Segmenting Taiwanese Travelers on Cruises in North America: Comparing the Involvement and Cluster Approach

The cruise industry is the fastest growing category within the leisure market. Asia is a large market and a potential growth area for the cruise industry. Within Asia, the Taiwanese cruise market has grown substantially since 1997. The involvement construct is an important psychographic facet of consumer behavior. Involvement is defined as a person's perceived relevance of the object based on inherent needs, values, and interests. Past research has linked the level of involvement to travel motivation for leisure choices, including travel. Cluster analysis is a classic market segmentation approach that has been extensively used in the tourism literature. The cluster approach has been used to understand travel motivations, satisfaction, dining choices, etc. However, no studies have presented a comparison of the two methods. There are only a few research studies on cruise vacations. Furthermore, no studies have identified the involvement levels of Taiwanese cruisers and segmented the Taiwanese cruise market to offer valuable marketing insights. This study aims at filling these gaps in the literature. Data were collected from 352 Taiwanese cruisers. The questionnaire was developed in English and translated into Chinese. This study found only two distinct categories of high and medium involvement cruisers. The cluster segmentation approach resulted in two distinct clusters, each with its own characteristics. Analysis showed that cluster segmentation provided a more nuanced definition of the segments in the context of Taiwanese cruisers.