Increasing state market share through a regional positioning

State tourism officials need to know more about the nature of in-state and out-of-state visitor characteristics and how actual and potential visitors perceive local destinations. The main objective of this study was to unders tand Virginia's image as a travel destination versus competitive states in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA. The regional competitiveness of Virgini a as a tourism destination was evaluated by creating a "perceptual map" whi ch reveals the similarities and differences in how 10 states were rated on the 48 destination attributes included in the survey. Results showed that V irginia stands out in the quality of its natural and historical landscape; features shared by many of the surrounding competitive states. Virginia com petes with Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia on natural features and competes with Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia on hi storic and cultural heritage. Virginia's amenities are well known, but lack emotional impact. Possible marketing strategies would be to give Virginia a stronger emotional image, while building on its strong reputation for qua lity natural and cultural attractions. It is also important that destinatio n promotional activities focus on differentiating features of places in a r egional context so that complementary tourism products within the region ca n also be developed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.