The territorial segmentation of coastal tourism areas

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the potential benefits of identifying homogeneous territorial units of the urban-tourism space at a local scale.

Design/methodology/approach

The territory is an essential variable for designing tourist activities adapted to the characteristics of each urban-tourism space. However, your consideration presents a series of problems, including the lack of alphanumeric, microscale, georeferenced statistical information. The territorial segmentation of the tourist accommodations supply is approached as a methodology, a technique and an instrument that can be used to apply marketing strategies in coastal tourism areas.

Findings

One of the most important results is that territorial segmentation is a methodology and technique that can mitigate this issue because it is well-suited to defining spatial patterns of tourist behaviour through the delimitation of territorial units that have a certain degree of homogeneity.

Originality/value

The idea of territorial segmentation is the ideal technique for understanding tourists and their behaviour in the territory by integrating all the variables that intervene in a trip, the different aspects of the destination and data regarding tourist behaviour, allowing them to be understood at the greatest level of territorial disaggregation and making it a good tool for public and private actors, capable of facilitating intelligent decisions in strategic territorial planning and in defining the marketing approach of tourism companies.

Citation

Simancas Cruz, M., Peñarrubia Zaragoza, M.P., Hernández-Martín, R. and Rodríguez Rodríguez, Y. (2022), "The territorial segmentation of coastal tourism areas", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 423-441. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-01-2021-0005