Season-Oriented Destination Positioning for Visitors in the Mediterranean

Abstract

Despite the widespread interest in tourism seasonality, there is little empirical research on seasonal changes of benefits sought by visitors. Destination positioning based on seasonal changes of benefits sought by visitors is addressed in this study. A Northern Mediterranean destination, Portorož is taken as a case study to investigate whether benefits design different benefit-based segments across the seasons. Cluster analysis for the spring, summer and autumn/winter seasons was undertaken on delineated factor scores of benefits on a yearly basis. The study shows that visitors who search for similar benefits across seasons are related with different demographics and travel related characteristics of visitors.