Abstract
Among tourists, there is recently a growing interest in the environment and enjoying the natural world. This study analyzed the motivations and segmentation of the demand for ecotourism, using functional theory as a reference point. Empirical analysis was carried out in Santay National Recreation Area, Morro Mangrove Wildlife Refuge, and Samanes National Recreation Area. The sample included 382 surveys, obtained in situ using the simple random sampling method. Factorial analysis and non-hierarchical segmentation were performed to analyze the data. The results indicate that there are several motivational dimensions in ecotourism, including self-development, interpersonal relationships and ego-defensive function, building personal relationships, escape reward, and nature appreciation. We also identified three different segments of ecotourists based on their motivations—nature, multiple motives, and reward and escape—as well as the characteristics of the different segments. The present investigation will help public institutions and private companies improve their tourism offerings and develop more efficient marketing plans.
Highlights
Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry [1]
This article analyzes the segmentation of the demand in terms of motivations in ecotourism to provide information to tourism marketers that will help them plan efficient marketing strategies
To achieve the objective of this study, we developed a factorial analysis to allow the extraction of six motivational dimensions
Summary
Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry [1]. Empirical research was carried out, whereby these motivations were found to represent 5% of the worldwide population and grew three times faster than tourism in general [2]. It is becoming increasingly important to identify the factors that influence ecotourism behavior [27] Ecotourism should provide both an educational experience for tourists and economic, sociocultural, and environmental sustainability for the destination [28]. This study can contribute to fill this gap in the scientific literature because there are few studies conducted on segmentation of ecotourism motivations In this way, in the region, it is important to segment the demand, so that groups of economically interesting tourists can be identified and cared for. To balance environmental sustainability with economic viability, it is important to attract these groups of tourists that are the most beneficial to the region [33] To address this gap, this article analyzes the segmentation of the demand in terms of motivations in ecotourism to provide information to tourism marketers that will help them plan efficient marketing strategies. The manuscript ends with a sixth section containing the discussion, conclusions, limitations, and future lines of research
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