Popular culture is full of images of how different we are here in
the Wild West, and as much as some of that is exaggeration, it’s
not entirely untrue either. Just as so many of the most innovative
and spirited companies were started in the West (from Apple and
Microsoft to Starbucks and The Gap), Western consumers are an
unruly and independent lot as hard to tame as the country we live
in just ask Wal-Mart, which can’t seem to open a store out West
without a community fight these days. This independent spirit makes
it all the more challenging for you to understand the mind-set of
your clientele. In order to help you do this, the TravelAge West
staff analyzed all 488 pages of the American Traveler Survey with
nearly 300 tables and charts that reflect on every possible
variable of travel spending habits and created a profile of the
Western travel consumer. So give the story a close read, because
Client X, as we like to call him/her, could very well be the next
person through your doo
