Analysis and Segmentation of Visitors in a Natural Protected Area

Nature-based tourism is one of the segments of the tourism market that is growing more and faster in last years. For this reason, natural parks have become major tourism destinations and their management should be more focused in terms of marketing, through the adoption of effective strategies targeted to specific market segments. Only by knowing their visitors, through a market segmentation process, will park managers be able to identify different profiles of users and to understand their motivations, expectations, and needs. Sila National Park (Italy) is carrying on every year, since 2009, an inquiry among visitors with the purpose of knowing better their characteristics and identifying different segments of tourists. Last year's survey results show, through a cluster analysis, the existence of five visitor segments with very different characteristics and expectations among them. The chapter proposes a description of these clusters, trying to identify the marketing strategies suitable for each target.