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In-Depth Information
2001b). In particular, the fi rst two stages of technology use create an 'expansion' in activity, but
not any fundamental change in behaviour and that it is only in the third stage that we see
real structural changes in the nature of use - that is, travel behaviour. A recent book by
Turkle (2012) is mirrored by Gretzel and her colleagues (2012, 2006), MacKay and Vogt (2012),
Tussyadiah and her colleagues (2013a, 2013b) and Wang and Fesenmaier (2012), who suggest
that there are now important structural changes in travel behaviour whereby travellers tend
to 'extend' daily life into travel, become much more involved in creating/controlling the
tourism experience by sharing with others, are more involved and creative as they seek authentic
experiences, and today's travellers tend to adapt much better to local settings by using various
forms of mobile technology.
These new ideas to describe change in travel behaviour require a new paradigm of tourism
marketing. In particular, the metaphor of 'travel in the network' suggests there are a number of
new conditions for tourism marketing as the result of behavioural change in travel. First, it has
already been well documented that, in general, today's marketing practice, from political
campaigns to selling groceries, is primarily driven by information technology as the penetration
rate of the Internet in the United States has reached to a maximum level of saturation (see
http://www.pewinternet.org/). Also in travel and tourism, the Internet is the predominant
information source for travel planning (TIA 2011). Within this context, the notion of 'travel in
the network' offers a new lens for understanding today's travellers. That is, instead of simply
seeing travellers as users of technology, today's travellers can be considered an active partner in
technology-supported networks, which further consist of numerous information spaces (e.g.
DMO websites) and channels (e.g. OTAs and travel search engines) that support the basic
information activities of the traveller. Thus, the Internet is no longer a monolithic eCommerce
platform; instead, it offers countless networks and platforms vying for the traveller's attention and
spending power by supporting information seeking and transactions (Xiang, Wöber and
Fesenmaier 2008). And from a marketing standpoint, creating and delivering the right message
to the right person at the right moment is fundamentally important. Indeed, it may be of
primary importance for marketers to focus on understanding how travellers navigate these
information spaces and channels within the network structure in order to build and anticipate
their upcoming travel plans and experiences.
Second, technology-supported networks are social and community-based. Indeed, tourism
information on the Internet has taken this perspective from the very moment when the
Internet became a public and commercial infrastructure; examples include VirtualTourist
and IGoUGo whereas virtual places travellers congregate to share their experiences (Wang and
Fesenmaier 2004). However, the explosive growth of Web 2.0 with a variety of tools and
platforms that support consumer-generated content has further transformed the Internet
into the networks for social interactions (Xiang and Gretzel 2010). Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube and Pinterest are quintessential Web 2.0 applications in that they were developed
as novel ways to facilitate exchange of information and social networking. Particularly in travel
and tourism, websites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp are social spaces wherein word-of-mouth
is created, distributed and shared among peer travellers and consumers. As a result, tourism
marketing is no longer a practice of advertising and promotion; rather, the focus now has shifted
to participating in and being part of the online conversations. Therefore, social media marketing
has emerged as a new strategic area for tourism marketing, and there is a growing body of
literature documenting this paradigm shift (Gretzel
et al
. 2006; Leung
et al
. 2013; Sigala, Christou
and Gretzel 2012).
Third, another important aspect of the travel in the network metaphor is that technology-
supported networks are mobile, where today's cutting-edge apps offer all kinds of tools for
