The concept of life cycle: an application to the tourist product

Abstract

The concept of life cycle is widely discussed, both in the marketing and the strategic management fields. Nevertheless, operational problems make this concept difficult to put into practice. This article clarifies the life cycle concept and its effective use, especially as it applies to the tourist product. First, the object, the tourist product, is defined, then the life cycle concept is presented and developed by explaining its different stages and their respective strategic implications. Finally, following this conceptual framework, a case study of the Algarve (a province of Portugal) is presented to illustrate the proposed methods for identifying each life cycle stage.