Tourism Marketing - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 438

Figure 19.3

U.S. population distribution
by psychographic type.
Source:Stanley C. Plog, ``Why Destinations Areas
Rise and Fall in Popularity,'' CornellHoteland
RestaurantAdministrationQuarterly, no. 3
(June 2001), pp. 13-24.

Near Psychocentrics Midcentrics Near Allocentrics

Psychocentrics Allocentrics

more intellectual, and delve into culture, history, and local customs. At the other end of the
continuum, the low-energy psychocentrics were most likely to stay at home.
Through further research, Plog identi ed the travel preferences of psychocentrics and allocentrics.
These are summarized in Figure 19.4. In studying the population on the basis of income level, Plog
discovered another interesting relationship. At the lower end of the income spectrum, he discovered a
heavy loading of psychocentrics.
People at the upper end of the income levels were found to be predominantly allocentric. However,
for the broad spectrum in between — for most of America — interrelations are only slightly positive. This

finding has several implications.
It is evident that at extremely low levels of family income, travel patterns may be determined
largely by the income constraints. Regardless of the psychographic type, a person at the low end of the
income spectrummight be compelled to take what Plog considers to be psychocentric-type vacations.
College students are a good example of this. They may be allocentric by nature but cannot afford an
allocentric-type vacation because such vacations are generally very expensive (a trip to Antarctica or a
mountain-climbing expedition in Nepal). They travel, instead, to nearby destinations, spend less
money, and participate in familiar activities. Therefore, it may be erroneous to conclude that a person
with a low income is likely to be psychocentric. The severe income constraint may distort the person

' s

classi cation in terms of psychographics.
Having de ned types of destinations and types of tourists, one is tempted to link these two
classi cations directly, as Plog has done. Plog superimposed a list of destinations on the population
distribution curve, suggesting that allocentrics would travel to such destinations as Africa or the
Orient. Psychocentrics, by contrast, would vacation in nearby destinations (such as Cedar Point theme
park for a psychocentric from Toledo, Ohio). The intervening psychocentric types are similarly
identi ed with particular destinations (refer to Figure 19.4).
Such a direct linkage between the classi cation of tourists and of destinations does not consider
the important fact that people travel with different motivations on different occasions. A wealthy

Near Psychocentrics Midcentrics Near Allocentrics

Psychocentrics Allocentrics

Figure 19.4 Psychographic positions of

destinations.