Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the types of information travellers typically use when planning a pleasure trip including
information about destinations, attractions, accommodations, car rental information and/or
choosing routes. The perceived usefulness of various travel tools/websites, including travel agency
sites, travel company sites, travel magazines, virtual communities, focuses on the ability of the
Internet to support the travel planning effort. IT can be measured by the perceived usefulness of
the various types of online tools/websites. Thus, one might expect that travellers with different
information needs and their assessment of the various Internet travel planning tools would differ
signifi cantly in their use of search engines. Further, the interaction of these two constructs, search
for travel information and use of various types of websites, enables one to gain experience,
knowledge and the understanding necessary to evaluate the relative usefulness of search engines
in helping fi nd the information necessary.
The search process
The process of search within the context of travel planning shapes the strategies used in evaluating
search engine results (Fesenmaier and Jeng 2000; Pan and Fesenmaier 2006). Also, following Jeng
and Fesenmaier (2002), Pan and Fesenmaier (2000) and Hwang et al . (2009), the degree of
specifi city (i.e. general vs. specifi c) of the planning task also affects the way one evaluates search
engine results. For example, a person having already decided to visit a particular destination
might use an online travel agency in order to arrange the fl ight or use a company hotel website
to book accommodations (i.e. a very specifi c task). However, if a person is undecided about a
specifi c destination and is seeking information about alternative destinations, that person might
use a travel community website or an online magazine to learn about potentially interesting
places to visit.
Thus, an online search engine user (i.e. travel planner) will differ signifi cantly in terms of the
keywords entered into the search engine as well as the number of search results considered. Recent
studies by Pan et al . (2006), Pan, Litvin and O'Donnell (2007) and Xiang et al . (2008) indicate that
search strategies (i.e. keywords and number of search results) differ signifi cantly depending upon
the nature of the task (i.e. facet of the trip being considered and level of specifi city) and user goals.
For example, when a traveller has already decided the destination and seeks information about
attractions to visit or a hotel to stay in, he/she would use the name of the destination as the
keyword within a search engine; the number of search results he/she would evaluate would be
limited. However, if the person perceives greater fl exibility in the places to visit or the activities to
participate in, he/she might search much further among the search engine results.
Post-search evaluation
Four constructs defi ne the third stage of a search process, the evaluation stage. First, the online
travel planner forms an overall evaluation of search engines use for travel planning, refl ected in a
general satisfaction measure (Pan and Fesenmaier 2006). Also, the experience is translated into
attitudes towards search engines in terms of trust, ease of use and their effi cacy in supporting the
travel planning process (Gefen, Karahanna and Straub 2003; Gretzel, Fesenmaier and O'Leary
2006; Pan and Fesenmaier 2006). Thus, a person who is very satisfi ed with her/his use of search
engines would consider search engines as trustworthy, easy to use and the search results enable
the traveller to make better decisions. On the other hand, dissatisfi ed users might see search
engines as untrustworthy, diffi cult to use and/or not very effective in helping them plan a trip.
Finally, studies suggest that these evaluations and resulting attitudes shape the perceptions that
travellers have of the Internet and travel planning tools as well as the use of search engines.
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