Assessment of the market potential of a new tourism product with the help of a demand segmentation: The example of classic car tours in Uruguay

Abstract

Germany is well-known as an “automotive” country and 3.58 million Germans would characterise themselves as “very interested in classic cars”. During the last years, several German classic car tour operators began to connect the two topics classic cars and travels in a professional way. Uruguay on the other hand is called an “automotive museum come to live”, but is still a niche destination for German tourists. This thesis analyses whether the German interest in classic cars, classic car tours and the destination Uruguay could be combined. After an initial analysis of the German classic car scene, the destination Uruguay, the target group and similar products; a field research is conducted among German classic car club members (being a sub-target group of the analysed product). This field research aims at discovering if different preferences regarding classic car tours could lead to the definition of different classic car tourist-types, and to answer the question if a general interest of German classic car enthusiasts in classic car tours in Uruguay exists. The results of the field research are presented in detail. An existing demand and the finding of different classic car tourist-types lead to a final recommendation for a product design that is capable of satisfying the identified demand.