Segmenting visitors to the Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa based on education level

Abstract

The aim of this research is to profile visitors to one of South Africa’s most well-known and popular national parks, the Addo Elephant National Park (AENP) using an alternative segmentation approach, that of the visitors’ level of education. When dealing with ecotourism and nature-based products, such as national parks, the level of education is a particularly useful basis for segmentation, as nature tourists are well-educated. A visitor survey was conducted at the AENP in 2010 and a total of 131 questionnaires were administered among all overnight visitors. Visitors were divided into four groups based on the level of their education: Matric, Diploma, Degree, Post-graduate and Professional. Two-way frequency tables and Chi-square tests as well as ANOVAs and Tukey’s multiple comparisons were used to identify the differences between the segments based on socio-demographics, behavioural characteristics and travel motivations. The results revealed that visitors to the AENP are a homogeneous market.