Personality traits and participation in holiday trips for people without and with moderate and severe disabilites.

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between personality traits (using the Big Five-Factor model, BFF), and participation and its intensity in holiday trips for German people without and with moderate and severe disabilities. Namely, this study investigates the contribution of the BFF model to understanding this relationship among travellers with different degrees of disability, and fills a gap in the literature on tourism and disability. Data from the 2013 and 2019 German Socioeconomic Panel surveys were used. To consider the particular nature of our dependent variable we run three different regression models (i.e. binary and ordered probit models for panel data, and a zero-inflated ordered probit model). Overall, there are significant differences in the impact of personality traits on participation in holiday trips by disability status but not in all dimensions and directions. For example, the dimension ‘consciousness’ positively affects the participation in holiday trips of people with disabilities (greater if the individual has a severe disability). The impact of ‘agreeableness’ on the likelihood to participate in holiday trips is lower for those people having a moderate/severe disability. Public programmes and policies for people with different degrees of disabilities must consider their personality traits to promote and increase their travel opportunities.