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Marketing and Territorial Factors: An Integrated Study of the Accommodation Choice in the Island of La Palma

The literature has highlighted the relevance of segmenting the tourism market as a start point for developing the right tourism policy recommendations. The present study examines the rural tourism market on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands) and its relationship with territorial factors. Specifically, it attempts to establish the role played in tourists’ accommodation location choice by territorial and related factors (for instance, the area of the island, proximity to the beach, hours of sunshine, etc.) compared to other factors. A sample of 316 tourists who holidayed in rural tourism accommodation in La Palma during the period from July to September in 2007 was selected for this purpose. The methodology consisted of a preliminary analysis of the associations between the variables and their modalities, followed by a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The results of the study allow to conclude that the weight of territorial variables in the choice of destination and accommodation location can vary substantially depending on the market segment considered.


Introduction
Rural tourism has been promoted significantly as part of tourism policy on account of its contribution to the diversification of productive activities and to socioeconomic development in rural environments (Bote Gómez, 1988;Butler & Hall, 1998;Fleischer & Felsenstein, 2000;Hall & Jenkins, 1998;Sharpley, 2002). Moreover, tourism is accorded a central role in rural development policy in areas facing economic restructuring processes and in the regeneration of depressed areas (Cavaco, 1995;Hall & Jenkins, 1998;Nylander & Hall, 2005).
Three main elements account for this central importance of rural tourism: (a) its role as a local factor influencing wealth redistribution, (b) its capacity to stimulate growth at micro-territorial level, and (c) its capacity to fix the population (Fernández Hernández, 2008;Pulido Fernández, 2008).
The present work analyses the rural tourism market on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands) and its relationship with territorial variables and factors. Specifically, it sets out to determine the role played in the choice of tourist accommodation location by territorial and related factors-area of the island, proximity to the beach, hours of sunshine, and etc.-compared to other factors, including the activities engaged in by the Background Broadly speaking, market segmentation aims to divide participants in the tourism market into subgroups, each with specific attributes and demanding different service packages. The objective is to identify groups of subjects that can be differentiated according to different needs, characteristics, or behaviour (Kotler, 1980). Market segmentation studies have tended to use four different types of variables to segment markets: geographical; demographic and socioeconomic; psychographic; and behavioural segmentation (Kaynak & Kucukemiroglu, 1993).
According to Johns and Gyimóthy (2002), the most effective predictor of tourist behaviour is the behaviour itself, which is studied in behavioural segmentation. Logically, observed conduct cannot be evaluated as in a posterior study; although once it is catalogued and a certain degree of stability is assumed to be present, it can be considered as a basis for predicting the behaviour of future visitors.
Studies of market segmentation in rural tourism are recent (Albaladejo Pina & Díaz Delfa, 2005;Frochot, 2005;Kastenholz, Davis, & Paul, 1999) and hence some uncertainties exist as regards the effectiveness of promotions aimed at rural tourists or indeed whether segmentation strategies are appropriate to the specific characteristics of the sector. Although rural tourism market studies commonly treat rural tourism as a single homogeneous segment, this form of tourism is practised by individuals whose different characteristics, needs, and interests situate them in diverse groups (Lane, 1994;Roberts & Hall, 2001, J. Sharpley & R. Sharpley, 1997. Among the behavioural aspects that differentiate tourists are the activities in which they engage while on holiday. In addition to rural, agricultural, and craft activities, the extensive set of activities considered in the ACCOMMODATION CHOICE IN THE ISLAND OF LA PALMA 781 conceptualisation of rural tourism includes a wide range associated with sports, outdoor leisure, and recreational activities, as well as those of an interpretative, cultural, and educational nature, among others (Yagüe Perales, 2002). The activities of rural tourists during their stay can therefore be used as a market segmentation criterion which contributes to innovation and improved competitiveness.
The present article incorporates the role of territorial factors and variables into the analysis of rural tourism market segmentation. This incorporation represents an innovation with respect to previous rural tourism market segmentation studies.

Objectives and Hypotheses
The objectives set for the present work are as follows: (1) To determine the relationship between territorial characteristics and the tourism accommodation offer in rural areas; (2) Within the overall group of territorial characteristics, to evaluate the following: climate, specifically in terms of hours of sunshine and light; distance to beaches and/or being close to nature or in a secluded location away from urban centres; (3) To ascertain the weight which the aforementioned territorial characteristics should have in new rural tourism products, in accordance with the expectations of La Palma's existing tourist markets, namely, Germany, the Netherlands, mainland Spain, and the Canary Islands; (4) To draw up an action proposal for each of the above market segments. The hypotheses posited are as follows: H1: The variables "staying in a secluded area", "hours of sunshine and light", "being near a beach", and "being close to nature" are a motivational component in the choice of rural accommodation location.
H2: The market segment comprising German and Dutch tourists opts in particular for rural tourism offering longer hours of sunshine and light.
H3: The domestic segment (mainland Spaniards and Canarians) primarily opts for rural tourism in secluded areas.
H4: In terms of the activities undertaken, hiking allows to segment the island's rural tourism market. H5: The choice of a particular part of the island for accommodation allows the rural tourism market to be segmented by nationalities, with the German/Dutch segment preferring the west of the island and domestic tourists (mainland Spain and Canaries) choosing other parts.

Methodology Variables
The study conducted is based on information gathered using a survey of a sample of 316 tourists who chose the island of La Palma (Canary Islands) for a holiday and stayed in rural accommodation establishments during the months of July to September 2007.
The variables considered for analysis were the activities undertaken, the factors influencing the choice of accommodation (including territorial factors), and the country of origin of the tourists.

Association Analysis
As a first step, an analysis was performed of the associations the studied variables and nationality. Those not presenting association were eliminated in order to reduce the amount of information.

Multiple Correspondence Analysis
A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was then used to condense the original variables or modalities into a smaller number of "dimensions" and thus be able to carry out an analysis using less information. Bearing in mind the objectives established for the work, it was considered more appropriate to use in the MCA only the variables for which an association with nationality was found to exist. A Burt matrix (symmetric) comprising 39 modalities based on the aforementioned variables was used for the analysis.

Association Analysis
The first step was to test for possible associations between the variables and nationality. An association was found to exist for the majority of the variables. In order to simplify the analysis, authors eliminated the variables for which no association with nationality was found, even if one did exist among these and other variables. Table 1 shows the variables which were eliminated and the association among them.  Table 2 shows the association that exists between the variables and nationality The main results of the associations can be summarised as follows:  The percentage of Germans who practised "swimming" as a sports activity is much lower than for the other nationalities;  More than 70% of respondents across all nationalities practised hiking, except Canarians (below 65%);  The percentage of tourists who went diving is low, although the figure is noticeably higher among mainland Spaniards than the rest;  In terms of leisure and cultural activities, the behaviour of Germans presents several variations compared to the other nationalities, with markedly lower percentages in the following: visits to cultural parts, visits to monuments, sporting activities, and discovering special spots;  The behaviour of mainland Spaniards differs from that of the others, with noticeably higher percentages in the following: "visits to monuments" and "take a dip".  With respect to the part of La Palma preferred by rural tourists for accommodation, clear differences can be seen according to nationality. Spaniards (both from the mainland and the Canaries) do not express a preference for a particular area, whereas the rest (German, Dutch, and others) manifest a clear preference for the west of the island. Regarding other factors that can be associated with the part of the island chosen by rural ACCOMMODATION CHOICE IN THE ISLAND OF LA PALMA   783 tourists for their accommodation, authors can identify "hours of sunshine and light", "being near the beach", and "being close to nature".

Analysis of Variables Presenting Association
The descriptive analysis will begin by looking at the variables which present an association with nationality.
Nationality. The nationality accounting for the highest percentage of tourists is Spanish, with 48.7% of those surveyed, followed by German (38.14%), and some way behind, Dutch (9.62%).
For the purposes of answering the hypotheses, Spanish nationality has been broken down into mainland Spain (31.73%) and the Canary Islands (16.99%) ( Table 3). Sports activities. In terms of sports activities, only 43% of the tourists surveyed said that they had practised swimming and a mere 7.69% said that they had gone diving. Conversely, 84.29% of respondents stated that they had hiked (Table 4). Leisure and cultural activities. Tourists of 53.53% visited cultural parks, 64.1% visited monuments, and 41.99% engaged in a sports activity. Higher figures were obtained for taking a dip (89.74%), discovering flora and fauna (73.08%), discovering special spots (75%), and stargazing (80.13%) ( Table 5). Factors in destination accommodation choice. The factors influencing choice with the lowest percentages of tourists are "random" (16.35%), "well communicated" (15.71%), and "near beach" (5.77%). The percentages in the remaining cases ("sunshine and light", "secluded area", and "close to nature") are above 20% (Table 6). Preferred part of the island. As it can be seen in Table 7, Spanish holidaymakers (mainland and Canaries) are distributed in similar percentages in the North, North-East, and East, whereas the other tourists (German and Dutch) primarily choose the West of the island (percentages above 80%).  Table 8 and 9 give the results of the analysis of the variables associated with the area or zone of the island chosen by the tourists for their accommodation.
In all the modalities considered, the row percentages are lower in the N + N + NE and higher in the West. However, a column analysis throws up differences within each zone between those who do not participate in the corresponding modality and those who do. For instance, the percentage of respondents who did not engage in a sports activity is higher among tourists staying in the west of the island than those in the N + N + NE.   In the other three modalities: "near beach", "hours of sunshine and light", and "near nature", the "No" percentages are much higher than that for "Yes" in both the N + NE + E and the West.

MCA
As noted earlier, the analysis carried out was based on a symmetric Burt matrix (Annex 1) comprising 39 modalities relating to the above variables. The main results using the first 22 dimensions are given in Table 10. It should be noted, to begin with, that in MCA, the inertia or variance accounted for by each dimension or new variable tends to be very small, given the large number of variables or modalities included. In this case, the fact that the first 15 dimensions account for no less than 94.57% of the original information can be considered as a success.
The Chi-square test of independence performed by the programme produces unequivocal results: With a significance level of 1%, there is association between the variables considered and their modalities, given that the area to the right of the decision function (8,562.6211) is equal to 0.

Analysis of Modalities
To simplify matters, only the first three dimensions, which account for 50.56% of the original information, were considered. This percentage may seem low, but it is not in an MCA with a high number of modalities.
The Annex (Table A-1) shows the modalities considered, with the following data:  scores or distances to origin;  contribution of each modality to the formation of each dimension;  contribution of each dimension to the inertia of the points, which reflects the correlation between each dimension or new variable and the corresponding modality;  inertia or weight of each modality. Table 11 below organises and interprets the information given in the previous table. To that end, the positive and negative sides of the three dimensions are indicated, including the modalities which are situated far enough from the origin and, in addition, are sufficiently correlated with one of the axes.  Given below (Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3) are the scatter plots for the dimensions (two at a time): Based on the above tables and figures, the following summary can be provided: (1) Tourists from mainland Spain show on average a greater preference for swimming than other tourists, as well as for sporting activities generally. They are interested also in monuments, cultural parks, and discovering special spots. With respect to the factors having a bearing on their choice of La Palma for a holiday, randomness is present to a higher degree than the case with other tourists. Hence, the decision to holiday in La Palma is, on average, a random one as opposed to a reflection of a desire for sunshine and light, as occurs with Germans. In terms of the part of the island they choose to stay in, no clear preference is found given that they are distributed almost equally between the two areas considered.
(2) Canarian tourists have no clear preference for a particular part of the island to stay and, like their mainland counterparts, are distributed almost equally between the two areas considered. On average, they show little clear interest in hiking, fauna and flora, star-gazing, or discovering special spots. Moreover, randomness plays a large part in their choice of La Palma for a holiday.
(3) Dutch tourists present similar behaviour to those from mainland Spain in that, on average, they tend to prefer swimming by way of sports activity. However, they differ from the latter due to their interest in nature and secluded areas. Like Germans, they have a clear preference for the West of the island.
(4) German tourists tend not to visit for sports activities (swimming, hiking, and etc.), nor are they ACCOMMODATION CHOICE IN THE ISLAND OF LA PALMA   789 interested, on average, in cultural parks, monuments, stars, and fauna/flora. To a greater degree than the rest, they cite as factors influencing their decision to holiday in La Palma being near the beach, sunshine and light, and secluded areas. They express a clear preference for the West of the island.

Conclusions
Bearing in mind the proposed hypotheses, the following conclusions can be drawn: H1 is fulfilled. In other words, the variables "staying in a secluded area", "hours of sunshine and light", "being near a beach", and "being close to nature" are a motivational component in the choice of rural accommodation location.
H2 is fulfilled, albeit partially: The market segment comprising German tourists largely opts for rural tourism associated with more hours of sunshine and light. For Dutch tourists, however, the differentiating territorial variable is the desire for a secluded location.
H3 is not fulfilled: The domestic segment (mainland Spaniards and Canarians) does not opt primarily for rural tourism in secluded areas. The relevant territorial variable in this case, for both mainland Spaniards and Canarians, is proximity to a beach.
With respect to activities undertaken, H4 is not confirmed. In other words, hiking does not allow to segment the island's rural tourism market. The reason for this is that hiking is practised by the vast majority of tourists who stay in rural tourism establishments. However, the results obtained for other activities indicate very noticeable differences between certain segments; for example, mainland Spaniards are differentiated from other tourists by their participation in swimming, diving, and sports generally.
Lastly, H5-"choice of a particular part of the island for accommodation"-is partially confirmed, given that although it enables us to segment the rural tourism market by nationalities, the segment comprising German and Dutch tourists expresses a clear preference for the West, whereas mainland Spanish and Canarian tourists do not manifest a preference for a particular area.
In summary, two main groups of tourists can be differentiated in the island's rural tourism market. (1) Group one comprises Spaniards (mainland and Canaries), who are more interested in the type of activity to be undertaken in the destination than those in territorial factors associated with the choice of a specific accommodation location.
(2) Group two comprises German and Dutch tourists, who are more interested in the territorial factors than those in the activities to be undertaken and express a clear preference for the west of the island.
The study carried out allows to conclude that the weight of territorial variables in the choice of destination and accommodation location can differ considerably depending on the market segment. This conclusion deserves to be taken into consideration due to the specific implications for public policies. Given the understanding in some tourism policy systems that strengthening tourism in depressed areas can prove effective for increasing employment and income, the different potential segments of tourists and their preferences as regards territorial variables need to be considered in order to improve the efficiency of actions implemented. Accordingly, results optimisation will be achieved with some segments but not others.