A Study on Market Segmentation According to Wellness Tourism Motivation and Differences in Behavior between the Groups—Focusing on Satisfaction, Behavioral Intention, and Flow

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to derive the visit motivations of wellness tourists and to derive strategies for the wellness tourism market through market segmentation based on visit motivations. First, this study derived seven motivators through a literature review with a discussion of experts: relaxation/healing/escape from everyday life, health improvement, novelty, luxury and prestige, self-examination/education, nature-friendly motivation, and social relations improvement. Then, in order to derive differentiated characteristics by motivation according to market segmentation, a difference analysis was conducted with the satisfaction, behavioral intention, and flow of wellness tourism participants. Data collection was carried out with the users of Chungcheongbuk-do wellness tourism products, and was supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (South Korea) from 2 September to 4 December 2021. Through the analysis in this study, it was first found that the wellness tourism motivations of wellness tourists were divided into a total of six factors (relaxation/healing/health improvement, novelty, luxury and prestige, self-examination/education, nature-friendly motivations, and social relation improvement). Then, as for market segmentation according to the visit motivations of wellness tourists, it was found that the markets were divided into “novelty-seeking type, comprehensive motivation-seeking type, neutral wellness-seeking type, and exploratory wellness-seeking type.” Finally, it was determined that there were significant differences in satisfaction, behavioral intention, and flow among those types of wellness tourist groups, and the average levels of satisfaction, behavioral intention, and flow were commonly lower in the neutral wellness-seeking type than in the comprehensive motivation-seeking type and the exploratory wellness-seeking type. This study derived the necessity to conceive differentiated strategies for the wellness tourism motivation group with the development of a wellness tourism motivation scale and a market segmentation study, and provided practical implications according to the characteristics of individual groups.