Market segmentation and eliciting tourists’ motives for visiting the Czech Republic

The aim of this article. The paper describes a research project focused on motivations to travel by potential and existing foreign visitors that was conducted in order to envisage the creation of a positive image and select the appropriate distribution and marketing promotional mix for the various segments of the Czech tourism market. The paper builds on research that has been already completed and yielded interestig results and further extends the researched themes and selected segments. The paper reports our current findings in the field of motivation of potential visitors in the Czech Republic. We show that segmentation of motives for travelling can be further used in academic research and in the activities of national tourism organizations. Moreover, it is applicable in decision-making process that involves the mix and the offer of tourism destination products.The results of the analysis. Based on the results of the research we can conclude that both the order as well as the intensity of the motives for travel, in the selected segments of the examined countries, to the Czech Republic are different for different segments of tourism.When it comes to motivation based on the selected countries, among push motives dominate in most countries the motives associated with entertainment except for the British, for which climate change and gaining experiences are more important than gaining knowledge of different cultures and ways of life in other countries. However, they are attracted by experiencing something new, unknown and develop personal interests, which is also important for Slovaks, Brazilians, Americans and Ukrainians. Experiences are important for Slovaks, Americans, Ukrainians, Spaniards, Italians, and Germans. Escape from the stress and routine is sought by Slovaks, the British, Italians, the French, the Spanish, and Russians and to a lesser extent by Ukrainians. Excitement from travelling is pursued most by Brazilians, Americans, Italians and the French. In European nations among ten most important motives also occurs exploring spots of natural beauty, however this does not apply for the British. As for pull motives in the most countries, the most important one is to taste Czech specialties. That is except for Slovaks, Frenchmen, and Ukrainians where this motive is one of the top three, usually at the second or the third place. Another important motive is visiting historical sites. Sacred sights are a strong motive for Italians, Frenchmen, Spaniards and Ukrainians. Thetheme enjoys and fun is important for eight countries with the exception of the Germans and Slovaks for who it is a weaker one. Advantageous and affordable prices and services are among the dominant themes for the French, the British, Germans, Italians and Spaniards. For all segments are also important motives associated with learning about folklore and manufacturing of Czech products and visiting cultural events. The Czech Republic as a fashionable destination is an important motive for the Russians and the British, but with a weaker intensity. For all segments excluding the British is a significant motive discovering spots of natural beauty. The British prefer motives associated with places of origin of a celebrity or personality and the influence of friends who have already visited the Czech Republic. The item friends also affects the Slovaks. Purchases at competitive prices are important for the Russians, Germans, the British and the French. The issue of health and wellness is important for Germans, Russians and Ukrainians.When classifying the inbound segment by age one will find that push motives gaining knowledge of different cultures and ways of life in other countries rank at the top (the first two places) in all age segments (i.e. 15-24, 25-39, 40-54 and 55+). Values of motives associated with learning and gaining knowledge decline with increasing age. The same is true for gaining experiences. In the segments 15-24 and 25-39 gaining experiences play a more important role than in older segments. The segment 55+ even places this motive at the 9th place. The theme escape from stress and routine is important for productive segments (25-39 and 40-54) where also plays an important role the motive of rest and relaxation. The issue of discovering spots of natural beauty is strongest in the segment 55+. By contrast, in the youngest segment it does not occur among the 10 most important motives at all. In this segment, however, a major theme is development of personal interests, the value of which decreases with increasing age. Feeling of freedom is an important motive for younger segments, up to age of 39. A motive associated with the development of personal skills and abilities is not among the most important motives for the 55+ segment. On the contrary, its climate change, which is important for this segment. Also, consolidation of family and friendly relations via travelling is important for the 55+ segment. Ranking of pull motives in all segments is identical only in terms of the top place (taste Czech specialties). Intensity values of the first motive, however, decline with increasing age. In other places the order is different. For segments 15-24 and 25-39 the major themes are visiting historical sites and experiencing entertainment; in other segments the theme entertainment is replaced by discovering spots of natural beauties, the intensity of which goes up with increasing age. For older segments an important motive is also experiencing UNESCO heritage, where intensity increases with increasing age. Cultural events are significant for all segments and belong among top five in terms of significance. Thetheme learning about the way of life in the Czech Republic is strongest in the segment 15-24 and for other segments is of less importance. The same can be claimed in terms of experiencing Czech folklore theme, the intensity of which is the lowest in the segment 55+. Reasonable prices for services are not motivating for productive segment of 40-54, which prefers bargaining. The issue of health and wellness belongs among ten most important motives only in segment 55+.Based on the survey results it can be stated that in case of entities monitored according to the reoccurrence of visit, the order of push motives is the same for both segments at Top 6, but with a varying intensity. For respondents who have not visited the Czech Republic, there is a higher intensity in the motives gaining knowledge of other cultures and ways of life in other countries, experiencing something unknown, gaining experiences, developing personal interests, skills and abilities. For respondents who visited the Czech Republic, major themes are escape from stress and routine, rest and relaxation, exploring spots of natural beauty and consolidate relationships with family and friends. The last theme does not appear among the ten most important for respondents who have not been in the Czech Republic. For this segment major themes are feeling of freedom and excitement.In the order of the first five places, pull motives are the same in both segments, but in a different order and with varying intensity. For respondents who have not visited the Czech Republic, the first motive is taste Czech specialties, and that with greater intensity than in the second segment. Stronger motives are also fun, learning about the way of life in the Czech Republic and manufacturing of Czech products, gaining knowledge of Czech folklore and the motive advantageous and affordable prices of services. For respondents who have already visited the Czech Republic, stronger motives are visiting historical sites, exploring UNESCO heritage and visiting cultural events. The intensity of exploring spots of natural beauty of the Czech Republic is balanced for both segments.Conclusions and directions of further researches. The results of the conducted analysis provide an impetus for a further development of research opportunities in inbound tourism as well as motives of the participants, both in the academic sector and the field of research as well as in practice while creating products and communications mix of tourism organizations in regions of the Czech Republic. The area could be developed further by performing research of motives for traveling at a ten-degree scale to show a larger variance of values. Research could be further enhanced by ongoing monitoring of the main characteristics of consumer behaviour in tourism in selected segments in major source countries and the Czech Republic by looking at the different stages of consumer behaviour. Research of themes could also focus on new forms of tourism: food tourism, medical tourism, dark tourism, volunteer tourism, wedding tourism, film tourism, as well as traditional forms such as cultural, exploring, active, passive or sport tourism.