Benefit Segmentation of Outbound Summer Package Tourists
Benefit Segmentation of Outbound Summer Package Tourists

Summary/Abstract: This study assesses tourist preferences for summer package vacation benefits. The purpose of this paper is to classify summer package tourists based on preferred benefits they seek from their vacation. Analysis of preferences for benefits sought is done by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). A sample of 850 respondents was interviewed by telephone in order to reveal their preferences. In order to reveal the grouping of tourists according to their preferred benefits, a two-step cluster analysis has been applied using the log-likelihood measure, while the number of clusters has been determined using Schwarz's Bayesian Criterion. Four segments have been identified based on the benefits sought: variety seekers, package-centrics, comfort seekers and safety seekers. This research showed that fuzzy AHP could be used not just for understanding of tourist preferences, but also as a base for segmentation. This is a first attempt to apply fuzzy AHP for that purpose in tourism.

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