Segmentation of Foreign Tourists Based on Emotional Perception—The Case of Granada, Spain

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to present the typologies of foreign tourists in the city of Granada, Spain, based on their emotional perception and interest in culture using different fieldwork methods. The main obtained results determine four segments of tourists: cultural, alternative, heritage, and emotional. The results also show that, in addition to cultural reasons, tourists presented other types of attractions that encouraged them to visit the city. Regarding the satisfaction variable, the obtained results show that satisfaction increased when cultural reasons had a strong influence on the tourists’ choice of destination. This research contributes to identifying the characteristics of the different visitor segments, with the aim of designing tourist and cultural products that can more efficiently satisfy their needs. This will have a positive impact on the economic development of the city of Granada with an increase in tourist spending, which will lead to an increase in employment and urban development.

1. Introduction

Throughout the world, there are many places with important cultural richness. Due to their importance, these do not only belong to the territories in which they are located, as they are also part of the world heritage. A list of these places was created using the document drafted at the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage [1]. Initially, this list was created to promote the protection and conservation of both cultural and natural heritage, but it has evolved to become an important and prestigious mark. UNESCO selects as World Heritage Sites (WHS) the places that are considered to be worthy of this recognition. Thus, for a specific place, such an acknowledgement means prestige and a stimulant that promotes a society more attuned to its heritage and its exceptional values [1].

UNESCO is not oblivious to the fact that this recognition is a significant contribution to the income of local communities. It has a direct impact on communities through increasing employment and urban development, making the cultural heritage a more sustainable tourism attraction. The designation of an area as a WHS implies that it will develop as a tourist attraction [2,3] and become a recommended destination [4]; the WHS designation is also a way to brand the location [5]. It must not be disregarded that these destinations are more likely to be visited by tourists from outside of the country when they travel for the first time to a specific region of the country [6], although on occasion, the assessments performed by the tourists have not been very positive [7] due to the destination not meeting their expectations.

The tourist experiences in WHS destinations are derived from the activities that are undertaken in the destination, including visiting specific places [8]. However, these tourism practices are not based only on leisure activities, as they are a way to get to know and learn about the cultural heritage of the place [9]. Although it cannot be forgotten that the perceptions that visitors have of a place with important historic-artistic heritage are also linked with visitor behaviour trends and have a connection with the socio-demographic profile—the perceptions and the motivations that the travellers have for visiting the area [10]. Concerning destination management, it is essential that these behaviour patterns are understood and that appropriate strategies for the sustainable development of tourism activities are designed [11]. Regarding tourists, it is important to identify the different typologies and motivations, as well as what satisfies them [8]. This will bring a better understanding of the needs of the different types of tourists visiting a WHS destination. In this way, products can be designed to meet their needs [12]. Thus, it is necessary to differentiate who is a heritage tourist or even a World Heritage tourist [13] from others who travel for other motives [14]. Emotional perception is a basic element of the traveller understanding the culture of the destination that they are visiting. Emotion allows the tourist to understand the culture of a destination.

The city of Granada has been recognised by UNESCO with two WHS entries, specifically, the Alhambra–Generalife in 1984, and the Albaicín in 1994. In this study, Granada was considered a WHS destination, where every year, almost two million tourists come [15] and it combines its rich heritage history with an important university tradition.

The aim of this research was to perform a segmentation of the foreign tourists that visit the city of Granada based on their emotional perception of the (artistic and historic) heritage of the city due to the cultural importance in the place. Based on this segmentation, the motivations of different groups and their levels of satisfaction are presented in this paper. This study was based on the analysis of how emotional perceptions influence the behaviour of foreign tourists in a destination with a strong emotional component, implying that there are different motivations for each traveller. Identifying the characteristics of the visitor segments will allow for the design of tourist and cultural products that can more efficiently satisfy their needs. This will have a positive impact on economic development, which will lead to an increase in employment and urban development in the city of Granada.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Segmentation

The segmentation of tourists who visit a WHS designation is essential for properly managing the tourist flow in the area and designing a wider range of products tailored for incoming tourists as a reaction to the variety of tourists’ requirements [12]. It is also important to detect the relationship that may exist between the tourists and the attractions of a destination [16]. In this sense, studies on the attitudes of residents of a destination through a segmentation analysis must be taken into account, identifying the possible sociocultural impacts that may happen. In the study that Pavlić et al. [17] carried out on the permanent residents of the old city of Dubrovnik, inscribed as a WHS by UNESCO in 1979, they identified three groups based on their opinions on the socio-cultural impacts of tourism—cultural and safety cares, cultural illuminators, and phlegmatic. The results obtained show the importance of helping urban WHS residents, especially the phlegmatic, become more aware of the positive (employment and urban development) and negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism on the development of destinations.

Asmelash and Kumar [18] pointed out the importance of guaranteeing the satisfaction dimension to materialise sustainable heritage tourism. The examination of the structural relationship between dimensions of sustainable heritage tourism and tourist satisfaction was, in this case, applied to the case of Granada city as a WHS. Connected with these ideas, the cultural dimension of sustainable tourism refers to the authenticity of the culture of the communities at the tourist destination, and the preservation of their architecture, cultural capital, and traditions [19]. The perceptions and main motivations of tourists to visit heritage cultural destinations are discussed in subsequent sections of this paper. Taking into consideration the report from the World Tourism Organization and European Travel Commission, the natural environment is considered a more important motivating factor for visiting a destination, and culture, historic towns, and monuments have been the most popular attractions to visit [20].

An important aspect of carrying out segmentation that should be noted is the fact that the segmented groups must meet a series of characteristics. Specifically, they need to be measurable, substantial, and accessible [21]. To this end, it is necessary to identify the typologies of heritage tourists, their perceptions, motivations, and behaviours [8]. Thus, it is possible to differentiate who the heritage tourist is and even, according to Adie and Hall [13], to identify the tourist attracted by the World Heritage status of a place. Simultaneously, it allows for distinguishing them from other tourists who are in the area as visitors [14]. Chen and Huang [22], through extensive field research, published a thorough and detailed description of the different kinds of tourists, in terms of segmentation, who visited these destinations.

Based on tourists’ motivations for going to see certain destinations, Silberberg [23] identified four different typologies of tourists—accidental, adjunct, partial, and tourists with great cultural interest. Segmentation by McKercher [24] analyses two different dimensions—first, how relevant the motivation is in the process of a tourist deciding to go to a certain place. The second dimension is how thorough the tourists’ knowledge is regarding the destination. Taking into account these dimensions, five groups were projected—purposeful cultural tourists, including tourists with relevant cultural practice and whose main motivation is to visit heritage destinations and learn about culture and heritage; sightseeing cultural tourists, a segment that, despite having heritage as their main motivation, they also pursue experiences focused on entertainment; casual cultural tourists, made up of those where cultural motivation plays a partial role in the choice to travel to a heritage site; incidental cultural tourists, visitors for whom culture is of little importance in the choice of a destination to visit, however, they take part in events of cultural tourism; finally, serendipitous cultural tourists, who visit cultural attractions in the destination, but cultural motivation plays a very limited or no role. The described segmentation model of cultural tourists has been applied in different studies [8,22,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32].

Another essential element for segmenting tourists in WHS destinations is the emotional perception that these travellers have of the place. Volo [33] confirmed that emotions play a fundamental role in the cognitive evaluations and behavioural responses of tourists. In this way, tourist destinations can offer plenty of emotional experiences for tourists. Hochschild [34] defines emotions as a way of expressing one’s personal relevance to social events. In contrast, the author of a more recent study defined them as responses to events that are linked to bodily manifestations [35]. Volo [33] highlighted the importance of analysing emotions since, as he affirmed, recognising the presence of identified emotions during any type of holiday can be beneficial for tourism design purposes. Thus, the role of emotions in tourism design is often discussed to offer suggestions to tourism stakeholders for designing better experiences that can elicit certain emotional responses [36]. As Moal-Ulvoas [37] and Yan et al. [38] have stated, designing tourism experiences means recognising the diversity of tourists as individuals.

The best source of evidence on emotions, and especially on their cognitive aspects, is linguistic evidence. In this sense, Ortony et al. [39] pointed out that there is no substitute for the linguistic method, but they attempted to develop a method to overcome its limitations. Taking into account that emotions are reactions valued as positive or negative by the individual who experiences them, Ortony et al. [39] indicated that these reactions can occur as a consequence of an event, agent, or object, and that the particular nature of each reaction will depend on the individual’s cognitive interpretation of the situation that elicits the reaction.

Poria et al. [10] presented three typologies of visitors—first, those who do not perceive any connection with the cultural heritage of the site; second, tourists who sense a link to the heritage of the cultural destination, as they are visiting their historical origins; third, travellers who are not aware that the heritage of the place they are visiting is part of their heritage.

Nguyen et al. [8] also agree on the necessity of finding different groups of heritage tourists, their levels of satisfaction, perceptions, and motivations, and consequently, connecting the gathered data with the implementation of strategies for the efficient and sustainable management of heritage tourism. The segmentation of this type of tourist enables the differentiation of those interested in the cultural heritage of the destination from those who have other motivations for visiting the place [14].

Ramires et al. [40] looked into two aspects of the destination itself to segment the tourists—culture and leisure, and economic value. Serrano-López et al. [41] defined two tourist segments—backpacker and cultural. For their part, Castañeda-García et al. [42] established four segments of national tourists according to their spending at the destination.

The academic literature presents different used approaches to performing consumer segmentation. The factored-cluster analysis is a common technique in tourism research [43,44]. However, this approach has been criticised for several failings, such as the loss of original information, an abstract interpretation, or wrong assumptions [45]. This work employs the segmentation approach recommended by Dolnicar [45], which involves direct clustering of the original scores. In summary, and based on the literature review, the following hypotheses were tested:

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

The emotional experiences of foreign tourists in places with an important historical heritage lead them to feel more than simply contemplating these places, depending on their cultural motivations.

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

The different perceptions of foreign visitors considering the cultural interest and emotional experiences in a WHS destination generate differentiated types of tourists that can be clearly classified into closed groups, ordered by the degree of interest and experiences developed as not linked, adjunct, casual, accidental, alternative, cultural, emotional, and linked with heritage.

2.2. Motivation

The analysis of the incentives that drive travellers to visit a certain place is one of the key elements for specifying how a trip is planned. The reasons why someone chooses to travel to a certain destination, such as the city of Granada, may be diverse. Motivation is a mutating process, as it changes according to the tourist’s experience, age, or status [46].

The decision of travelling implicates different kinds of motivations, and one of the main ones is culture [47]. It is necessary to analyse each destination individually due to the great diversity of different locations and variables by which it may be affected [48]. It must be also noted that a great rivalry exists between destinations with a strong cultural attraction, and this characteristic is used to increase inbound tourism [49,50]. Foreign tourists were analysed, as they have different motivations for visiting places [50].

In the academic literature, studies can be found that support the idea that tourist demand in WHS destinations depends both on the services provided by tourism agents, and the support of the destination’s residents in promoting the destination [51]. Mariani and Guizzardi [7] analysed the influence on tourists due to the designation of a place as a WHS. They concluded that obtaining a positive assessment from the travellers in a specific destination does not only depend on the recognition from UNESCO but also on the services provided in the place and the attitude of the local community itself. Io [52] established five dimensions related to the experience of foreign tourists in Macao—artistic craftsmanship, nostalgia and authenticity, enjoyment, convenient consumption, and cultural significance.

The analysis of tourist motivations was performed using three different references [53]. First, Iso-Ahola’s escape-seeking dichotomy [54]; second, the travel career ladder [55]; third, the pull–push model [56,57]. The push factors are those that influence the decision to undertake a journey. The pull factors are those related to choosing a destination to visit. The push factors are considered precedents of the pull factors [58]. The push–pull model has been the most used framework by academic researchers [59], especially in studies in which they sought to classify motivations of the tourist interested in the historic-artistic heritage [60]. In the present study, the authors used the push–pull model.

To undertake proper destination management, the motivations, satisfaction, and loyalty of tourists must be identified. In this regard, the design of appropriate strategies by both public and private managers will be decisive. Vong and Ung [61] pointed out the following motivations related to heritage tourism management: the culture and history of the site, the provided interpretation of the historical heritage, the facilities and services available at these destinations, and the attractions provided for travellers. Vareiro et al. [62] identified the following motivational dimensions: convenience and efficiency, accessibility, shopping and entertainment, and historical references.

Nguyen and Cheung [8] identified two types of tourist motivations. First, there are those related to leisure and knowledge. Second, there are those emanating from the destination’s heritage that could be related to personal self-fulfilment and learning about the place or the destination’s culture. Romao et al. [63] identified three dimensions of motivations: business, culture, and leisure. Almeida-Santana and Moreno-Gil [64] identified the following dimensions: prestige and social relationships, knowledge and culture, leisure and relaxation, meeting new people, entertainment and sports. Based on the literature review, the following hypothesis was tested:

Hypothesis 3 (H3).

Foreign tourists have different motivations for visiting a WHS destination, depending on their cultural, heritage-related, or other interests.

2.3. Satisfaction

The satisfaction of visitors is a factor that all tourist destinations pursue and try to achieve through a quality offer, including diverse services and products. In fact, satisfaction is a variable of utmost importance in the proper management of a destination [65,66].

The focus in the scientific literature is on the analyses of factors that are needed to achieve the highest level of satisfaction for the tourist. In this regard, a comparative analysis between the prior expectations of the tourist and the experience they had in the destination was performed [67]. Similarly, Jiang et al. [68] indicated the importance of establishing the relationship between the prior perception that tourists had regarding the destination and their attitudes toward the place.

Satisfaction is closely linked with the authenticity of a place [69]. Menor-Campos et al. [70] pointed out that both emotional experience and cultural motivation are factors that influence and condition tourist satisfaction. This effect is enlarged among foreign tourists who present a greater emotional perception as well as cultural motivation before visiting the historical heritage site. Other studies in the academic literature support this result [63,71,72].

Under this premise, the analysis of tourist satisfaction derives mainly from the study of the answers that the visitors gave to the assessment of the quality of the destination [73]. Thus, it could be pointed that the perceived quality is a predecessor of the satisfaction shown and that it leads to the cognitive understanding of the emotions expressed by the tourist in their interaction with the destination itself [74].

Consequently, the study of feelings has its origin in the specification of emotions as a transcendental part of the tourist experience—feelings which, at the same time, confirm the sensory pleasures and enjoyment had in the destination. Scherer [75], through his empirical study carried out with an expert system, affirmed that it is possible to establish a minimum number of evaluation criteria and types to explain the differentiation of emotions on the appraisal of their antecedents. In this way, the expert system was able to empirically test the predictions made about emotions. To do this, it was based on the information obtained from the results of the evaluation processes, carried out on the stimuli or events that caused the emotion. For his part, Roseman [76], developed a more precise, complete, and integrative understanding of the causes of emotions. In this sense, focusing on the cognitive causes of emotions, Roseman [76] proposed that the combination of a small number of appraisal dimensions can elicit up to 17 different emotions, specifying which evaluations cause each emotion. Su and Hsu [77] analysed the influence of consumption emotions, adopting a multidimensional perspective of emotional experiences. Their findings confirmed that two-dimensional consumption emotions are powerful predictors of customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions in the context of Chinese natural heritage tourism. Thus, positive emotions could increase tourist satisfaction, while negative emotions could reduce tourist satisfaction. In addition, tourists with a positive emotion are more likely to revisit the heritage site and recommend it to others.

On the contrary, tourists with a negative emotional feeling towards their travel experience are more likely to seek alternative destinations. In this sense, [78] stated that novelty is a cognitive assessment dimension of the ability to improve attention and emotions and, based on lived experiences, to create lasting memories. Novelty influences the intensity of the emotions and, therefore, aids in the construction of a memorable experience.

However, the concept of dissatisfaction cannot be confused with the rejection of a destination. Dissatisfaction as a result of the previous perspectives that the traveller had of a place is far greater than those they had of the destination itself [79]. This level of dissatisfaction of the tourist leads to an opportunity cost that should be cause for concern and action by the managers, both public and private, of a destination to discover and resolve the variables that cause tourist dissatisfaction [80]. In conclusion, after researching the literature we proposed the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4 (H4).

A greater level of satisfaction corresponds to the foreign tourists with a higher emotional perception and higher cultural interest.

3. Methodology

3.1. Survey Development

Based on fieldwork, a structured questionnaire was developed and distributed to an illustrative sample of foreign tourists during their visit to the city of Granada. The questionnaire items were based on different previous research [10,24,47,49,81]. Using an initial set of items extracted from prior scientific literature as a basis, the process to refine the data was undertaken in three stages. First, a researcher specialising in heritage tourism analysed each one of the proposed items; second, the questionnaire resulting from the first stage was reviewed by relevant people in tourism in the city of Granada; third, following this revised version of the questionnaire, 50 foreign tourists that were visiting the city of Granada underwent a pre-test.

The fieldwork was completed at five survey points that were located in places recognised by UNESCO in the city of Granada. It was performed on different days and hours to address the maximum number of visitors and situations. To complete the survey, a foreign traveller had to fulfil the premise that they spent one or two days in Granada and, consequently, could give an informed opinion on their visit to the city [47,49].

The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first focused on the analysis of the motivations that the tourist had to visit the city of Granada, the emotional perceptions regarding the monumental and historic heritage of the city, the assessment of the main attributes related to the visit, and the satisfaction reached based on the experience had. The second part collected the socio-demographic profile of the tourists, including gender, age, academic training, income, and country of origin.

The questions in the first part of the questionnaire were answered employing a Likert scale of five points, and in the second part, they were closed. The questionnaires were provided in two languages, English and Spanish. Each of the tourists surveyed could choose the language of the survey.

From a total of 878 surveys, 836 were valid. The questionnaires were collected between April and August 2019. A convenience sampling method was used, as suggested by Finn et al. [82] for this kind of research. Following this method, during the fieldwork, the respondents were available to complete the survey for a specific period and place. No type of stratification was carried out by gender, age, academic training, or any other variable. The surveys were distributed to the tourists available, randomly. The duration of completing the survey took no longer than 10 min for any participant. The rejection rate for completing the questionnaire on behalf of the tourists was low, and, if we consider the socio-demographic profile of the foreign tourists surveyed, this rejection was not significant in terms of any of these variables.

3.2. Sampling and Sampling Error

The focus of this research was on the international tourist who visits the city of Granada. The number of foreign tourists who visited the city of Granada in 2018 and stayed in hotel establishments was 1,009,005 [15]. Using this number of visitors as a valid approximation in this research, the sampling error for a confidence level of 95% would be ±3.39 if random sampling was used.

3.3. Data Analysis

The organisation and statistical analysis of the data extracted from the questionnaires were completed through SPSS v24 software. To assess the reliability and validity of the answers obtained in the fieldwork, Cronbach’s alpha [83] was used. Additionally, for analysing the similarities that exist among the tourists surveyed, the multi-variant technique of case clusters was used (K-means clustering). They were obtained using cluster analysis and validated employing an analysis discriminating technique.

Once the segments were obtained, different statistical and association measures that submit the information required were applied to analyse the possible association guidelines that exist among the different variables, using a table of two-dimensional contingency. In addition, non-parametric statistical procedures were also used—the H test [84] and the U test [85]—to study the main significant differences among all the segments in which the surveyed tourists were found.

There are other statistical procedures that could have been applied to the dataset, such as, for example, artificial neural networks, in order to estimate a certain socio-demographic tourist profile, along the line of Moral et al. [86]. However, as the aim of this work was focused on the typologies of foreign tourists based on emotional perceptions, it was considered convenient to follow the methodology explained in the previous paragraphs.

4. Results

4.1. Segmentation

With the aim of analysing and dividing the sample, the surveyed foreign tourists were asked to assess the emotions felt when they visited the historic and monumental heritage of Granada, as well as to provide an assessment of their interest in the culture. To do so, six different items were used. The first four items measured the emotional perception according to the model of Poria et al. [10], and items 5 and 6 analysed the level of cultural motivation that the tourist had when deciding to visit the city of Granada, according to Mckercher’s model [24]. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the final scale of the six items used, whose means are presented in

Table 1. Characterisation of the perception of historical heritage and cultural interest.

	Tourist Clusters				H (Kruskal–Wallis)
	1	2	3	4	χ2	Sig.
Average of the items of emotional perception	2.54 (*)	2.84 (*)	3.79 (*)	4.20 (*)	561.470	<0.000
Average of cultural motivation items	2.30 (*)	4.13(*)	3.11 (*)	4.57 (*)	624.267	<0.000

(*) These values present significant differences in three of four of the means. To test for the significant differences between the different means, the U test was applied.

, reached a value of 0.731. This value rates the internal consistency among the different elements of the scale. The critical level (p) associated with Friedman’s χ² statistic (989.620) was less than 0.001. The null hypothesis was compared, as all the elements of the scale had the same mean and, as a result, the hypothesis that the means of the elements are the same was rejected.

A non-hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to complete the segmentation to specify similar groups and discover their characteristics. Following these criteria as maximising the variance among types and minimising the variance within each one of them, the best solution that fulfilled this criterion was the establishment of four clusters or segments. Additionally, the H test [84] was performed based on three possible groups (three, four, and five clusters), and it also specified that the best solution was to divide the sample into four segments, as this option was the one that provided the greatest values of the H test [84]. The following are the names of these four segments: (1) alternative tourist, (2) cultural tourist, (3) emotional tourist, and (4) heritage tourist.

Table 1 presents the characterisation of the four segments from the means of the four items that propose to assess the emotional perception of the tourist regarding the heritage and the two items that measure their cultural motivation regarding the historic heritage of the city of Granada. The four items that measure the emotional perception are the following [10]: first, “my visit to the historical heritage of the city moved me”; second, “during my visit, I felt as if I was part of the heritage”; third, “my visit to the historical heritage of the city made me feel good”; fourth, “my visit to the historical heritage of the city has contributed to my education”.

The cultural motivation of the destination was analysed using two items [24]: first, to know how important the city is regarding history and monuments, and second, to broaden the knowledge about the city’s heritage. Kruskal–Wallis’ H test [84] allows for discovering that the compared means are not the same among the different clusters. However, it cannot identify the differences detected in these segments. Thus, to know which means differ from the others, the U test [85] was used.

The first segment, known as (1) the alternative tourist, consisted of 13.8% of the foreign tourists surveyed. This group registered more significant lows in both means. This segment was composed of visitors whose cultural identity was not related to the historic and monumental heritage of the city of Granada and who did not express cultural motivation to visit the city either. The second group, known as (2) the cultural tourist, represented 21.8% of the sample and was characterised by grouping together the tourists that, although they had an important cultural interest in the city of Granada, their cultural identity was not related to the heritage visited. The third segment, known as (3) the emotional tourist, was composed of 21.3% of the sample. Those surveyed gave intermediate marks in both questions, as well as higher ones in emotional perception. The fourth of the segments obtained, known as (4) the heritage tourist, comprised 43.1% of the tourists surveyed and highlighted a heightened feeling linked with the heritage visited in the city of Granada and significant cultural interest in this destination.

Deepening the investigation into the sociodemographic characteristics of the international tourists interviewed, the following results were obtained. Regarding gender, 41.5% were men and the remaining 58.5% were women, with no significant differences found amongst the four detected segments. In relation to age, 70.6% of the tourists surveyed were under 40 years of age. However, it was detected that those tourists aged 50 years or more were more representative in the segments that showed a greater cultural interest in the destination (2) the cultural tourist and (4) the heritage tourist; H test = 23.502; p = 0.000.

The academic training level of the respondents was high. A total of 87.7% of those surveyed stated that they have a university degree or postgraduate degree. Regarding the professional category, full-time salaried workers and students stood out. Neither the level of training nor the professional category had significant differences amongst the four detected segments. Regarding the place of origin, the European tourists represented 61.4% of the sample, compared to 16.5% North American, 12.6% Latin American, and 9.5% from the rest of the world. The analysis of the segments did not detect any association between the emotional connection and cultural interest of the tourist and the country of origin (contingency coefficient = 0.125; p = 0.152).

The analysis of the monthly household income revealed that 60.5% of the surveyed tourists claimed to earn more than EUR 2500, demonstrating high purchasing power. In this sense, there were no significant differences at the 95% confidence level comparing income with the emotional attachment and cultural interest in the destination (H test = 7.308; p = 0.063). However, differences were detected regarding the planned average daily expenditure (H test = 42.133; p = 0.000), with (4) the heritage tourist segment as the one that spends the most, followed by (2) the cultural tourist segment. The income derived from the tourist activity returns to the economy of the tourist destination with employment, through the payment of wages and salaries, the purchase of goods and services, and the increase in demand in other branches of activity, such as catering, commerce, transport, and leisure. For this reason, it is recommended that the tourist managers of the destination continue to promote and enhance the city of Granada as a heritage destination, with the intention of attracting tourists who make a greater daily monetary expenditure.

Only 10.2% of the surveyed visitors declared that they did not stay overnight in the city, while 89.8% declared that they stayed at least one night. In this sense, there were no statistically significant differences amongst the four detected segments (H test = 5.797; p = 0.122). In addition, it is important to mention that 29% of the surveyed tourists chose to stay in a four- or five-star hotel. Among the tourists who chose this type of accommodation, the majority were those who showed greater cultural interest—(2) the cultural tourist and (4) the heritage tourist. This data is interesting for the tourist managers of the city, as they indicate the possible existence of a small luxury segment.

The results obtained in this research allow for the comparison of two of the suggested research hypotheses. Therefore, following the academic literature [9,10,24,25], the two hypotheses were corroborated—first, some foreign tourists experienced deeper emotions and they felt like more than merely contemplating the historic heritage of the place they visited (H1); second, taking into consideration the cultural interest and emotional experiences at the heritage site visited, there are different types of tourists (H2).

4.2. Motivations for the Visit

The selection of a certain place is influenced by the motivation variable, as it is considered to be one of the main elements that influence the tourist’s planning of their journey. The reasons for which a person chooses to visit a city such as Granada may be different. In this study, and having completed the pre-test, a total of 13 items were selected and measured on a five-point Likert scale (1—bearing little importance, and 5—very important) to specify the relative importance of some factors in their choice of going to Granada (

Table 2. Motivational dimensions of visiting Granada.

Motivational Dimensions			Mean	Ranking
Hedonic	Mean (3.80)	The desire to visit new places	4.41	1
		Disconnect from everyday life	3.55	4
		Taste its gastronomy	3.43	5
Cultural	Mean (3.38)	Know its historical and monumental wealth	4.35	2
		Deepening knowledge about heritage	3.35	6
		The fame and tourist reputation of the city	3.60	3
		Attending cultural events: exhibition, festival, concert, etc.	2.21	9
Convenience	Mean (2.62)	Being an accessible tourist destination for my pocket	3.03	8
		One more visit of my tourist itinerary	3.13	7
		The proximity to my place of residence	1.69	11
Circumstantial	Mean (1.57)	Visit friends and/or family	1.49	12
		Learn the Spanish language	2.00	10
		Work or business visit (meeting, convention, etc.)	1.22	13

). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the final scale reached a value of 0.561. This value indicates a worthy internal consistency among the different elements of the scale. Additionally, the critical level (p) associated with Friedman’s χ² statistic (4536.068) has a value lower than 0.001. As such, this value indicates that the measures of the elements are not the same. The reasons indicated by foreign tourists to visit Granada were divided into four motivational dimensions—the hedonic dimension, the cultural dimension, the convenience dimension and the circumstantial dimension (Table 2).

The analysis through clusters allows for the comparison of significant differences in the different motivational dimensions, except in the case of a circumstantial dimension (

Table 3. Motivation analysis of tourist clusters.

Motivational Dimensions	Tourist Clusters				Kruskal–Wallis
	Alternative (Average)	Cultural (Average)	Emotional (Average)	Heritage (Average)	χ2	Sig.
Hedonic	3.54	3.62	3.77	3.98 (*)	36.267	<0.000
Cultural	2.41 (*)	3.40 (*)	3.02 (*)	3.87 (*)	422.244	<0.000
Convenience	2.56	2.41	2.69	2.70	14.720	<0.000
Circumstantial	1.72	1.57	1.61	1.50	6.566	<0.087

(*) These values present significant differences in three of four of the means clusters. To test for the significant differences between the different means, the U test was applied.

). In this case, the heritage tourist segment was characterised by the highest values of three dimensions. Regarding motivation, it refers to tourists that travel in search of discovering more about the culture of the destination, including a high emotional component. In addition, the alternative tourist segment has the lowest values in the hedonic and cultural dimensions and some of the lowest values in the other two dimensions. Thus, this segment of tourists is not associated with the rest of the four motivational dimensions. Consequently, this segment could correspond to a tourist with other types of motivations that were not investigated in the present.

Following the nucleus of the motivational theory of Crompton [57], and with the prior scientific literature [81], the results obtained corroborate that the motivations that foreign tourists have to visit a tourist destination are heterogeneous (H3). Thus, in addition to cultural motivation, the tourists that visit the city of Granada have types of motivation of a psychological or social nature that point to their tourist conduct, highlighting, among them, the hedonic motivation.

4.3. Satisfaction of the Visit

The mean level of satisfaction stated by the dataset obtained, on a Likert scale of five points, was high (4.37 points). In this case, more than half of those surveyed stated that they were fully satisfied with their visit. In this group, the segment known as the emotional tourist (53.9% indicated 5 points) and the segment known as the heritage tourist (67.9% indicated 5 points) were the most commonly found. Regarding the low significance of those who were not satisfied, only 2.6% of those surveyed gave a score equal to or less than 2.

With the confirmation that the visitors leave the city of Granada satisfied after their stay, the analysis of this last aspect was deepened, regarding the relationship that may exist between the satisfaction level and the reasons or motives to address them. Thus, the aim of this research was to determine what motivations encourage the satisfaction that foreign tourists experience when visiting the city. The data obtained in the research shows that the reasons for visiting Granada—except for the circumstantial dimension, and mainly the motives of the cultural and hedonic types—discriminates significantly in terms of the perceived level of satisfaction (

Table 4. Motivational dimensions and satisfaction of the visit.

Motivational Dimensions	Kruskal–Wallis		Spearman’s Correlation
	χ2	Sig.
Hedonic	47.785	<0.000	0.238 (*)
Cultural	59.451	<0.000	0.257 (*)
Convenience	8.658	<0.070	0.094 (*)
Circumstantial	5.540	<0.236	0.017

(*) The correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (bilateral).

).

The Spearman’s correlation indices (0.238, 0.257) shown in Table 4 reveal that the greater the presence of cultural and hedonic reasons, the higher the satisfaction perceived by the international tourist. The results obtained show the evidence that the different motivations contribute to and condition the level of satisfaction of the tourist experience, and they are the highest among those foreign tourists that have a greater emotional load (emotional tourists and heritage tourists,

Table 5. Satisfaction analysis of tourist clusters.

Satisfaction	Tourist Clusters				Kruskal–Wallis
	Alternative (Average)	Cultural (Average)	Emotional (Average)	Heritage (Average)	χ2	Sig.
	4.02	4.08	4.40 (*)	4.62 (*)	103.989	<0.000

(*) These values present significant differences in three out of four of the means clusters. To test for the significant differences between the different means, the U test was applied.

). These results confirm the hypothesis that greater satisfaction corresponds to the international visitors with greater emotional perception and with a greater cultural interest (heritage tourist) (H4).

5. Discussion

In the academic literature, several studies can be found that present analyses of the segmentation of tourists in heritage tourism destinations [10,22,23,24,25,31,81]. These previous works, as well as the present study, reach the same conclusion—concerning the influence of a destination’s heritage variable on tourists’ choices, they end up presenting diverse opinions. In addition, the segmentation of tourists allows for differentiating between two segments. The first highlights a deep interest in heritage, referred to as greatly cultural tourists [23], absorptive [40], or tourists who visit a destination because it is a part of their heritage [9]. In this study, this type of tourist was referred to as a heritage tourist. Second, there is another type of tourist who shows very little interest in heritage, which authors of previous studies have called accidental cultural tourists [23] or casual tourists [25]. It was also detected in the present work who was denominated as an alternative tourist.

Regarding tourists’ motivations, previous studies have grouped them into various dimensions. Vareiro et al. [62] identified the following motivational dimensions: convenience and efficiency, accessibility, shopping and entertainment, and historical references. Nguyen and Cheung [8] identified two types of motivations. First, there are the motivations related to leisure and knowledge. Second, there are those that emanate from the destination’s heritage and can be related to personal self-fulfilment and learning about the place or the destination’s culture. Romao et al. [63] identified three dimensions of motivations: business, culture, and leisure. Almeida-Santana and Moreno-Gil [64] identified the following dimensions: prestige and social relationships, knowledge and culture, leisure and relaxation, meeting new people, and entertainment and sports.

In the present study, the motivations of tourists to visit a destination with WHS inscription such as Granada were analysed and classified into four groups: cultural, circumstantial, hedonic, and convenience. Concerning the results obtained for the satisfaction variable, this work supports the conclusions drawn by previous studies [63,70,71,72]. Specifically, it can be stated that the satisfaction of tourists increases according to their greater interest in the heritage of the city of Granada. This relationship is supported from a behavioural approach, according to the different intensities and objectives of each individual. The behavioural approach shows the consequences of emotional states but does not allow us to know their origins. Ma et al. [87] adopted the cognitive appraisal theory, proving that the motivations of tourists are an antecedent of emotions. In addition, the emotions and perceptions experienced by the tourist are antecedents of the satisfaction expressed, constituting the cognitive understanding of the emotions expressed by the tourist in their interaction with the destination, as discovered by Rodríguez del Bosque and San Martín [74]. Therefore, cognitive assessment mechanisms must also be taken into account when approaching the study of the motivation–satisfaction relationship.

The aim pursued in this research, in relation to tourist satisfaction, was to contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of the different groups of international tourists identified and their assessments of the destination in order to conceive tourist and cultural products that better satisfy their needs. These must be compatible with the sustainable management of the destination. To this end, balanced integration of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions must be promoted. Considering the theoretical information, it could be applied to the managerial scale. This will increase the income of the local community, leading to increased employment and urban development in the city of Granada. Tourists must be encouraged to have stronger and more meaningful interactions with the local people, culture, and history [18].

6. Conclusions

The city of Granada is privileged to be home to sites awarded the WHS distinction by UNESCO. Obtaining this recognition implies the achievement of a series of positive aspects, but also the acquisition of obligations. On the one hand, an important cultural recognition is obtained, which enhances the promotion of the destination among a specific group of tourists. On the other hand, this recognition obliges different administrations to carry out the correct management and conservation of these sites.

In this case, the cultural and tourist potential of the city of Granada includes the need to perform studies that aim to acquire results that are essential for designing plans for improvement or tourist promotion. There are several preceding studies on WHS cities, but this study was carried out in a city that, despite not being recognised as a World Heritage City, has several WHS places that attract many tourists. The differentiating strategies of the destination’s tourist offerings should be grounded in the socio-demographic profile items of tourists, their perceptions of the historical heritage visited, and the reasons for their visit or their previous expectations of the destination.

The existence of four segments of foreign tourists was determined in this research. The basis of this segmentation was established on the feelings experienced by tourists when they visited the city of Granada [10], as well as the degree of influence of the city of Granada’s culture on the choice to make it a destination for their trip [24]. These four segments have been named the emotional tourist, the cultural tourist, the alternative tourist, and the heritage tourist. The segment called the heritage tourist highlights the existence of a link between the tourist and the heritage visited, as well as the fact that attraction for culture is of primordial importance.

This research also analyses travellers’ reasons for visiting a cultural destination with WHS designations, such as Granada. These reasons were classified into four groups: hedonic, cultural, convenience, and circumstantial, which included push and pull motives. The results obtained in this study highlight that hedonic and cultural reasons are the most influential in planning a visit to the destination. Therefore, it is recommended to enhance the cultural attraction, for example, by carrying out a promotional campaign of all the heritage, including the places that do not have WHS recognition in the city of Granada. In this sense, the hedonic dimension would also benefit, as one of the hedonic motivations best valued by the surveyed tourists was “the desire to visit new places”. Apart from the above, the organization of festivals or events that promote local gastronomy could also have positive effects on the hedonic dimension.

The results obtained through the analysis of the satisfaction variable confirm that the level of satisfaction of tourists towards a cultural destination with a WHS designation depends on the reasons that lead them to visit it. Furthermore, it can be concluded that hedonic and cultural reasons are the most influential on tourist satisfaction. This information, together with the different segments detected, can be very useful to the institutions that manage tourist destinations. It is advisable to establish greater strategies for attracting heritage tourists and cultural tourists since they are the ones that plan to spend the most. In addition, despite the fact that both heritage tourists and emotional tourists indicated a high degree of satisfaction, work must continue to further improve this satisfaction, as well as that of the other segments, such as the cultural tourist. In addition, such satisfaction can be translated into a possible repetition of the visit in the future or into a recommendation to other people to visit Granada.

The focus of this study was on foreign tourists visiting the city of Granada. The main aim was to analyse and identify the characteristics of the different types of tourists detected, additionally showing how they rated the destination. This information is fundamental for the different tourist agents to be able to create cultural and tourist products that can successfully satisfy the needs of the tourists visiting the destination. Furthermore, these products must be well-suited to the sustainable development of the historical and cultural wealth of the city of Granada. In addition, these data will be also useful for assessing the need to improve infrastructures and other public services.

A limitation that can be mentioned is that the analysis only covered the demand side. This may be a disadvantage for the export of the obtained data to other stakeholders. Additionally, the main limitation is the short time covered by the data collection. In this sense, it would be advisable to extend this period to include all the months of the year. Finally, it should be noted that it would be convenient to study some characteristics of the demand more specifically. For example, analysing traits such as religion or ethnicity could be useful for detecting behavioural patterns of different characteristics of the destination, which could help to provide a better service adapted to each type of tourist. This information would be very useful to try to attract tourists who may have a high emotional connection with the visited heritage and cultural interest in the destination (heritage tourist). According to the results obtained in this study, they spend the most monetary value and are within what could be a luxury segment. The increase in the number of visitors to the city of this type of tourist could encourage tourism managers to increase their investments in the city. These investments could contribute to promoting the economic development of the area, producing an increase in employment and urban development in the city of Granada. Another future line of research can be the analysis of the profile of the mountain, adventure, or sports tourists, who also visit the city because of its proximity to Sierra Nevada.