After raising four children and operating a local diner in Clarksburg, WV for nearly forty years, the Hastings retired in an attempt to finally enjoy life. One of their dreams is to travel through Great Britain and Ireland, the mother countries of their ancestors.
Because of their family and professional obligations (often working 80-hour workweeks), the Hastings have never been out of the U.S. and the only trips they have taken were rare, short camping trips with the kids or weekend trips to attend family gatherings and college graduation ceremonies.
In anticipation of this “trip of a lifetime,” they have made an appointment with travel consultant Marie Boone, who is the daughter of a close friend.
•Carefully think about the Hastings’ special needs..
•How would you handle their unique case?.
•What questions would you want to ask and what factors should you consider? Why?.
•How will these factors influence the advice you give the Hastings?.
This case provides sufficient information for you to begin understanding the importance of profiling tourists. A good starting point for you is to develop a list of all the decisions needed to be made. Will the Hastings want to make all these choices? Next students should consider the Hastings’ tourism profile in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. For example, some answers will focus on safety needs because the Hastings have never traveled by plane or outside the U.S. Other answers may focus on belongingness needs because the stated purpose of the trip is to explore ancestral roots.
Many of us often tend to be myopic, only thinking about situations based on their background and experiences. Try to be empathetic by truly placing yourselves in the Hastings’ shoes rather than simply looking at the situation through you own eyes. Once the Hastings have been analyzed using Maslow’s Hierarchy, it is fairly easy to make the conceptual leap to the Travel Career Patterns model. On this model, Cook, Hsu & Marqua, 5th ed. Page 28 You may classify the Hastings as having lower travel career level and being internally motivated.
When looking at the psychocentric-allocentric (venturers-dependables) model, note the fact the Hastings have traditionally been near psychocentric/venturer in their travel behaviors, but that their new travel plans will place them in the midcentric category. This movement creates anxiety for the couple, as well as an opportunity for Marie to educate the Hastings about the wonderful travel experiences they are planning.
You can rely on information learned in Chapter 1 to prepare an outline of some basic information Marie should share with the Hastings. This outline should include information from at least the following areas: physical geography, human geography and regional geography.
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