Segmenting Western Australian national park visitors by perceived benefits: A factor‐item mixed approach

Abstract

National park visitors are a significant tourist market that demonstrates heterogeneous visitation behaviors. Segmentation studies employing relevant criterion variables with reference to visitor behavior variables prove to be an effective way to better understand this tourist market. Employing a factor‐item mixed segmentation approach, this study aims to segment Western Australian national park visitors by perceived benefits with reference to visitors' overall satisfaction, willingness to recommend, and pro‐environmental behavior. Based on a sample of 324 on‐site visitor survey responses, two perceived benefit factors, Nature Appreciation and Relaxation, and Learning, were identified. Subsequent cluster analysis using 12 original perceived benefit items identified two clusters: “moderate nature experiencers” (MNE) and “high nature appreciators and learners” (HNAL). No differences were found between the two clusters in visitor demographics and trip characteristics. However, HNAL members consistently exhibited higher levels of overall satisfaction, willingness to recommend, and pro‐environmental behavior tendencies than members of MNE. Based on the findings, Australian national park managers should advocate both the nature and learning benefits in their future market communication and product development strategies.

User value identification based on an improved consumer value segmentation algorithm

“…, 2017; Mu et al. , 2017; Balci and Cetin, 2020; Cristina and Jean-Pierre, 2020; Huang et al. , 2020), this study successively discusses the segmentation results of each algorithm when the number of sub-markets is 2–6.…”

“…parameters. In terms of the number of clusters N, since most fields subdivide a large market into 2-6 sub-markets in practice (Bruwer et al, 2017;Mu et al, 2017;Balci and Cetin, 2020;Cristina and Jean-Pierre, 2020;Huang et al, 2020), this study successively discusses the segmentation results of each algorithm when the number of sub-markets is 2-6. In this work, the SC and CH obtained are labeled as W_SC and W_CH when considering the consumer value, and vice versa as UW_SC and UW_CH.…”

Effects of COVID-19 on Visitor Intentions to Attend Personal Interpretation Programs in the Provincial Parks of Alberta, Canada

“…Even before the pandemic, some park visitors preferred guided (or personal) interpretation to non-guided interpretation (Phan & Schott, 2019; Roberts et al, 2014). Visitors are motivated to attend personal interpretation programs for various reasons, such as nature appreciation, access to nature experiences, socialization, relaxation, enjoyment, escape, learning, challenge, reflection, skill development, and novelty (e.g., Hvenegaard, 2017; Cook et al, 2021; S. Huang et al, 2020). At the same time, visitors face various barriers (e.g., perceptions of danger and safety, time, knowledge, and financial) to participation and have many reasons for not attending interpretation programs (Hvenegaard, 2017).…”

Factores de riesgo y beneficio percibidos en la intención de compra de consumidores de la movilidad colaborativa

“…A pesar de que el consumidor tenga que lidiar con diferentes riesgos que dificulten sus decisiones de compra, también existen valores y creencias positivas que lo ayudan a contrarrestar estos temores. Dentro de la literatura del comportamiento, el beneficio percibido es la creencia que tiene el consumidor de que el producto o servicio llegará a satisfacer sus necesidades y deseos (Huang et al, 2020;Katta y Patro, 2017;Tanadi et al, 2015). Este es fundamental para analizar la influencia de las percepciones positivas en la satisfacción al momento de comprar (Liu et al, 2013).…”