Positioning an island destination in the peripheral area of the Baltics: aflexible approach to market segmentation

The market segmentation process is a critical component of positioning tour ist destinations whereby marketers identify within an existing market disti nct groups of visitors that best maximize value to the destination and asse ss their ability to serve and grow the targeted segment(s). Dividing a visi tor market into homogenous groups is often based upon their geographic orig ins as well as a variety of social-demographic, psychographic and/or behavi oral characteristics and often in the tourism literature there is a debate as to which strategy is the most appropriate. Drawing from a large database of visitors to an island destination in the Baltic Sea, this study employe d a flexibility approach to identifying the destination's most valuable vis itor segments as well as the destination's relative ability to satisfy each of them. Results of a series of multiple logistic regression functions rev ealed that country of residence (Denmark, Germany and Sweden) was the most salient factor to consider in discriminating between high versus low spende rs, visitor reported measures of satisfaction, value and probability of rep eat patronage. Moreover, in this data set, nationality was shown to be a co nsistently better predictor of the study's dependent measures than househol d income, education, age, travel party composition and travel purpose. Impl ications for marketers in mature destinations are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.