The segmentation of the demand for ferry travel - a case study of Stena Line

In an era of fierce competitive struggle about clients, enterprises seek information on characteristics of the main customer segments purchasing their services and goods. This knowledge is crucial to the marketing efforts of enterprises. The purpose of this research is to understand the changes in demand due to the diversity of travel motives. The study identifies distinct segments of travellers due to their motives of ferry travel, i.e., tourism, visiting relatives, work-/business-related and also three other segments with a mixture of these motives. It is also shown that each of these segments has a different profile in terms of their behavioural and socio-demographic characteristics. This article presents the results of surveys carried out among passengers travelling by Stena Line ferries on the route from Gdynia (Poland) to Karlskrona (Sweden), as well as the results of a literature review and 'desk research' of available statistics. The method of realisation of representative study can be useful for other researchers and the results of the study can be an interesting source of information both for ferry carriers and other entities in the tourist sector in the Baltic Sea region.