Tell Me Who You Think You Are and I Tell You How You Travel. Exploring the Viability of Market Segmentation by Means of Travelers' Stated Personality: Insights from a Mature Market (Switzerland)

Abstract

People travel to different destinations for different reasons. In this study, we investigate the viability of market segmentation by personal traits (based on and exemplified by Jungian's MBTI variables) of travelers from Switzerland, by performing a data-driven a posteriori segmentation by means of k-means clustering. To identify the segmentation power of personal traits, this analysis is complemented with a multiple discriminant analysis as well as a number of contingency tests to identify differences between the segments. We identified four clearly definable segments, which differ in terms of the psychographic traits of the segment members but also in terms of some sociodemographic characteristics as well as travel profiles. Despite a growing body of work on classical market segmentation, there is a growing but still limited number of works on potentialities of psychographic approaches relating to a traveler's traits and/or personality as a segmentation basis in tourism.

Different native languages as proxy for cultural differences in travel behaviour: insights from multilingual Switzerland

“…The GERMAN group appears to be more active, the FRENCH group seems to be the more sensitive one, most likely also due to their personalities (as shown in another paper; Laesser and Zehrer, 2012). If language confounds personality or the other way around remains to be seen; from our results, we cannot draw any conclusions with regard to that.…”

“…Once reaching the destination, they choose different types of accommodation. The high share of the French-speaking travellers with regard to staying at friends and relatives potentially stems -as already discussed previously in a different domain -potentially from their different personality, which is more extroverted and communicative than the personality of German-speaking travellers (Laesser and Zehrer, 2012). This choice of accommodation, in turn, is associated with different levels of expenditures (higher by the German-speaking travellers).…”

La personalidad del turista como criterio de segmentación de destinos de sol y playa: una aplicación al destino Gran Canaria

“…Si bien, podemos destacar algunos trabajos que avalan la influencia de las características sociodemográficas analizadas en la personalidad (Burton et al, 2007;Laesser y Zehrer, 2012;Tan y Tang, 2013Xu et al, 2012;Zuckerman, 2004), es preciso señalar que adolecen del carácter integrador de esta investigación y de la utilización conjunta de los cinco grandes rasgos de personalidad y la búsqueda de sensaciones, de ahí la relevancia académica de este trabajo.…”

“…El turismo se ha convertido en un sector clave en la economía mundial, y más especialmente en destinos maduros ya consolidados, en los que es preciso apostar por la diferenciación como estrategia para poder mantener cifras positivas cada año, que sólo puede conseguirse a través de una buena segmentación basada en un conocimiento más profundo de los turistas, más allá de sus características sociodemográficas (Laesser y Zehrer, 2012).…”

Exploring the Shopping Motivations of International Residential Tourists

“…The appearance and consolidation of new market segments (Laesser & Zehrer, 2012) is leading to an acceleration in change processes in society in 2 DE JUAN-VIGARAY AND GARAU-VADELL spending long periods of time in the host community, they adapt sufficiently and it is not necessary to adopt commercial strategies that differ from those aimed at local residents. On the other hand, it may be thought that these residential tourists continue to maintain their own consumer habits and shopping motivations, different from those of the host community and therefore it is necessary to place emphasis on product ranges specifically designed for them.…”