In the competitive travel and tour industry, thorough customer understanding is essential for differentiation and success. Companies in this sector utilize frequent surveys and analytic tools to know their customer's travel habits, past experiences (good or bad), demographics, budget, health, accessibility needs, travel companions, and other cultural interests. This helps them offer customized choices to …
Understanding Customer Personality for Better Tour Planning
In the competitive travel and tour industry, thorough customer understanding is essential for differentiation and success. Companies in this sector utilize frequent surveys and analytic tools to know their customer’s travel habits, past experiences (good or bad), demographics, budget, health, accessibility needs, travel companions, and other cultural interests. This helps them offer customized choices to travelers and earn loyalty.
This study delved into understanding the two dimensions of travel plans, i.e., travel decision-making and destination choice, and how they are affected by the personality types in the Indian tour and travel sector. To understand personality types, the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality (Goldberg 1990) was used, which includes openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
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The multiple regression model was deployed to analyze the relationship between these factors and the decision-making process and destination choice. The target population for this study included young people between the ages of 20 and 40.
After excluding the incomplete responses, 127 valid responses were considered for further analysis with a response rate of 46%, and the sample size was adequate to verify the proposed assumptions (Hair et al., 2010).
Five of the ten hypotheses developed were fully supported, and five were partially supported. Specific findings include the significant impact of personality attributes such as conscientiousness and agreeableness on the decision-making process. Individuals with these traits are more likely to engage in meticulous planning and prefer destinations that offer positive interpersonal experiences.
Openness to experience, extraversion, and neuroticism were also positively correlated with travel decision-making. For instance, people with high openness characteristics are more inclined to consider various options and engage in thorough research.
They tend to select unique and culturally rich destinations. Those high in extraversion are drawn to social and active decision-making environments and favor popular, socially vibrant locations. Agreeable individuals prefer destinations that align with their cooperative and empathetic nature, often choosing family-friendly or socially engaging places.
Conscientious individuals opt for well-structured and organized destinations. Neuroticism, although associated with anxiety, influences decision-making by steering individuals towards destinations that they perceive as safe and stress-free. The study encourages travel professionals to better understand the personality traits of their target customers and tailor services and marketing strategies in sync with corresponding personality-driven preferences.
This will help them generate not only better customer confidence in their services and satisfaction but also help them diversify their offerings as per customer taste and needs.
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The full research paper can be accessed here Verma, P., Jha, A., Kumar, V., Mittal, A., & Hsu, S. C. (2023). The influence of personality traits on the decision-making process and destination choice for travel planning. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 29(1), 23-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJICBM.2023.130930
