Exploring the Constraint Profile of Winter Sports Resort Tourist Segments

Abstract

Many studies have confirmed the importance of market segmentation both theoretically and empirically. Surprisingly though, no study has so far addressed the issue from the perspective of leisure constraints. Since different consumers face different barriers, we look at participation in leisure activities as an outcome of the negotiation process that winter sports resort tourists go through, to balance between related motives and constraints. This empirical study reports the findings on the applicability of constraining factors in segmenting the tourists who visit winter sports resorts. Utilizing data from 1,391 tourists of winter sports resorts in Greece, five segments were formed based on their constraint, demographic, and behavioral profile. Our findings indicate that such segmentation sheds light on factors that could potentially limit the full utilization of the market. To maximize utilization, we suggest customizing marketing to the profile of each distinct winter sports resort tourist segment that emerged.

Importance of early snowfall for Swedish ski resorts: Evidence based on monthly data

“…Gilbert and Hudson (2000) discover that economic factors such as high expenses and high costs are the major constraints for skiing participation. More recently, Priporas et al (2014) find that financial costs and interpersonal constraints are the main factors determining skiing participation. In contrast, winter sport related limitations such as lack of snow and congestion on the slopes play a minor role.…”

Affective and cognitive dimensions of ski destination images. The case of Norway and the Lillehammer region

“…1 Generally, few studies have investigated winter/skiing tourists destination choices, preferences and images (Gilbert & Hudson, 2000;Kim & Perdue, 2011;Pröbstl-Haider & Haider, 2013), and such research is more or less absent with respect to Scandinavian winter destinations. In exploring how destination image as multidimensional concept has an impact on tourists' choices of winter-sports destination and intentions to revisit the destinations (Hallmann etal., 2014), this article contributes to a better understanding of market preferences and images, which is needed to develop more effective and targeted marketing and destination development (Priporas, Vassiliadis, Bellou, & Andronikidis, 2015).…”

Tourism constraints for Spanish tourists with disabilities: Scale development and validation

“…Although constraints are an important component of the leisure literature, it is a fairly new phenomenon in the tourism literature (Carneiro and Crompton, 2009;Hudson and Gilbert, 2000;Nyaupane and Andereck, 2007;Priporas et al, 2015) and has only recently been applied in studies on travellers with disabilities.…”