Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 21.1
Types of information searched by American travellers for trip planning in the past six years
Type of information searched
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Change
(2012-
2007)
N =
2,436
N =
2,166
N =
2,014
N =
1,159
N =
1,032
N =
1,041
%%%%%%
Info about a particular
destination
75.3
73.8
70.0
66.9
71.6
68.8
-6.5
Hotel prices or places to stay
71.6
69.0
66.4
68.4
75.3
69.5
-2.0
Airline fares and schedule/flight
times
64.4
66.0
59.2
71.2
69.2
63.3
-1.1
Printed out maps and/or
driving directions
50.4
47.4
44.5
36.7
36.7
31.2
-19.2
Things to do at the destination
47.3
49.2
43.9
46.0
52.3
47.2
-0.1
Potential destinations to visit
39.6
44.2
37.4
41.2
47.9
45.7
6.1
Rental car prices and availability
38.8
39.1
33.3
41.0
45.6
41.0
2.2
Any type of travel discount or
promotion
37.7
39.7
37.2
37.6
43.2
38.3
0.6
Dining and entertainment
34.8
36.3
32.9
35.5
42.2
37.8
3.0
Event calendars at the
destination
27.8
28.6
25.0
26.4
31.8
26.0
-1.8
Travel packages for resorts, etc.
25.5
29.2
23.4
24.0
28.1
25.8
0.3
Cruises
21.1
22.4
19.4
18.6
21.4
20.7
-0.4
Stores or other places to shop
17.8
22.2
17.1
23.0
27.4
25.6
7.9
Sites that distribute free travel
brochures
11.8
11.2
10.6
9.3
10.6
10.7
-1.2
800 numbers
6.9
6.2
5.8
3.7
5.0
6.0
-0.9
Source
: National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce, Temple University (2013)
travellers' trip planning behaviour (Xiang
et al
. 2013), it is found that travellers now extensively
use consumer generated information for travel planning purposes. As shown in
Table 21.2
,
the
online travel planning activity 'looking at comments/materials posted by other travellers' has
overtaken 'print out travel information/online brochures' as the most signifi cant activity (in
2012), representing nearly a 50 per cent increase from year 2007. Similarly, there has been an
increase in (from 2007 to 2012) 'read travel-related blogs' which indicates that social media are
becoming a dominant source for travel information search.
Owing to the growing use of mobile technologies and the increasing amount of information
accessible during the
en route
and on-site phases, new technological conditions signifi cantly
alter the context of decision-making (Hwang 2011; March and Woodside 2005). It is argued
that, as opposed to the pre-trip planning behaviour, on-the-move travellers need to make
decisions that are time-sensitive, immediate, unrefl ective and spontaneous, and technologies
such as smartphones are considered ideal in supporting these decision-making processes (Hwang
2011). Indeed, Wang
et al
. (2011) found that travellers using smartphones are likely to change
their plans because they can easily access the Internet in order to get information for decision-
making, and that travellers often feel more secure, confi dent and excited when they use their
smartphone. As such, the traveller's spontaneous and unplanned behaviour is likely to increase
