The purpose of this study is to examine the psychographic (product attributes, motivationopinions, interest, lifestyle, values) characteristics of wine tourists along the Niagara winer,~ute, located in Ontario, Canada, using a multiple case study method. Four winerieswere selected, two wineries each on the East, and West sides of the wine route during theshoulder-season (January, February, 2004). Using a computer generated surveytechnique, tourists were approached to fill out a questionnaire on one of the availablelaptop computers, where a sample ofN=321 was obtained. The study findings revealedthat there are three distinct wine tourist segments in the Niagara region. The segmentswere determined using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a K-means clusteranalysis: Wine Lovers, Wine Interested, and Wine Curious wine tourists. These threesegments displayed significant differences in their, motivation for visiting a winery,lifestyles, values, and wine purchasing behaviour. This study also examined differencesbetween winery locations, on the East and West sides of the Niagara wine route, withrespect to the aforementioned variables. The results indicated that there were significantdifferences between the regions with respect to these variables. The findings suggest thatthese differences present opportunities for more effective marketing strategies based onthe uniqueness of each region. The results of this study provide insight for academia intoa method of psychographic market segmentation of wine tourists and consumerbehaviour. This study also contributes to the literature on wine tourism, and theidentification of psychographic characteristics of wine tourists, an area where littleresearch has taken place.
展开▼
