The Traveller Segmentation Program defines and classifies travelers from Destination Canada’s key target markets—both international and domestic—into seven key segments based on a combination of behavioral values—like trip spend, travel frequency, seasonal preferences and activities—and psychographic factors such as emotional motivations and core travel values.
Available in the Canadian Tourism Data Collective, this groundbreaking AI and data powered initiative will significantly change how our industry identifies, prioritizes and engages with our target travellers.
The program also shifts Destination Canada’s focus from High-Value Guests, defined primarily by income and frequency of travel, to Highly Engaged Guests, those who not only travel often and spend more, but importantly, align with our values and are deeply connected to our brand.
Of the seven new segments, four have been identified as Highly Engaged Guests – Outdoor Explorers, Culture Seekers, Refined Globetrotters and Purpose Driven Families.
Within these Highly Engaged Guests, Canada’s priority segments vary by market. In the United States, Destination Canada is focused on Outdoor Explorers, Refined Globetrotters, and Culture Seekers.
The program is closely aligned with our transformative 2030 Strategy, which seeks to boost Canada’s global competitiveness and increase annual tourism revenues to $160B by 2030. Understanding target audiences at a deeper level is critical to this vision. The actionable insights available on the segments’ behaviors and motivations will empower the entire sector to create unified, targeted marketing and destination management strategies, strengthening our collective voice and boosting our competitive advantage.
The Traveller Segmentation Program is designed for the entire tourism industry and its tools and insights are tailored to empower a broad range of stakeholders:
- Destination Marketers and Researchers can use the program to build targeted campaigns that resonate with the unique motivations of each traveler segment.
- Destination and Product Developers can tailor experiences that align with the specific desires of each segment, creating more memorable, meaningful and impactful experiences.
- Tourism Businesses and Operators and more than 200,000 SMEs can use the tool to align their marketing and operations decisions and strategies with those of the broader tourism marketing ecosystem, strengthening our collective voice and focusing on the right travelers to drive shared success.
- Agency Partners can leverage the program and the detailed insights into traveller behaviour and preferences to inform creative and media planning strategies and activations, ensuring every campaign hits the mark.
The program is also a significant evolution from the EQ 2.0 segmentation system, delivering deeper insights into customer journey timing, trip triggers, and psychographic data, offering a more actionable framework than EQ 2.0.
We invite you to learn more about the Traveller Segmentation Program and explore the segment profiles in the Canadian Tourism Data Collective here.
