Segmentation: a tourism stakeholder view

Abstract

Tourism segmentation research has focused on (1) developing tourist segment profiles using primary and secondary tourist data and (2) understanding which segmentation bases can accurately predict future tourist behaviour. Researchers have not considered how tourism stakeholders are segmenting their tourist markets. This paper presents evidence to suggest that the use of combined segmentation variables to develop tourism profiles is warranted and that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not suitable because different tourism stakeholders within a single destination attract different tourists. Furthermore, this research identified that the segments used by the destination marketing organisation failed to holistically describe the tourist groups using the different services provided by tourism stakeholders within a single destination. Destination marketing is complex involving many stakeholders each likely to be attracting different tourist segments and future research endeavours must acknowledge this complexity.