Segmentation of visitor perceptions and attitudes as a tool for informing management and targeted communication strategies in Coastal and Marine Protected Areas

Communication is a strategic management lever for promoting user knowledge, understanding, acceptance, support, and conservation-related pro-environmental behavior within Coastal and Marine Protected Areas (CMPAs). But while user segmentation is considered a traditional operational tool for targeting user audiences effectively within terrestrial protected areas, research also highlights a low level of concrete application to CMPAs. Based on Public Perceptions Research literature, this study explores a panel of eight theoretical variables that reflect the multidimensional character of recreationists’ perceptions of CMPAs and how the related results could inform appropriate CMPA communication strategies. Onsite face-to-face interviews with 1,000 users were conducted for seven recreational activities (hiking, surfing, scuba-diving, boating, sailing, kite-surfing, kayaking) across a total of ten local sites. Results revealed that despite sharing a common motivation for being in contact with nature, recreationists expressed diverse perceptions and attitudes toward CMPAs and management, which can be divided into five segments: “CMPA-Not-convinced” (31.3% of all recreationists), “CMPA-Local Conservator” (11.5%), “CMPA-Not-Responsible” (12.7%), “CMPA-Passers-by” (20.1%) and “CMPA-Convinced” (24.4%). Findings show the value of visitor segmentation as an operational tool to inform CMPA management and communication strategies in a context of low knowledge about visitor audiences.