Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 15.2
Illustration of the usefulness of artifi cially constructed segments.
Commonsense segmentation refers to the case where management thinks about which
characteristics of tourists may be relevant for a segmentation to be useful to them. For example,
for a natural heritage site at least one segmentation criterion is obvious: people's interest in the
natural beauty of the destination. It may even be that this is the only criterion of interest, in
which case the segmentation study design is very simple and consists of three steps only.
Commonsense segmentation step #1: Data collection
The key information required from respondents is whether or not natural beauty of a destination
matters to them. In addition, other personal characteristic as well as behavioural and psychographic
information could be collected. Such additional information should only be collected if it is
important to be able to describe and thus better understand the resulting market segments. It
should be noted that it is not advisable to use 'any old guest survey data'. It is critical that the data
is recent - because market segments are dynamic, they change all the time, just as the market
itself does. It is also important that the key questions required for the segmentation exercise are
asked in a valid way. It is unlikely that a 'second hand data set' which has been collected for a
different purpose will contain the exact measure that is required.
Commonsense segmentation step #2: Forming of segments
Respondents are split into groups based on their response to the key question of interest, in
our example their interest in the natural beauty of the destination. Note that, as also visible in
