Attracting Tourist to country: Attempting Tourist Psychographics segmentation

Background: Our client, the tourism board of Country X, intends to segment tourists into sub-segments so that
they can identify what sorts of tourism destination they can market to each of those sub-segments. At the same
time, the board can also work to support private players in investing in right kind of infrastructural and
promotional support that will direct those particular sub-segments to the right designation. The hope is that such
a segmented method will help maximise tourist footfalls and also grow inward revenue to the county.
Objective of survey: Holiday travellers have clear psychological motives and expectations that drive them to
choose the destinations that fulfil their needs. We need to group tourist on these psychographic aspects
generated from previous qualitative study.
Hypothesis: Based on qualitative work, we have identified at least 3 kinds of psychographic groups:
a. Luxury Seekers: These people go where they are assured of 5-star kind of infrastructure. For
them, luxurious experience is the primary driver. They travel with their family whom they
want to care for. They are also meticulous itinerary planners and don’t want surprises in their
travel plans.
b. The Escapist: These tourists prefer to go to places others haven’t gone to prefer nature and
environmental tourism, prefer low budget and inexpensive places, look forward to experience
over consumption, indulging themselves, willing to be surprised and have a flexible schedule
which could be changed at location to accommodate new itinerary.
c. Affluent Nomad: These are people who want the best of the above two groups, i.e. luxury as
well as experience. These people are well-travelled and well-heeled groups. They know what
they want and how to get it. They feel comfortable as travellers as they believe they know
what exactly they want from the travel.

Research Method: A large-scale global study was conducted reaching out to upper and upper middle-income
consumers through an online survey. The broad survey covered the following aspects:

Initial questions in survey

(Note: These questions have not been shown in the questionnaire but the data is included in the sample survey
data):

1) Age: 21 + years (age groups but should be 21 yrs+)

2) Socio-economic class: ABC+ (Upper to upper middle income)
3) Occupation class: Working, student etc.,
4) Education level: University degree or more
5) Travel plans: Should have taken any international leisure trips in the past 12 months or intend to take a
leisure trip in the next 12 months to at least one of the following locations:
a. Resident of US: Trips to Europe, Asia, ME, Australia / NZ, Africa
b. Resident of UK, Germany, Italy, France, Russia: Trips to Asia, ME, Australia / NZ, Africa,
America
c. Resident of India, Australia: Trips to Europe, ME, Australia, Africa, America
d. Resident of KSA, Kuwait, UAE: Any international destination

(Note to students: Some of the data collected from the above study have been omitted to make it less confusing
for you to segment tourists e.g. Q.5 Which country they would like to travel to).
Below are the 5-point Likert scale questions asked to all respondents to segment the tourists on their
pyschographics:

Q.6 When considering / planning to travel for leisure holiday purposes internationally, how much do you agree
or disagree with each of the following statements: (Please rare each statement on 5 point scale:

1: Strongly Disagree
2: Disagree
3: Neither agree nor disagree
4: Agree
5: Strongly Agree
1: When travelling I make sure everyone is well taken care of, that my friends, family or group stay together,
safe and protected
2: I spare no expense in making my holidays plans exceptional, designed exactly as I want

3: Travelling is a great opportunity to connect with others and meet new people from different cultures

4: I’m more attracted to visit places no-one has visited, hidden spots that are away from tourist crowds

5: When I travel, I prefer places that are naturally preserved

6: I am most intrigued by places that are environmentally conscious
7: I prefer traveling to unexplored territories
8: I would only travel to places where 5 stars or high-end accommodation is available

9: Travelling for me is all about luxury, I don’t mind indulging a little extra for a new experience

10: When I travel, I make a strict budget and stick to it

11: I usually travel to places that are not very expensive
12: I mostly rely on a travel agent/company for all my travel needs
13: Travelling is about spending good time with my loved ones
14: When travelling, I like to keep the itinerary relaxed and flexible
15: Traveling for me is a way to break free from my daily routine
16: Travelling is a time to be imaginative, go with the flow
17: I am usually very spontaneous and don’t like to plan too much in advance

18: I am an experienced traveller, people come to me to get recommendations

19: I am someone who makes travel plans to attend concerts, matches, events, well in advance

Some 499 respondents were interviewed and the data collected. Basis the segmentation analysis (you have all
sorts of tools available i.e. Principal Component analysis to reduce variables, Hierarchical segmentation, K
Cluster, Decision tree etc.,), the client team identified the following 7 segments (more than the 3 segment initial
hypotheses):

1. Care Giver
2. Intrepid Nature
3. The Luxe Seeker
4. The Opportunity Maximizer
5. Free Spirited
6. Wanderlust Nomads
7. The Planner

Note: This classification is available in column C named as “SEGMENT.”

The characteristics of these seven segments based on the clustering and tabulating on mean score (of the 5-point
score) is as follows:

Segmentation previously implemented

When considering / planning to travel for
leisure holiday purposes internationally, how Intrepi The The Free
much do you agree or disagree with each of Care d Luxe Opportunity Spirite Wanderlust The
the following statements: Giver Nature Seeker Maximizer d Nomads Planner
Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean Mean
1: When travelling I make sure everyone is well
taken care of, that my friends, family or group 4.73 4.29 4.47 4.35 4.23 4.09 4.16
stay together, safe and protected
2: I spare no expense in making my holidays
plans exceptional, designed exactly as I want 4.63 3.96 4.04 4.21 3.29 3.99 3.90

3: Travelling is a great opportunity to connect

with others and meet new people from 4.63 4.41 4.51 4.32 4.18 4.31 4.19
different cultures
4: I’m more attracted to visit places no-one has
visited, hidden spots that are away from 3.96 4.65 4.27 4.22 3.49 4.24 3.88
tourist crowds
5: When I travel, I prefer places that are naturally
4.29 4.72 4.27 4.43 3.96 4.27 4.21
preserved
6: I am most intrigued by places that are
4.12 4.59 4.21 4.30 3.80 4.13 4.24
environmentally conscious
7: I prefer traveling to unexplored territories 3.90 4.64 4.10 4.14 3.42 4.09 3.83
8: I would only travel to places where 5 stars or
high-end accommodation is available 3.45 3.07 4.83 4.21 2.72 3.07 3.42

9: Travelling for me is all about luxury, I don’t

mind indulging a little extra for a new 4.04 3.70 4.71 4.19 3.40 3.73 3.85
experience
10: When I travel, I make a strict budget and stick
3.12 3.55 3.70 4.56 3.35 3.47 3.48
to it
11: I usually travel to places that are not very
3.16 3.57 3.56 4.57 3.11 3.41 3.33
expensive
12: I mostly rely on a travel agent/company for all
3.51 3.45 3.90 4.57 2.92 3.19 3.86
my travel needs
13: Travelling is about spending good time with my
4.45 4.30 4.43 4.16 4.67 4.26 4.36
loved ones
14: When travelling, I like to keep the itinerary
4.22 4.41 4.44 4.17 4.43 4.11 4.31
relaxed and flexible
15: Traveling for me is a way to break free from
4.47 4.23 4.40 4.29 4.58 4.13 4.19
my daily routine
16: Travelling is a time to be imaginative, go with
4.24 4.26 4.44 4.37 4.07 4.60 3.97
the flow
17: I am usually very spontaneous and don’t like to
plan too much in advance 3.31 3.39 3.88 3.98 3.01 4.66 3.47

18: I am an experienced traveller, people come to

me to get recommendations 3.96 3.97 4.30 4.37 3.54 3.87 4.71

19: I am someone who makes travel plans to

attend concerts, matches, events, well in 3.94 3.94 4.13 4.22 3.22 3.76 4.65
advance

Attempt various tools you have learnt from your BRM course and apply to replicate this above segmentation or
improve upon this segmentation