This document discusses the psychology of travel, including motivations for travel such as escape, health, social contact and prestige. It also discusses factors that influence travel decisions like age, gender and education level. Two models for classifying tourists are presented: Cohen's classification includes organized mass tourists who prefer familiar environments, individual mass tourists who have some control over plans, explorers who venture further from their comfort zone, and drifters who try to live like locals. Plog's classification includes allocentric tourists who seek adventure, psychocentric tourists who prefer familiar places, and mid-centric tourists who are open to some new experiences.

1. The Psychology
of Travel
CRIS EDREN L. DELA PEÑA, MBA-TRM
School of Business and Economics
University of San Carlos

2. Motivations for Travel
• The Need for Escape or Change
• Travel for Health
• Sports
• Social Contact
• Status and Prestige
• Travel for Education
• Personal Values
• Cultural Experience
• Shopping and Bargain Hunting
• Professional and Business Motives
• Search for Natural Beauty

3.  Physical Motivators:
those relate directly
to health, wellness
and physical
enjoyment.
Leisure Travel Motivators

4.  Cultural Motivators: those
related to the desire to know
more about other people’s
cultures and way of life.
Leisure Travel Motivators

5. Interpersonal Motivators: those
related to the desire to meet and
make new friends
Leisure Travel Motivators

6. Status and prestige motivators:
those related to self-fulfillment
achieved through travel and
include personal development.
Leisure Travel Motivators

7. Leisure Travel De-Motivators
• Lack of Money
• Lack of Time
• Health
• Family Stage
• Lack of Interest
• Fear and Safety

8. Other Factors that Influence Travel
Age: young have high tolerance for
varied and new experiences;
middle-aged, comfort is important;
while the elderly usually prefers a
less active and sedate holiday.
Gender: Men have to allocate time
between family and business, work
and leisure. Women are motivated
by their children’s holiday plea

9. Education: Different levels of
education determine the types
of new experiences a person is
willing to accept. However
differences are also interrelated
with the person’s socio-
economic status and income
level.
Other Factors that Influence Travel

10. CLASSIFICATION
OF TOURISTS
• COHEN’S classification
• PLOG’S classification

11. Cohen’s Classification
• Tourism combines curiosity to seek out new
experiences with the need for security of familiar
reminders of home

12. Cohen’s Classification
The Organized Mass Tourist
The organized mass tourists are the
least adventurous and spend most
of their time in their comfortable
“environmental bubble” throughout
their trip.
“Environmental bubble” means the
tourists surrounded by his/her similar
living environment while he/she is
abroad.

13. Cohen’s Classification
Individual Mass Tourist
This type of tourists is similar to the
organized mass tourist, except that the
tour is not entirely fixed. The tourist has a
certain amount of control over his/her
time and itinerary, and is not bound to
a group.
However, all the major arrangements
are still made through a tour agency.
They are still confined by their
“environmental bubble”.

14. Cohen’s Classification
Explorer
This type of tourists arranges their trips
alone. They try to go somewhere
unusual, but still look for comfortable
sleeping places and reliable means
of transportation.
The explorers dare to leave their
“environmental bubble” more readily
than the organized mass tourists and
individual mass tourists, but they are
still careful about their ventures.

15. Cohen’s Classification
Drifter
This type of tourists goes further
away from the “environmental
bubble” and from the accustomed
ways of life in their home countries.
They keep away from any kind of
connection with the tourism
establishment, such as hotels and
tour coaches.
They try to live the way the locals
live, and to share their houses,
food, and habits.

16. Plog’s Classification
• Plog’s psychographic typology classifies tourists by
their personalities and distributes tourists to destination
based on their dominant characteristics

17. Plog’s Classification
Allocentric Type
An allocentric tourist is a
person who seeks new
experiences and adventure in
a variety of activities. This
person is outgoing and self-
confident in behavior. Prefers
to fly and to explore new and
unusual areas before others do
so. Enjoy meeting people from
foreign or different cultures.

18. Plog’s Classification
Psychocentric Type
Psychocentrics are more
conservatively oriented. They tend
to be inhibited and non-
adventuresome. They prefer to
return to familiar travel
destinations where they can relax
and know what types of food and
activity to expect.

19. Plog’s Classification
Mid-centric Type
There is a large number of
people falling between the
allocentric and the
psychocentric types of tourists.
This type of tourists is called mid-
centrics. Mid-centric tourists are
not particularly adventurous, but
they are receptive to new
experience.

20. Assignment
besttripchoices.com

21. The Psychology
of Travel
CRIS EDREN L. DELA PEÑA, MBA-TRM
School of Business and Economics
University of San Carlos