Marketing Strategy Analysis For Developing a Small & Medium Enterprise in the Tourism Sector of Manufahi Municipality, Timor-Leste

Manufahi which is commonly known as the city of Dom Boa Ventura, Geographically Manufahi is located in the southeastern part of Timor- Leste. This municipality presents a varieties cultural identity, as the mother tongue is mambae, a local product and in addition, it presents also a tourist landscape that is very attractive for the visit of the international & National tourist. This study aims to determine "how is the marketing strategy for developing a Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector of Manufahi, Timor Leste. based on SWOT analysis" with indicators of this marketing strategy using the marketing mix(7P), it's composed by Product (The Services) /, Price, Place / Business Location, Promotion / Promotion Strategy, People / Human Resources (HR), Process / Process or Business Activities, Physical Evidence / Company Physical Evidence.
The population in the research are business actors, in the tourism sector, tourists, and local authorities, with a total of 67 informants with saturated sample determination to take all SMEs activities in the tourism sector from 4 predetermined posts administrative and the accidental sampling method for tourists and probability sampling methods for local authorities.
The Methodology approach used in this research is Mix Method (Qualitative and Quantitative method) with primary and secondary. The Data Collection will be obtained through interviews, focus group discussions, and direct observation at the place of the research object, with the analysis tool used in this research being the SWOT analysis & EFAS & IFAS analysis.
The major finding of the research has consisted of 1. It was found 32 of SME group potential & 27 Tourism potential for developing SME business activities as well as through the evaluation of internal and external matrices, display that the average value is 1.00, the total IFE score with a value of 2.88 as well total EFE score of 3,06. The achievements of the SMEs group in the tourism sector of Manufahi, are in the quadrant position of columns I & II which means “Growth” with a growth position. Strategies that are suitable for this position are market and product development through building a policy for harmonization plan on product and market development in Manufahi Municipality.