An empirical investigation regarding the relationship between demographics and travel preferences
An empirical investigation regarding the relationship between demographics and travel preferences

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between several demographic characteristic of domestic travelers, on one hand, and, respectively, some important dimensions of their travel preferences, on the other hand. After analyzing data from an online questionnaire based study conducted among a sample of 346 young Romanian Facebook users (between 19 and 35 years old), the results showed that, from a hospitality industry practical point of view, it can be stated that as people grow older and gain a higher income level they prefer longer tourism trip/staying durations, smaller travelling groups, higher accommodation comfort levels, and, respectively, a more complete accommodation board system. Moreover, men prefer slightly higher accommodation comfort levels than women. Also, larger travelling groups are more frequently preferred by persons with a lower education level, while smaller travelling groups are more frequently preferred by those with a higher education level. Last, but not least, transportation by car or plane is more preferred by older and higher income travelers, while transportation by plane is more preferred by more educated travelers. Due to the fact that the matching consumers’ needs and desires is essential in marketing any company involved in the hospitality industry, and that in order to attract new customers and retain existing ones tourism services and packages must be offered in different configurations so that to satisfy each market segment’s needs and desires, the findings of this paper can be very useful and relevant from a practical perspective.

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