BY: Harsha E. Chacko Ph.D., (Professor in the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration, University of New Orleans, New Orleans (USA); Email: echr@uno.edu )
Position is a form of market communication that plays a vital role in enhancing the attractiveness of a tourism destination. This article describes 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). 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. 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 (Bailey, 1992).
One of the most effective tools in tourism marketing is 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. 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.
The purpose of this paper is to 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. However, this is a complex process that requires careful analysis of the attributes of destinations and the needs of the target markets. Selection of a positioning strategy that creates a distinctive place in customers' minds is essential in preventing the following pitfalls (Lovelock, 1991).
1. The destination is forced into a position of competing directly with a stronger competitor. For example, a destination that is further from the source of its visitors may be relegated to a secondary or tertiary level of competition with destinations that are closer to the market.
2. The destination's position is so unclear that its target market does not recognize the message that is being sent to them. This often happens when a destination tries to be all things to all people.
3. The destination has no identity or has a negative image in customers' minds and does not create customer demand.
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 offer 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.
Positioning should be a single-minded concept, an umbrella from which everything eke in the organization flows. Properly targeted, single-minded positioning affects everything a destination does or stands for, not only advertising, but also all of its promotions. Positioning also affects policies and procedures, employee attitudes, customer relations, complaint handling, and the myriad of other details that combine to make the tourism experience. Tourism services compete on more than just image, differentiation, and benefits offered. There must be a consistency among the various offerings and it is the positioning statement that guides this consistency. Likewise, although positioning can be applied for an entire country, a given area, or a specific city, tourism officials should develop a consistent message if the country plans to use one market to generate business for another. There are two tests of effective positioning. First, the position must be believable in the tourist's mind. Second, the destination must deliver that promise on a consistent basis.
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?
'What we are marketing, of course, are intangibles. The tangibles are essential and necessary but as soon as they reach a certain level of acceptance, they become secondary. Because they are so difficult to differentiate, to be competitive, the intangibles have to be marketed. Even as tangibles, mountains and beaches have a measure of intangibility because they are experienced rather than possessed.
If tourism products are mostly intangible, they have to be marketed with tangible evidence. This is what is referred to as "tangibilizing the intangible." However, this is a complicated process. By emphasizing the concrete elements one may fail to differentiate oneself from the competition, and since the intangible elements are abstract, by emphasizing the abstract one compounds the intangibility. Thus, tourism destination positioning should focus on enhancing and differentiating abstract realities by manipulating the tangible clues.
Unfortunately, being aware of this need does not ease the problem. It is still difficult to find meaningful tangible evidence that supports intangible constructs. What must be done, is to create a "position" in the tourist's mind. That is why positioning relies heavily on target marketing. The mental constructs held by the target market must be known, as well as the tangible evidence that sustains them. Positioning, then, is a relative term. It is not simply how the destination is perceived, but how the perceived image performs in relation to competing images. It is the customer's mental perception which may, or may not, differ from the actual physical characteristics. It is most important when, the product is an intangible and there is little difference among the competition regarding the physical characteristics.
The positioning process consists of the various steps needed to develop an effective positioning strategy (Figure 1). 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.
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. To do this, a few crucial questions must be answered. These are:
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?
The reality of the matter is that if the target market doesn't perceive the image, the image does not exist. If the target market does not believe that what the destination has to offer is a benefit, it isn't a benefit. If the target market doesn't believe that the benefit can be delivered, promises are meaningless. If the benefit isn't important to the target market, it isn't important. If the benefit is not perceived as being different from that of the competition, then differentiation has not succeeded. In short, images, benefits, and differentiation are solely the perception of the tourist, not the perceptions of tourism officials or the tourism marketer.
According to the former United States Travel and Tourism Administration,
3.2 million Japanese inbound travelers, who present a solid market for
tourism destinations in the United States, generated $ 10.1 billion
in tourism revenue for the U.S. in 1990. (United States Travel and Tourism
Administration, 1991). The following shows the top ten ranked activities
identified by Japanese visitors (Bailey, 1992):
The three highest ranked activities (Sightseeing in Cities, Shopping,
and Dining out in Restaurants) seem to provide an advantage to reasonably
large cities where these are readily available. In addition, according
to Bailey (1992), Japanese persons who are planning to travel to the U.S.,
initially, do not have a specific destination to visit. Instead,
they search for a trip that has several attributes similar to those listed
below (Bailey, 1992):
Market positioning research also requires an evaluation of the image that customers have of a tourism destination. This can be used to identify the vital elements which comprise the benefits. The beauty of a destination, the architecture of a palace, and the historic artifacts in a museum are examples of attributes that may produce a benefit, or may be a tangible representation of an intangible benefit, but are not themselves the benefit. The benefit itself is what the attributes do for the visitor, for instance, a sensation of grandeur, an aura of prestige, or the gaining of knowledge. The credibility of these benefits may diminish rapidly if expectations are not fulfilled. Architecture is soon forgotten if the tour bus breaks down on the return trip. The impression of grandeur loses credibility if visitors feel that their personal safety is threatened. It is the fulfillment of expectations or the inability to, that creates the perception of deliverability for the tourist. Benefits, like positioning, exist in the mind of the customer and are determined only by asking the customer. Only after this information is obtained, can a destination match its strengths to the visitors' needs and the benefits sought. This knowledge will also provide a basis for the development of a credible differentiation strategy.
Research regarding Japanese travelers depicted in Figure 2 show how they perceive the United States as compared to other destinations. Images of the U.S. on seven factors important to Japanese tourists are rated relative to other destinations. The U.S. fares very poorly on Personal Safety and this weakness that can be exploited by competing destinations such as Canada and Australia. On the other hand, the U.S. does best in the areas of: Opportunities to Increase Knowledge, Outstanding Scenery, and Shopping. Based on this information, various differentiation strategies for the U.S. can be explored. Destination marketers can then proceed to the next step in the positioning process, namely psychological positioning.
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. Two very dissimilar destinations may be perceived as the same; two similar destinations may be perceived as different. What the marketer hopes to do is to control the positioning, not just let it happen. Moreover, failure to select a position in the marketplace, to achieve, and to hold that position may lead to various consequences, all undesirable, as pointed out earlier. There are two kinds of psychological positioning in marketing: objective positioning and subjective positioning. Each has its appropriate place and usage.
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. If objective positioning is to be used to position the U.S. among Japanese visitors or tour operators any of the unique scenic landmarks, such as the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, could be used to show the size and magnitude of these attractions. However, this needs to be linked with other attributes and expectations of the Japanese visitor including "seeing as many places as possible,"; and especially, "where others have been before."
Less successful objective positioning occurs when the feature is not unique. This is why many destination promotions with pictures of beaches fail to create a distinct image or successfully differentiate the product. Other unsuccessful approaches may include a picture of two people looking at a mountain that looks like any other mountain or lying on a beach that looks like any other beach. One of the first rules of effective positioning is uniqueness.
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. Using the previous example of the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, subjective positioning would emphasize the awe-inspiring feelings experienced at these natural attractions rather than their physical attributes. Thus, a visit to the Grand Canyon becomes a far greater experience than viewing the physical land formation. What the marketer hopes is that the people in the target market will agree on a favorable image whether or not the image is true. This is the test of effective subjective positioning.
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.
Positioning by attribute, feature, or customer benefit. For this strategy, emphasis is placed on the benefits of the particular features or attributes of the destination. For example, Thailand promotes the friendliness of its people with the statement "The world meets in the land of smiles."
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.
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."
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."
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.
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."
Any of these approaches could be used to position the U.S. the minds of Japanese visitors. For example, since Japanese visitors want to go where other Japanese tourists have already been, positioning according to users or a class of users may be appropriate. By developing a creative campaign, an operator can market the fact that many Japanese visitors have been to the Grand Canyon, and were impressed by its awe-inspiring presence. This may include testimonials from previous visitors or tour operators who can make a direct appeal to the target market. However, since the feeling of awe is an intangible construct, positioning statements must show a tangible example to illustrate this feeling.
Positioning is the ultimate weapon in niche marketing. Stripped of all
its trappings, positioning analysis answers the following questions:
Positioning is a valuable weapon for tourism marketers. To position successfully requires recognizing the marketplace, the competition, and tourists' perceptions. Posi-tioning analysis on a target market basis provides the tools to identify opportunities for creating the desired image that differentiates a destination from its competitors and for serving the target market better than anyone else.
Aaker, D.A. and Shamsby, J.G. (1982). Positioning your Product. Business Horizons, May/June, pp. 56-62.
Bailey, A.C. (1992). AA Yen for Travel. The American Express Annual Review of Travel, pp.41- 53.
DiMingo, F. (1988). The Fine Art of Positioning. The Journal of Business Strategy, March/April, pp. 34-38.
Lovelock, C. H. (1~). Services Marketing (2nd Ed). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., p.112.
United States Travel
and Tourism Administration. ~ Japan Market Update.
Tokyo: United States Travel and Tourism Administration.
World Travel and Tourism Council. (1991). The WTTC Report:
Travel and Tourism in the World Economy. Brussels: World Travel and Tourism
Council.
©Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research
Back to Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research Index Page