بخش های بازار متحرک: گسترش بخش بندی سابقه استفاده تجربی

This study explores the potential of expanding experience use history (EUH) by differentiating paddlers who are apt to travel away from their home to paddle. Using the Recreational and Travel Use History (RTUH) framework, five market segments were developed using data from the 2008 North Carolina Paddle Tourism Study: Enthusiast Travelers, Recreational Travelers, Recreational Hobbyist, Occasionals, and Novices. A new scale was tested to identify what non-paddling experiences paddlers seek on a paddling trip and what issues most concern them on their trip. Four experience factors were identified: Nature, Local Culture, Local Food, and Corporate Chains. Three issue factors were identified: General Safety, Trail Attributes, and Guide/Outfitter concerns. This study expands on the destination management literature by refining the EUH construct and introducing a new scale to measure paddlers’ trip concerns and desired experiences.

Recreation trails are powerful promoters of physical activity in communities and are increasingly being heralded for an array of benefits, ranging from stress reduction and lessened risk of chronic diseases to increased quality-of-life and lower obesity (Active Living Research, 2011). Paddle trails, specifically, not only provide health and recreation benefits to the users (Stein, Denny, & Pennisi, 2003), but also economic and social benefits for communities (Siderelis & Moore, 2006). Understanding the characteristics of individual users by employing market segmentation techniques helps managers optimize benefits for users and can also add value to destinations (Andereck & Caldwell, 1994). Visitor management practices heavily rely on understanding tourist/consumer preferences and experiences in making a destination both more competitive and sustainable. It is for this reason that the current study explores the potential of expanding experience use history (EUH) through investigating paddlers who travel away from their home to paddle. Paddling sports, which include canoeing, kayaking, rowing, and rafting, are an increasingly popular form of recreation for many Americans. Between 2005 and 2009, approximately ‘20 percent of Americans participated in some form of non-motorized boating’ (Cordell, 2012, p. 65). According to Cordell (2012), 22.8 million people canoed in the United States between 2005 and 2008, an increase of 18.2% over the 1999–2001 time period. Projections based on the NSRE suggest the number of adults participating in paddling sports will increase to more than 60 million by 2060 (Bowker & Askew, 2012). According to the NC Outdoor Recreation Plan (2008), 8% of the NC population use personal watercraft as a form of outdoor recreation. Kayaking has growing rapidly (260%+) in the last 10 years. However, there is little information that differentiates paddlers by psychographics, skill level, trip characteristics, party composition, information sources, trip attributes, concerns, or spending on trips. Experience use history (EUH) has been used to segment users of a specific recreation activity into distinct categories and has been extensively tested (Draper et al., 2011, Hammitt et al., 2004, Petrick et al., 2001 and Schreyer et al., 1984). The data in this study could be analyzed using any of several other techniques. For example, cluster analysis as employed by McIntyre and Pigram (1992, p. 14) was used to differentiate subgroups of campers based on their recreation involvement and could be a useful analytical tool if it was employed to better account for the ‘multidimensionality of the concept’ of recreation specialization. Kyle, Graefe, Manning, and Bacon (2004) used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in a similar study examining the experience of hikers. Upon finding limited support for their hypotheses using SEM, the authors encouraged further explorations into recreation involvement that would lead to a better understanding of leisure behavior related to involvement (Kyle et al., 2004). While other techniques – such as cluster analysis or SEM – are useful for performing similar analyses, we believe that the approach taken in this paper is appropriate for two reasons. First, the paper expands on the EUH by demonstrating how paddlers can be segmented not only across experience variables, but also across travel-related variables to better understand the multidimensionality of recreation behavior. Second, expansion of EUH opens the door for further testing of a valuable market segmentation model. Finally, the purpose of this research is not to explore factors related to EUH through the lens of recreation specialization (Bricker and Kerstetter, 2000 and Hammitt et al., 1989) or recreational involvement (Kyle, Kerstetter, & Guadagnolo, 2002), but rather to use EUH to understand behaviors related to travel patterns. While it is useful to know the relationship of recreation specialization and recreation involvement with EUH, there are many subtleties and nuances that exist in people's travel preferences which specialization and involvement may not address. This study explores a new modification of EUH that may prove useful in understanding the underlying dynamics influencing travel choices and behaviors. Additionally, this study examines the differences between five paddler segments within a new construct of recreational and travel use history (RTUH). Natural resource managers, tourism planners and destination marketers, as well as any manager tasked with marketing resources for water based-recreation will find this approach beneficial. Specifically, the research questions examined in this study are the following: 1. Do paddlers with varying Recreation and Tourism Use History (RTUH) differ in socio-demographic characteristics? 2. Do paddlers with varying RTUH differ in their trip characteristics (boat ownership, travel party composition, region of North Carolina, typical distance, lodging preferences, sources, spending)? 3. Do paddlers with varying RTUH differ in their trip experience preferences? 4. Do paddlers with varying RTUH differ in their trip concerns? 5. Do paddlers with varying RTUH differ in their general recreational activity preferences?

The objective of this study was to replicate and modify the initial experience use history (EUH) to study by incorporating the concept of travel, to provide an additional visitor management tool for destination marketers and planners. Draper et al. (2011) introduced the concept of Tourism Use History by measuring travel experiences of residents. This study combined both paddling travel history and recreational skill level to determine if a recreational travel use history (RTUH) model could be an appropriate market segmentation tool. Five paddler market segments were developed – Enthusiast Travelers, Recreational Travelers, Recreational Hobbyists, Occassionals, and Novices – based on the respondent self-reported skill level and number and location of trips (their travel history). Results from the study either support or partially support each of the five research questions and expand on the extant literature. The RTUH market segments that travel most often, Enthusiastic Travelers and Recreational Travelers, were most likely to be male and work in the private sector. They are also more likely to own their own boat and less likely to rent. Lastly, these more advanced paddlers are more likely to use travel books and are more active in general. The Enthusiastic Traveler was more likely to paddle outside of North Carolina and to paddle with friends compared to the other four market segments. Another interesting finding is that the Novice market segment was the most concerned with safety, trail attributes, and guides, while the Enthusiastic Traveler segment was the least concerned. These results parallel Galloway's (2010) findings about levels of specialization among New Zealand kayakers: variables such as self-rated expertise and boat ownership were significantly different between different experience levels. Similarly, Chang and Gibson (2011) found that paddlers with higher involvement levels in the sport exhibited different behaviors and had different characteristics from the other, less involved paddler groups.