Travel Segments in America

This research explored the travel motivations and spending patterns of 2,025 United States residents. Using market segmentation techniques called exploratory factor analysis and k-means clustering we managed to identify three consumer travel segments: Voyage Vanguards (40 per cent of Americans), Mainstream Travelers (40 per cent of Americans), and Local Homebodies (20 per cent of Americans).

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Our research found that Voyage Vanguards may be an important travel and tourism target audience in America, with 98 per cent travelling as often as they can, 98 per cent considering travel to be an important part of their life, and 87 per cent giving travel advice to others. From a demographic perspective this segment is more likely to be between the ages of 30 and 44, have a household income over 100,000 dollars, have graduated university, and hold liberal political views.

From an online perspective, Voyage Vanguards reported spending a total of 347 minutes (<6 hours) a day on social media and online platforms - with 60 minutes a day being spent on YouTube, 58 minutes a day on Facebook, 36 minutes a day on Instagram, and 31 minutes a day on Amazon.

Travel Spending in America

In order to assess the validity of these consumer travel segments we also explored their annual spending patterns on travel and vacation experiences.

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On average, Voyage Vanguards reported spending 5,027 dollars on travel in the past year, Mainstream Travelers reported spending 1,965 dollars on travel in the past year, and Local Homebodies reported spending 895 dollars on travel in the past year. Put differently, Voyage Vanguards spent 70 per cent more on travel than the average American and a massive 462 per cent more than those in the Local Homebodies segment.

Travel Segments in Canada

This research explored the travel motivations and spending patterns of 1,009 Canadian residents. Using market segmentation techniques called exploratory factor analysis and k-means clustering we managed to identify three consumer travel segments: Voyage Vanguards (35 per cent of Canadians), Mainstream Travelers (41 per cent of Canadians), and Local Homebodies (25 per cent of Canadians).

Intensions Consulting - Travel Segments in Canada.jpg

Our research found that Voyage Vanguards may be an important travel and tourism target audience in Canada, with 99 per cent travelling as often as they can, 99 per cent considering travel to be an important part of their life, and 88 per cent giving travel advice to others. From a demographic perspective this segment is more likely to be between the ages of 30 and 44, have a household income over 100,000 dollars, and have graduated university.

From an online perspective, Voyage Vanguards reported spending a total of 245 minutes (4 hours) a day on social media and online platforms - with 47 minutes a day being spent on Facebook, 46 minutes a day on YouTube, 27 minutes a day on Instagram, and 22 minutes a day on Messenger.

Travel Spending in Canada

In order to assess the validity of these consumer travel segments we also explored their annual spending patterns on travel and vacation experiences.

Intensions Consulting - Travel Spend in Canada.jpg

On average, Voyage Vanguards reported spending 5,476 dollars on travel in the past year, Mainstream Travelers reported spending 2,475 dollars on travel in the past year, and Local Homebodies reported spending 651 dollars on travel in the past year. Put differently, Voyage Vanguards spent 79 per cent more on travel than the average Canadian and a massive 741 per cent more than those in the Local Homebodies segment.

ABOUT THis RESEARCH

These are findings from an Intensions Consulting study conducted between January 20, 2020, and January 28, 2020. For this study a 20-minute online survey was administered with a sample of 2,025 United States residents, and 1,009 Canadian residents, aged 16 years and older. Each national sample was stratified by gender, age, and region, to ensure that the sample’s composition reflected the underlying distribution of the population as determined by Census data. For the United States, a traditional probability sample of comparable size would have produced results considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For Canada, a traditional probability sample of comparable size would have produced results considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

For more information on this research, please contact: info@intensions.co

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