A Market Segmentation Study Based on Wellness Attributes

Health and wellness are two buzzwords making their presence known in a variety of industries including hospitality, tourism, food and beverage and, leisure among others. As the obesity epidemic continues to be at the forefront of people's minds, health and wellness are topics that cannot be overlooked by the tourism and leisure industries. Due to the popularity of American's wanting to live more healthy and active lifestyles the average tourism consumer has changed considerably. The values of American tourists have altered from those of the past and now the tourism industry finds itself attempting to meet the needs and wants of this large and emerging health and wellness market.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are different groups (market segments) of travelers based on their self proclaimed travel behavior. Using a factor-cluster market segmentation approach, this study attempted to delineate the segments of the U.S. traveling public. Based on four healthy living attitudes factors, cluster analysis was employed to identify similar respondents based on their attitudes towards healthy living. The findings show that there are two distinct groups: High Health Conscious and Low Health Conscious. Gender was shown to be statistically significant between the two groups. The study concludes with marketing implications of the study results, limitations, and suggestions for future research.