Open AccessExploring rural tourism experiences through subjective perceptions: A visual Q approach
Author(s) -
Wookhyun An,
Silverio Alarcón
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
spanish journal of agricultural research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2171-9292
pISSN - 1695-971X
DOI - 10.5424/sjar/2020183-16572
Subject(s) - visitor pattern , tourism , rural tourism , perception , subjectivity , market segmentation , order (exchange) , geography , marketing , psychology , sociology , tourism geography , business , computer science , epistemology , philosophy , archaeology , finance , neuroscience , programming language
Aim of study: To explore rural tourists’ views in order to identify different market segmentation in relation to rural tourism experiences.Area of study: Spain.Material and methods: Visual Q, a personal subjectivity research methodology, was applied to present both visual and linguistic aspects so that tourists can more intuitively recognize and answer questions regarding their experiences. Thus, it enables researchers to explore rural tourism experiences from tourists’ subjective perceptions.Main results: There are three primary segments of tourist experiences in rural tourism: ‘Occasion driven visitor’, ‘Active leisure seeker’ and ‘Rural immersion pursuer’ and across all visitors, a common pursuit of ‘A pleasant break’.Research highlights: This paper suggests that rural tourism should offer a range of value propositions, thereby escaping the existing monotonous ones.