Title: Benefit segmentation of potential wellbeing tourists
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to segment tourists according to the benefits they seek from a tourism destination. These segments are examined in order to find attractive segments for local wellbeing products. Segmentation in the context of wellbeing and wellness provides companies information on what kind of tourists are most interested in buying wellbeing products and contributes to the existing segmentation theory by using data driven segmentation in a situation where traditionally common-sense segmentation is used. The literature surrounding benefit segmentation in tourism is reviewed in order to find the benefits tourists might think of as important. The results of K-means cluster analysis show that tourists in the Savonlinna region, Finland, can be divided into four segments. The segments differ from each other in the benefits they seek and in interest in wellbeing holidays, but are quite similar regarding to their socio-demographic factors. This study shows that data-driven segmentation can be used to find markets for a certain product instead of a priori segmentation. The results also show that benefits sought have a strong influence on customer behavior but little in common with socio-economic factors, which proves the usefulness of benefit segmentation in tourism. Based on the results, tourism companies can find the most suitable segments for their offerings.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 81
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot