Abstract
Every tourism industry must decide where it wants to be in the future. Following marketing segmentation analysis, choices have to be made between alternative marketing strategies, segmentation, target markets, positioning approaches and marketing-mix elements. Making these decisions is part of planning. The service's product life-cycle stage and organization's competitive position influence the selection from among alternative approaches. Marketing research information provides the basis for these decisions. Having a marketing strategy is similar to having a map to help you get where you want to be. Even with a good map, some people get lost. More careful and detailed planning is necessary to get to the final destination.
