SEGMENTING AND PROFILING OF KOREAN YOUTH TRAVEL MARKET

The study objectives were to determine whether Korean youth travelers could be grouped together based on similarities and differences in perceived destination attractiveness of destination, and whether statistically significant differences existed between the resulting segments in terms of tourists' perceptual attraction preferences. For the purpose of segmentation, 21 tourist attracting attributes were used. Demographic differences between the clusters were examined. According to the findings of this study, Korean youth travelers perceived differently between different segments. This study result what the younger generation market is a distinctive segment of the overall Korean outbound tourism market. it is not a homogeneous group in terms of diverse needs and desires about overseas travel experiences. Thus it is suggested that youth tourism policy should be reinforced its position in terms of where it is already positive, and any negative drawbacks which inhibit tourism development should be corrected and newly developed, and the difference of segment profiles should be considered in development strategies and marketing implications.