The Usefulness of Visitor Expectations Type Scales (VETS) for Tourist Segmentation: The Case of Cathedral Visitors

Abstract

This study applies Jungian psychological type theory to assess and to interpret the expectations of cathedral visitors. The Visitor Expectations Type Scales (VETS) were developed among 35 individuals trained and qualified as type practitioners and then tested among a sample of 157 visitors who also completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The data demonstrated: the coherence and internal consistency reliability of the VETS; the particular emphases placed by cathedral visitors on introverted expectations, feeling expectations, and perceiving expectations; and the complex relationship between visitor expectations (conceptualized in psychological type categories) and their personal psychological type profile. The VETS are commended as providing a more valid assessment of the psychographic segmentation of cathedral visitors than could be provided simply by the administration of a recognized measure of psychological type. Such assessment has implications for the marketing and management of cathedrals within the tourism industry.