What: Personality Traits Play a Role in Travel Planning
Personality types impact travel-booking behaviors, according to The State of the American Traveler’s June report from Destination Analysts.
Those who consider themselves to be “dominant,” “active” or “energetic,” for example, tend to spend more money on travel. Creative types, on the other hand, are more likely to plan trips with others and prefer shorter booking windows (often opting to book a weeklong trip in under two months). And people who consider themselves anxious or worried need at least one additional week of planning time when compared to the average traveler (11 weeks, versus 10 weeks for others).
Why It Matters: Advisors Should Factor in Personality Types When Qualifying Clients
Qualifying customers is nothing new, but it might be time for advisors to get to know their clients on a deeper level. Start by asking questions about a traveler’s personality, such as, “Do you consider yourself to be a worrier, or are you more go-with-the-flow?” Then, use the intel you gather to better inform the trip-booking process. An anxious client may need a longer booking window, while active and adventurous clients may prefer higher-end offerings at an elevated budget.
Fast Facts: Psychographics Touch Nearly Every Part of the Travel-Planning Process
- Active, energetic travelers have the highest annual travel budgets at $5,200 (versus $3,900 for the average traveler).
- Worriers are more sensitive to what they perceive as expensive costs right now, and plan to spend less on leisure travel than they previously did (23.8% versus 18.5% for all travelers). In fact, more than 40% of worriers say right now is a bad time to spend on travel.
- Eighty-six percent of Americans expect to travel in the next 12 months on an average of three leisure trips in this period.
- More than 63% of respondents say they have a strong degree of openness to learning about new travel experiences and destinations to visit.
- Adventurous, active and energetic types are most likely to use their phones to look at travel information (76% versus 63.1% for the average traveler).
- Travelers looking for a new romantic partner are more likely to use influencers to plan travel (34% vs. 19.8%) and use online video resources for trip-planning (48.4% versus 33.1%).
- Romance-seekers prefer to visit new places over ones they have been to before and, perhaps unsurprisingly, are less likely to want to see beautiful scenery and more likely to want a strong nightlife scene.
- People who identify as “calm” or “sensitive” are more likely to use online resources. When it comes to social media platforms, 32% of worriers pick TikTok over Instagram Reels, 28% pick Instagram Reels and the rest said neither; calm travelers prefer Instagram Reels, with 31.8% picking Instagram Reels over TikTok and 24.7% opting for TikTok (the rest said neither).
