Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The online tourism domain was traditionally seen as primarily comprised of the so-called
'tourism industries'. However, with the growth of consumer/user generated content, travellers
are now playing an increasingly important role as information providers on the Internet.
A recent study conducted by Xiang and Gretzel (2010) shows that social media constitute a
substantial part of the search results in search engines, indicating that search engines likely direct
travellers to social media sites. Their study confi rms the growing importance of social media in
online tourism wherein tourism businesses have little control.
The dynamics of the search triad
The search triad, as shown in
Figure 37.1
,
describes the interactions among the three parties
that may have different goals, objectives, expectations, as well as their specifi c behaviors. They
form a dialectic structure in which the behavior of each 'actor' is determined by the strategies
and behavior of other 'actors', and their behavior will potentially change the strategies of
others and, ultimately will lead to changes in the structure and balance of the system (Giddens
1976). Specifi cally, from the standpoint of the search engines, their role is to provide users
relevant information on a given query in order to gain and retain loyal users to their company.
They continue to modify the algorithms and interfaces based on a better understanding of users'
search behavior and online tourism information. They also need to continuously explore ways
to attract businesses to market with them, and at the same time, combat those businesses that
misuse SEO and paid listings. From the perspective of the information searcher, travellers seek
the most relevant information in order to plan their trips and as such, their search behavior is
affected by their understanding, learning and overall trust toward search engines, knowledge of
online tourism domain, image of the destination and the goals for their trip planning activities.
These aspects of search behavior adapt to changing search engine algorithms and related
Figure 37.1
The search engine marketing triad.
