Sustainable Transport, Market Segmentation and Tourism: The Looe Valley Branch Line Railway, Cornwall, UK

Abstract

This paper uses cluster analysis, a form of a posteriori market segmentation, to understand the attitudes of tourists and the local community towards using the Looe Valley Branch Railway Line. The research revealed five segments of users distinguished by their attitudes towards using the train. Following this, the paper discusses the implications of the survey findings for attracting more people to use the Looe Valley Line. It sets its findings in the context of the sustainable tourism aims of reducing transport congestion and emissions, as well as recent work on assessing the scope for sustainable transport development in the leisure and tourism markets.