Segmenting Ecotourism Village Visitors by Motivation

The purpose of this study was to examine the motives of tourists who visited ecotourism villages in Korea. A self-administered survey was obtained from 254 visitors in six ecotourism villages. As for the motivations of ecotourism village visitors, four factors (`relaxation`, `adventure`, `experience natural` and `family togetherness`) were extracted. Three distinct segments were identified based on the motivation : multipurpose seekers (45.3%), relaxation seekers (34.6%), family togetherness seekers (20.1%). Socio-demographic characteristics and tourism behaviors of each segmentation were also analyzed. The findings should be of interest to practitioners of ecotourism village marketing and operation.