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Using the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) to predict holiday

preferences

Article in Personality and Individual Differences · January 2004

DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00074-6

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 Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153
www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

Using the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) to

predict holiday preferences
Peter Eachus*
School of Community, Health Sciences and Social Care, University of Salford,
Frederick Road, Salford M6 7QU, UK

Received 1 July 2002; received in revised form 2 December 2002; accepted 27 January 2003

Abstract
The aim of this research was to examine the utility of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) in pre-
dicting holiday preferences. The BSSS was administered to a convenience sample of 300 participants and of
these 111 were returned. Holiday preferences were determined using a four factor scale designed to assess
preferences for holidays whose central theme could be described as either, Adventurous, Beach, Cultural,
or Indulgent. The results of this survey confirmed the psychometric properties of the BSSS and showed
that it had utility in predicting holiday preferences. Significant correlations with the BSSS were obtained
for Adventurous holiday preferences, Beach preferences, and Indulgent preferences. Within the four sub-
scales of the BSSS, Experience Seeking was significantly correlated with Adventurous and Indulgent holi-
day preferences. Boredom Susceptibility was significantly correlated with Beach holiday preferences, as
was Thrill and Adventure Seeking. Finally Disinhibition was found to be significantly correlated with
Beach and Cultural holiday preferences. It was concluded that the sensation seeking personality, as mea-
sured using the BSSS scale, was predictive of holiday preferences.
# 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

At the beginning of the 21st century global tourism represents one of the major growth areas in
the economies of both the developed and the developing world. Even in Manchester (the home
town of the author), what was once a grim city in the north west of England, the city from which
the world wide industrial revolution began, the growth in the tourist industry now outstrips all
other forms of economic growth. Why would anyone choose to holiday in Manchester, a town

* Tel.: +44-161-295-2428; fax: +44-161-295-2427.

E-mail address: p.eachus@salford.ac.uk (P. Eachus).

0191-8869/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00074-6
142 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153

famed for being wet and grey? Indeed, what are the factors that influence the behaviour of people
when choosing any holiday destination? The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played
by personality, and in particular sensation seeking, in determining tourist choice. Considering the
size and impact the tourist industry has had in recent years there is remarkably little research on
the psychology of tourism. Jackson, White, & White (2001) examined the citations associated
with ‘‘Annals of Tourism Research’’ between the years 1984 and 2000 and found only one
personality reference out of the 320 publications. One of the few published studies is that of
Gilchrist, Povey, Dickinson, and Parey (1995) who used the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS),
(Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Eysenck, 1978) to examine the characteristics of people choosing
‘adventure holidays’. People who had recently returned from an adventure holiday were com-
pared with a control group and were found to differ significantly on total scores and on the Thrill
and Adventure Seeking sub scale of the SSS. The Sensation Seeking Scale is a personality
measure characterised by ‘‘the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences
and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences’’ (Zucker-
man, 1979, p. 10). People who score highly on the SSS seem to be drawn to activities that are of
high risk, e.g. sexual risk-taking, (Hoyle, Feifar, & Miller, 2000), reckless driving (Heino, van der
Molen & Wilde, 1996), smoking, (Zuckerman, Ball, & Black 1990) alcohol use (Stacy, Newcomb,
& Bentler, 1993) and the use of illegal drugs (Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta, & Kraft,
1993). Despite this positive finding of Gilchrist et al., the authors concluded that the Sensation
Seeking Scale (SSS) needed updating if it was to become an adequate psychometric tool for use in
tourism research.
A revised version of the sensation seeking scale has now been published, the Brief Sensation
Seeking Scale or BSSS (Hoyle, Stephenson, Palmgreen, Larch, & Donohew, 2002), and many of
the deficiencies of the original scale have now been remedied. The new scale is much shorter, only
8 items compared with 40 in the original, the wording of the items has been brought up to date,
and a Likert format has been substituted for the forced choice format in the original scale.
Although the new scale has been standardised on over 7000 young people, it has not yet been
used in an applied setting like psychotourism.
One of the few researchers in this field to develop a tourism specific theory of personality is Plog
(1972, 1987, 1991) who has suggested a psychocentric–allocentric dimension of personality. The
original work stemmed from research that sought to find out why people on above average
incomes refused to use air travel to reach their destinations. It was found that these people tended
to be more anxious than average, were not venturesome, and felt they had very little control over
their lives. In contrast, allocentrics were found to be adventurous and to prefer many varied
experiences. In tourism terms, Jackson et al. (2001) suggest that the psychocentrics would prefer
package holidays where everything was prebooked, they prefer familiar destinations, to be around
people from their own culture, and to drive rather than fly to their destinations. Allocentrics are
explorers, they prefer adventurous experiences away from traditional tourist routes, they like being
part of other cultures and are happy to accept basic amenities. They are more likely to be inde-
pendent travellers, avoiding organised tourism and preferring to holiday in relatively unknown
destinations. The predictive validity of the allocentric–psychocentric dimension of personality is
rather ambiguous. Smith (1990) developed a 21-item tourism personality scale and using a multi-
national sample investigated the relationship between tourist behaviour and the allocentric–
psychocentric dimension of personality. No significant relationship was observed. One of the few
 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153 143

studies to find a significant relationship between tourist behaviour and allocentric–psychocentric

personality was that of Griffith and Albanese (1966) who found a significant correlation (r=0.23,
P<0.05) between allocentric/psychocentric personality type and actual travel behaviour.
There also appears to be a relationship between Eysenck’s extraversion dimension of person-
ality and Plog’s allocentricism and psychocentricism. Lee-Hoxter and Lester (1988) found a small
but significant correlation between allocentricism and extraversion as measured with the Eysenck
Personality Inventory (EPI) (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1970). This finding should not be too surprising
given the description of the allocentric personality type that does appear to be that of an outgoing
gregarious type of person.
Jackson, Schmierer, and White (1999) have also examined the relationship between extraver-
sion and allocentricism/psychocentricism and although they failed to find a significant corre-
lation, factor analysis of all the items from the two scales revealed a two factor solution with
Factor 1 essentially made up of extraversion items and Factor 2 allocentric items. This would
suggest that the two constructs are in fact independent of each other and therefore tourists and
their destination choices may best be described by two dimensions of personality rather than one.

Fig 1. A two dimensional tourist personality typology (adapted from Jackson et al., 2001).
144 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153

The model that follows from these findings has been proposed by Jackson et al. (2001) and is
illustrated in Fig. 1.
This model provides descriptors for four distinct personality types based on the two dimensions of
extraversion/introversion and allocentricism/psychocentricism. Jackson et al. (2001) then go further
in that they suggest the types of behaviour that should be typical of tourists with these different per-
sonality types. These have been superimposed on the model and are shown in italics in Fig. 1.
Thinking about these four personality types in terms of holiday preferences it is suggested in
this study that the following would be typical.
The Explorer: This will involve self travel, own organisation, getting to the culture and the
people. Will tend to be secluded, away from crowds. Will involve a degree of self-enrichment,
excitement and challenge, e.g. trekking in Borneo. Climbing in remote regions or perhaps single-
handed sailing across oceans.
The Adventurer: Similar to above but emphasis on travelling with others, friends or other
tourists, e.g. overland trips as part of group of friends, sailing with others.
The Guided: Holidays in home country, tends to go to the same place year after year. May be
simple as in the British holiday camp/resort or it may verge on the more luxurious, e.g. Club Med, or
an annual cruise on the same ship/destination, or staying in the same five star hotel each year.
The Groupie: In Britain this would be the typical Club 18–30 person. . . a packaged holiday but
with lots going on for young people, lots of activities, chance to meet other young people, lots of
nightlife, sun, sand and sex.
One of the difficulties in using the typology suggested by Jackson et al. (2001) is that there
appears to be a great deal of overlap and ambiguity in terms of how these typologies might
translate into holiday preferences. For example, the Explorer and the Adventurer typologies
appear to be very similar, the only real difference being that the Explorer prefers to holiday alone
whereas the Adventurer like the company of others. The Guided person prefers everything to be
organised, as in a packaged tour, but then so does the young person on a Club 18–30 holiday, i.e.
the Groupie. Obviously these ambiguities need to be resolved before this typology can be used as
a psychometric instrument for evaluating holiday preferences.
In the research to be presented in this paper it is proposed to take these descriptors and tourist
personality types and to use them as a basis for a scale which will be used to identify four specific
tourism choices. In the model proposed by Jackson et al. (2001) personality was used as the basis
of the typology. In the research described in this paper it is proposed to modify this typology so
that rather than looking at tourist personality a more objective measure of tourist choice might be
used which can then be operationalised in terms of four distinct holiday preferences, thus:
Adventurous preference: People who prefer adventurous holidays are likely to be independent
travellers, like to be doing active things when on holiday, don’t mind roughing it, and prefer
remote and unusual places to the more ‘‘touristy’’ destinations.
Beach preference: Beach people are looking for a holiday in which they spend a great deal of
time lying in the sun not doing very much at all. They like to be part of a crowd, want a holiday
with lots of action and nightlife. Their holiday has probably been booked through a travel agent
or tour operator.
Cultural preference: People who express a cultural preference are likely to want to learn some-
thing new on their holiday. This might involve visits to museums or art galleries, but it might also
be more ‘‘hands on’’, as in learning a new skill like painting or music. They see holidays as a
 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153 145

cultural experience and as such will always try to make the most of it, e.g. meeting locals, trying
to speak the language, and trying local food.
Indulgent preference: For some people holidays should be about being pampered. Those with
Indulgent preferences want the best they can afford in every respect, hotels, food, resort. They
almost certainly eat and drink too much while on holiday, but see that as an integral part of the
holiday experience. While the person with Cultural preferences might want to spend time in a
gallery or at the opera, the indulgent person is more likely to be found shopping!
It should be noted of course that even with this preference typology there is a certain degree of
overlap. One person’s beach holiday will be another person’s indulgent holiday. For others, a
holiday break in a Mediterranean resort might seem very adventurous compared with (say) a
week in their usual home resort. These overlaps are inevitable and the degree to which they can be
minimised in the development of a scale like this has to be empirically determined.
The main hypothesis to be tested in this investigation is that the BSSS and its subscales will
have some utility in predicting holiday preferences.

2. Method

2.1. Participants

A convenience sample of 111 participants made up of staff and students from the University of
Salford was obtained for this study. The age range of the sample was 17–75 years with a mean of
36.13 and a S.D. of 13.80. The gender split was 67 females and 39 males, five people did not
provide this information. It should be noted that the responders in this study were of course self-
selecting and because all responses were anonymous it was not possible to make any comparisons
between responders and nonresponders.

2.2. Instruments

2.2.1. The Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) (Hoyle et al., 2002)
This scale measures sensation seeking using four subscales, two items per sub scale. See Table 1
for details of the items.

Experience Seeking—the need to seek out new experiences.

Boredom Susceptibility—the tendency to become restless and the need for the unpredictable.
Thrill and Adventure Seeking—the need for excitement and adventure.
Disinhibition—the tendency to ignore societal inhibitions.

The BSSS is comprised of eight items, two per subscale and uses a five-point Likert format from
strongly agree through to strongly disagree for responses.

2.2.2. The Holiday Preferences scale

This scale measures holiday preferences using four subscales (10 items for each) as described
earlier. Examples of items used in these sub scales are provided below:
146 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153

Table 1
Items and descriptive statistics for the BSSS compared with present study

Item M SD Corrected
item-total r

Experience seeking
I would like to explore strange places. 4.07 (3.98) 0.97 (0.97) 0.19 (0.38)
I would like to take off on a trip with no pre-planned routes or timetables. 3.47 (3.94) 1.29 (1.19) 0.26 (0.41)
Sub scale Total 7.54 (7.92) 1.78 (n/a)
Boredom Susceptibility
I get restless when I spend too much time at home. 3.33 (4.18) 1.25 (1.00) 0.12 (0.31)
I prefer friends who are excitingly unpredictable. 3.14 (3.59) 1.03 (0.99) 0.41 (0.54)
Sub scale Total 6.57 (7.77) 1.73 (n/a)
Thrill and Adventure Seeking
I like to do frightening things. 2.63 (3.47) 1.21 (1.16) 0.62 (0.58)
I would like to try bungee jumping. 2.57 (3.71) 1.55 (1.45) 0.50 (0.44)
Sub scale Total 5.20 (7.18) 2.50 (n/a)
Disinhibition
I like wild parties. 2.38 (3.83) 1.31 (1.15) 0.49 (0.51)
I would love to have new and exciting experiences, even if they are illegal. 2.50 (3.17) 1.26 (1.30) 0.56 (0.56)
Sub scale Total 4.88 (7.00) 2.17 (n/a)
Scale Total 3.01 (3.74) 0.59 (0.71) 0.71 (0.76)a

BSSS study n=1263. Present study n=111.

a
Coefficient alpha.

Adventurous Preference
I would much prefer trekking to lying on a beach.
Roughing it while on holiday doesn’t bother me.
Beach Preference
My ideal holiday involves spending a lot of time lying on a beach.
My favourite type of holiday includes lots of sun, sand and nightlife.
Cultural Preference
Whenever I go on holiday I always make an effort to visit a local museum or art gallery.
Travel and holidays should be about enriching your own knowledge.
Indulgent Preference
My ideal holiday would be a luxury cruise
I think I would enjoy a holiday being pampered at a health spa

Each subscale is assessed using ten items with a five-point Likert format as used for the BSSS.
The minimum and maximum scores that can be obtained for each sub scale are 10 and 50
respectively. The higher the score on a particular sub scale the greater the preference exhibited for
that type of holiday.

2.3. Procedure

The items from the BSSS and the Holiday Preferences Scale were randomly combined to form a
questionnaire that was called the Interests and Preferences Survey. Participants were recruited by
 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153 147

post and email by sending them a request to participate in the research attached to a copy of the
questionnaire. The request made it clear that no names were required and all responses would
remain confidential, the only personal details requested were age and gender. Completed ques-
tionnaires were to be returned to a central collection point in the administration area of the
University. In total 300 questionnaires were distributed and two weeks allowed for completion
and return.

3. Results

Of the 300 questionnaires distributed, 111 were returned, a response rate of 37%, an acceptable
level for this type of survey. The BSSS is a new scale and its psychometric properties should be
confirmed by other studies. In Table 1 the item and descriptive statistics for the data gathered in
this survey and for the original BSSS study (in parentheses) are compared. In drawing these
comparisons it should be noted that there were very wide differences between the two groups,
both in sample size and composition and therefore any conclusions must be treated as tentative at
best.
The means and standard deviations for the two groups across all eight items are reasonably
consistent. There is a slight tendency for the standard deviations of the present study to be greater
than those for the BSSS but this probably reflects the greater heterogeneity of the sample in the
present study. The data in the BSSS study was obtained from a sample of school children, age
range 13–17 years whereas in the present study the age range was much wider, 17–75 years and
this may account for the greater variability in response. The overall item analysis for this study
appears to indicate that the BSSS is not as reliable as the authors claim and there seems to be a
particular problem with the first item of the Boredom Susceptibility scale which showed a cor-
rected item-total r of only 0.12 compared with 0.31 for the BSSS study.
In the original BSSS study the authors also looked for response differences in ethnicity and
gender. They reported that African-Americans tended to score slightly lower on the BSSS com-
pared with other ethnic groups but no differences were found when genders were compared. The
present study did not look at ethnicity as a variable but a comparison of gender was made. No
significant differences were found for either the BSSS scale as a whole or any of the sub scales,
supporting the findings of Hoyle et al. (2002) in the original study.

3.1. Predicting holiday preferences

The main aim of the present study was to examine the utility of the BSSS in predicting holiday
choice preferences. Descriptive statistics and alpha coefficients for the holiday preferences scale
are shown in Table 2. Each sub scale contained 10 items which were scored on a five-point Likert
scale and therefore the minimum and maximum scores that could be obtained were 10 and 50,
respectively.
The reliability of the subscales (Cronbach’s Alpha), with the possible exception of Adventure
Preference which is on the low side, reached acceptable levels.
The differences in expressed holiday preferences were examined using the nonparametric
Friedman test and were found to be statistically significant, (Chi2=109.183, df=3, P< 0.0001),
148 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153

Table 2
Descriptive statistics and alpha coefficients for the Holiday Preferences Scale

M SD alpha N

Adventure preference 36.55 5.35 0.66 111

Beach preference 24.46 7.18 0.80 110
Cultural preference 35.33 6.24 0.77 111
Indulgent preference 26.67 7.00 0.73 111

with participants preferring Adventure holidays to the greatest extent and Beach holidays the
least.
Differences in the total scores of the sub scales of the BSSS (Table 1) were also examined using
the Friedman test.
The differences are statistically significant (Chi2 =92.38, df=3, P<0.0001) and although direct
comparisons cannot be made with the Holiday Preferences scale it is interesting to note that
participants score most highly on the Experience Seeking subscale and that this most closely
resembles the Adventure preferences subscale on the Holiday Preferences scale.
To examine the relationship between the BSSS and the scores on the Holiday Preferences Scale,
Spearman’s rho was used and the correlation matrix is shown in Table 3. The table shows the
correlations between age, BSSS, and the Holiday Preferences subscales, i.e. Adventurous (adve),
Beach, Cultural (cultur) and Indulgent (indul). For completeness the BSSS sub scales of Experi-
ence seeking (exp), Boredom Susceptibility (bord), Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) and
Disinhibition (disin) are also shown.

3.2. Age, sensation seeking and holiday preferences

Although many of the correlations were significant in the predicted directions, others require
further discussion. The BSSS was developed using, in the main, groups of adolescents aged 13–17

Table 3
Correlation matrix for age, BSSS and holiday preferences

BSSS adve beach cultur indul exp bord TAS disin

age 0.34** 0.35** .72** 0.45** 0.30** 0.18* 0.11 .45** .44**
BSSS 1.00 0.34** 0.43** 0.05 0.04 0.53** 0.54** 0.80** 0.79**
adve 1.00 .31** 0.55** 0.57** 0.61** 0.12 0.21* 0.10
beach 1.00 0.39** 0.48** .19* 0.22** 0.46** 0.57**
cultur 1.00 0.30** 0.25** 0.01 0.10 0.19*
indul 1.00 0.43** 0.04 0.01 0.11
exp 1.00 0.17* 0.24** 0.23**
bord 1.00 0.13 0.22**
TAS 1.00 0.56**
disin 1.00

* P< 0.05 (1-tailed).

** P< 0.01 (1-tailed).
 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153 149

years and no significant differences were found in the scores obtained by these different age
groups (Hoyle et al., 2002). However, as a concept, it would seem reasonable that a trait such as
sensation seeking might be more characteristic of younger people rather than their older coun-
terparts. In the study reported here, the age range is considerably wider and the predicted
hypothesis of a negative relationship between age and BSSS is confirmed, (r= 0.34, P< 0.01).
Given this finding, the positive correlation between age and a preference for Adventurous holi-
days (r=0.35, P<0.01) appears somewhat contradictory. Older people tend not to prefer Beach
holidays (r= 0.72, P<0.01), but do express Cultural holiday preferences (r=0.46, P< 0.01),
both findings that would be expected. It was predicted that because, in part, older people are
more likely to have a greater disposable income than the young, they would be more likely to
prefer Indulgent holidays, this does not appear to be the case, if anything the reverse is true
(r= 0.30, P<0.001). The relationships between age and the BSSS sub scales are largely what
were expected with older people scoring lower on the Thrill and Sensation Seeking scale and the
Disinhibition scale. There is a significant but small correlation with Experience Seeking, but no
relationship was found with Boredom Susceptibility; older people it seems are just as susceptible
to boredom as the young.

3.3. Holiday Preferences and Sensation seeking

It was predicted that people who score highly on the BSSS would tend to prefer Adventurous
type holidays and this was confirmed (r=0.34, p< 0.01). Those people who prefer Beach holidays
also score highly on the BSSS scale (r=0.43, P<0.01) and this was to be expected since many of
the items on this sub scale refer to the enjoyment of crowds, nightlife and other activities that
sensation seekers might be expected to prefer. A negative correlation was predicted for the rela-
tionship between BSSS scores and a preference for Cultural holidays since people with a strong
need for stimulation are not likely to be happy spending their time in art galleries, quiet museums
or admiring architecture. In fact the correlation obtained was small and failed to reach sig-
nificance ( r= 0.05, ns). The relationship between BSSS and preferences for Indulgent holidays
was more difficult to predict. This sub scale was operationalised in terms of ‘‘lazy’’ self indulgent
activities, e.g. being pampered, waited on and so on. It was assumed that these preferences would
not be those of people who were sensation seekers since sensation seeking can be quite physically
demanding! The findings suggest that there is little or no relationship between these two variables
and they may well best be considered as independent constructs. At this stage in the analysis it
must be concluded that the BSSS scale as a whole is only successful in predicting Adventurous
and Beach holiday preferences.
One difficulty faced by this study is that age may in fact be having a confounding influence on
the correlations obtained. When age is controlled and a partial correlation matrix computed the
results are indeed somewhat different from those depicted in Table 3.
Comparing the partial correlation coefficients in Table 4 with the correlations in Table 3,
reveals the extent to which age has had an influence. The main hypothesis in this study is con-
cerned with predicting holiday preferences from scores obtained with the BSSS. From Table 4 it
can be seen that ability of the BSSS to predict Adventurous and Beach holiday preferences holds
up, Cultural holiday preferences remains unchanged but the prediction of Indulgent holiday
preferences now reaches statistical significance and in the direction predicted (r= 0.25, P< 0.01).
150 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153

Table 4
Partial correlation matrix controlling for age

BSSS adve beach cultur indul exp Bord TAS disin

BSSS 1.00 0.53** 0.28** 0.05 0.25** 0.63** 0.53** 0.75** 0.75**
adve 1.00 0.19* 0.47** 0.49** 0.57** 0.15 0.42** 0.27**
beach 1.00 0.16 0.37** 0.08 0.26** 0.25** 0.30**
cultur 1.00 0.12 0.18* 0.03 0.09 0.18*
indul 1.00 0.42** 0.06 0.17* 0.05
exp 1.00 0.12 0.30** 0.32**
bord 1.00 0.15 0.25**
TAS 1.00 0.42**
disin 1.00

* P< 0.05 (1-tailed).

** P< 0.01 (1-tailed).

People who score highly on the need for sensation seeking do not tend to prefer the Indulgent
type of holiday. Looking at changes in the relationships between the BSSS subscales and holiday
preferences it can be seen that there is now a significant correlation between Disinhibition scores
and Adventure preferences (r=0.27 P<0.01), a positive correlation as would be predicted. The
correlation between Boredom Susceptibility and preferences for Beach holidays has changed sig-
nificantly after controlling for age. Previously there had been a positive correlation (r=0.22,
P<0.01) between these variables, this has now become negative (r= 0.26, P< 0.01). Intuitively
this makes sense since it might be expected that younger people would be more susceptible to
boredom than those who are older. It is also more consistent with the finding that Beach holiday
preference is negatively correlated with age (r= 0.72, P<0.01); young people are more likely to
prefer sun, sand and sea holidays, than are older people.
Another change in the results which points to greater consistency is the correlation between the
Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS) sub scale and preferences for Indulgent holidays. Previously
there was no significant correlation between these two variables, this has now become modestly
significant (r= 0.17, P<0.05) indicating that those people who prefer Indulgence tend to avoid
thrills and adventures.
A significant change in the correlations that is more difficult to interpret is that between Beach
and Cultural holiday preferences. This has gone from being a significant negative correlation
(r= 0.39, P<0.01) to now being not significant at all (r= 0.16, ns). The negative correlation
made sense in that it showed that people who prefer cultural holidays don’t like lying around on
beaches. Now after controlling for age this significant correlation has disappeared suggesting that
age was the factor responsible. It now appears that it is not so much that people with cultural
preferences don’t like beach holidays, rather it is that older people are more likely to express
preferences for Cultural holidays.
A similar argument can be made for the change in the correlation between Cultural and
Indulgent preferences. If age is not controlled a significant negative correlation is observed
(r= 0.30, P<0.01), a correlation which is quite difficult to explain. When age is controlled for,
the significance disappears (r= 0.12, ns) suggesting that it is age that is responsible for this
spurious relationship.
 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153 151

4. Discussion

This study sought to examine the utility of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) (Hoyle et
al., 2002) in predicting holiday preferences and in this it has been moderately successful. There
were some sampling issues with the present study, for example the responders to this survey were
self-selecting and there is no way of knowing how they may have differed from the non-
responders. The sample size utilised was small compared with the 1000+ in the Hoyle et al.
(2002) study and it was also more varied, particularly in terms of age. Nevertheless, and accepting
the constraints of this more heterogeneous sample, the psychometric properties of the BSSS do
appear to gain some support. A much more extensive survey would be required to instil greater
confidence in these findings. However, it is tentatively concluded that the findings reported in this
study do suggest that the BSSS may have wider applicability than the authors originally envi-
saged, and in the context of the present study, this would include the interface between psychol-
ogy and tourism research.
The central thesis in this research has been that an individual’s need for sensation will manifest
itself in terms of their expressed holiday preferences. Implicit in this is the notion that different
types of holidays provide different degrees of stimulation or sensation. People who want a quiet
holiday, away from the crowds, are not going to be happy in a bustling resort that caters mainly
for noisy young people, and vice versa. People will choose holidays that reflect certain aspects of
their personality and it was suggested here that sensation seeking would be an important feature
of that personality; the findings of this research support this thesis. For the most part the rela-
tionships that exist between sensation seeking and expressed holiday preferences are what would
be expected and have been predicted. People with a high need for sensation tend to prefer holi-
days that will provide them with higher levels of stimulation. Thus those people who score highly
on the BSSS want adventure experiences, they want excitement, nightlife, and to some extent,
danger. They tend not to want to spend their time on the more passive cultural activities, e.g
looking at art, exploring the history of a locality, or learning about the language and customs of
the people. This conclusion should however be treated with a degree of caution. There is probably
a closer degree of similarity between items on the Experience Seeking sub scale and the preference
for Adventurous holidays than any of the other sub scale items. The effect of this would be to
increase the correlations found and suggest a stronger relationship than perhaps actually exists.
Similarly, the Experience Seeking items may also produce stronger negative correlations with
other holiday preferences because they are more opposed to items contained within these other
scales. Thus the large positive and negative relationships between Experience Seeking and Holi-
day Preferences sub scales may be exaggerated to some extent.
There also appears to be a group of people who score in between the two extremes of the BSSS
and whose expressed holiday preference tend to involve luxury and self-indulgence. These people
are moderate sensation seekers whose appetites are satiated by more Epicurean delights. For
these people, lazing by a pool, preferably in an exclusive hotel or resort, where they are waited on
and every whim catered for, this is their ideal holiday. Inevitably, holiday preferences will be
determined by multiple factors of which sensation seeking is only one. Nothing has been said
about other motivators, e.g. how much a person can afford to spend on a holiday, topographical
preferences, climate and so on. Of course all these things will be of importance in determining
ultimate preferences. Even within holiday preferences as defined in this study there will be over-
152 P. Eachus / Personality and Individual Differences 36 (2004) 141–153

laps. A beach holiday taken by a family is likely to be a more quiet affair than a beach holiday
taken by a group of young people; they may both express preferences for a beach holiday, but
they may conceptualise this in very different ways. Lots of holidays will combine elements of the
different sub scales. For example should a sailing holiday be considered as adventurous or lux-
urious, it depends of course on the type of sailing. In this study these types of differences have,
hopefully, been accommodated through the item structure of the Holiday Preferences scale, but
further work is needed on this scale to improve validity and reliability.
Further research in this area might want to evaluate the relative importance of personality
factors compared with other motivators in determining holiday preferences. Multivariate
approaches would undoubtedly improve the efficacy of models that attempt to predict holiday
preferences. Sensation seeking and the BSSS do appear to have a role in such a model, but how
sensation seeking, or indeed other personality factors, might interact with different sources of
motivation awaits empirical investigation

5. Conclusion

This study has shown that there does appear to be a significant relationship between the per-
sonality trait of sensation seeking and expressed holiday preferences. People with a high need for
sensation will tend to prefer the type of holiday that can meet that need and vice versa. It was
concluded that sensation seeking may play an important part in the complex of motivations that
ultimately lead to holiday choice. Further work is needed to identify other motivators and
establish how they interact with personality to determine holiday preferences.

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