IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0296199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Market segmentation and consumer motivations in protected natural parks: A study from Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Mauricio Carvache-Franco
  • Conrado Carrascosa-López
  • Wilmer Carvache-Franco

Abstract

There has been an increase in the interest of tourists in the environment and enjoying it in recent years. This research aims to: a) Identify the motivational dimensions in the protected natural parks and b) Analyze the different segments in the protected natural parks. The research was conducted in the Posets-Maladeta protected area in Spain. The sample comprises 422 surveys got in situ. Data analysis involved the execution of factor analysis and non-hierarchical K-means segmentation. The findings suggest the presence of nine motivational dimensions in the protected natural park studied: self-development, interpersonal relationships, security measures, establishing personal bonds, escape, ego-defensive function, nature, entertainment, and rewards. In addition, within this protected natural park is confirmed the presence of two distinct segments: one focused on nature and the other encompassing multiple motives. The results contribute management guidelines for natural park managers for the benefit of communities and visitors. Additionally, this work can serve as a valuable addition to the academic literature concerning ecotourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauricio Carvache-Franco & Conrado Carrascosa-López & Wilmer Carvache-Franco, 2024. "Market segmentation and consumer motivations in protected natural parks: A study from Spain," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0296199
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296199
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296199
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0296199&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0296199?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karolina Taczanowska & Luis-Millán González & Xavier García-Massó & Antoni Zięba & Christiane Brandenburg & Andreas Muhar & Maite Pellicer-Chenoll & José-Luis Toca-Herrera, 2019. "Nature-based Tourism or Mass Tourism in Nature? Segmentation of Mountain Protected Area Visitors Using Self-Organizing Maps (SOM)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Hultman, Magnus & Kazeminia, Azadeh & Ghasemi, Vahid, 2015. "Intention to visit and willingness to pay premium for ecotourism: The impact of attitude, materialism, and motivation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1854-1861.
    3. Mauricio Carvache-Franco & Marival Segarra-Oña & Conrado Carrascosa-López, 2019. "Segmentation by Motivation in Ecotourism: Application to Protected Areas in Guayas, Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mauricio Carvache-Franco & Conrado Carrascosa-López & Wilmer Carvache-Franco, 2022. "Market Segmentation by Motivations in Ecotourism: Application in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Mauricio Carvache-Franco & Wilmer Carvache-Franco & Ana Gabriela Víquez-Paniagua & Orly Carvache-Franco & Allan Pérez-Orozco, 2021. "The Role of Motivations in the Segmentation of Ecotourism Destinations: A Study from Costa Rica," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-18, September.
    3. Thomas Bausch & Tilman Schröder & Verena Tauber & Bernard Lane, 2021. "Sustainable Tourism: The Elephant in the Room," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Georgică Gheorghe & Petronela Tudorache & Ioan Mihai Roşca, 2023. "The Contribution of Green Marketing in the Development of a Sustainable Destination through Advanced Clustering Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-24, September.
    5. Kazeminia, Azadeh & Hultman, Magnus & Mostaghel, Rana, 2016. "Why pay more for sustainable services? The case of ecotourism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4992-4997.
    6. Sukuryadi & Nuddin Harahab & Mimit Primyastanto & Bambang Semedi, 2021. "Collaborative-based mangrove ecosystem management model for the development of marine ecotourism in Lembar Bay, Lombok, Indonesia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 6838-6868, May.
    7. Afzaal Ali & Guo Xiaoling & Adnan Ali & Mehkar Sherwani & Farhan Muhammad Muneeb, 2019. "Customer motivations for sustainable consumption: Investigating the drivers of purchase behavior for a green‐luxury car," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 833-846, July.
    8. Jamie M. Chen & Junzhou Zhang & Peter Nijkamp, 2016. "A regional analysis of willingness-to-pay in Asian cruise markets," Tourism Economics, , vol. 22(4), pages 809-824, August.
    9. Viglia, Giampaolo & Abrate, Graziano, 2017. "When distinction does not pay off - Investigating the determinants of European agritourism prices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 45-52.
    10. Amélie Guèvremont & Bianca Grohmann, 2018. "Does brand authenticity alleviate the effect of brand scandals?," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(4), pages 322-336, July.
    11. Arthur Filipe de Araújo & Isabel Andrés-Marques & Lorenza López Moreno, 2025. "No Planet-B Attitudes: The Main Driver of Gen Z Travelers’ Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Tourism Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-23, January.
    12. Muhammad Waqar Rana & Faisal Mustafa & Muhammad Umer Quddoos & Rab Nawaz Lodhi, 2021. "How Brand Jealousy is an Antidote for Premium to Pay More in the Presence of Materialism and Brand Attachment?," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 3(1), pages 35-45, june.
    13. Ching Yin Ip & Chaoyun Liang, 2023. "Would customers of social enterprises become social entrepreneurs?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1454-1464, April.
    14. Xiaocheng Vicky Zhang & Suk Ha Grace Chan, 2021. "Do Knowledge and Experience Value Affect Green Tourism Activity Participation and Buying Decision? A Case Study of Natural Dyeing Experience in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.
    15. Veenarat Ut-tha & Pai-Po Lee & Rebecca Chung, 2021. "Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Coffee: A Case of Thai Consumers," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    16. André Hellmeister & Harold Richins, 2019. "Green to Gold: Beneficial Impacts of Sustainability Certification and Practice on Tour Enterprise Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, January.
    17. Carlos Jurado-Rivas & Marcelino Sánchez-Rivero, 2019. "Willingness to Pay for More Sustainable Tourism Destinations in World Heritage Cities: The Case of Caceres, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-21, October.
    18. Boycen Kumira Mudzengi & Edson Gandiwa & Never Muboko & Chiedza Ngonidzashe Mutanga, 2021. "Towards sustainable community conservation in tropical savanna ecosystems: a management framework for ecotourism ventures in a changing environment," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 3028-3047, March.
    19. Liu, Yajie & Dong, Feng & Li, Guoqing & Pan, Yuling & Qin, Chang & Yang, Shanshan & Li, Jingyun, 2023. "Exploring the factors influencing public support willingness for banning gasoline vehicle sales policy: A grounded theory approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    20. Dimara, Efthalia & Manganari, Emmanouela & Skuras, Dimitris, 2017. "Don't change my towels please: Factors influencing participation in towel reuse programs," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 425-437.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0296199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.