Exploring the role of personality traits in romantic travel: a cluster and IPMA approach to understanding couples’ long-term relationship engagement

Purpose This study aims to explore how personality traits, as conceptualized by the Big Five framework, influence couples’ long-term relationship engagement. By integrating cluster analysis and importance–performance map analysis (IPMA), the research offers insight into how perceived partner personality traits shape emotional dynamics and relational outcomes in travel contexts. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative, exploratory design was employed. Data were collected via online surveys from 505 romantic tourists in Thailand who had recently traveled with their partners. Personality traits were measured using an adapted openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (OCEAN, Big Five) inventory, while long-term relationship engagement was assessed through validated items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) refined study constructs. Cluster analysis segmented couples into psychological profiles, and IPMA identified which traits most strongly influenced relationship engagement across segments. Findings Two distinct traveler segments emerged: adaptive, engaged tourists and cautious, self-focused tourists. The former exhibited high levels of agreeableness, extraversion, openness and emotional stability, while the latter displayed lower scores across all traits. IPMA results revealed that agreeableness and conscientiousness were consistently linked to long-term relationship engagement, though performance gaps existed for traits such as neuroticism and extraversion. Originality/value This study makes certain key contributions: (1) it introduces personality-based segmentation to romantic travel research, moving beyond demographic typologies, and (2) it integrates IPMA with psychological segmentation, offering actionable insights for tourism providers to tailor emotionally intelligent experiences that align with couples’ interpersonal dynamics.