Abstract
Customer classification is an integral part of marketing planning activities. Researchers have struggled to classify “pilgrims” and “tourists” because these groups overlap to a large extent in terms of their identities while participating in religious activities/sightseeing. To achieve sustainable tourism development for the region with rich religious and cultural characteristics, the present article outlines a process for analyzing the motivation of participants attending religious festival of Mazu in Taiwan and then classifies religious festival participants according to their motivations. Using cluster sampling, a total of 280 responses were obtained and analyzed. The results revealed four different motivation categories: Fun traveler, devout believer, cultural enthusiast, and religious pragmatist. The study concludes that while festivalgoers are influenced by secularization to some extent, the original doctrine of the religion epitomized in the festivals fundamentally retains the essence and spirit of its religious rituals. The findings may have a significant value for the development of religious tourism marketing as it offers a foundation for future research seeking to develop regional cultural and religious sightseeing attractions sustainably.
Highlights
To stimulate sustainable brand development, firms usually exert great efforts to classify their customers, allowing them to identify the most profitable target markets and optimally target greater numbers of such customers
The instrument starts with information on respondents, such as festival visit times, religious beliefs, and where respondents heard about the event, followed by the motive-related items for observing respondents’ attitudes toward religious festival participation
The survey uncovered respondents’ motivations for participation. These motivations were classified into four types based on the classification developed by Crompton and McKay (1997): Leisure travelers, cultural enthusiasts, religious pragmatists, and devout believers
Summary
To stimulate sustainable brand development, firms usually exert great efforts to classify their customers, allowing them to identify the most profitable target markets and optimally target greater numbers of such customers. Companies that identify underserved segments can subsequently outperform the competition by developing unique products and services. Customer classification can help a business develop marketing campaigns and pricing strategies to extract maximum value from both high- and low-profit customers (Bhatnagar and Gopalaswamy 2017). A company, as well as an ad-hoc organization, can use customer classification as the principal basis for allocating resources to product development, marketing, service, and delivery programs (Timoshenko and Hauser 2019; Wang et al 2018). For festival-related organizations, an accurate customer classification can help marketers better target customers during the planning phases, attracting more sponsors and income
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
