Segmenting Luxury Cruise Tourists Based on Their Motivations

People cruise for many different reasons. For cruise line management, understanding what these motives are, and specifically which segments have different motives, is extremely important in engineering appropriate on-board experiences and marketing efforts. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to measure common motives for cruising, in order to develop segments of cruisers based on these motives. A secondary purpose was to look for differences between the profiles of the resultant groups. Results of a cluster analysis of nine primary motives for cruise travel revealed five clusters termed: Relaxers, Socializers, Cultured, Unmotivated, and Highly Motivated. Each of the groups was found to be different demographically, and in their travel behavior, yet no differences were found in how they evaluated their cruise experiences. Implications for both developing cruise programming and marketing are discussed.

Segmenting Luxury Cruise Tourists Based on Their Motivations Academic Article