Introduction
Conde Nast Traveler has named Maui as the best island in the world for the last twenty years.
Maui is the second largest island in Hawaii with a small population, small towns with necessary amenities and luxurious resorts. Tourists can enjoy the shimmering beaches, migrating humpback whales, sacred Iao Valley and sunset on Haleakala. Tourists can enjoy numerous waterfalls on the Hana highway and enjoy the scenic beauty of Ke’anae peninsula. Over the past few decades, Maui has developed into a huge brand name in the tourism industry, as 2.3 million tourists came to Maui 2014 and spend $4.09 billion (Hawaii Tourism Authority 4). Therefore, Maui is not only one of the most popular, but also an expensive tourism location and attracts the majority of its tourists from developed countries all over the world.
Target Market of Maui
Maui can choose either a multi-segment strategy or keep their focus on a particular segment of the market. Therefore, the target marketing strategy of Maui is concentrated marketing as it targets selected group of consumers. The Hawaii Tourism Association works towards building the brand name of its islands such as Maui and their focus on attracting tourists main from Northern America, Japan, Europe, Oceania, and some Asian countries. These geographical targeting is suitable for Maui, as living and travelling expenses to the island are comparatively high and developed countries provide Maui with the customer base that can pay for staying on the island and enjoy the services. Even today, the majority of the customers are coming from Mainland United States of America and Japan, who both have historical significance with the island. Other important areas of growth are from China, South Korea and Taiwan, all of them providing an increasing number of tourists every year (Hawaii Tourism Authority).
In economic terms, Maui targets people from upper middle or upper income group as they have the financial resources to purchase air travel, hotel stays, spend at popular destinations and hire services on offer. Thus, Maui and other islands in Hawaii directly target the upper and upper middle income group from different countries based on their ability to pay for the holiday. Targeting this income group is a suitable target market strategy for Maui as it is a safe bet for their tourism industry and its future growth. Every year, millions of people are coming to Maui, the majority of them coming from the identified target market.
Causes for Target Market Choice
Maui chooses the concentrated target market because as it suits the product, which has been created in Maui. For years, the Hawaii Tourism Board and other related organizations have worked hard to develop islands such as Maui into tourist heaven and the success has been visible with its popularity among tourists throughout the world. The upper and upper middle income group is chosen as they have the financial resources to enjoy the Hawaii experience.
Reaching Maui and enjoying the Island takes significant amount of money and limited number of people in the world can afford to experience. The choice of targeting developed countries is based on the fact that the majority of the incoming tourists in Maui are coming from these countries. Even now, majority of the customers are coming mainland American and Canada, making Maui to focus on increasing its target market efforts towards their most suited travellers. In combination, the selected group of consumer base provides Maui with significant footfall every year and the numbers are increasing as more people become aware of the exotic beauty of the island.
Works Cited
Hawaii Tourism Authority. A Record 8.3 million Visitors came to Hawai‘i in 2014 Total Visitor Expenditures Grew to $14.7 billion. Hawaii Tourism Authority. hawaiitourismauthority.org. 29 January 2015. Web. 18 March 2016.
