This document discusses various typologies of tourist behaviour that have been proposed in academic literature. It begins by covering typologies and their marketing applications and criticisms. It then discusses different typologies proposed by researchers such as Cohen, Plog, and Perreault which segment tourists based on characteristics like travel independence, risk-taking, and budgets. The document also summarizes critiques of typologies, specifically that they overgeneralize and do not account for changes in individual behaviour over time. It concludes by discussing tourism-specific market segmentation techniques.

1. Tourist Behaviour
© Aditya Ranjan
UNIT 3 : TYPOLOGIES OF TOURIST BEHAVIOUR
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2. This unit covers :
1. Typologies and their critique.
2. Marketing application of typologies.
3. Market segmentation.
4. Tourist-specific market segmentation.
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3. Typology
• Group tourists together on the basis of
shared characteristics.
• Methods of segmentation.
• Two type -
1. Academic typologies
2. Classic market segmentation techniques
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4. Importance of Typology
• Represent an attempt to increase our
knowledge of consumer behaviour in tourism.
• Can help marketers make important decisions
on product development, pricing, promotional
media and distribution channels.
• May form the basis of market segmentation
techniques.
• Might potentially, help to predict future trends
in tourist behaviour.
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5. Academic typologies
(Sharpley, 1994)
• people are tourists or travellers.
• Tourist is someone who buys a package from a
tour operator.
• The traveller is the person who makes their own
independent arrangements for their vacation.
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6. Cohen (1972)
• The organized mass tourist who buys a package
holiday to a popular destination and largely prefers
to travel around with a large group of other
tourists, following an inflexible predetermined
itinerary.
In general such tourists tend not to stray far from
the beach or their hotel.
• The individual mass tourist buys a looser package
that allows more freedom,
for example, a fly-drive holiday
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7. Cohen (1972)
• The explorer makes his or her own travel
arrangements and sets out, consciously, to avoid
contact with other tourists.
Explorers set out to meet local people but they will
expect a certain level of comfort and security.
• The drifter tries to become accepted, albeit
temporarily, as part of the local community. Drifters
have no planned itinerary and choose destinations
and accommodation on a whim.
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8. Cohen (1972)
• Cohen described two types of tourist as -
1. First two as Institutionalized tourists, and
2. the latter two as non-institutionalized
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9. Plog (1977)
• directly link personality traits with tourist
behaviour.
• divided people into -
1. Psychocentrics - were less adventurous, inward-
looking people. They tend to prefer the familiar
and have a preference for resorts which are
already popular.
2. Allocentrics - are outward-looking people who
like to take risks and seek more adventurous
holidays.
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10. Plog (1977)
• suggested a number of intermediate categories
such as
1. near-psychocentrics,
2. mod-centrics
3. near-allocentrics
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11. Perreault, Dorden and Dorden (1979)
1. Budget travellers, who had medium incomes, but
sought low-cost vacations
2. Adventurous tourists, who were well educated and
affluent and showed a preference for adventurous
holidays
3. Homebody tourists, who were cautious people who
took holidays but did not discuss their vacation with
other people, and spent relatively little time planning
it.
4. Vacationers, who were a small group who spent lots
of time thinking about their next holiday and tended
to be active people in lower paid jobs
5. Moderates, who had a high predisposition to travel
but were not interested in weekend breaks or sports.© Aditya Ranjan

12. Cohen (1979)
• The recreational tourist, for whom the emphasis is
on physical recreation
• The diversionary tourist, who seeks ways of
forgetting their everyday life at home
• The experiential tourist, who looks for authentic
experiences
• The experimental tourist, whose the main desire is
to be in contact with local people
• The existential tourist, who wants to become totally
immerse in the culture and lifestyles of the
vacation destination.
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13. Westvlaams Ekonomisch Studiebureau
(1986)
1. Active sea lovers, who want to take a holiday by
the sea, with a beach close by
2. Contact-minded holiday-makers, who value
making new friends on holiday and being
hospitably received by local people
3. Nature viewers, who want to be well received
by the host population while enjoying very
beautiful landscapes
4. Rest-seekers, who want a chance to relax and
rest while on holiday
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14. Westvlaams Ekonomisch Studiebureau
(1986)
5. Discoverers, who like cultural holidays and
some adventure, but they also like to meet new
people.
6. Family-orientated sun and sea lovers, who were
the largest group and like to do things together
as a family and seek ‘child-friendly’ activities.
7. Traditionalists, who value safety and security
and try to avoid surprises by sticking with
familiar destinations and types of holiday.
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15. Dalen (1989)
• Modern materialists want to get a tan to impress
people when they get home. They like partying and are
more concerned with drink than food. Hedonism is
their main motivation.
• Modern idealists also seek excitement and
entertainment but want both to be more intellectual
than the modern materialists. They do not, however,
want mass tourism or fixed itineraries.
• Traditional idealists demand quality, culture, heritage,
famous places, peace and security.
• Traditional materialists always look for special offers
and low prices, and have a strong concern with
personal security.
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16. Gallup and American Express (1989)
1. Adventurers, who are independent and confident and
like to try new activities.
2. Worriers, who worry about the stress of travel and their
safety and security while on holiday.
3. Dreamers, who are fascinated by the idea of travel and
they read and talk a lot about their travel experiences
and different destinations.
4. Economizers, who simply see travel as a routine
opportunity for relaxation rather than as a special part
of their life, and as such they want to enjoy holidays at
the lowest possible price.
5. Indulgers, who want to be pampered when they are on
holiday. © Aditya Ranjan

17. Smith (1989)
1. Explorers are a small group who travel almost as
anthropologists.
2. Elite tourists are experienced frequent travellers
who like expensive tailor-made tours.
3. Off-beat tourists aim to get away from other
tourists.
4. Unusual tourists make side trips from organized
tours to experience local culture.© Aditya Ranjan

18. Smith (1989)
5. Incipient mass tourists travel to established
destinations where tourism is not yet totally
dominant.
6. Mass tourists expect the same things they are used
to at home.
7. Charter tourists have little or no interest in the
destination itself providing that the holiday gives
them the entertainment and standards of food and
accommodation they expect.
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19. comparison of typologies
• Most of the typologies attempt to group
tourists together on the basis of :
1. Destinations
2. Activities while on holiday
3. Independent travel versus package holidays.
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20. Critique of typologies
1. ‘Broad brush’ typologies based on simplistic, stereotypes cannot
hope to encompass the complex patterns of behaviour we see in
the real world.
2. Almost all the typologies do not allow for the fact that individual
consumers can move between types in response to the impact of
different determinants over time, including changes in health,
income, leisure time, and family and work commitments.
3. They also tend not to recognize that many holiday-makers do not
have autonomy over their choice of holiday destination and
vacation activities. The decision is often the result of a
compromise between the tourist and the other members of the
holiday party, whether they be friends or relatives. Therefore what
someone does on holiday may not reflect their true desires or
personality.
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21. Critique of typologies
5. Many of the most influential typologies are at least ten years old
and therefore cannot represent the many changes in consumer
behaviour which have taken place in recent years. They often
predate newer developments such as mass long-haul holiday
markets, budget cruises and the Internet, for example.
6. There is still a bias towards Europe and the USA in the vast
majority of typologies. Far less has been published on the types of
tourists found in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, for example,
which might yield very different results.
7. On the other hand, some typologies are generally used as if they
can be applied to people in all countries. They appear to ignore
national and cultural differences, which surely weakens their
validity.
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22. Critique of typologies
8. Researchers have sometimes attempted to develop generally
applicable typologies from surveys with small samples, which is, at
best, questionable.
9. Many typologies are descriptive and, as such, do not greatly help
us to increase our understanding of tourist behaviour.
10. They often ignore the fact that people may mature as tourists as
they become more experienced as travellers. As Lowyck, Van
Langenhave and Bollaert (1992) argue, it must be debatable
whether it makes sense at all to divide people into different types
without taking into account their full life spans’.
11. Too many typologies ignore the gap between professed
preferences and actual behaviour, which is an important
phenomenon in the tourism market. The gap can be caused by a
number of factors, for example social conventions, ego and, even,
self-delusion.
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23. The marketing applications of
typologies
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24. The marketing applications of typologies
• Typologies - not developed with marketing in mind
• have a potential role to play in tourism marketing.
• contribute to decisions over the product
development, price and distribution.
• Role in the field of promotion - particularly in the
design of the messages which tourism
organizations attach to their products, for different
groups of potential customers
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25. The marketing applications of typologies
For example:
• ‘travellers’ want to be convinced that the holiday
they may buy is not the type of ‘package’ bought by
‘tourists’
• Perreault, Dorden and Dorden’s ‘budget travellers’
need to be told that their prospective holiday
package represents good value for money.
• Plog’s ‘allocentrics’ need to have the adventurous
aspect of a product highlighted for them.
• Dalen’s ‘traditional idealists’ must be persuaded
that their desired destination is safe.© Aditya Ranjan

26. Market Segmentation
Dibb et al. (2001)
“The process of dividing a total market into
groups of people with relatively similar product
needs, for the purpose of designing a marketing
mix that precisely matches the needs of
individuals in a segment.”
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27. Classic market segmentation criteria
1. Geographical segmentation
2. Demographic segmentation
3. Socioeconomic segmentation
4. Psychographic segmentation
5. Behaviouristic segmentation
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28. Geographical segmentation
• Based on geographical factors.
• Widely used in tourism
1. Tour operators consider where their clients live when
deciding
2. which departure airports to offer flights from.
3. Airlines develop their routes on the basis of
geographical patterns of demand.
4. An assumption is made that people from cool
northern climates will often show a preference for
warmer southern climates when selecting their
holiday destinations.
5. The desire of urban dwellers to visit rural locations for
leisure, as a contrast with their everyday
environment. © Aditya Ranjan

29. Demographic segmentation
• Based on the demographic factors.
• Particularly popular in tourism.
1. Age – some tour operators, notably SAGA and Club
18–30 in the UK, segment their potential market,
purely in terms of age.
2. Sex – many weekend break packages and conference
partner programmes base their market on gendered
stereotypes. For instance, golf is usually seen as a
male activity while it is argued that women will prefer
shopping.
3. Religion – this is clearly at the heart of the pilgrimage
market. © Aditya Ranjan

30. Socioeconomic segmentation
• Based on socioeconomic variables.
• based on the JICNAR’s classification.
• For example, the case of the UK theme park
market is an example of the latter, with
museums and opera performances being typical
of the former.
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31. Phsycographic Segmentation
• Based on the idea that the lifestyles, attitudes, opinions
and personalities of people determine their behaviour as
consumers.
• more modern approach than the other.
1. Health farms and spas target their marketing at
consumers who aspire to lead a healthy lifestyle.
2. People who are environmentally aware and whose
lifestyle is influenced by environmental concerns are a
good target market for conservation holidays.
3. Hedonistic sun, sand, sea and sex holidays are usually
targeted at extrovert people.
4. People who seek thrills are the target market for bungee-
jumping or ‘white-knuckle rides’ at theme parks.© Aditya Ranjan

32. Behaviouristic segmentation
• Consumer - relationship with a particular
product.
1. Airline frequent flyer programmes (FFPs) are
aimed at regular users to increase loyalty to the
product and make people more enthusiastic
purchasers of the product.
2. 2 Hotels and airlines stress the quality of their
service.
3. 3 Budget tour operators, airlines and hotel
chains promote services to consumers whose
main ‘benefit sought’ is economy.
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33. A critique of Classical segmentation
Three major criticisms of the application of the classic segmentation
1. Some of the techniques are dated and have not kept pace with
changes in society; for example, the traditional family life-cycle
looks increasingly inappropriate, with the rise of divorce and
single parent families, non-related group household, and
couples who choose not to have children.
2. Some techniques fail to recognize that tourist behaviour
changes over time in response to changes in the circumstances
of each tourist. Therefore, they will move between segments
from time to time, as their income grows, their health
deteriorates or they start using the Internet to gain tourist
information.
3. Much of the market research in tourism is too poor and
unreliable to allow us to accurately implement any of these
methods. © Aditya Ranjan

34. Tourism-specific methods of segmentation
Middleton and Clarke (2001)
six ways of segmenting markets in travel and tourism
1. Purpose of travel.
2. Buyer needs, motivations, and benefits sought.
3. Buyer and user characteristics.
4. Demographic, economic and geographic
characteristics.
5. Psychographic characteristics.
6. Price.
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35. Swarbrooke (1999)
• Three extra criteria in relation to the visitor
attraction market :
1. Visitor party composition, including individual,
family group or groups of friends
2. Visit type and purpose, such as educational trips
and corporate hospitality
3. Method of travel to attractions, for instance, private
car or public transport.
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36. Refrences :
• John Swarbrooke and Susan Horner (1999). Elsevier
Ltd. 2nd ediition.
• Tourism Management (2009). Consumer Behaviour.
Hotelmule.com
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37. Thank you Everyone
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