Segmenting Tourist Expenditure in Second Home Tourism: Evidence from Market and Non-Market Tourists

Although the literature has extensively analyzed the determinants of tourist expenditure, studies focusing on second home tourism are scarce. Moreover, they tend to treat this segment as a homogeneous group, without delving into the existence of differentiated consumption patterns within non-market tourism. In this context, this paper analyzes the case of Spain, using a database comprising 1,253,115 observations for the period 2015–2024. First, linear regression models with interaction terms are estimated, and non-parametric tests are applied to evaluate the differences in tourist expenditure between market and non-market tourists. Specifically, market tourists refer to those staying in paid accommodation whereas non-market tourists are those using accommodation without a direct economic transaction. The results show that non-market tourists present lower direct expenditure per stay; however, their longer stays and more balanced and repetitive temporal distribution contribute to sustaining the economic activity of the destinations. Second, a segmentation analysis using the k-means clustering algorithm is applied to identify differentiated spending patterns within non-market tourism, revealing significant heterogeneity in the expenditure patterns of second home tourism. These findings suggest the suitability of adopting more segmented tourism management strategies and promoting this type of tourism as a mechanism to reduce seasonality in specialized destinations.