Motivation-based Market Segmentation in Rural Tourism: the Case of Sámán, Iran

• Main Authors: Naser Bayat, Ebrahim Rastegar, Luca Salvati, Hasan Darabi, Narges Ahmadi Fard, Majid Taji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Bologna 2019-07-01
• Series: Almatourism
• Subjects: rural tourism; market segmentation; tourist motivation; field survey
• Online Access: https://almatourism.unibo.it/article/view/7453

Market segmentation is a pivotal and under-investigated issue when evaluating decision-making processes and motivational factors shaping rural tourism. The present study has examined market segments of rural tourists in Iran based on their socio-demographic attributes, travel characteristics and preferred leisure activities, profiling rural tourists on the base of their motivational background. The survey results indicated that rural tourism in the study area is a heterogeneous market, whose development depends on general trends in Middle East tourism market. A comprehensive knowledge of rural tourism actors may help formulating appropriate marketing strategies for internal areas destined to tourism growth.