MOTIVATION-BASED TYPOLOGY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF GOLF TOURISTS

This article contributes to knowledge of tourist motivation and typologies in the context of golf tourism. A research framework is presented to aid the classification of golf tourists into distinct typologies based on their travel motivation. The methodology comprised both qualitative research based on semistructured interviews and quantitative research based on 392 self-completed questionnaires. A principal component factor analysis was used to identify five golf travel motivations. A cluster analysis was then conducted to classify golfers into three different clusters, namely, Golf-intensive Golfers, Multimotivated Golfers, and Companion Golfers. The golf clusters were then profiled, and the results revealed that golf tourists were not homogeneous in their travel motivations. Their profiles are theoretically and statistically feasible, and the hypotheses tested indicated that each cluster had both similarities and differences. The practical implications for golf tourism marketers are suggested, and future research recommendations related to the application of tourist typologies for segmentation are provided.