Positioning Based on Satisfaction Attributes in the Context of a Domestic Tourism Destination: The Case of Yor Island, Thailand

Positioning strategy is often adopted for major destinations, but not for smaller or mini destinations. This research breaks with tradition by attempting to develop and recommend an optimum research-based market-positioning strategy for a mini destination or a small destination i.e. Yor Island, within a larger area i.e. Songkla. Tourists’ satisfaction toward product attributes of Yor Island compared to its competitors was measured to investigate the competitiveness of Yor Island. Domestic tourists were divided based on socio-demographic basis before the potential target markets of Yor Island were identified. The evaluation focused on tourists’ post-consumption satisfaction using mixed methods approach. Qualitative data from interviews with eight local tourism experts generated information for a SWOT analysis of Yor Island. Quantitative data from the survey of 400 domestic tourists was analysed using multidimensional scaling and correspondence analysis. Results from using these analytical techniques provided a variety of information on destination image similarities, strengths, and ideals between Yor Island and its competitors, as well as the relationships of major socio-demographic characteristics of visitors to the destinations. The mixed method approach has also highlighted the potential target tourists of Yor Island whose age are between 25-34 years old with at least a bachelor’s degree, and monthly income of between RM 2,000.00 to RM 3,000.00. Moreover, it also showed that ‘friendliness of the people’ is an attribute that could be used as leverage in the development of the Yor Island’s positioning strategy. Overall, this study has illustrated that research-based market-positioning strategy is applicable not only to major destinations, but to a mini or small destination as well