While demographic segmentation groups people based on characteristics that are external, psychographic segmentation groups people on characteristics that are internal. Because psychographic characteristics are internal, they are more difficult to determine. These characteristics include lifestyle, values, and social class. For some products these internal characteristics have a stronger influence on determining the purchase preferences of consumers than do external demographic characteristics. A tourism destination is just such a product where the choice is more dependent on the psychographic characteristics of the potential tourists than on their demographics.

Of course, a strong correlation can exist between demographic and psychographic characteristics. Family stage and lifestyle can be used as an example of just such a correlation. Singles, because they are free of the responsibility of childcare, are more likely than parents with young children to lead an active lifestyle. Therefore tourism marketers developing a segmentation strategy for a city with a youthful nightlife scene will use demographics to target young singles as potential visitors. However, tourism marketers should remember that parents also enjoy nightlife; they just do not often have the opportunity because of family responsibilities. This provides a possibility for tourism marketers to use psychographic segmentation to target a promotional message to parents that they can enjoy nightlife while on a weekend getaway that they do not get to enjoy while at home.

The primary psychographic characteristics that would be most useful for tourism marketers are lifestyle, values, and social class. Lifestyle segmentation is becoming increasingly popular with...