An investigation of Ghana's tourism positioning

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of Ghana's tourism positioning and whether a literature-derived positioning framework can further elaborate the latter. Using the face-to-face long interviews among key policy makers, marketing managers and experts, and observation techniques, data were collected and analyzed via the inductive reasoning approach. The results show that Ghana's tourism positioning aim is built around perceptions of a "competitive middle class tourist destination," i.e., "profit and status" through the pursuit of "functional" positioning objective. Positioning strategies including "service", "value for money", "culture", "selectivity", " attractiveness", "reliability", "manpower development", "quality controls" and "ecology" are pursued in order to achieve the aim and objectives. The latter are managed/positioned in the "primal" positioning life cycle stage. Conclusions, managerial implications, future research directions and limitations are noted. © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.