Segmenting the rural tourist market by sustainable travel behaviour: Insights from village visitors in Portugal

Rural tourism may contribute to sustainable destination development but the realisation of this potential depends largely on the type and behaviour of the tourists attracted. Therefore, market knowledge, segmentation studies and management of demand, in accordance with sustainability-yielding territorial development goals, are needed. The present study segments the market of visitors of Portuguese villages using scales reporting environmentally, culturally, socially and economically sustainable travel behaviour. Data was collected through a one-year, on-site survey of 786 village visitors. Responses on sustainability-reflecting items were used in a hierarchical cluster analysis resulting in a three-cluster solution with diverse sustainability-impacting behaviours. One segment reveals higher concern with environmental and cultural heritage, another presents the overall most sustainable behaviours, greatly contributing to sociocultural and economic development, while a third group reports globally less sustainable behaviours. The three clusters also differ on socio-demographics, information sources used, travel behaviour, place attachment, satisfaction and destination loyalty. Interestingly, those showing more sustainable behaviour present higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty. This market knowledge permits an evaluation, selection and targeting of tourist segments yielding more sustainable destination development.