The Prentice-O'Gorman destination appraisal matrix: Iranian case study

Prentice's model was designed to challenge a tendency in contemporary destination marketing to emphasise SSPs (Standardised Selling Points) rather than USPs (Unique (or at least Unusual) Selling Points). This process of standardisation is what the French have termed Banalisation (Prentice 2006b). Prentice's model is a hybrid of traditional destination choice sets models (Crompton 1992; Sirakaya and Woodside 2005) with inputs from the Theory of Reasoned Action (Aizen and Fishbein 1980) and from heuristic choice models (Pham 1998). Prentice further differentiates USPs into UUSPs (Unique Utility Selling Points) UESPs (Unique Experiential Selling Points) USSPs (Unique Symbolic Selling Points). These may be thought of as summarising those aspects of generic imagery and product beliefs that are pertinent to destination differentiation. As specified, Prentice's model is a model of choosing on the part of potential tourists. The question arises as to how destination managers may readily operationalise Prentice's ideas in both their marketing and market based product development or, indeed, simply to think about their destination. Many managers are familiar with SWOT analysis and the operationalisation of Prentice's ideas suggested here builds on this familiarity. The demonstrated means of application is in the form of a matrix combining Prentice's expansion of USPs with a traditional SWOT analysis

The Prentice - O'Gorman destination appraisal matrix for tourism development and marketing

We ask how tourists are thought to make decisions in choosing a destination to visit. The traditional approach emphasised the sequence by which possible destinations were rejected. Prentice's ideas, instead, emphasise the processes of choosing. His approach offers information about why a destination is chosen and why other destinations are rejected by potential tourists. This is a basis from which tourism developers and marketers can predict the needs of tourists. Central to the approach are USPs (Unique Selling Points) and SSPs (Standardised Selling Points). SSPs have lead to the creation of many look-a-like destinations throughout the Mediterranean, a process described by the French as banalisation. We offer instead an approach to defining USPs designed to capture the authenticity of place and the sincerity of cultures. In doing so, the paper considers what tourists are seeking in products, in terms of utilities, experiences and symbols. It also considers how contemporary tourism products are created to achieve this. The presentation is illustrated using examples from the United Kingdom, to demonstrate how culture and commercialism can be sensitively combined to assist tourists in developing their feelings of authenticity and sincerity. The final section of the paper considers how planners and marketers should capture the sense of place and culture as USPs. A destination appraisal matrix is provided combining an analysis of USPs with a traditional SWOT analysis. The paper is concluded by demonstrating the matrix with a hypothetical example, which some people might assume to be London

Iranian hospitality : from caravanserai to bazaar to reporting symbolic experience

This paper reports case studies seeking to address one of the great problems of social science: namely, the extent to which is it possible or desirable accurately to report conscious experience (Hulburt & Scwitzgebel 2007). An interpretive ethnographic approach is used to address this problem. Caravanserais and bazaars in Iran have always offered multi-sensual experiences and represented aspects of symbolic interaction, as well as facilitating physical exchange, between travellers and locals. This is true in their origins, in their nineteenth and twentieth century usage, and in their contemporary roles which increasingly include heritage tourism accommodation or heritage retailing. Using two case studies the paper explores the role that hospitality has played and shows that it has been fundamental to their evolution and remains so, particularly for the commercial caravanserais and tea houses which now exist as refurbished heritage accommodation and restaurants