Segmentation Research in Tourism:Brief Literature Review

Market segmentation is one of the most significant concepts in marketing literature. It has been applied extensively in tourism research. The purpose of the paper is to provide a review of the existing academic literature on segmentation research in tourism by critically looking at general segmentation bases and segmentation techniques. Specifically the review of data mining techniques in market segmentation in tourism has been done. The review is based on these five sections: (1) general segmentation bases in tourism (2) places of study (3) data source, sample size and number of items (4) methodological approach (5) identified numbered of factors and clusters. The gaps in the segmentation literature in tourism marketing are identified and directions for future research are given. The review, though extensive is not exhaustive. There is no prior study reviewing the literature using at general segmentation bases and segmentation techniques in the tourism context. The study synthesizes the research in segmentation for the tourism sector.