LECTURE NOTES 4

TOURIST TYPOLOGIES AND THE NATURE OF THE

TOURIST ENVIRONMENT
The purpose of the course is to construct links between tourist motives, tourist
typologies and the spaces of tourism and to relate those further on with attractions
and destinations.
Tourists are classified and categorized in various ways in the literature (see Pearce,
1982, Cohen, 1984, Dann and Cohen, 1991, Lowyck et al., 1992).
Most of our tourist typologies are based on the motives of the tourist, and as such
can be classified into two main groups: interactive tourist typologies that stress the
interplay between tourists and their destinations and tourist environments, and
cognitive-normative typologies that consider more the psychological elements
attached to the tourists themselves (Murphy, 1985, pp.5-7). Perhaps the two best
known and most widely used of the tourist typologies are those formulated by Erik
Cohen (1972) and Stanley Plog (1973). Cohen's classical typology is an example of
the interactive group, whereas that of Plog (1973) is of the cognitive-normative type
(see also Lowyck et al., 1992).
Cohen (1972) categorizes tourists according to the general nature of the
environment they prefer: safe and usual or unknown and different. He identifies
four types: drifters, explorers, individual mass tourists and organized mass tourists.
The first and second represent the non-institutional tourist, and third and fourth the
institutionalized tourist. This distinction is based on the notion of the scale of
infrastructure required by tourists, in that the institutionalized tourist types
demand better services and facilities both when organizing their travel and at the
destination than non-institutional tourists. More primitive conditions may indeed be
the premise inducing the latter to travel.
Cohens (1972) classification of tourists
Cohen (1972):
Organized Mass Tourist
Package tours where itineraries are fixed; and all major
decisions are left to the organizer
Individual Mass Tourist
Some control over itinerary; but all major arrangements
are made through a travel intermediary
Explorer
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Plan their own trips; avoid developed tourist
attractions; complete freedom of choice at destination;
do not use intermediaries
Drifter
Completely immersed in host culture
The organized mass tourist: Low on adventurousness he is anxious to
maintain his environmental bubble on the trip. Typically purchasing a
ready-made package tour off-the-shelf, he is guided through the destination
having little contact with local culture or people.
Lower-income tourists, average educational level, passive attitude towards their
travel decision, less informed and experienced. The heaviest user of travel services.
The individual mass tourist: Similar to the above but more flexibility and
scope for personal choice is built in. However, the tour is still organized by
the tourism industry and the environmental bubble shields him/her from the
real experience of the destination.
Have a certain experience with travelling, more informed and experienced. Tend to
copy the consumption patterns of the mass tourists and follow them at the
destination, not consciously though.
Packages normally include transportation and lodging. Destination choices are still
the familiar ones, but length of stay in any one place is longer.
As cultural distance between them and the destination increases, they will rely more
on the travel service operators and become more inclined to move into the first
category.
The explorer: The trip is organized independently and is looking to get off the
beaten track.
Their satisfaction comes from identifying new destinations or new attractions. They
have travel experience and are cultured. There is much more interaction between
them and the host society, but cultural immersion does not take place. They are
risk-takers.
The drifter: All connections with the tourism industry are spurned and the
trip attempts to get as far from home and familiarity as possible.
They move from place to place, with no planned itinerary, and become immersed in
the local culture. They prefer to rent a room from a local family or an apartment.
They also avoid main tourist areas. Often he becomes a temporary employee to earn
sufficient income to continue travelling
They tend to have enough income, free time and no ties with their country of origin.
They do not represent a market segment for travel agents and those do not invest in
them. .
The only group completely removed from the environmental bubble.
Psychographic Types of Tourists
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One of Dann's perspectives (motivational typologies) suggests that tourist
types, or how personality traits enable us to classify tourists, could provide an
explanation for why some travel to certain destinations.
One of the best known theories in this area was developed by Stanley Plog (1974)
based on the US population.
Plog (1973) classifies tourists on the basis of the psychological dimensions of
their personality.
Plog identified two opposite types of tourist each at the end of a continuum:
Allocentric - term comes from allo meaning varied form. An allocentric
travelers interests are on a variety of activities offering adventure and new
experiences.
Allocentrics are individualistic, active travellers, who seek adventure on their
holidays and are prepared to take risks. As such, they prefer holidays in more exotic
locations and prefer to travel independently.
Allocentrics, by definition, tend to be more intellectually curious, more willing to try
new products, more adventurous, more self-confident, more interested and more
emotionally involved with all aspects of a trip than are psychocentrics (Plog 1974;
McIntosh, Goeldner, and Ritchie 1995). Allocentrics tend to enjoy exploring and
searching, prefer non-touristy areas, and enjoy a sense of discovery.
Allocentrics and near allocentrics are inclined to view travel as a chance to
experience a sense of power and freedom (e.g., flying, sea travel, fast trains), to
participate in sports events and sports activities, to search for the exotic and novel,
to develop new friendships in foreign places, to explore (e.g., mountain climbing,
hiking, deep sea diving), to sharpen their perspectives (e.g., awaken their senses and
heighten their awareness) and to try a new lifestyle (Plog 1974; McIntosh, Goeldner,
and Ritchie 1995). Therefore, the levels of interest and excitement in the overall
travel experience could have the potential to generate stronger feelings of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction for the allocentric personality type than for the
psychocentric personality type.
Allocentric travelers like to be the first to visit a destination. Prefer the pristine of a
new area, unspoiled and natural: rain forest, North Pole, Africa
Allocentrics represent about 3% of the population
At the other extreme are psychocentrics.
Psychocentric - term comes from psyche or self-centred. Individuals focus on the
concerns of their own life. Such tourists look rather inwardly and concentrate their
thoughts on the small problems in life. On holiday they are not adventurous, but
prefer locations that are similar to their home environment. Such tourists may
repeatedly return to the same destination where they have enjoyed a satisfying
experience, safe in the knowledge of the familiar.
Psychocentrics tend to be intellectually restricted, low risk taking, non-
adventurous, lacking in confidence, and show little interest in events or activities in
other countries (Plog 1991). Psychocentrics tend to be more naive, non-demanding,
passive travellers, thus making them less engaged in the entire travel experience.
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Conversely, psychocentrics and near-psychocentrics tend to travel because it is a
cultural norm, to enhance their egos, to gain status, to gain acceptance, and to be
comfortable socially (Plog 1974; McIntosh, Goeldner, and Ritchie 1995).
Consequently, it is likely that the feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction will not
be as strong for the psychocentric personality as for the allocentric personality type,
since the level of involvement tends to be lower for the psychocentric travel segment.
Psychocentric travellers choose destinations that are more mature in their life cycle,
well-established and familiar: Hawaii, Miami Beach, Paris
Psychocentrics represent about 3% of the population.
In between these two extremes other categories exist, such as near-allocentric,
mid-centric and near-psychocentric.
Mid-centrics are intermediate to the previous two and according to Plog constitute
the most common or average tourist type. Mid-centrics are hybrids that need some
sense of individualism at their destination but with organized travel arrangements
and safety ensured by the use of a travel agent.
Allocentrics: More adventurous and look for unspoiled destinations. Includes
backpackers or explorers. Destinations favoured include Africa and the South
Pacific
Near allocentric
Mid-centric: Not as adventurous, mass tourists. Destinations include Europe,
Mexico, Caribbean, Florida, Hawaii
Near psychocentric: Other U.S. domestic destinations
Psychocentrics: Not adventurous. Destinations include Coney Island
While Plog's typologies are a simple, easy-to-understand model which can explain,
to some extent, aspects of tourist motivation, there are some difficulties in its
application.
One aspect, for example, is that both tourists and destinations change over
time. Young adults may well be allocentric at certain stages in their life-cycle and
more mid-centric at other stages, when children are present, for example.
In the 1950s the Costa del Sol in Spain was considered exotic, but in a short space of
time had developed into a 'mass' tourism destination, no longer likely to attract
allocentric tourists.
The process of destination transformation and the spatiality of tourist
motives
Changes in tourist motives and types in space and time have traditionally been
described in terms of Richard Butler's (1980) cycle of evolution of a tourism area (see
figure).
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The exploration stage is characterized by small numbers of tourists, Plogs
allocentrics and Cohen's explorers making individual travel arrangements and
following irregular visitation patterns. From Christaller's model they can also be
expected to be non-local visitors who have been attracted to the area by its unique or
considerably different natural and cultural features. At this time there would be no
specific facilities provided for visitors. The use of local facilities and contact with
local residents are therefore likely to be high, which may itself be a significant
attraction to some visitors. The physical fabric and social milieu of the area would be
unchanged by tourism, and the arrival and departure of tourists would be of
relatively little significance to the economic and social life of the permanent
residents. Examples of this stage can be seen in parts of the Canadian Arctic and
Latin America, to which tourists are attracted by natural and cultural-historical
features.
As numbers of visitors increase and assume some regularity, some local residents
will enter the involvement stage and begin to provide facilities primarily or even
exclusively for visitors. Contact between visitors and locals can be expected to
remain high and, in fact, increase for those locals involved in catering for visitors. As
this stage progresses, some advertising specifically to attract tourists can be
anticipated, and a basic initial market area for visitors can be defined. A tourist
season can be expected to emerge and adjustments will be made in the social pattern
of at least those local residents involved in tourism. Some level of organization in
tourist travel arrangements can be expected and the first pressures put upon
governments and public agencies to provide or improve transport and other facilities
for visitors.
Some of the smaller, less developed Pacific and Caribbean islands exhibit this
pattern, as do some less accessible areas of western Europe and North America.
The development stage reflects a well-defined tourist market area, shaped in part
by heavy advertising in tourist-generating areas. As this stage progresses, local
involvement and control of development will decline rapidly. Some locally provided
facilities will have disappeared, being superseded by larger, more elaborate and
more up-to-date facilities provided by external organizations, particularly for visitor
accommodation. Natural and cultural attractions will be developed and marketed
specifically, and these original attractions- will be supplemented by man-made
imported facilities. Changes in the physical appearance of the area will be
noticeable, and it can be expected that not all of them will be welcomed, or approved
by all of the local population. This stage can be seen in parts of Mexico, on the more
developed Pacific islands, and on the north and west African coasts. Regional and
national involvement in the planning and provision of facilities will almost certainly
be necessary and, again, may not be completely in keeping with local preferences.
The number of tourists at peak periods will probably equal or exceed the permanent
local population. As this stage unfolds, imported labor will be utilized and auxiliary
facilities for the tourist industry (such as laundries) will make their appearance. The
type of tourist will also have changed, as a wider market is drawn upon,
representing the mid-centrics of Plog's classification, or Cohen's institutionalized
tourist.
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As the consolidation stage is entered the rate of increase in numbers of visitors will
decline, although total numbers will still increase, and total visitor numbers exceed
the number of permanent residents. A major part of the area's economy will be tied
to tourism. Marketing and advertising will be wide-reaching and efforts made to
extend the visitor season and market area. Major franchises and chains in the
tourist industry will be represented but few, if any, additions will be made. The
large numbers of visitors and the facilities provided for them can be expected to
arouse some opposition and discontent among permanent residents, particularly
those not involved in the tourist industry in any way, and to result in some
deprivation and restrictions upon their activities. Such trends are evident in areas of
the Caribbean and on the northern Mediterranean coast. The resort cities will have
well-defined recreational business districts,
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and, depending upon the length of time
involved, old facilities may now be regarded as second rate and far from desirable.
As the area enters the stagnation stage the peak numbers of visitors will have been
reached. Capacity levels for many variables will have been reached or exceeded, with
attendant environmental, social, and economic problems. The area will have a
well-established image but it will no longer be in fashion. There will be heavy
reliance on repeat visitation and on conventions and similar forms of traffic.
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Surplus bed capacity will be available and strenuous efforts will be needed to
maintain the level of visitation. Natural and genuine cultural attractions will
probably have been superseded by imported 'artificial' facilities.
The resort image becomes divorced from its geographic environment.
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New
development will be peripheral to the original tourist area and the existing
properties are likely to experience frequent changes in ownership. The Costa Brava
resorts of Spain and many cottage resorts in Ontario manifest these characteristics.
The type of visitor can also be expected to change towards the organized mass
tourist identified by Cohen and the psychocentric described by Plog.
In the decline stage the area will not be able to compete with newer attractions
and so will face a declining market, both spatially and numerically. It will no longer
appeal to vacationers but will be used increasingly for weekend or day trips, if it is
accessible to large numbers of people. Such trends can be clearly seen in older resort
areas in Europe, such as the Firth of Clyde in western Scotland. Miami Beach would
also appear to be entering this stage. Property turnover will be high and tourist
facilities often replaced by non-tourist related structures, as the area moves out of
tourism. This latter factor, of course, is cumulative. More tourist facilities disappear
as the area becomes less attractive to tourists and the viability of other tourist
facilities becomes more questionable. Local involvement in tourism is likely to
increase at this stage, as employees and other residents are able to purchase
facilities at significantly lower prices as the market declines. The conversion of many
facilities to related activities is likely. Hotels may become condominiums,
convalescent or retirement homes, or conventional apartments, since the attractions
of many tourist areas make them equally attractive for permanent settlement,
particularly for the elderly. Ultimately, the area may become a veritable tourist
slum or lose its tourist function completely.
On the other hand rejuvenation may occur, although it is almost certain that this
stage will never be reached without a complete change in the attractions on which
tourism is based. Two ways of accomplishing this goal can be seen at present. One is
the addition of a man-made attraction, as in the case of Atlantic City's gambling
casinos. Obviously, though, if neighbouring and competing areas follow suit, the
effectiveness of the measure will be reduced; a major part of Atlantic City's
anticipated success is the element of uniqueness which it has obtained by the
change.
An alternative approach to rejuvenation is to take advantage of previously
untapped natural resources. Spa towns in Europe and the summer holiday village of
Aviemore in Scotland have experienced rejuvenation by a reorientation to the winter
sports market, thus allowing the areas to experience a year-round tourist industry.
The development of new facilities becomes economically feasible, and simultaneously
serves to revitalize the older summer holiday trade. As new forms of recreation
appear, it is not impossible that other tourist areas will find previously
unappreciated natural resources to develop.
In many cases, combined government and private efforts are necessary, and the new
market may be not the allocentric section of the population (which would suggest a
recommencement of the complete cycle), but rather a specific interest or activity
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group. Ultimately, however, it can be expected that even the attractions of the
rejuvenated tourist area will lose their competitiveness. Only in the case of the truly
unique area could one anticipate an almost timeless attractiveness, able to
withstand the pressures of visitation. Even in such a case, human tastes and
preferences would have to remain constant over time for visitors to be attracted.
Niagara Falls is perhaps one example. Artificial attractions, such as the
spectacularly successful Disneyland and Disneyworld, may also be able to compete
effectively over long periods by adding to their attractions to keep in tune with
contemporary preferences. Many established tourist areas in Britain, the United
States and elsewhere attract visitors who have spent their vacations in these areas
consistently for several decades, and the preferences of these repeat visitors show
little sign of changing. In the majority of cases, though, the initial selection of the
area to be visited by these people was determined by cost and accessibility rather
specific preferences.
The direction of the curve after the period of stabilization illustrated in the
Figure is open to several interpretations. Successful redevelopment, as for example
in Atlantic City, could result in renewed growth and expansion as shown by curve A.
Minor modification and adjustment to capacity levels, and continued protection of
resources, could allow continued growth at a much reduced rate (curve B). A
readjustment to meet all capacity levels would enable a more stable level of
visitation to be maintained after an initial readjustment downwards (curve c).
Continued overuse of resources, non-replacement of aging plant, and decreasing
competitiveness with other areas would result in the marked decline (curve D).
Finally, the intervention of war, disease, or other catastrophic events would result in
an immediate decline in numbers of visitors (for example, Northern Ireland from
1969), from which it maybe extremely difficult to return to high levels of visitation.
If the decline continues for a long time, the area and its facilities may no longer be
attractive to the majority of tourists after the problem is solved.
Recently, another model of holidaymaking was developed for the UK market
(Stewart, 1993). The model is built on the empirical observation that as people
become more affluent, they tend to travel more and that the experience of travel is
cumulative. The more leisure travel people undertake, the more they tend to want to
do. They also tend to become more adventurous and confident as their level of
affluence and travel experience increase.
For individual holiday consumers, the model distinguishes among four different
phases of holidaymaking, which are related to levels of affluence and travel
experience. In each phase, different destinations become more or less popular, but
more important is the way in which the underlying motivation for travel changes
across the phases and hence the demand for different types of holiday products.
Phase 1 The Bubble Travelers
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Tourists in this initial phase of international travel are characterized by relatively
low affluence and low travel experience. Their motivation for travel to foreign
countries is very much one of curiosity and the traditional package holiday concept
is an ideal product for consumers in this phase. This theory borrowed Urrys theory
of Bubble travel, where the tourist has the opportunity to observe a foreign culture
without having to become immersed in it. This bubble insulates the consumers from
the difficult aspects of life in a foreign environment and gives them the basic
confidence to travel.
Phase 2 Idealized-experience Seekers
Consumers in this phase are more affluent and have a base of overseas travel
experience upon which to draw. With this experience comes greater confidence,
which manifests itself in a desire for more adventurous, more flexible and more
individually oriented types of travel. They will tend to look further in either cultural
or geographical terms for their holiday destinations.
Phase 3 Wide-Horizon Travelers
Phase 3 travel marks a further progression in affluence and travel experience.
Consumers have the confidence to experiment with and experience a wider range of
cultural environments, both similar and dissimilar to their own. Their desire for
independence and flexibility manifests itself in more individually oriented travel to a
wider range of destinations.
Phase 4 Total Immersers
Finally consumers reach a stage that is almost beyond tourism as it is currently
understood. Their travel motivation is not one of waiting to experience an idealized
version of a foreign culture, but rather to reproduce the cultural experience of a
native of that country; to become exposed to and fully immersed in its language,
culture, heritage and patterns of life.
In this model increasing travel experience of leisure travel is taken as a crucial
determinant of the dominant type of travel product consumers will demand.
Travel from UK provides obvious examples of Phase 1 behavior in the dominant
form of packaged holidays to Spain and other Mediterranean countries. Relatively
few tourists are operating at level 4 at the present time, but in the German market
in particular there are indications that this type of travel motivation is beginning to
manifest itself in various ways. The model hypothesizes that about half of the
British holidaymakers abroad are phase 2, one-third phase 1 and the rest phase 3.

Concluding comments: the tourist?
The question of what is a tourist is not an easy one to answer, especially that a
strengthening debate is going on between modern tourist categories and post-
modern features of post-tourists.
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In the modern categories, as discussed earlier, tourists are seen as an
unadventurous and unimaginative mass, passive actors in the hands of the tourism
industry. Many researchers assume that the post-modern situation complicates
these traditional perspectives. Their analyses allow us to identify two characteristic
features of the post-modern mass tourist (or post-tourist).
First, the post-tourist is aware of the commoditization and staged nature of tourist
experiences and attractions, and accepts that there are no real, authentic
experiences or attractions. The experience can be repeated and recycled again and
again, until the artificially constructed appears to be more real than "reality" itself.
The post-tourist experience is constructed by flows of visual, material and symbolic
products and fragments of (cultural) texts. For the post-tourist, the tourist
experience and attraction is a whole series of games with multiple texts to read,
interpret and consume.
Secondly, for the post-tourist the experience is something of intrinsic value. For
modern travellers and tourists experience is seen more as a way of achieving self-
esteem, prestige, self-realisation or something else, where as the post-tourist is
attracted by the experience as an end in itself. It is obvious that the post-tourist
orientation only applies to a minority of tourists, but the changes taking place in
contemporary societies are affecting the tourism industry as a whole.
One consequence of all this post-modern playfulness, irony and short-termism in
tourist experiences and attractions is that the traditional resorts and tourist
destinations have to change somehow. In the long run, one theme with homogeneity
of attractions and activities is not enough. The condition for the change and the
production of multiple attractions is a process that Harvey (1989, p.240) describes as
time-space compression, as a consequence of which "space appears to shrink to a
global village" where time and space are stretched and mixed by compression in
order to attract more capital as well as more tourists. Theme parks such as Euro-
Disney or shopping malls like West Edmonton Mall and Mall of America are good
examples of time-space compression and the commoditization of space.
The process of time-space compression is connected with post-Fordist production and
consumption, which is segmented, flexible, fluid and customized, i.e. the tourist or
post-tourist experience is characterized by de-differentiation of tourism, leisure,
sport, pleasure, culture, nature and the everyday lives of individuals.
This complex nature of tourist experience, destinations and the spatiality of tourist
motives and typologies enables us to understand that tourism is not categorisable
simply into push and pull factors or to be seen as a consequence of only one motive
but of a combination of tourist motives.
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