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Information and communication technologies (ICT) have had a profound impact on tourism marketing. For several decades one of the cornerstones of marketing has been market segmentation. The purpose of this paper is to examine how ICTs have affected market segmentation literature in tourism by the means of literature review.

All segmentation articles published in Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management and Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing since the year 2000 are reviewed by examining how ICTs have affected them. Content analysis is used to categorize the connection between ICTs and segmentation to seven categories.

Only three papers focusing on both ICT and segmentation were found among the 188 segmentation‐related studies reviewed. Altogether 58 market segmentation studies found were affected by ICTs but in most cases the effects are very limited.

Only three tourism journals were reviewed making it possible that some studies connected to the topic are not examined in this review.

This study provides practitioners with a review of central findings regarding ICT use in market segmentation process published in recent academic literature.

This is the first study to review how ICTs have affected market segmentation in tourism. It provides a review of central papers discussing the topic and directions for future research. Overall, this research highlights the lack of research on the topic, as well as its importance for the future of tourism marketing.

This study attempts to identify and explicate the unique segmentation of the increasingly growing virtual reality (VR) user market based on the user experience. Consequently, it collects five hundred forty-five online survey questionnaires through the Prolific platform and deploys cluster analysis to identify mutually exclusive groups of VR users. The research variable, user experience, contains 16 indicators explained by four dimensions. As a result, this study is able to unveil three mutually exclusive markets which are labeled as (1) beginner, (2) aficionado, and (3) utilitarian. The unique features of these three groups are further compared based on their VR tour behaviors. In the conclusion section, it offers managerial implications for devising novel marketing strategies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this study is to identify best practices in the implementation of market segmentation via expenditure in tourism research so that the practical potential of this technique can be realized. Market segmentation on the basis of expenditure has tremendous practical potential for tourism destinations, yet the volume of research remains slim. This article examines 20 studies of market segmentation based on expenditure in tourism research in order to identify issues and challenges which currently impede the growth of this area and its translation to policy.

The studies reviewed are analyzed on four dimensions, namely, the tourism market context, the specification of the expenditure variable, data source and sample size and the methodological approach.

To identify commonalities across big spending tourists, tourism markets should be categorized and the expenditure variable clearly specified. Studies using a relatively simple bivariate statistical analysis have more practical usefulness than those using a slightly more complex multivariate approach.

While the articles studied have been selected to include seminal and widely cited early studies and to provide a broad overview, no other selection criteria were established. The study is not exhaustive, and further research could be more broadly inclusive.

Expenditure segmentation if utilized by tourism planners can help maximize revenue from smaller tourism numbers. The results of this article show the most useful research path for practical application.

There is no prior study reviewing the literature using expenditure segmentation in the tourism context. Providing such an overview will facilitate further use of this research tool.

The purpose of this study is to investigate benefits tourist seek when visiting a nature-based tourism destination to develop a benefit segmentation framework.

The study used quantitative research methods, with 400 self-administered survey administered to a sample of 400 tourists visiting the Kruger, Panorama, and Lowveld areas in Mpumalanga.

Cluster analysis produced two benefit segments. Binary logistic regression benefits that emerged from the cluster analysis were statistically significant predictors of the attractions tourists visited and the activities in which they participated during their stays in Mpumalanga. Factor-cluster analysis and binary logistic regression results were used to develop a benefit segmentation framework as a marketing planning tool.

The study was only based on Mpumalanga Province and therefore, the results cannot be generalised. The study was conducted over one season, the Easter period

The proposed benefit segmentation framework provides a tool that destination management organisations can use to plan effectively for marketing.

Effective marketing may lead to increased tourism growth which can have a multiplier effect on the destination.

This article is based on a master’s study conducted in Mpumalanga and results are presented on this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to use a new segmentation approach based on objective variables to calculate direct tourism-related sales volume and revenue by selling wine at a winery in the Rheingau region of Germany.

In the framework of a 2015 face-to-face survey in the Rheingau, 1,555 tourists were interviewed. For segmentation, two-step clustering was applied to classify survey participants into homogeneous groups. To calculate tourism-related wine sales volume and revenue, a special model based on official statistics and the survey’s results was used.

Four wine-tourist segments were identified by using cluster analysis with objective variables, such as nationality, visiting frequency and volume of wine purchased in the region: wine and Rheingau lovers who have a high interest in wine, wine-oriented tourists who do not come to the region very often, first-time tourists who came to the region mainly because of the nature and history and international tourists. With the help of calculations on tourism-related wine sales volume and revenue, it can be stated that approximately 18 per cent of total wine production will be purchased directly in the region by tourists, valued at €36m.

This paper contributes to existing wine-tourism research because a multi-dimensional segmentation model was applied using objective variables, such as nationality, visiting frequency and volume of wine purchased in the region. Using the calculation of tourism-related sales volume and revenue, winemakers in the Rheingau can gain a clear picture of tourism’s importance.

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 paper aims to show how researchers can develop learning exercises for training analysts and executives in market segmentation techniques.

The empirical example of a tour operator specializing in adventure tourism is used as an illustration. Segments are constructed on the basis of tourists' stated willingness to pay a price premium for certain aspects of the tour. Stability analysis is conducted to choose the number of clusters, topology representing networks are used to construct segments and Bonferroni‐corrected χ² tests provide insight into the external validity of segments.

Four market segments are constructed which differ significantly with respect to external variables.

Market segmentation can be used by any entity in the tourism industry to select a suitable part of the entire market, customize the tourism service to suit such a segment, and spend marketing budget more efficiently by using communication channels and advertising messages most effective for the selected segment.

Market segmentation provides managers with insight into market structure. Knowledge about the market structure, in turn, is the basis of successful strategic planning. While the concept of segmentation is not new, each application is unique to its context. The present paper focuses on price premium segments in the adventure tourism context.

This paper aims to contribute to urban tourism segmentation studies by examining the role of culture as a motivation for city visits, different preferences for activities and the demographic factors that influence activity choices. This study also compares the memorability of the trip across the segments identified based on their undertaken activities.

This paper draws on questionnaire data that was collected from 614 tourists in Budapest, Hungary. Tourist segmentation was based on a two-step procedure: principal component analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to reveal the effect of different demographic and travel-related characteristics on the segments.

The research revealed that cultural activities are still the most important motivation for urban tourists and that cultural tourists constitute the biggest segment (43%). They show a preference for heritage sites, museums and galleries rather than performing arts and festivals. Multinomial logistic regression showed that party tourists can be differentiated from cultural tourists and city break tourists predominantly by age and travel status. Older age groups and women are more likely to be interested in heritage sites, museums and galleries. Party tourists found their experience significantly more memorable than any other group and were much more likely to re-visit and recommend.

Overall, this study provides useful information for destination management organisations and city agencies about which activities to promote and how to segment and potentially target tourists. This study did not include lifestyle and personality factors, secondary and complementary attractions or cultural proximity and distance.

There have been relatively few recent studies on urban cultural tourism segmentation, especially in whole destinations rather than at individual attractions, it was therefore considered timely to re-visit this area of research. This paper reinforces the importance of segmentation studies in tourism and analyses the changing motivations and activity preferences of urban cultural tourists over time.

For tourism, significant research has been conducted in industry‐specific marketing. Basically, the topic of discussion is the effectiveness and efficiency of the marketing of destinations. As marketing segmentation is one of the most critical parts of any marketing strategy, the authors believe that a customer segmentation by motivations via an activity‐based approach will increase the destination's marketing impact. This study aims to backtrack travel motivations from tourist behaviour which can be observed i.e. the activities they performed. The idea is to find out which motivations to target marketingwise that attract tourists who in turn fit the destination's attraction potential, and activity‐offering competencies. In order to test the hypothesis, a contingency analysis was employed using data from the Swiss travel market. By exploiting the linkage between motivations and activities, the authors have found 34 significant activities, 15 of which can be exclusively linked to a traveller motivation.