Market segmentation analysis in tourism: a perspective paper

Purpose: This paper discusses the dos and don'ts of market segmentation analysis. Market segmentation analysis is younger than the journal Tourism Review, but nevertheless has a rich history in tourism research and continues to be extensively used by both tourism researchers and industry. Design/methodology/approach: After a brief overview of the origins of market segmentation analysis and its uptake in tourism, a number of key considerations are discussed, which are critical to ensuring that practically useful and reliable market segments emerge from the analysis. Findings: Do accept that market segmentation is exploratory. Do spend a lot of time ensuring you collect high-quality data. Don’t use ordinal data. Don’t use correlated variables. Do ensure your sample size is large enough. Don’t use factor-cluster analysis. Do conduct data structure analysis. Don’t complicate things. Originality/value: This is a perspective study; it offers a concise discussion of key issues in market segmentation analysis and directs the interested reader to resources where they can learn more about each of these issues