Personas in tourism

If you want to sell travel successfully, you have to know to whom. And whoever knows to whom also knows how, when, on which channels, with which images and with which wording.

One option for segmenting customers in tourism is offered by the Sinus Milieus, because they map well how much budget people in each milieu roughly have available and what they aspire to. But the Sinus Milieus are only a first step in the right direction.
Various travel companies have created travel milieus based on their own studies, which they use to train their employees. Flight booking platform Amadeus, for example, divides tourists into six "Traveler Tribes" that are updated every 10 years. TUI has found that even people with the same background, wealth and age can have very different preferences, so it's taking it even smaller: in a large-scale study of 12,000 households, TUI developed 15 "travel lifestyle clusters" around 19 key vacation needs such as "enjoy," "spend time with family," "play sports" and many others. Based on such models, personas can be developed, for each of which there are then suitable travel offers and a sales channel.

The company that is ahead in this race for the best customer knowledge does not run the risk of losing touch with modern lifestyles and thus customers, as has happened to many travel companies with the advent of online bookings. Those who can accompany customers on their entire customer journey with precision not only win them over, but also keep them, because satisfied customers who feel they are being taken seriously will come back.

Not every travel company and travel agency needs to have and serve dozens of personas. It is enough if the employees know exactly who one specializes in and how to reach exactly these people. Management decides which customer groups promise the most success for the company and aligns the personas and thus the marketing, training and sales channels accordingly.
Here we present four exemplary, data-based tourism personas who would like to travel - but may be approached differently about destinations and types of vacation:

Persona 1: Family vacation fun and relaxation

Julia is 40 years old, married and mother of two children, 7 and 5 years old. She lives in a single-family house in Aachen that she bought with her husband 5 years ago.
Julia works part-time as a city planner, her husband is a mechanical engineer. The household net income of 105,000 euros is enough for a high standard of living with organic food, brand-name clothing and sustainable toys, but not for luxury due to the house purchase. Julia therefore saves wherever she can and only treats herself rarely, but then consciously.
With her house, job and children, Julia is very busy and it is not easy for her to find enough time for herself. That's why the monthly evening with her study friends and the weekly badminton training are sacred to her.
Julia pays attention to healthy eating, but still likes to feast and also turns a blind eye to the kids on special days. She likes to exercise and rides her bike to work whenever possible. Julia enjoys reading and is interested in history and decorating. On weekends, the family takes turns inviting friends over or being invited over, or spending time with grandparents and on family trips when the weather is nice.

Julia would therefore like to take a vacation where:

• she doesn't have to plan much, because she has neither the time nor the inclination to do so.
• the whole family has fun.
• she does not have to cook and shop.
• Relaxation and exercise should be balanced. A good night's sleep is also a must.
• she can do something alone with her husband at least once or twice
• a good portion of nature experiences are included.
• their children can ideally play with other children.
• a cultural experience is included, where the whole family can have fun and learn something.
• everyone can switch off from everyday life.
• the accommodation is close to nature and also close to various leisure attractions.
  Whether it is a hotel or a vacation apartment is not important, as long as there is enough space for the children and, in the case of the vacation apartment, restaurants are not too far away, because Julia does not want to cook on vacation. Julia is not actively looking for all-inclusive or club vacations, but if such an offer meets her criteria, she does not rule it out.

Julia has a Facebook and an Instagram profile and is moderately active on both. Passively, she consumes YouTube, but has not subscribed to any channels, and gets DIY tips on Pinterest. Email is more of a work tool for her than something she uses much in her personal life. The last time she was at a travel agency was in 1995 with her parents. Julia looks at accommodations on TripAdvisor and also consults the service when she wants to choose a new restaurant. She trusts the reviews there and has had good experiences with them so far. On Julia's cell phone, in addition to Spotify and Ebay Classifieds, are the apps from Die Zeit and Der Spiegel, which she uses to follow world events on the go. She found her current job on LinkedIn. When the kids are in bed and they both still have time and feel like it, Julia watches series on Netflix with her husband.
Julia leaves the vacation planning to her husband, but gives him the criteria. She would also be willing to contact an online tour operator via email or contact form if she feels it will save her planning work.
Julia takes vacation photos primarily for herself, and to send the best pictures to close family and selected friends via WhatsApp. She is also active on WhatsApp every day while on vacation. If Julia has time and feels like it after the trip, she might rate places, restaurants or accommodations on TripAdvisor.

Persona 2a: Individual adventure

Jan is 26 years old, single and has no children. He lives for rent in a two-room apartment in Dresden, where he works as a mechatronics engineer in a medium-sized company that is the world market leader in its field. Jan works shifts and therefore has time off at unusual times. With his 50,000 euros net income, he gets by well as a single man and can set aside quite a bit for travel and fun.
He takes public transport to work and drives a Skoda in his spare time, but only uses it for further journeys, in the rain and for heavy shopping, otherwise he prefers to cycle.
Jan divides his free time between his basketball club, meetings with friends and gaming. Once a month he spends a weekend with his parents in Radebeul.
Jan eats a semi-healthy diet, which means he knows what is healthy and tries to pay attention to it, but appetite and pleasure often prevail. Jan stores wherever he happens to be, he goes to the supermarket as well as to the market or to the farm store if he happens to be there or if there is a special specialty.
With two of his friends, he has been going on vacation together regularly for several years. The three of them meet beforehand to plan their long-distance trips over a barbecue on Jan's balcony.

The group's expectations for their vacation are:

• Fun and adventure feeling, the feeling of not being a mass tourist.
• Getting to know exotic, faraway places, while also enjoying contact with the local population.
• Taste local food.
• Experiences take precedence over relaxation, but the occasional chill out is a must.
• Trying something new, such as a new sport, a trip to a particularly remote or hip area, or a particularly different food.
• The accommodation can be a hip hostel, a lodge or an Airbnb with "family connection", the main thing is communicative and exciting. Budget is available, but Jan and his friends prefer to spend a large part on adventure tours and experiences rather than on luxurious accommodation. However, the accommodation should already have good ratings and wifi.

Jan is on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. For gaming, he uses an XBox. He uses WhatsApp in everyday life, subscribes to several YouTube channels and has a Spotify account. He does have a Facebook profile, but hasn't used it for years. Jan has never been to a travel agency; he uses Wikipedia, Google and TripAdvisor as well as Instagram to find out about potential destinations. After planning with his friends, he then books on Booking.com, Airbnb or, if it's cheaper and the website is good, directly with the lodge on site. Sometimes Jan and his group only pre-book part of the trip to give themselves room for spontaneity. They also book flights through Kaya.com, Fluege.de or directly with the airlines themselves. Jan takes a lot of photos of things and places (and especially himself with things and in places) that he finds special and posts them on Instagram during the trip.

Persona 2b:

Jan's sales colleague Anna is also 26 years old, single and has no children. She also rents a two-room apartment in Dresden. Anna has a lot of customer contact and often works overtime. Since she is unattached and wants to build up assets, she doesn't mind. With her net income of 55,000 euros, she gets by well as a single person and can put aside quite a bit for travel and fun.
Anna uses the job ticket to get to work and otherwise mostly her Opel, only riding her bike when the weather is very nice. In her free time she likes to go out with friends, or go shopping or to festivals. Once a week she goes to Zumba.
Anna likes to eat outside, paying attention to what she likes rather than where it comes from. If it's organic, fine, if not, no big deal. Anna likes to go on vacation with her clique, with fun and relaxation from work being her top priorities. Since Anna works a lot, she doesn't pay attention to money on vacation, but adapts to her friends if their budget is not so high. Generally, the clique tries to get maximum fun for an acceptable price. 

The group's expectations for their vacation are:

• Fun and relaxation with sun guarantee.
• Contact with other tourists on the same wavelength for the purpose of joint ventures and celebrate.
• Exciting nightlife.
• New sports, as long as they promise action and fun without being too strenuous.
• The accommodation can be a very trendy hostel with half or full board, a medium sized trendy hotel or a chain hotel. A nice pool is a must. Airbnb is an option if the accommodation brings a big plus, like own pool, very central location in the middle of the action, very big size and/or very good price.
• Good ratings and wi-fi are also a must.

Like Jan, Anna is on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. She subscribes to a beauty channel on YouTube. She uses WhatsApp in everyday life. She has a Facebook profile, but hasn't used it for years. She leaves the booking to a friend because it reminds her too much of work, just like the travel planning. She listens to what the friends suggest, looks up the destination a bit on Instagram and Google, and then lets the group know what she thinks. Anna has also never been to a travel agency. Anna and her friends' trips are several short trips a year plus one trip of 1-2 weeks where they stay in the same place the whole time. Anna takes a lot of photos of herself on the beach or of the group while traveling and posts them on Instagram while still on the trip.

Persona 3: Culture and comfort

Gerd is 67 years old, married and the father of two adult children who now live in other regions. He has one grandchild of kindergarten age from each of his children so far. Since the children moved out, the electrical engineer has lived alone with his wife in their owner-occupied house in Münster. Gerd has been retired for a year. His wife has been a housewife since the children came along and has done voluntary social work on the side, which she continues to do. With a net household income of 45,000 euros from pensions and investments, Gerd and his wife are well off and can treat themselves to frequent vacations and short trips. They schedule the short trips on weekdays so as not to clash with the many weekend excursions.
Gerd used to have to make many long, externally determined, tightly scheduled and stressful business trips. That's why he now attaches great importance to relaxation and enjoyment. Gerd has an affinity for education and tries to stay physically fit as long as possible in everyday life by riding his bike to run small errands, going for walks with his wife and playing tennis once a week. In the evenings, he watches the news and likes to listen to music afterwards over a good glass of wine - or he and his wife invite couple friends over. After often being separated and stressed during his professional life, Gerd and his wife now use the time to enjoy life together. They eat healthy and prefer organic when it's on sale, but are not active sustainability shoppers. Gerd drives an Audi A3.

Gerd would like on vacation:

• Enjoy good food and beautiful ambience.
• Take it easy.
• Travel to interesting places where he can visit and learn something.
• If possible, but not mandatory, attend a concert.
• If possible, either travel with friendly couples.
• Enjoy a little wellness.
• Have the opportunity for sports activity.
• Accommodation in the upscale segment should be cozy and have its own flair. Chain hotels are not Gerd's thing; he prefers boutique hotels or even larger houses, but with regional charm. Apartments are only considered if they offer a special plus, such as a particularly spectacular location.

Gerd is tech-savvy and interested. He does online banking and occasionally shops online, mostly electronics and stuff for the house, but no clothes. He has several messaging apps on his phone. Before traveling, he Googles the destination and also looks at recommendations on TripAdvisor, preferably on his PC. Since online travel portals have been around, he looks around there more and more often and has also booked the odd weekend trip that way. For a longer, more detailed trip, however, he still prefers to rely on personal advice from a travel agent. Gerd can't do anything with social networks and doesn't have any profiles there. He does, however, check Twitter from time to time and makes active use of WhatsApp for daily communication with his children and weekly video calls with his grandchildren. Every 2-3 months he sees his grandchildren over a long weekend or for the vacations and then enjoys actively doing things with them. Although he sometimes notices the age, e.g. when playing sports, Gerd feels more "experienced" than "old".

In our example, the fact that data-driven personas works better than target groups can be seen particularly well in the fact that Anna and Jan would fall into the same target group (young professionals with a completed education between 20 and 30 who live in an urban environment and earn between 50 and 55,000 euros), but display very different vacation behavior. You can reach them on the same platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Google Ads, billboards), but you can't lure them with the same travel offer, images and wording.

Julia and Gerd are very different and do not even belong to the same target group, but can be reached in part on similar channels that differ from Jan and Anna (TV commercials, advertising in news portals). However, both respond to a very different travel program, wording and other imagery.
For this reason, data-driven personas is also the best option in tourism to efficiently address exactly the right customers for the right trip with little wastage.

This brings us full circle to the Traveller Tribes from Amadeus and Lifestyle Clusters mentioned at the beginning.

Practical examples: How TripAdvisor and Amadeus work with personas.
The six "tribes" Amadeus works with are:

• Simplicity Searcher - Tourists with this profile want to have little work with travel planning, know what to expect and enjoy their time. They like personal advice and tend to go for package tours or organized tours.
• Cultural Purists are sophisticated, educated and interested in culture. They prefer things to be individual.
• Social Capital Seekers travel to be admired. They travel to as many destinations as possible and post their experiences on social media.
• Reward Hunter want to be pampered and have a good time and are happy to pay for it.
• Obligation meeters combine travel with work. On business trips, they add a day or two for private vacation, and on private trips, they sometimes take a business appointment. They are therefore inflexible.
• Ethical Travellers pay attention to sustainability - environmental and social - and are sensitive to the political and cultural conditions at their destination.

TripAdvisor also distinguishes six types of travelers:
Utility-oriented travelers who have a limited budget and who therefore want to make the most of their vacation. They travel with children, especially to the seaside. They use their smartphone to search for special services such as kids' clubs, etc.
Plus the self-identifying groups of Luxury Travelers, Independent Travel ers and Habitual Travelers, who often return to the same place because they like it and that doesn't require planning.
Social travel ers are found in groups of friends and families, including those with children, according to TripAdvisor, and rely on recommendations from TripAdvisor and word of mouth.
Research-loving travelers often travel as couples and spend a lot of time planning to make sure everything is perfect.

If we now try to assign Julian, Jan, Anna and Gerd to an Amadeus-Tribe or a TripAdvisor- travel type, we realize that it is not that easy:

Julia could be described as a "SimpliCity Searcher" in the Amadeus scheme, but she doesn't want to be advised in detail, but prefers to travel. On TripAdvisor, this characteristic fits into the "Habitual Traveler" category, but Julia also has a fair amount of "Social Traveler" in her.

Jan falls between the opposing sounding categories of Ethical Traveller and Social Capital Seeker at Amadeus: He takes round trips and documents them in real time on social media, but is also very interested in the nature and culture of the host country. On TripAdvisor, he would most likely fall under "Independent Travelers." The fact that he travels with friends fits into the "Social Traveler" category, but he also likes to do research.

Anna is a Simplicity Searcher in the sense that she doesn't like a lot of planning and likes to sit in a feathered nest. But she's also a Social Capital Seeker because it's important to her to showcase her vacation on social media. On TripAdvisor, Anna would be a mix of "social" and "habitual."

Gerd is the easiest to classify, he is a Cultural Purist (Amadeus). On TripAdvisor he ranks between "research lover" and "luxury traveler".

We could continue this exercise with countless other segmentations (Trendscope distinguishes seven travel types, Dertour likewise six, and anyone searching for travel types on the Internet is almost overwhelmed by the abundance of surveys, classifications, and studies) and yet none of our tourism personas would fit perfectly into one category. TUI, with its classification by travel needs and lifestyle clusters, is closer to reality. However, no travel agency, tour operator or online travel company can put in the kind of effort that TUI does.
This is where the data-based tourism personas come in: They bring clarity to marketing, sales, and customer care on the basis of representative statistical data: It is much easier to sell Jan a trip via an online booking portal and lure him with suitable advertising on YouTube than it is to consider what a social individual traveler who fits into the group of "ethical travelers" and likes to present himself on Instagram will respond to.

You want to create your own data-based tourism persona? We are happy to help with the Persona Profiler or an extensive data collection on global tourism development.