Tourism Mapping Based on Sub Destination and Special Events

Abstract

This study aims to provide an empirical examination of tourist’s general incentives for participating in special events and their motives in the sub destinations they choose. In order to accomplish the objectives of the study, a questionnaire was used to obtain data from travelers in Spetses, a well-known islanding sub-destination of Athens. The tourist behavior of the proposed relationships is tested using ANOVA–MANOVA and cluster analysis. The findings indicate that tourists have various motives for visiting a sub-destination and those motives are not only related to entertainment aspects of the visit, but also akin to the participation to a special event and driven by social motives and needs. It seems that special events play a significant role in distinguishing tourists based on their motives and should be used as a segmentation criterion in sub-destinations. Once identified, these segments are able to be targeted by particular tailored marketing strategies.