Tourism life cycle and sustainability analysis: Profit-focused strategies for mature destinations

Tourist destinations tend to follow similar development patterns. Eventually, all destinations enter the market maturity stage leading to a decline in visitors. To prevent visitor decline, tourism managers and policy makers try to reposition their destinations appealing to more tourist segments. A multi-segment strategy is expensive and may create a fuzzy destination image, further accelerating the decline. An alternative strategy extends Zeithaml, Rust, and Lemon’s (2001) customer pyramid theory. This paper applies customer pyramid theory to Turkey’s tourism industry. Precise targeting of the most loyal visitors (Platinum tourists) creates a less costly and more focused marketing strategy leading to a sustainable tourism industry. Loyal Platinum tourists tend to be less price sensitive than other visitors. The discussion includes strategies to convert Gold and Iron category tourists to Platinum providing additional growth opportunities.