Plog’s Psychographic Model

Summary: The main objective of this work was to increase the travel market, in particular trying to get more people to travel by plane. From this study, Plog identified five types of tourist: allocentric, nearly allocentric, mid-centric, nearly psychocentric, psychocentric. The main characteristics of the two types of tourists at the extremes of Plog’s model: psychocentric and allocentric visitors. According to Plog, there is a tendency for most destinations to lead towards psychocentric characteristics and the public they attract. This process does not necessarily need to happen, but without a coordinated effort to execute a preconceived plan, it is most likely to happen. Considering the proposed tourism area life cycle model by Butler, it is easy to understand that tourism destinations evolve, increasing in popularity and attracting more visitors, which results in a change in the profile of the tourists. Plog’s model has been widely criticized for oversimplifying a complex process to seek an explanation based on only one element (personality), lacking dynamic elements essential to explain how the same individuals can change their behaviour patterns between several trips (Williams, 2002).