A Profile of Visitors at Heritage Tourism Destinations in East Tennessee according to Plog’s Lifestyle and Activity Level Preferences Model

Abstract

Since the end of World War II, great progress has been made in developing methods for profiling consumers in many specialized businesses, including the tourism industry. The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of visitors to nationally significant heritage tourism destinations in East Tennessee that was based on demographics and lifestyle and activity level preferences. The psychographic measures were tested for reliability and then compared to and contrasted with the demographic data that were provided by study participants. Findings confirmed that visitors at all destinations were extremely homogeneous with regard to their demographics and their lifestyle and activity level preferences.