Relating travel personality to Big Five Factors of personality.

Despite the wide use of personality in understanding human behavior, there is a lack of empirical research relating the commonly agreed personality measurement with travel personality or travel related activities. In filling the knowledge gap, this study aims at exploring the relationship between the Big Five Factors (BFF) of personality and travel personality. Using self-administered questionnaire to Korean domestic tourists, a data set of 360 was obtained that was subjected to one way ANOVA. Out of 60 possible relationships between the BFF and 12 travel personalities, 20 significantly indicated group difference with respect to the BFF. Openness to experience and extraversion factors among the BFF serve in differentiating 6 and 5 travel personalities respectively while conscientiousness and agreeableness explain respectively 4 and 3 differences in travel personalities. Neuroticism among the BFF explained only 2 group differences in travel personalities. Theoretically, the study affirms the application of personality theory in explaining human behavior. The study results shed light on how tourism professionals can use the BFF in marketing and designing their tourism products in enticing and satisfying different tourists having different travel personalities as well as different BFF of personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]