Faculty & Research
Using Tourist Travel Habits and Preferences to Assess Strategic Destination Positioning: The Case of Costa Rica
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Vol 49 No 3
By: Zhaoping Liu, Judy Siguaw D.B.A. and Cathy A. Enz Ph.D.
Executive Summary: Consumer data on travelers’ attitudes and activities can serve as a useful tool for strategically positioning a destination. For developing regions of the world that wish to compete as eco-friendly destinations, key traveler preferences and patterns of consumption can provide a strong indication of the status of a particular destination in tourists’ estimation. Using Stanley Plog’s long-established continuum of travelers’ psychographic types as matched to their preferred destinations, this study examines the travel habits and attitudes of a group of U.S. tourists to Costa Rica. An analysis of that information provides inferences about Costa Rica’s status on the continuum of tourism destinations. Although the respondent pool is relatively small and is self-selected, the results suggest that Costa Rica may be losing some of its cachet as an eco-tourism destination for venturesome travelers (known as Venturers, in Plog’s continuum). Indeed, if this sample is indicative of U.S. travelers as a whole, the results give strong indication that development in Costa Rica has reached the point that the nation appeals to the broad midmarket of travelers, whom Plog dubs Mid-Centrics. While destination planners may at first applaud the increased arrival numbers of the Mid-Centrics, the advent of so many travelers encourages the kind of rampant development that leads away from sustainable resource use and even to a destination’s decline. Rather than permit such development, Costa Rica’s planners may consider ways to retain the patronage of Venturer-type travelers. The findings of this study have implications for other tourist destinations that wish to position themselves as environmentally sensitive.
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- Using Tourist Travel Habits and Preferences to Assess Strategic Destination Positioning: The Case of Costa Rica By: Zhaoping Liu, Judy Siguaw D.B.A. and Cathy A. Enz Ph.D.
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About Judy Siguaw D.B.A.
Judy A. Siguaw is the founding dean of Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management. She is also a professor of marketing in the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University and holds a J. Thomas Clark Chair in Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise. Siguaw earned her doctorate in 1991 from Louisiana Tech University. She has published over 40 journal articles including those appearing in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Industrial Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Travel Research, and the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. She is co-author of "Hospitality Sales: Selling Smarter," "American Lodging Excellence: The Key To Best Practices in The U.S. Lodging Industry," and "Introducing LISREL". In addition, she is a contributor to four other books. Her research interests include personal selling, sales management, customer relationships, channels of distribution, and marketing strategy. She is currently at work on numerous journal manuscripts in these areas. Siguaw served as the faculty advisor for the Cornell student chapter of Hotel Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) for seven years and served a six-year term as a trustee on the HSMAI Foundation Board. She is presently on the board of the Center for Hospitality Research and the regional founding board of HSMAI in Asia Pacific. In addition, she holds memberships with the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, Phi Kappa Phi National Scholastic Society, and Beta Gamma Sigma Honorary Scholastic Society, as well as other associations.
About Cathy A. Enz Ph.D.
Cathy A. Enz is the Lewis G. Schaeneman Jr. Professor of Innovation and Dynamic Management and a full professor in strategy. She recently served as Associate Dean for Industry Research and Affairs, and served as the Executive Director of the school’s Center for Hospitality Research from 2000-2003. Dr. Enz has published over eighty journal articles, book chapters, and three books in the area of strategic management. Her research has been published in a wide variety of prestigious academic and hospitality journals such as The Administrative Science Quarterly, The Academy of Management Journal, The Journal of Service Research, and The Cornell Hospitality Administration Quarterly. Dr. Enz teaches courses in innovation and strategic management. In addition, she developed The Hospitality Change Simulation, a learning tool for the introduction of effective change, which is available as an online education program of e-Cornell. Three additional courses in hospitality strategic management will be available through e-Cornell in 2008. Dr. Enz also presents numerous executive programs around the world, consults extensively in North America, and serves on the Board of Directors of two privately owned hotel companies. Prior to her academic activities, Dr. Enz held several industry positions including strategy development analyst in the office of corporate research for a large insurance organization, and operations manager responsible for Midwestern United States customer service and logistics in the dietary food service division of a large U.S. health care corporation. Dr. Enz received her Ph.D. from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, and taught on the faculty of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University prior to arriving at Cornell in 1990.
For more information visit http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/facultybios/faculty.html?id=27