangibles are what is being
"sold", but not what is being "marketed". If we were
selling beaches or mountains, what difference
would it make where the tourist went, assuming a
comparable level of quality?

10. Positioning Process

 The positioning process consists of the various
steps needed to develop an effective positioning
strategy .
 This process must be continuous to keep up with
changes in the environment including the changing
needs of the customer and the competitors tactics.
Developing a positioning strategy for a
destination in the United States to attract visitors
from Japan will be used as a test case to illustrate
the steps in the positioning process.

11. Market Positioning

 Market positioning is the first step and is defined as
the process of identifying and selecting markets or
segments that represent business potential, to
determine the criteria for competitive success
(DiMingo, 1988).
 This must be based on a thorough knowledge of
the needs, wants, and perceptions of the target
market, along with the benefits offered by the
destination.

12. few crucial questions
must be answered

 1.What is important to the target market?
 2. How does the target market perceive the
destination?
 3.How does the target market perceive the
competition?
 4. What attributes should a destination use to
differentiate itself to make the best use of its limited
resources?

13. Psychological
Positioning

 This step utilizes communications to convey a
destination's identity and image to the target
market. It converts customer needs into images and
positions a destination in the visitors minds.
 Psychological positioning is a strategy employed
to create a unique product image with the objective
of creating interest and attracting visitors. Since it
exists solely in the mind of the visitor, it can occur
automatically without any effort on the part of the
marketer and any kind of positioning may result.

14. Objective Positioning

 Objective positioning is concerned, almost entirely, with the
objective attributes of the physical product. It means creating
an image about the destination that reflects its physical
characteristics and functional features.
 It is usually concerned with what actually is, what exists. For
example, Colorado is mountainous and the French Quarter is
in New Orleans. However, objective positioning need not
always be concrete. It may be more abstract than these
examples. The French Quarter is in New Orleans which is
also "the birthplace of jazz."
 Objective positioning can be very important and is often
used in the tourism industry. If a destination has some unique
feature, that feature may be used to objectively position the
destination, to create an image, and to differentiate it from the
competition.

15. Subjective Positioning

 Subjective positioning is concerned with
subjective attributes of the destination.
 Subjective positioning is the image, not of the physical
aspects of the destination, but other attributes perceived
by the tourist, (i.e., they do not necessarily belong to the
destination but to the tourist's mental perception).
 These perceptions and the resulting images may not
necessarily reflect the true state of the destination's
physical characteristics. They may simply exist in the
tourist's mind and not all tourists' imaging agree with a
particular perception or image.

16. Positioning Approaches

 This is the final step in the positioning process, and
there are several different approaches to positioning any
tourism destination (Aaker and Shamsby, 1982).
 'While psychological positioning creates an image, this
positioning approach completes the picture, using visual
and words, to reinforce what the destination does best
and what benefits are offered. Tourism marketers may
decide to select the most appropriate of the following
approaches, depending on the information gathered
during market and psychological positioning.

17. Positioning by Price
Value

 International destinations are not usually
positioned on the basis of price because lower
prices may be perceived as connoting lower quality.
However, value offered to visitors can be
effectively utilized as exemplified by Malaysia
which claims "Malaysia gives more natural value."
With this positioning statement Malaysia is
appealing not only to the sense of value (more for
the money) but also to its natural attractions.

18. Positioning with
respect to use or

application
 Here a destination is positioned based on the
reasons for visiting it. Bermuda positions itself
to the American meetings market with
"Sometimes you have to leave the country to get any
work done" which promises productive meetings in
a relaxed environment. Cancun, Mexico is
positioned as "The meeting place for sun
worshipers."

19. Positioning according
to the users or class of

users
 In this case, positioning features the people who
should visit the destination. Hong Kong appeals to
the incentive travel market with the statement
'When they've reached the top, send them to the
peak," referring to Victoria Peak, a major tourist site
in Hong Kong: Fisher Island, a luxury residential
development in Florida, positions itself as the place
"where people who run things can stop running."

20. Positioning with
respect to a product
class

 This technique is often used to associate a
destination with experiences that are
extraordinary and/or unique. For example, the
Principality of Monaco is positioned as "The fairy
tale that does not end at midnight," or holding a
convention in Thailand is "Smooth as silk where
the sky's the limit, or "If your looking for an ideal
meeting place, here's one that's close to heaven" for
Israel.

21. Positioning vis-a-vis
the competition

 This approach is used when it is necessary to meet the
competition head-on; to bring out differences between
destinations.
 This approach is not used frequently in international tourism
destination marketing since it may involve negative
statements about another country or region.
 However, it is regularly employed in product and services
marketing. For example, Visa credit cards compete with
American Express by showing examples of places from around
the world that do not accept American Express and only Visa
cards are accepted. Ritz-Carlton Hotels is a little more subtle
when they say, 'After a day of competition, you deserve a
hotel that has none."

22. Positioning is the ultimate weapon in niche
marketing. Stripped of all its
trappings, positioning analysis answers the
following questions:

 What position does a destination own now? (In the
mind of the target market.)
 'What position does the destination want to own?
(Look for positions or holes in the marketplace.)
 'Who must the destination outposition?
(Manipulate what's already in the mind.)
 How can it be done? (Select the best approach that
will work for the target market.)