Proceedings | Management area | Year 2010
 

Destination Personality Segmentation And Profiling International Tourists In National Marine Park

by Aurathai Lertwannawit; Parisa Rungruang
  
  2010 Global Marketing Conference in Tokyo, Japan September 2010

Abstract

The study aimed to segment international tourists of Similan National Marine Park based upon their perception toward Similan’s destination personality and to develop a profile for each segment. Four hundred and ninety-eight survey participants returned the self-administered questionnaires. A two-step clustering approach was employed using both hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods. The final assignment of cases to clusters resulted in three distinct tourist segments named minor segment, alpha segment and beta segment. International tourists in alpha segment exhibited strongest destination personality perception and strongest congruence between destination image and their own image. They also scored the highest on tourists’ values, destination satisfaction, and revisit intention, but had the lowest scores on destination knowledge and intention to recommend the destination to others. Minor segment stated all in opposition of the alpha segment. International tourists in beta segment stated all in moderate. Managerial implications for promoting Similan, limitations, and directions for future research were discussed.

Keywords: International Tourists