It is well known fact that the concept of service, as well as the economy of services, has passed through several evolutionary stages. It initially was an exclusive phenomenon and then became a mass one, with it now going toward becoming a highly personalized one. This change also relates to the tourist industry with the aim of satisfying all the different types of needs and demands that characterize this sector. After several phases of evolutions and changes – from exclusive phenomenon to a phase of industrialization one, related to the search of standardization - a new transformation is currently underway: the development of the “third generation” tourist demand, based more on a much personalized and “personal care” relationship. On the basis of this assumptions, segmentation carried out by using traditional approaches – using socio-economical variables or tourists’ lifestyle – seems not to be valid anymore. A new variables seems to fit better this new third generation of tourists, that is the past experience; according to what said above, this study focus on the segmentation criteria trying to identify exactly which of the aspects of the “experience” could be used in creating a new segmentation model. By defining the variable “experience” into several observable elements, the customer satisfaction investigation methodologies will also be more in line with the characteristics of the tourist industry.
Can Experience Management help to understand customers better? A proposal for segmentation models
SIRIANNI, Carlo Alessandro
2007-01-01
Abstract
It is well known fact that the concept of service, as well as the economy of services, has passed through several evolutionary stages. It initially was an exclusive phenomenon and then became a mass one, with it now going toward becoming a highly personalized one. This change also relates to the tourist industry with the aim of satisfying all the different types of needs and demands that characterize this sector. After several phases of evolutions and changes – from exclusive phenomenon to a phase of industrialization one, related to the search of standardization - a new transformation is currently underway: the development of the “third generation” tourist demand, based more on a much personalized and “personal care” relationship. On the basis of this assumptions, segmentation carried out by using traditional approaches – using socio-economical variables or tourists’ lifestyle – seems not to be valid anymore. A new variables seems to fit better this new third generation of tourists, that is the past experience; according to what said above, this study focus on the segmentation criteria trying to identify exactly which of the aspects of the “experience” could be used in creating a new segmentation model. By defining the variable “experience” into several observable elements, the customer satisfaction investigation methodologies will also be more in line with the characteristics of the tourist industry.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
