The Experience Seeker
A core element of Tourism Australia’s strategy is to target a high yielding consumer segment. Tourism Australia has identified common segments across different cultures that would be receptive to the Australian experience and called them the Experience Seeker. This target market is highly predisposed to Australia’s offer and is more likely to stay longer, spend more and disperse to regional areas.
Experience Seekers are, by definition, looking for unique, involving and personal experiences from their holidays. Using psychographic research, studies find how travellers think and feel to determine the personal factors that influence them to travel. Experience Seekers are long haul travellers who are less affected by the traditional barriers to travel of distance, time and cost. They are more informed, interested and curious about potential travel destinations. They constitute around 30 to 50 per cent of all potential long haul outbound travellers from our key source markets.
Experience Seekers can be found among all age groups, income levels and geographic locations.
Research has shown that the Experience Seeker has a number of key ‘wants’ to satisfy their travel experience:
- Authentic personal experiences;
- Social interactions;
- Meeting and interacting with the locals;
- Experiencing something different from their normal day-to-day life;
- Understanding and learning about different lifestyles and cultures;
- Participating in the lifestyle and experiencing it, rather than observing it;
- Challenging themselves – physically, emotionally and/or mentally;
- Visiting authentic destinations that are not necessarily part of the tourist route; and
- Exposure to unique and compelling experiences.
Typically Experience Seekers are more likely to be:
- Experienced international travellers;
- Opinion leaders;
- Open minded; and
- Selective in their media consumption.
Other features of Experience Seekers are:
- Travel is an important part of their lifestyle;
- They stay longer and spend more;
- They travel beyond the major cities;
- They are less materialistic;
- They have a higher than average household income; and
- They are well educated and informed on a range of subjects.
Read the Experience Seeker factsheet.
Access further Experience Seeker information.