Exploring the Spectrum: Other Variables in Tourism Market Segmentation

Most marketing textbooks introduce tourism segmentation through four classic lenses: demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural. These categories are powerful, but they rarely tell the complete story of why a person actually books a particular trip. A 32-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru and another 32-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru can have nearly identical demographic profiles and still want completely different holidays. One might be planning a 14-day backpacking trip across Ladakh in July, while the other is squeezing in a weekend pilgrimage to Tirupati. To explain that gap, marketers turn to a second layer of segmentation variables, often grouped together as “other variables.” This post explores five of the most useful ones: travel distance, trip duration, time of travel, trip organisation, and religious motives.

Why the standard variables aren’t enough 🔗

The basic four bases of segmentation answer the question of who the traveller is. They don’t fully answer how, when, or why a particular trip is happening. Two travellers with the same income, age, and personality can take wildly different trips depending on the time of year, the distance they need to cover, and whether they are travelling for faith or fun.

Academic researchers have noticed this gap for decades. A perspective paper in the Annals of Tourism Research notes that socio-demographic and trip characteristics such as age, gender, travel duration, and travel purpose are routinely combined as segmentation criteria precisely because no single variable captures the full picture. The “other” variables we discuss here are essentially trip-level attributes. They describe the journey rather than the person, and that distinction is what makes them so useful for tour operators, hoteliers, and destination marketing organisations.

Travel distance: the geography of decision-making 🔗

Travel distance is more than a number on a map. It directly shapes the type of product a destination can sell. A theme park near Mumbai will sell day passes to residents of Pune and Nashik but full holiday packages to families flying in from Kolkata. The distance has a powerful effect on perception too. A study published in Computational Urban Science on tourist images of Suzhou found that image differences increased with distance, and short-haul tourists perceived a more comprehensive image of the destination than long-haul tourists. In simpler terms, people who live close by know the destination intimately, while those who travel from far away tend to focus on a few headline attractions.

Short-haul, medium-haul, and long-haul markets 🔗

Marketers commonly split distance into three buckets. Short-haul travellers are typically within a 4-6 hour drive or a short flight. They book late, stay briefly, and spend less per trip. Medium-haul travellers cover longer domestic routes, often using overnight trains or short flights. Long-haul travellers include international visitors and travellers crossing several states. They plan further in advance, stay longer, and expect more iconic experiences for the time and money invested.

The phenomenon of distance decay explains why most domestic destinations draw the bulk of their visitors from nearby states. As distance increases, the cost and effort of travel rise, and demand falls. This is why a hill station like Mahabaleshwar fills up with travellers from Mumbai and Pune, while Munnar pulls heavily from Kochi, Bengaluru, and Chennai.

Trip duration: from weekend escapes to extended stays 🔗

How long a tourist stays is directly linked to how much they spend, what they buy, and which businesses benefit. A weekend getaway crowd needs quick check-in, packaged sightseeing, and grab-and-go dining. A family on a two-week holiday in Kerala wants slow experiences, laundry services, and time to wander.

The post-pandemic period made this segmentation even more relevant. Over 677 million domestic tourists travelled in India, with many embracing the staycation and workcation trend, which essentially extended trip durations far beyond the traditional 3-4 days.

Short stays 🔗

The short break is a defining feature of urban Indian travel. Weekend getaways from Delhi to Rishikesh, from Mumbai to Lonavala, or from Bengaluru to Coorg generate massive recurring demand for resorts and homestays within a 4-5 hour radius of every metro. These travellers want minimum planning effort and maximum recharge.

Medium and long stays 🔗

Medium stays of 5-9 nights are the sweet spot for circuit travel: a Rajasthan loop, a Kerala backwater itinerary, or a Golden Triangle tour. Long stays of 10 nights or more are still common for senior travellers, NRIs visiting family, and international tourists doing multi-region trips. Tour operators design completely different inclusions for each duration band.

Time of travel: working with seasonality 🔗

Time of travel is one of the most underrated segmentation variables. Indian tourism has clear and distinct travel windows, and each window represents a different segment of traveller. A Goa beach in January is a different product from the same beach in July.

The country’s geography creates these seasonal segments. As Rough Guides notes about Indian travel patterns, over Christmas and New Year, Goa is overwhelmed by domestic tourists as well as international visitors, while the same coastal belt sees almost no foreign arrivals during the monsoon. Hill stations in Himachal and Uttarakhand fill up in summer, while desert destinations like Jaisalmer thrive in winter.

Peak, shoulder, and off-season segments 🔗

Peak season travellers typically book early, accept higher prices, and value experience over savings. They are families on school holidays, festive-season vacationers, and honeymooners locked into wedding-season dates. Shoulder season travellers are flexible, value-conscious, and willing to trade slightly less perfect weather for better deals. Off-season travellers are often niche groups, including monsoon enthusiasts heading to Cherrapunji or photographers chasing dramatic landscapes.

Domestic tourism is also crucial in smoothing out these cycles. Domestic tourists travel year-round across school holidays, festival seasons, and long weekends, providing steady income for hotels and operators that might otherwise struggle during foreign-tourist off-seasons.

Trip organisation: package tourists vs independent travellers 🔗

How a trip is organised is a powerful segmentation variable that often gets ignored. The two ends of the spectrum are the package tourist and the independent traveller, with several hybrid models in between.

The package tourist 🔗

Package tourists buy a pre-arranged bundle that includes transport, accommodation, sightseeing, and often meals. They prefer convenience, predictable pricing, and the comfort of a fixed itinerary. In India, this segment is enormous. IRCTC, SOTC, Thomas Cook, MakeMyTrip, and Yatra collectively move millions of travellers through structured packages every year. Organised tours prioritise convenience, while independent travel offers flexibility, and many first-time travellers, senior citizens, and pilgrim groups gravitate towards organised formats because the logistical burden is lifted.

The independent traveller 🔗

Independent travellers book everything themselves, often using online travel agencies and review sites. They prize flexibility, discovery, and authenticity. Backpackers, couples, and digital nomads sit firmly in this group. The rise of platforms like Airbnb, the spread of UPI payments, and the explosion of food and travel content on social media have made independent travel within India easier than ever.

The hybrid traveller 🔗

Between these two ends sits the fastest-growing segment: travellers who book a customised semi-package. They might use an OTA to book flights and hotels but hire local guides on arrival, or buy a “FIT” (Free Independent Traveller) package where transport and stays are arranged but daily activities are open. Tour operators increasingly design themed holiday groupings such as spiritual journeys and short getaways with flexible inclusions, recognising that the rigid package is no longer enough.

Religious motives: faith as a segmentation variable 🔗

Few countries treat religious motivation as central to tourism marketing the way India does. Religion has been one of the oldest reasons for travel here, and faith-based segments have unique behaviours that justify their own targeted strategies. According to industry estimates, India’s rich array of religious sites has driven a significant increase in spiritual tourism post-Covid, making up nearly 60% of domestic tourism. That single statistic should reshape how any Indian tourism marketer thinks about segmentation.

Pilgrims, religious tourists, and spiritual seekers 🔗

The faith-based market is not monolithic. Spiritual tourism is divided into two primary types, pilgrimage and education, with pilgrims travelling in the name of religion or spirituality and educational travellers seeking to learn from diverse religious traditions, teachings, and practices.

The devout pilgrim visits sites like Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Shirdi, the Char Dham circuit, Ajmer Sharif, the Golden Temple, or Velankanni out of religious obligation. They are price-sensitive on accommodation but willing to invest heavily in offerings, special darshans, and family group bookings. The religious tourist may visit the same sites but is also drawn by architecture, history, and culture. The spiritual seeker heads to Rishikesh, Dharamshala, or Auroville for yoga, meditation, and personal growth, blending wellness and faith.

How marketers serve faith-based segments 🔗

The infrastructure for these segments has expanded dramatically. The Government of India launched the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) scheme alongside Swadesh Darshan to develop pilgrim circuits, and major hospitality groups have built dedicated portfolios in Katra, Tirupati, Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Shirdi. Online travel agencies report that faith-based searches make up a substantial chunk of their traffic, particularly for towns like Varanasi, Haridwar, Tirupati, Shirdi, Katra, Amritsar, and Rameswaram.

Putting the variables together 🔗

The real power of these “other” variables shows up when they are combined. Imagine layering them onto a basic demographic profile. A middle-income family of four becomes a much sharper segment when you add: short-haul, 3-night duration, peak winter, fully packaged, religious motive. Now the marketer knows exactly what to build: a fixed-departure Tirupati package from Chennai for the Pongal weekend, with confirmed darshan slots and hotel pickups. Change one variable and the product changes completely. Move that family to long-haul, 7-night, shoulder season, independent, leisure motive, and you are now selling a self-drive Rajasthan itinerary instead.

This layering is exactly what modern data-driven segmentation aims to do. Researchers using clustering techniques on traveller data have found that distinct segments emerge based on lead time to book, device preference, conversion rates, and destination selections, none of which fit neatly into the classic four bases. The future of tourism marketing belongs to operators who can combine these trip-level variables with demographics and psychographics to design genuinely personalised offerings.

What do you think? 🔗

If religious motives drive nearly six out of every ten domestic trips in India, should faith-based segmentation become a fifth standard base of tourism marketing alongside demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural variables? And as independent travel platforms get smarter, do you think the traditional package tour will gradually disappear, or will it always serve a loyal segment of travellers who prefer to be told exactly where to go and when?

References

1. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3395
2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43762-021-00012-z
3. https://www.statista.com/topics/5733/domestic-tourism-in-india/
4. https://www.roughguides.com/india/when-to-go/
5. https://www.stayvista.com/blog/irctc-south-india-tour-packages/
6. https://www.sotc.in/india-tour-packages
7. https://kpmg.com/in/en/insights/2024/08/sacred-journeys-unfolding-the-evolution-and-growth-of-pilgrimage-and-spiritual-tourism-in-india.html
8. https://www.ibef.org/research/case-study/spiritual-tourism-in-india-analysing-economic-impact-and-growth-potential
9. https://www.statista.com/topics/10692/religious-tourism-in-india/
10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334066538_Market_segmentation_analysis_in_tourism_a_perspective_paper