A preliminary investigation into the psychographics of naturebased travelers to Southern United States

The purpose of this study was to determine if psychographic research, which attempts to look at the life-style characteristics of tourists, can be used to differentiate segments of the nature-based travel market. Furthermore, it attempted to determine whether differ-ences exist between members of the resulting segments with respect to their travel behavior, environmental attitudes, and demographic characteristics. This information should be useful to nature-based tourism marketers and planners in developing tourism products that will be attractive to various target markets. Nature-based tourists represent a relatively new segment of the tourism market that has captured the attention of destination marketers. The interest in this segment may be attributed to the fact that nature-based tourism is big business (Berle 1990). It can provide substantial economic rewards for destinations, as nature-based tourists expend $14 billion worldwide annually viewing wildlife, participating in photog-raphy, and traveling to see nature (Vickerman 1988)