Toward a Market Segmentation of the Tourism Trade:

Abstract This article deals with segmentation in the tourist sector. It first demonstrates the relevance of an expenditure-based segmentation of tourists and highlights the difficulties related to assessing consumers' spending. The concept of instability inherent to the criterion variable is dealt with in the second part. By taking into account the instability of consumer behaviour, the results of the segmentation may be considerably enhanced. An empirical assessment is then carried out on a cross-section of tourists. Two segmentation techniques are used: "AID" and a canonical analysis.