Segmenting Winter Sport Tourists by Motivation: The Case of Recreational Skiers

This study examined motivation, involvement, and loyalty among recreational skiers to develop a typology of user segments. Recreational skiers (N = 268) from a major ski resort in north Greece participated in the study. Motivation was measured with an adjusted version of the Recreational Experience Preference (REP) scale (Manfredo, Driver, & Tarrant, 1996), involvement was measured with the three dimensional model (attraction, centrality, and self-expression, Kyle et al., 2004), and loyalty was measured with an intention scale. A principal component analysis of the motivation scale revealed seven dimensions: escape, social recognition, enjoying nature, excitement/risk, socialization, skill development and achievement. A cluster analysis was used to categorize these dimensions into four segments labelled: Novice, Multiple-interest, Naturalist, and Enthusiast. Analysis of variance revealed differences among the four groups in both the loyalty and the three involvement sub-scales. As a general trend the fourth segment (enthusiast) had statistically higher scores than all other groups. The marketing implications of the results are discussed.