International Target Market Selection in Tourism: A Preliminary Screening Application Based on Grey Relational Analysis and K-Means

Year 2025, Volume: 12 Issue: 3, 816 - 843, 30.09.2025

Hüseyin Ertan İnan

Abstract

International market selection (IMS) involves strategically identifying promising markets for business focus and expansion. Preliminary screening is recognized as a fundamental stage in the IMS process. During this stage, market alternatives are evaluated by eliminating countries that do not align with the predefined targets. This research aims to evaluate the market attractiveness of countries for Türkiye's Destination Marketing Organizations, utilizing a preliminary screening approach based on Grey Relational Analysis and K-Means. In this context, the tourism market attractiveness of 99 countries was compared based on 19 criteria. According to the results, countries are divided into four clusters. Cluster 1 includes two countries, the US and China, which are identified as the most attractive markets. In addition, twenty-one countries are in Cluster 2, twenty-nine in Cluster 3, and forty-seven in Cluster 4. The study also provides recommendations for the future tourism promotion and marketing efforts of DMOs in Türkiye, considering countries' rankings and clusters.

Keywords

International market selection , Tourism Marketing , Destination Marketing , Preliminary Screening , Target market selection , Multi-Criteria Decision Making

Ethical Statement

Ethics Committee approval was not required for this study. The author declares that the study was conducted in accordance with research and publication ethics. The author confirms that no part of the study was generated, either wholly or in part, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. The author declares that there are no financial conflicts of interest involving any institution, organization, or individual associated with this article. The author affirms that the entire research process was performed by the sole declared author of the study.

Supporting Institution

Ondokuz Mayıs University

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