Using national survey data on the long-haul pleasure travel market in the UK,
this study compared British travellers bound for Asian, North American and
Oceanic destinations on three different psychographic dimensions. Significant
differences were found among the three travel groups in trael philosophies,
travel benefits sought and destination attribute preferences. In contrast,
demographic and socio-economic variables were found to be ineffective in
differentiating the British travellers. The research findings provided further
empirical evidence of the valuable role that psychographic factors, such as
attitudes and preferences, can play in understanding travel decision making. The
results also indicated that destination areas should identify the benefits and
attributes that are most highly valued by travellers from key countryof-origin
target markets. Furthe, the study suggested that there was good reason for
closer marketing alliances among individual countries within a region. Within
each of the three broad travel regions reviewed in this study there existed more
homogeneity, while between regions there appeared to be more heterogeneity in
the psychographic variables.
