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| Trip Patterns |
For
tourism companies to know where to find their target market, it is necessary to
have an idea of their physical movement while they are on a trip. This will, of
course, vary widely from person to person and from occasion to occasion, but by
the help of some basic trip patterns, it is possible to analyze how tourists
are likely to travel in certain geographies.
A
common starting point for such an analysis is to look at some very general,
simple patterns that are typical for a large number of trips. We suggest that
using the plant analogies shown in the figure above will make it easy to
remember these basic trip patterns. Imagine that the tourist’s home and
starting point is at the bottom of these figures and that the main destination
is at the top. The major patterns shown in the model are:
1. Stick: Traveling straight from
home to the main destination and backtracking home again along the same route.
2. Twig: Traveling between home
and the main destination while making one or more exits along the way.
3. Palm: Traveling to a primary
destination and using this as a base for shorter trips to secondary
destinations.
4. Wreath: Traveling in a circular
path via one or more destinations and returning home without backtracking any
significant stretch of the route.
The
stick is the simplest and most basic
of all the trip patterns. It basically involves a trip straight from A to B and
back again the same way. The word straight here does not necessarily mean a
straight line on the map but rather moving from start to goal without exiting
from the main route. Flying from your home town to a holiday resort and then
returning the same way again after the holiday is over is an example of this
pattern.
The
twig is similar to the stick except here
the traveler will make one or more exits from the main route along the way.
Making a detour either to experience additional attractions or perhaps to visit
a relative would be examples of the twig pattern. The pattern involves
backtracking along the same main route on the return journey, but the exits may
be different going out and coming back. It is enough to make a single exit
either on the outbound or on the homebound journey for the trip pattern to be
considered a twig. A trip pattern will also be categorized as twig if the exit
returns to the main route at a different place than where it left the main
route. However, if such a detour deviates a lot from the shortest route, if
would usually make more sense to call this longer path the main route.
The
palm pattern typically involves a
flight or a drive to a primary destination and then using this as a base to
explore other, secondary destinations in the vicinity. Using a primary
destination as a base usually means spending one or several nights there. The
shorter trip(s) out from the base may or may not involve a sleepover. As for
the twig pattern, the exits or excursions from the base and back again may or
may not involve backtracking along the same route, but the return trip from the
base and back home follows the same path as the outbound journey.
The
wreath pattern needs no more to form
a perfect circle on the map than the stick pattern needs to form a straight
line. The wreath may just as well have a square, a triangle, or any other shape
as long as the movement is predominantly forward rather than back along the
route previously traveled. In reality, the actual path on the map (at least for
overland travel) will usually be highly irregular following the contours of the
geography. The term round trip is a common way to describe this pattern, but
one should be aware that this term is also often (although somewhat
imprecisely) used to describe a “there-and-back-again” trip regardless of which
route is used on the way back.
The
four trip patterns discussed above should be considered basic building blocks.
They may suffice to describe certain common types of trips, but a closer
analysis will show that most trips are better described as combinations of
these patterns. The most common combination is perhaps the twig being a part of
a palm or a wreath, meaning that the traveler will make exits on the way to the
base or as part of a round trip. One may also find a wreath at the end of a
stick if the traveler must get to a place first before starting the round trip.
Traveling somewhere by airplane before embarking on a cruise would be an
example of such a combination.
There
are obvious links between the trip patterns and different modes of transport.
Travel by car is more likely to involve exits than travel by air, water or
railway. Travel by airplane will usually mean a stick pattern, unless it is
combined with other modes of transport at the destination. Except for cruises which
may follow a wreath pattern, travel by ship also usually displays a stick
pattern. Composite train trips such as interrail may involve complex trip
patterns, but most railway journeys are best described by the stick pattern.
The links between trip pattern and mode of transport may be explained partly as
a result of the freedom associated with controlling your own vehicle (as
opposed to public transport) and partly as a result of the different types of
geography the different vehicles move through (exits are less likely in the air
or on the water).
The
length of the trip is also relevant both with regards to distance and duration.
The further one travels, the higher the likelihood of exits from the main
route. Also, the more time one spends at a destination, the more likely it is
that this destination will be used as a base for excursions to other secondary
destinations. Short trips are usually associated with simple patterns.
Spending
the night is not a requirement for a stop to be considered a destination. Day
trippers may spend only a few hours at their main destination before they
return home. A trip following a wreath pattern may include several
destinations, and some of them may involve a sleepover and some will not. A
relatively short halt for a quick meal, a rest, or to look quickly at a tourist
attraction, will usually be considered a stop en-route rather than a
destination. There are no hard and fast rules, however, that specifies how long
a stop needs to be before it should be classified as a destination.
For
both tourism businesses and destination managers it is essential to know their
place within these patterns. This involves being able to describe the most
common trip patterns used by your target market and then identifying where your
business or your destination fits in. Subsequently, one must seek to answer the
following questions:
- Do
most visitors spend time at your location, or do they use it as a base to reach
other destinations?
- Is
your location regarded as a destination in its own right by your target market,
or is it better thought of as a stopping point on the way to somewhere else?
- Is
your location to be found at a main transport route, or does getting there
require an exit from this route?
- Are
your target customers likely to travel by your location again on their way
home?
These
and similar questions are fundamental to establishing a realistic business
potential both for existing as well as for planned tourism ventures. Analyzing
your target market’s major trip patterns should therefore be considered a
central part of the market research necessary for such ventures.
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