Charilaos Kouthouris

Segmenting Winter Sport Tourists by Motivation: The Case of Recreational Skiers

This study examined motivation, involvement, and loyalty among recreational skiers to develop a typology of user segments. Recreational skiers (N = 268) from a major ski resort in north Greece participated in the study. Motivation was measured with an adjusted version of the Recreational Experience Preference (REP) scale (Manfredo, Driver, & Tarrant, 1996), involvement was measured with the three dimensional model (attraction, centrality, and self-expression, Kyle et al., 2004), and loyalty was measured with an intention scale. A principal component analysis of the motivation scale revealed seven dimensions: escape, social recognition, enjoying nature, excitement/risk, socialization, skill development and achievement. A cluster analysis was used to categorize these dimensions into four segments labelled: Novice, Multiple-interest, Naturalist, and Enthusiast. Analysis of variance revealed differences among the four groups in both the loyalty and the three involvement sub-scales. As a general trend the fourth segment (enthusiast) had statistically higher scores than all other groups. The marketing implications of the results are discussed.

Examining the Relationships Between Leisure Constraints, Involvement and Attitudinal Loyalty among Greek Recreational Skiers

Abstract This study aimed at identifying the main constraints that limit recreational skiers’ participation in skiing activities, and examined the relationships among leisure constraints, skiing involvement and skiing loyalty. The study used a theoretical framework of leisure constraints, and data were collected from one hundred and ninety (n=190) Greek recreational skiers. An exploratory factor analysis of the constraints scale used revealed the presence of five constraint dimensions: “skiing experience”, “psychological constraints”, “time”, “finance/accessibility” and “lack of partners”. The analysis indicated that constraints significantly influenced both involvement and loyalty. In addition, the involvement facets of centrality and attraction significantly influenced skiing loyalty. These results have theoretical implications in terms of the role of leisure constraints on predicting attitudinal aspects of participation, and practical implications for resort managers.

The use of negotiation strategies among recreational participants with different involvement levels: the case of recreational swimmers

This paper is aimed to segment recreational swimmers according to their involvement level, profile the involvement groups according to demographic variables, and further test the role of negotiation strategies in the development of swimming involvement. Two hundred and sixty (N = 260) recreational swimmers participated in the study and completed Kyle et al.s three-facet involvement scale and Alexandris et al.’s five-dimension leisure negotiation scale. The results of cluster analysis revealed three distinct involvement groups: high, medium and low involved recreational swimmers. The high involved group consisted mainly of females, middle-aged and married individuals; the medium involved group did not have a clear demographic profile, while the low involved group consisted mainly of males and young individuals. The three involvement groups had statistical significant scores in all the five negotiation strategy dimensions, with the high involved individuals having the highest scores and the low involved individuals having the lowest ones. These results provide empirical support for the negotiation proposition, which was developed by Jackson, Crawford, and Godbey. They further contribute to the existing leisure literature by showing how demographic segmentation can be used in combination with psychographic variables in order to profile groups of participants.

The future of sustainable tourism development for the Greek enterprises that provide sport tourism

‘Green tourism’ is defined as tourism that enhances local cultural elements, which are operating under the control of local communities, providing employment and maintaining economic benefits within the local communities. In fact, many times the above definition is poorly utilized, since there are times when the economic benefits dim from local communities. Tourism industry uses the term as a message to tourists on energy saving, avoiding coastal pollution and so on. Sometimes, the same tourist businesses are accused of using the term or labelling ‘green’ primarily for marketing purposes. Although it is a fact that tourism industry is starting to respond to the changing values of tourists regarding environmental issues, however, the purpose of this research is to infer if there is a future for sustainable tourism development concerning the enterprises that provide sport tourism in Greece.