Mass tourism underwater: a segmentation approach to motivations of scuba diving holiday tourists

Abstract

Scuba diving is an increasingly popular activity in resort destinations worldwide, providing tourists a more active experience in their holiday. By following the Push and Pull Theory, this study examines the scuba diving motivations of holiday tourists. Whilst of substantial importance for the practice of the activity, host marine destinations and broader ocean literacy, this an under-researched topic in the tourism literature. Data were collected from a comprehensive data set of holiday tourists who participated scuba diving in Kemer, Antalya-Turkey. Exploration & excitement, personal development, and socialisation & challenge were identified as the push motivations, while tourism & diving offerings, safety & accessibility, ancillary attributes, new area, and unspoiled diving destination were determined as the pull motivations. Moreover, cluster analysis revealed four groups who had various motivations to participate scuba diving, namely Enthusiastic Positivists, Youthful Hedonists, Amateur Explorers, and Single Regulars. Findings of the research were discussed along with their theoretical and managerial implications.

摘要

潜水在世界各地的度假胜地越来越受欢迎, 为游客提供了更积极的度假体验。本研究以推拉理论为基础, 探讨了假日游客的潜水动机。尽管假日游客的潜水动机对潜水活动的实践、东道主海洋目的地和更广泛的海洋素养具有重要意义, 但在旅游文献中这是一个研究不足的议题。本研究从安塔利亚-土耳其的克姆参加潜水的度假游客广泛地采集了数据。研究发现, 探索和刺激、个人发展、社交和挑战被确定为推动动机, 而旅游和潜水产品、安全和可达性、辅助设施、新型潜水区域和未受污染的潜水目的地被确定为拉动动机。此外, 聚类分析显示, 有四组人有不同的动机参与潜水, 即狂热的积极分子、年轻的享乐主义者、业余探险者和个别的常客。最后本文讨论了研究结果及其理论和管理意义。

Keywords:

• Holiday tourists
• scuba diving
• push and pull motivations
• market segmentation
• Kemer
• Antalya

关键词:

• 假日游客
• 潜水
• 推拉动机
• 市场细分
• 克姆,安塔利亚

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tahir Albayrak

Tahir Albayrak completed his PhD at Akdeniz University, Business Management Programme in 2008. He has several published international conference papers and refereed articles about destination marketing, tourist behaviour, and service quality at the marketing and tourism journals. He works as an associate professor at the Department of Tourism Management, at Akdeniz University, Tourism Faculty.

Meltem Caber

Meltem Caber works as an associate professor at the Department of Tourism Guidance at Akdeniz University, Tourism Faculty. Some of her research interests are tourist behaviour and tourism marketing. She has several published international conference papers and refereed articles about tourism management.

Carl Cater

Carl Cater is an associate professor in the School of Management at Swansea University, at the Department of Business Management (Marketing). His research centres on the experiential turn in tourism and the subsequent growth of special interest sectors, particularly adventure tourism and ecotourism.