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Classical socio‐demographic segmentation approaches of tourists mostly fail to cluster customer groups appropriately. More recent segmentation approaches have employed a more customer‐centric perspective, attempting to capture consumer behavioral patterns. Within such segmentation, one very promising approach examines the activities pursued by tourists. This research aims to identify activity patterns of outbound travelers for segmentation and ultimately to recognize experiential consumption spheres created by tourists at a destination.

This paper applies a posteriori, data‐driven, activity‐based segmentation to outbound travelers.

The present study identifies six activity‐based clusters: average short‐haul holiday experiences (Cluster 1); short repeat healthy winter experiences (Cluster 2); new beach experiences (Cluster 3); short social encounter experiences (Cluster 4); new place experiences (Cluster 5); and seniors' new place experiences (Cluster 6).

This research is unlike many other studies that apply segmentation to inbound travelers. The authors' approach analyzes outbound travelers and is based on the notion that activities are the basis of the experiential consumption of consumers and the idea that customers co‐create experiences in so‐called experiential consumption spheres during activity‐based encounters with service providers at a destination.

The purpose of this study is to segment the market of first‐time visitors based on the activities travelers engage in while at a destination using demographics, socio‐economic variables, and trip‐related characteristics.

The research analyzes 1,104 exit surveys completed by first‐time visitors to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. Clustering analysis identifies three segments that are refined and tested by multivariate and bivariate analyses.

The results indicate that there are three distinct segments of first‐time visitors based on travel activities: culture‐oriented (26 percent of the market), active (37 percent), and casual (37 percent). The key differences among the three segments are demographic, socio‐economic, trip‐related characteristics, and spending patterns. These results confirm the sustainability and profitability of the market segments.

Segmenting markets for products or services, in any industry, is vital to gain a better understanding of the customer, and to better allocate scarce tourism resources to product development, marketing, service, and delivery. Therefore, all tourism industry stakeholders must be aware of the market segments that are currently visiting the destination.

Tourist segments based on activities are not absolutes, but a continuum. The majority of first‐time visitors to a destination engage in a variety of travel activities across the segments, running from more to less involved. Successful tourism destinations are those that meet the various activity needs of their segments in both their marketing and on the ground.

This study aims to examining how tourists’ activities condition the relationship between destination image, satisfaction and loyalty.

This study used a constructive replication design (CRD) to investigate the alleged critical role of tourism activities in impacting the tourism experience dimensions of image, satisfaction and loyalty. The CRD approach does not include new concepts or original relationships. However, what is new in the established relationship between image, satisfaction and loyalty is discerning the role of tourism activities as a moderator conditioning the relationship between the three dimensions. The purpose is to establish the external validity of previous studies’ findings through a more stringent test of the findings’ replicability. The analysis used partial least square modeling to examine the relationship between activities, dimensions and multigroup analysis to estimate potential significant differences in group-specific parameters, which are not often used in destination analysis, ensuring rigor in the data analysis and model. The number and type of activities practiced moderate the relationships between these constructs.

The results indicate that tourists’ type and several destination activities moderate the relationship between tourists’ satisfaction, perceived image and loyalty. The results also suggest that the more destination activities tourists practice, the greater is their satisfaction. These two theoretical propositions put activities at the center of destination management and marketing and identify potential experiential consumption spheres. The analysis of activities’ central role is a productive research field.

This study made several recommendations to destination managers to increase activities participation such as strategic marketing opportunities, expansion of the activities portfolio with sports, wellness, nature based and life observation wildlife, voluntary and educational activities, revamping of the UNESCO heritage site and festivals. This study also recommended a strategic use of technology for information dissemination, the design of a daily activity agenda based on the identified segments’ activity patterns and a destination one-stop online travel shopping.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to apply the tourism activity-based approach to examine actual tourist behavior regarding their engaged activities instead of their experience or perceptions with those activities in a small island destination. Another contribution lies in examining if tourists’ type and activity engagement moderate the relationship between tourists’ satisfaction, perceived image and loyalty. This paper requires researchers to consider tourism activities’ impact on tourists’ image, satisfaction and loyalty.

小型海岛旅游目的地的旅游活动, 形象, 和旅客的满意度和忠诚度

本案例研究考察了旅游活动如何影响目的地形象、游客满意度和忠诚度之间的关系。

本研究采用建设性复制设计 (CRD) 来分析旅游活动在影响目的地形象、游客满意度和忠诚度等三个旅游体验维度起到的关键作用。 CRD 方法并没有引进新概念或关系。然而, 本研究新颖的地方在于认证旅游活动在目的地形象、游客满意度和忠诚度三个维度之间建立的调节关系。该研究通过严格测试研究结果的可复制来建立先前研究的外部有效性。该分析使用 PLS建模 和多组分析（MGA）来检验旅游活动和旅游体验的多维度之间的关系和估计特定组参数的潜在显著差异。 这些参数在目的地研究中不常使用, 从而确保我们数据分析和模型的严谨性。该研究结果表明旅游活动的数量和类型调节了这些旅游体验维度的关系。

研究结果表明游客的类型和某些旅游活动调节了游客满意度、目的地形象和忠诚度之间的关系。结果还表明, 游客参与的活动越多, 他们的满意度就越高。这两个研究结果确定了旅游活动在目的地管理和营销的中心地位, 同时也指出了潜在体验消费的范围。研究目的地活动的核心作用将会是一个富有成效的领域。

本研究首次应用基于旅游活动的理论方法 (TAB) 来检查旅客在小型海岛旅游目的地的实际行为, 而不是他们的体验或看法。本研究的另一个贡献在于检验游客的类型和活动参与是否会调节他们满意度、感知目的地形象和忠诚度之间的关系。该论文结果表明未来的研究需要考虑旅游活动对目的地形象、游客满意度和忠诚度的影响。

本研究向目的地管理人员提出了几项建议以提高旅游活动的参与度, 例如战略营销机会、扩大运动、康养、大自然和野生动物观摩的活动组合、志愿和教育活动、和改善联合国教科文组织遗产地和节日。该研究还建议战略性地使用技术进行信息传播, 根据确定的细分市场活动模式设计游客日常活动议程, 以及目的地一站式在线旅游购物。

Este caso de estudio examina cómo las actividades de los turistas condicionan la relación existente entre la imagen del destino, la satisfacción y la fidelidad.

El estudio empleó una replicación constructiva para investigar el supuesto papel crítico de las actividades turísticas en el efecto de la imagen, satisfacción y lealtad de los turistas en su experiencia turística. El enfoque usado no incluye nuevos conceptos ni relaciones originales. Sin embargo, lo novedoso de la relación establecida entre imagen, satisfacción y fidelidad es discernir el papel de las actividades turísticas como moderadoras condicionando la relación entre las tres dimensiones. El propósito es establecer la validez externa de los resultados de estudios previos a través de una prueba más estricta sobre la replicabilidad de dichos resultados. El análisis utilizó un modelo PLS para examinar la relación entre las actividades, las dimensiones mencionadas y el análisis multigrupo con el objetivo de estimar las posibles diferencias significativas entre los parámetros de cada grupo, método no se utiliza con frecuencia en el análisis de destinos turísticos, lo que garantiza el rigor de nuestro análisis y del modelo. El número y tipo de actividades practicadas moderan las relaciones entre los constructos.

Los resultados indican que el tipo de turistas y las diversas actividades del destino moderan la relación entre la satisfacción, la imagen percibida y la lealtad de los turistas. Los resultados también sugieren que cuantas más actividades del destino sean practicadas por los turistas, mayor es su satisfacción. Estas dos propuestas teóricas sitúan las actividades en el centro de la gestión y el marketing de destinos e identifican esferas potenciales de consumo experiencial. El análisis del papel central de las actividades es un campo de investigación en auge.

Este estudio es el primero en aplicar el enfoque basado en actividades turísticas para analizar el comportamiento del turista con respecto a las actividades realizadas en relación con su experiencia o percepciones con esas actividades en un destino insular pequeño. Otra contribución radica en estudiar si el tipo de turista y su compromiso con la actividad moderan la relación entre la satisfacción de los turistas, la imagen percibida y la fidelidad. El estudio sugiere que los investigadores deben considerar el impacto de las actividades turísticas en la imagen, satisfacción y fidelidad de los turistas.

El estudio realiza varias recomendaciones a los administradores de destinos para aumentar la participación en actividades, como oportunidades de marketing estratégico, expansión de la cartera de actividades con deportes, bienestar, observación de la vida y la naturaleza basada en la naturaleza, actividades voluntarias y educativas, renovación del sitio del patrimonio de la UNESCO y festivales. El estudio también recomendó un uso estratégico de la tecnología para la difusión de información, el diseño de una agenda de actividades diarias basada en los patrones de actividad de los segmentos identificados y una ventanilla única de viajes en línea.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and introduce a new classification model to segment a nation’s cultural tourists based on their motivations to travel to a military music festival. Little research is apparent about the types of people, and their motivations, who attend these types of festivals. In addition, the research investigates the impact of military music festivals on the concepts of patriotism and national identity.

The research approach involves empirical testing of a Canadian audience attending the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, a longstanding annual musical event held in Nova Scotia, Canada, that pays tribute to the country’s military heritage. A proposed classification model that includes two dimensions is applied, which investigates: motivation to attend the event and kinship to Canada’s military and naval traditions.

Findings provide a better understanding of the diversity of the Canadian cultural tourist audience attending a military music display in terms of tourists’ demographics, experience of the show and the desire to return. This research also provides new insights as to the ability of a military musical event to arouse emotions of national pride, patriotism and strengthen national identity.

This research is important to event sponsors and organizers of military music events as they attempt to maintain productivity and attendance growth in an increasingly competitive entertainment environment.

Active school travel (AST) programmes aim to change commuting behaviour to improve children's physical and mental health. However, very limited health education programmes for children use segmentation to create tailored solutions that understand the specific characteristics of each group of children and their caregivers in order to yield better results. The aim of this study is to use a statistical segmentation analysis (two-step cluster analysis) to gain insights on the examination of specific groups to design future health education interventions and campaigns that can improve children's health.

Guided by the Ecological and Cognitive Active Commuting (ECAC) framework, a market segmentation analysis was performed. An online survey was designed to collect data from caregivers of children between 5 and 12 years attending school and responsible for taking the child to and/or from school in Victoria and Queensland, Australia. Using 3,082 responses collected from Australian caregivers of primary school children, a two-step cluster analysis was performed.

Analysis revealed the most important variables for group formation were previous child walking behaviour, distance from school and caregiver income. Perceived risk of the physical environment was the most important psychographic segmentation variable for group formation, followed by social norms. Four distinct groups with different characteristics were identified from the analysis.

This is the first study that applies the ECAC framework to perform market segmentation in the AST context. Results revealed four market segments that demand different tailored solutions. Findings shed light on how to better design AST interventions and campaigns to promote children's health using segmentation techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a retail distribution network can be rationalised from a spatial perspective to improve service responsiveness and delivery efficiency.

This paper applies spatial analytics to examine variability of demand, both spatially and from a service delivery perspective, for an auto-parts retail network. Spatial analytics are applied to map the location of stores and customers to represent demand and service delivery patterns and to delineate market areas.

Results show significant spatial clustering in customer demand; whilst the delivery of products to customers, in contrast, is spatially dispersed. There is a substantial gap between revenue generated and costs. Market area analysis shows significant overlap, whereby stores compete with each other for business. In total, 80 per cent of customers can be reached within a 15-minute-radius, whilst only 20 per cent lies outside the market areas. Segmentation analysis of customers, based on service delivery, also shows the prevalence of the Pareto principle or 80:20 rule whereby 80 per cent of the revenue is generated by 20 per cent of customers.

Spatially integrated strategies are suggested to improve the efficiency of the retail network. It is recommended that less accessible and unprofitable customers could be either charged extra delivery cost or outsourced without the risk of a substantial reduction in revenue or quality of service delivery.

Innovative application of spatial analytics is used to analyse and visualise unit-record sales data to generate practical solutions to improve retail network responsiveness and operational efficiency.

This editorial aims to situate the papers chosen for this special issue within academic literature and identify their contributions to new knowledge.

The editorial first discusses tourism research literature pertinent to the idiosyncrasies of destination management in island contexts. Second, the paper identifies the contributions made to this field by the authors and the implications of their innovative research for island tourism and destination management.

Each paper contributes, in its way, to the field of island tourism, either by integration of explorations of theory, shifting paradigms or revealing new knowledge. This special issue contains two seminal papers by top academic leaders of the fields of islandness and HRM in island destinations. It also presents papers that comment on destination management issues at macro and micro levels.

Collectively this collection of papers offers new perspectives concerning the challenges of creating destination image in peripheral locations, the impacts of global mobilities (inward and outward) on destination labor markets, models for sustainable destination development, the welcome extended to visitors and returning locals by island communities, destination positioning strategies and service interactions.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to international tourism market segmentation research by proposing a comprehensive framework that examines behavioral, benefits and lifestyle segmentations. The moderating roles of geographic segmentation (nationality) and advertising media types are also discussed.

Tourists volunteered to participate in a self-administered survey at random during peak seasons. Total number of collected questionnaires was 966. The authors used WarpPLS 6.0 software to analyze data.

Results from a sample of 919 tourists show that tourists in the benefit segmentation cluster had intentions to revisit the destination but they were unlikely to recommend it to others. Another finding indicates that marketing campaigns on different advertising media types might have different results when targeting different activities.

Leaning on the foundations of the marketing literature and the market segmentation theory, this research attempts to create a theoretical contribution that can be used to segment international tourists based on their travel motivations. Additionally, this study highlights the power of conditional probability approach, as it could be of more value than the predominant path coefficient approach.

This study aimed to determine the motivations of a select group of South Africans in terms of their potential engagement with cultural tourism; more specifically, the study set out to show whether these motivations influence the cultural activities that the tourists want to participate in and whether their interest in specific cultural activities determines their destination choices. Furthermore, the mediating role of activities in the relationship between cultural motivations and destination choice was also assessed.

An online panel survey collected responses from 1,530 potential cultural tourists across South Africa. Hypotheses were tested, using structural equation modelling.

The results show that tourists' motivations for cultural tourism influence their likelihood of participating in specific cultural activities. Cultural tourism is shown to be influenced by more than learning and includes entertainment, relaxation, novelty and escape dimensions. There also seems to be a difference in the activities engaged in by destination type. For example, tourists likely to take part in indigenous cultural tourism activities are more likely to do so at hedonic destinations.

This paper contributes to the understanding of cultural tourism activities, aiding destinations in attracting cultural tourists. Destinations need to develop activities that match visitor motivations, increase satisfaction and encourage visitors to return.

The paper increases the understanding of cultural tourism in South Africa and underlines the importance of communities in providing distinctive tourism activities. The study also has an important social dimension, highlighting the role of social status in cultural tourism consumption and destination selection.

Knowing the behavior of tourists visiting cultural destinations enables better management of tourist flows, a better understanding of areas with greater tourist density and an opportunity to decongest popular neighborhoods. The purpose of this study is to segment tourists according to their spatio-temporal behavior and identify the primary variables that characterize the resulting segments, which will help urban destinations prevent problems arising from the saturation of tourists in certain areas.

To do this, this paper analyzes the behavior of tourists visiting the southeastern Spanish city of Granada, one of the most highly visited cultural tourism destinations. The data analysis used the methodology of sequence alignment which is used to identify segments as a function of their contained elements and the order in which these appear.

The results demonstrate the existence of three segments with different behavioral patterns: the “explorer tourists” segment, the “non-traditional cultural tourists” segments and the “typical cultural tourists” segment. These segments show differences in the concentration of their visits. This study discovered that the segments that visit a greater number of destination areas are those with less cultural orientation, higher travel budgets and younger and more frequent visitors.

In the segmentation not only keep in mind the visited areas, but the order in which they were visited as well. In addition, one should consider the time that each tourist remains in each relevant zone of the destination, given that the visiting time is an important variable to assess the congestion of an area.