Segmenting the Chinese Tourist in Long-Haul Travel toward Coastal and Marine Destinations: A Case of Ecuador

ABSTRACT The present study tries to understand tourist satisfaction by conducting an empirical study in the province of Santa Elena, located on the central coast of Ecuador. The study sets the following objectives in coastal and marine tourism related to the demand of Chinese tourists: (i) Identify the factors related to the satisfaction of the Chinese tourist demand; (ii) Establish the chinese tourist segments based on the satisfaction and sociodemographic characteristics of the demand; and (iii) Identify the relationship between segments of Chinese tourist demand and return visit intentions, recommendation, and speaking positive things about the destination. The study was carried out on Chinese tourists who had visited the central coast of Ecuador. It was conducted on a sample of 377 individuals. For data analysis, exploratory factor analysis and a cluster analysis were performed. This work identified three underlying dimensions that interpret the satisfaction of the Chinese tourist in marine and coastal environments: General attributes satisfaction, Nature Environmental satisfaction and Service satisfaction. A segmentation procedure based on destination dimensions produced three clusters: ´Higher-satisfied´, ´Low-satisfied´ and ´Satisfied´. The conclusions and implications of the study suggest improvements in terms of promotion and commercialization of the different attributes of the tourist destination.