The role of digital information sources in the travel planning process
Date
2021
Authors
Berzina, Kristine
Medne, Ilze
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Latvia
Abstract
World Economic Forum’s Digital Transformation Initiative emphasizes that digitalisation in tourism is transforming the industry at
an exponential rate across the globe. Current tourist behaviour patterns are changing not so much in travel habits as in the ways of finding and using
travel information. These digitalisation changes are evident at all travel stages starting from dreaming about the future trip, planning and booking
necessary tourism services, as well as sharing information and evaluating experiences. Tourist destination organisations and companies need to
make strategic decisions, when sharing information, to reach the target audience in a smart and efficient way. The purpose of the study is to analyse
the current use of travel web sites and applications in different travel stages. The survey was chosen as the quantitative research method based on
five travel stages in order to study digital tourism informatin usage patterns. A personal interview survey was conducted in 2019 with 437 tourists.
Main findings indicate the major differences in the use of digital information sources at the planning stage of travel between age groups and
depending on the intensity of travel. The results of this study can be applied by marketing organisations and company managers to make better
decisions when submitting travel information on web sites and applications.
Description
Keywords
applications , digital information , travel planning , travel sites , travel stages , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Business and economics