Who Are the Domestic Creative Tourists in Slovakia? Implications from a Cluster-Based Demand Analysis

Abstract In recent years, creative tourism has become one of the most dynamically developing tourism products in global tourism. Its role in Slovakia is also important, although it has not been deeply explored. Recognising this research gap, the authors aimed to understand better the place and role of creative tourism in Slovakia. After elaborating the primary results of a demand-based questionnaire survey, the study presents a cluster-based creative tourist characterisation approach where the authors make an attempt to establish the characteristic segments of creative tourism demand in Slovakia from the point of view of domestic consumers. The primary and consumer segmentation results demonstrate that the place and role of creative tourism as a tourism product should be considered important in terms of the tourism supply of the country and also from the point of view of consumer attitudes and habits. However, the development of this product is very limited and further progress is needed to enhance the opportunities surrounding this complex tourism product. The authors believe that cluster-based consumer segmentation provides an opportunity and an approach to realise the most important market segments for creative tourism. Product development efforts can thus be optimised around this new knowledge as well.