4 Tourist Types

Types of Tourists–4 main categories
Tourists are classfied, according to their needs and their reasons for travelling. This brief categorization aids to identifiy the specific tourist needs for stakeholders involved in the tourism industry.

Business and professionals
Tourist who travel due to work related activities. It could be related to studying to seek a higher qualification or for medical reasons which are unavailable in their own countries

Reason for traveling: Attending a conference or tradeshow, company incentive trip or cosmetic surgery

Leisure and holiday
This can be broken into 4 sub categories—Adventure, cultural, eco, and leisure.

Reason for traveling: Shopping, visiting UNESCO world heritage sites, skiing or attending a festival i.e. World Cup 2006 (Korea/Japan)

Visiting friends and relatives
A new an emerging tourist as globalization and advancement of technology enables people to migrate and travel conveniently.

Reason for traveling: Attending a friend’s wedding or attending a funeral

Youth tourists
Gap year students who travel in between their education or just before they embark with their career. This could be group travellers or individuals such as backpackers who are low-budget travellers.

Reason for traveling: Exploration, gaining life experiences