Coastal regenerative destination marketing: Tourist segmentation and insights from the resource-based view and relational values

Regenerative tourism has emerged as a promising pathway for coastal destinations seeking to move beyond impact mitigation toward ecological renewal and community wellbeing. However, limited empirical research has examined how tourists perceive regenerative coastal resources, how these perceptions vary across segments, and how they translate into relational values toward ecosystems and host communities. Addressing this gap, this study integrates the resource-based view with relational values to investigate regenerative destination marketing in a coastal context. Using Krabi, Thailand, as the empirical setting, the study applies a multimethod design combining exploratory factor analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling, two-step cluster analysis, and importance–performance map analysis. The findings identify four RBV-based resource dimensions, namely, valuable, rare, inimitable, and organized resources. It also reveals three distinct tourist segments: resource appreciators, uniqueness seekers, and resource protectors. The results further show that tourists’ evaluations of coastal resources shape regenerative attitudes, which in turn strengthen destination relational values, particularly human–nature and human–community connections. The study makes an original contribution by extending RBV beyond strategic assets to include relational pathways through which coastal resources become meaningful to tourists. It also provides segment-specific insights for regenerative destination marketing by identifying priority areas where destination managers can improve resource performance, deepen tourist attachment, and foster long-term ecological and community resilience.