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Plog’s and Butler’s Models: a critical review of Psychographic Tourist Typology and the Tourist Area Life Cycle

2018, Turizam

This paper attempts to examine the two popular cited theories in tourism studies, Psycho-graphic Tourist Typology by Stanley Plog and the Tourism Area Life Cycles (TALC) by Richard Butler, which have been widely accepted and applied by scholars worldwide and have retained their relevance more than three decades as the pioneer concepts in Tourism. By capturing and reviewing scholarly articles, this paper identifies some key absent issues that should be concerned when use theories in future tourism research.

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Plog’s Tourist Motivation Model

Plog’s tourist motivation model (1974) is a popular framework widely referred to in tourism studies . According to the model tourists can be divided into two broad categories: allocentrics and psychocentrics. Allocentrics usually choose exotic destinations and unstructured tours and vacations they prefer to get involved with local culture to a great extent. Psychocentrics, on the other hand, choose familiar destinations and they usually engage in tourism via packaged tours in a conventional manner (Plog, 1974).

The terms of allocentrics and polycentric were later replaced by Plog (1974) to the terms of venturer and dependable respectively, in order to make them more ‘reader-friendly’ (Hudson, 2008).

Plog’s (1974) Psychographic Personality Types

Source: Hudson (2008), adapted from Plog (1974) and Plog (2002)

As it is evident from figure above, according to Plog’s tourist motivation model the majority of tourists can be classified as mid-centric, i.e. they do not belong to neither psychocentric or allocentric categories. Plog’s (1974) Psychographic Personality Types has been criticised for being difficult to be applied because individuals may travel motivated by different factors in different occasions (Hudson, 2008). In other words, an individual may choose an exotic destination for tourism and get closely involved with local culture, yet it may not be appropriate to brand the individual as allocentric because the same person may purchase a conventional tourism package the following year.

Hudson, S. (2008) “Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A Global Perspective” SAGE Publications

Plog, S.C. (1974) “Why Destination areas rise and fall in popularity” Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Quarterly , Vol.14, Issue:4

Plog, S.C. (2002) “The power of psychographics and the concept of venturesomeness” Journal of Travel Research , Vol.40

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Plog’s Model of Tourists Behavior

Plog classifies tourists into three categories as described below −

Allocentric (The Wanderers) − A tourist who seeks new experiences and adventure in a wide range of activities. This person is outgoing and self-confident in behavior. An allocentric person prefers to fly and to explore new and unusual areas before others do so. Allocentrics enjoy meeting people from foreign or different cultures. They prefer good hotels and food, but not necessarily modern or chain-type hotels. For a tour package, an allocentric would like to have the basics such as transportation and hotels, but not be committed to a structured itinerary. They would rather have the freedom to explore an area, make their own arrangements and choose a variety of activities and tourist attractions.

Psychocentric (The Repeater) − A tourist falling in this category is usually non-adventuresome. They prefer to return to familiar travel destinations where they can relax and know what types of food and activity to expect. Such tourists prefer to drive to destinations, stay in typical accommodations, and eat at family-type restaurants.

Midcentric (Combination) − This category of tourists covers the ones who swing between the above said two types.

Henley Centre Model of Holidaymaking

A British Consultancy of Futurology, Henley Center has divided the tourists into four phases −

Phase I- Bubble Travelers − They do not have much money as well as knowledge. They prefer packaged tours. They long to observe different cultures without being a part of it. They travel mostly out of curiosity.

Phase II- Idealized Experience Seekers − They are confident tourists with the experience of foreign tours. They are flexible and comfortable. They prefer tour offers made for individuals.

Phase III- Seasoned Travelers − These tourists are more affluent than the idealized-experience seekers. They are more confident to experiment and experience different places and environments. They are more adventurous and prefer individualistic tours.

Phase IV- Complete Immersers − These tourists have an intention of immersing completely into the foreign culture, heritage, culinary experience, and language. Their holidaying is well-planned but not well-structured.

In the above phases, the tourist goes through different phases and therefore also seeks different tourism options or destinations.

allocentric

• 1.1 Etymology
• 1.2 Pronunciation
• 1.3.1 Derived terms
• 1.3.2 Translations
• 1.4.1 Translations
• 1.5 References
• 1.6 Further reading

English [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ].

The adjective is derived from allo- ( prefix meaning ‘different; other’ ) +‎ -centric ( suffix meaning ‘having a specified object at the centre, or as the focus of attention’ ) . [1] Sense 3 (‘of a tourist: tending to be adventurous’) was coined by the American travel researcher Stanley C. Plog in a paper presented to the Southern California Chapter of the Travel Research Association on 10 October 1972, which was later published in February 1974. [2]

The noun is probably derived from the adjective.

Pronunciation [ edit ]

• ( Received Pronunciation ) IPA ( key ) : /ˌælə(ʊ)ˈsɛntɹɪk/
• ( General American ) IPA ( key ) : /ˌæloʊˈsɛntɹɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɛntɹɪk
• Hyphenation: al‧lo‧centr‧ic

Adjective [ edit ]

allocentric ( comparative more allocentric , superlative most allocentric ) ( psychology )

• Concerned with the interests of others more than one's own; community - minded . [from early 20th c.] Synonyms: altruistic , exocentric , generous , geocentric , selfless Antonyms: autocentric , egocentric , idiocentric , self-absorbed , self-centered , selfish
• Of spatial representations : linked to a reference frame based on the external environment and independent of one's current location in it (for example, giving a direction as " north " as opposed to " right ").
• 1995 , Robert Madrigal, “Personal Values, Traveler Personality Type, and Leisure Travel Style”, in Journal of Leisure Research ‎ [1] , volume 27 , number 2, Arlington, Va.: National Recreation and Park Association , →DOI , →ISSN , →OCLC , archived from the original on 14 August 2021 , page 128 : [Stanley C.] Plog (1974, 1990, 1991b) delineated personality types along a continuum ranging from allocentrism to psychocentrism. The psychocentric personality type tends toward territory boundedness, insecurity, and powerlessness. Psychocentric individuals also tend to have non-active lifestyles and are non-adventurous. In contrast, allocentric individuals tend to be self-confident, intellectually curious, and feel in control of their lives.
• 1999 , K. K. Sharma, “Tourism Psychology and Motivation”, in Tourism and Culture , New Delhi: Prabhat Kumar Sharma for Sarup & Sons, published 2004 , →ISBN , page 189 : [P]sychocentrics could conceivably vacation in essentially allocentric destinations (with the exception of people with extremely low incomes). For instance, a psychocentric may travel to a remote area under the security of a completely planned, fully escorted tour.
• 2003 , “Tourism Motivation and Behaviour”, in Berendien Lubbe, editor, Tourism Management in Southern Africa , Cape Town, Western Cape: Pearson Education South Africa , published 2005 , →ISBN , part 2 (The Demand for Tourism), page 38 , column 2: Remember that whether a tourist is more psychocentric or more allocentric depends on the different motivations and the different destinations chosen by the tourist. The tourist may also oscillate between both psychocentric and allocentric choices. For example, a tourist may choose an allocentric holiday in December to a remote game reserve, but have a psychocentric short break in July to Singapore, where he or she may prefer a package tour and will stick to the touristy areas of town.
• 2020 , J. Christopher Holloway, Claire Humphreys, “The Demand for Tourism”, in The Business of Tourism , 11th edition, London, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications , →ISBN , part 1 (Defining and Analysing Tourism and Its Impacts), page 75 : [Stanley C.] Plog recognised that personalities change over time, and given time, the psychocentrics may become allocentric in their choice of holiday destination and activity as they gain experience of travel.
• 2020 , Peter Robinson, Michael Lück, Stephen L. J. Smith, “Responsible Tourism Management”, in Tourism , 2nd edition, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Boston, Mass.: CABI , →ISBN , part 5 (Tourism Development), page 366 , column 1: At the one extreme, psychocentrics are those travellers that are not adventurous, and seek amenities and culture similar to their home environment. At the other end of the continuum, an allocentric tourist is very adventurous, seeks and embraces different cultures, local food, and requires only basic tourism infrastructure.

Derived terms [ edit ]

• allocentrically
• allocentrism

Translations [ edit ]

Noun [ edit ].

allocentric ( plural allocentrics )

• 1995 , Robert Madrigal, “Personal Values, Traveler Personality Type, and Leisure Travel Style”, in Journal of Leisure Research ‎ [2] , volume 27 , number 2, Arlington, Va.: National Recreation and Park Association , →DOI , →ISSN , →OCLC , archived from the original on 14 August 2021 , page 128 : According to [Stanley C.] Plog (1991b), psychocentrics tend to prefer a high degree of familiarity in their travel and, as a result, enjoy group or "packaged" tours. In contrast, allocentrics enjoy vacations to exotic and unique destinations, and prefer to travel independently (i.e., not as part of group tours).
• [ 2001 , Doris S. Davidoff, Philip G. Davidoff, Donald M. Davidoff, Douglas G. Davidoff, “The Classic Motivation Mistake”, in Parenting the Office , Gretna, New Orleans, La.: Pelican Publishing Company , →ISBN , page 209 : Simply put, psychocentrics are at ease only when within their comfort zone, while allocentrics are driven to leave their comfort zone on a regular basis. Applied in an employment context. ]
• 2020 , Peter Robinson, Michael Lück, Stephen L. J. Smith, “Responsible Tourism Management”, in Tourism , 2nd edition, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Boston, Mass.: CABI , →ISBN , part 5 (Tourism Development), page 366 , column 1: Another typology of tourists was introduced by [Stanley C.] Plog (1991), who used psychographic analysis to create a continuum of tourist types. While Plog's model is a continuum with indefinite points, he was able to divide tourists into five main groups: psychocentrics, near psychocentrics, midcentrics, near allocentrics , and allocentrics .

References [ edit ]

• ^ Stanley C. Plog ( 1974 February) “Why Destination Areas Rise and Fall in Popularity”, in Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly , volume 14 , number 4, Ithaca, N.Y.: School of Hotel Administration , Cornell University , →DOI , →ISSN , →OCLC , pages 55–58 .

Further reading [ edit ]

• English terms prefixed with allo-
• English terms suffixed with -centric
• English coinages
• English 4-syllable words
• English terms with IPA pronunciation
• Rhymes:English/ɛntɹɪk
• Rhymes:English/ɛntɹɪk/4 syllables
• English lemmas
• English adjectives
• en:Psychology
• English terms with quotations
• English nouns
• English countable nouns

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allocentric

Definition of allocentric

Word history.

all- + -centric

1916, in the meaning defined above

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Understanding Psychographics in Tourism: A Tool for Segmenting Tourists

• First Online: 01 January 2022

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• Sumedha Agarwal 3 &
• Priya Singh 3  

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Psychographic segmentation is related to people’s interests, personality, lifestyle, values and attitude. It is considered vital as it provides a narrower and targeted approach to study the consumers. The takeaways from the chapters are: the concept of psychographics and its applicability in the tourism industry, the importance of psychographic segmentation in tourism marketing, Psychographic Segmentation and Activities, Interests and Opinions (AIO), consumer delight and its relationship with market segmentation, and the psychographic behaviour of future tourists.

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Sumedha Agarwal & Priya Singh

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Agarwal, S., Singh, P. (2021). Understanding Psychographics in Tourism: A Tool for Segmenting Tourists. In: Sharma, A., Hassan, A. (eds) Future of Tourism in Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1669-3_12

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