To take Dr. Plog's quiz click here.
What do the following questions/statements have to do with the type of vacation you like to take?
- I find I often get bored at parties that most people seem to enjoy.
- I have friends over to my house frequently.
- Chance has little to do with the successes I’ve had in my life.
According to Dr. Stanley Plog they, along with others, have everything to do with the type of traveler you are and therefore the type of vacation that would be best suited to you.
There are two types of information that help define who each of us is, and the type of traveler we are. The first is demographic information. This information is very easy to determine and includes our age, gender, income level, marital status, and educational level. The second is psychographic information. This is harder to measure and describes a person’s personality and “lifestyle”. For instance, describing someone as a Romantic would be a psychographic description.
Stanley Plog determined that there are several classifications of information that help define a travel “personality” within the psychographic category. They include:
Activities – physical activities of lifestyle like golf, exercise, and sailing
Interests - non physical life elements such as music, history, and learning opportunities
Opinions – strong attitudes and values
In a 1974 study, Dr. Plog identified six types of tourists, or travel personalities, based on psychographic characteristics. The travel personalities include; Authentics, Mid-Authentics, Centric Authentics, Centric Venturers, Mid-Venturers and Venturers. Now, picture these as a continuum or bell curve, with Authentics on one side, Venturers on the other and the other four in the middle forming the shape of a bell. Plog determined that the majority of people fall into the Centric Authentic and Centric Venturer classifications with 30% in each. He also determined that Authentics make up 2%, Mid-Authentics 17%, Mid Venturers 17%, and Venturers make up 4% of travel personalities.
He has defined each of these characteristics in order to determine the type of travelers we are. Authentics like structure, have constant common values, are easy going and arevery sociable. They tend to like travel to well known established destinations with pre-planned and organized activities. Centrics are flexible and adaptable, have diverse interests, seek comfort and appreciate some structure (but with limits). They like to sample new destinations, are open to many types of travel and are attracted to domestic and foreign travel without being too exotic. The Venturers are very active, are put off by too much structure, are willing to take small risks to see a new destination, and will sacrifice comfort to experience something new. They like exploring unique places and cultures, are drawn to authentic experiences and enjoy exploring on their own. Each of us will fit into one of these classifications even though we may have characteristics from one or more of the others as well.
So, why do these matter? Well, if we know the type of travel personality we have we can more easily figure out the best vacation for us. The more in line our vacation is with our personality, the more we will enjoy it and the happier we will be! For instance, A Venturer participating in an organized tour of England on a tour bus with 40 other tourists with a time limit at each stop will probably go stir crazy and have a terrible time. Whereas, an Authentic is more likely to feel completely safe and comfortable and have a wonderful time with the new experiences.
The great news is that there are vacations out there for every type of travel personality! To take Dr. Plog's quiz click here.
