Segmentation of the Spanish domestic tourism market

A common goal in tourist sector planning is assessment of the demand for a given destination or destination type. For effective development of a marketing mix it is very useful to first categorize the tourist population into homogenous groups, or segments. The principal aim of the present study was to categorize the Spanish adult population as regards tourism preferences. A conjoint analysis procedure was used to characterize subjects on the basis of preferences for hypothetical destinations showing different attribute combinations, and cluster analysis was then used to identify subject groups on the basis of these preferences. Our results indicate the existence of 8 well-defined subject groups. The characteristics of these groups were explored on the basis of questionnaire data, using analysis of residuals to identify statistically significant associations.