ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 1

Adaptive Strategies to Technological Change: Understanding Travellers Using the Internet for Trip Planning

Zheng XiangVirginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA

Dan WangHong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Daniel R. FesenmaierTemple University, Philadelphia, USA

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Agenda

• Introduction

• Related Literature

• Research Goal

• Methods

• Findings

• Discussion

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Introduction

• Tremedous growth of the Internet and tools available to travellers in the last decade:– Search engines– Social media– Mobile computing

• Important to understand how ICT and travallers co-evolve, particularly in travellers‘ use of the Internet for trip planning purposes.

• Past studies were conducted at the early days of the Internet, and they focused on user demographics and characteristics that distinguish travellers from non-users.

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Related Literature

• Role of trip planning in travel decision making (Fodness & Murray, 1997; Vogt & Fesenmaier, 1998; Gursoy & McCleary 2004; Jeng & Fesenmaier, 2002; Bieger & Laesser, 2004).

• Traveler characteristics (Bonn, Fur, & Susskind, 1998; Chu, 2001; Ip, Lee, & Law, 2010; Kim, Lehto, & Morrison, 2006; Weber & Roehl, 1999).

• Other factors influencing trip planning such as trip purpose, travel party, and travel experience (Luo, Feng, & Cai, 2004; Jun, Vogt, & MacKay, 2007).

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Research Goal

• Goal of this study is to gain an understanding of the strategies travellers developed as result of using the Internet for travel planning. Specifically, – what information sources and channels do travellers tend to use

more/less frequently for travel planning purposes?– How does the use of Internet impact on certain behaviors, e.g.,

amount of money spent, number of choices considered?

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Methodology (1)

• On-going Internet-based surveys were conducted by National Laboratory for Tourism & eCommerce at Temple U in Philadelphia from 2007 to 2012 using a portion of an online panel of 300,000 American consumers.

• Numbers of respondents from each survey ranged from 2,436 (in 2007) to 1,041 (in 2012) and were post hoc weighted according to age, ethnicity, and gender in order to represent the American population.

• Survey focused on three main areas related to travelers’ use of the Internet for trip planning: use, impact, and satisfaction.

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Methodology (2)

• For this analysis survey questions in three domains measuring travellers’ behavioral response to using the Internet (14 items) including:

– changes in travel plan (five items) – changes in information channels used (five items), and – likelihood of calling to make reservations or for further information (four

items).• Average scores for each domain were calculated and

rounded to the nearest integer so as to resemble the original scale.

• Cluster analysis was then conducted based upon the scores of the three domains using the K-means procedure.

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General Use/Attitude toward Technology by American Travel Group

Agree or Disagree with the Statement…

Super Planner

Does Not Bother Me

Efficient Planner

Mixed I Mixed IIMixed

III

Skills of finding what I want (strongly or somewhat agree)

91.1% 87.8% 77.8% 91.0% 88.3% 92.8%

Skilled at using Internet (strongly or somewhat agree)

85.4% 73.3% 64.0% 79.5% 74.9% 77.3%

Internet gives people more control with technology (Yes)

84.0% 65.5% 62.2% 77.6% 75.9% 80.7%

Used technology a lot compared to my friends (strongly or somewhat agree)

72.4% 35.7% 33.7% 41.9% 42.2% 43.7%

Know new tech before others in social circle (strongly or somewhat agree)

68.4% 33.8% 34.2% 38.7% 37.9% 43.2%

First to buy a new tech in my circle (strongly or somewhat agree)

66.5% 26.5% 24.9% 28.5% 30.9% 37.8%

Own tablet computer (e.g., iPad etc) (Yes)

37.8% 15.5% 12.9% 20.7% 19.5% 21.0%

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Websites Used in Online Travel Planning by American Travel Group

 Super

PlannerDoes Not

Bother MeEfficient Planner

Mixed IMixed

IIMixed

III

Online travel agencies 71.4% 56.2% 44.8% 68.3% 64.7% 74.5%

Search engines 64.1% 49.0% 43.5% 58.9% 59.6% 68.8%

Suppliers 55.7% 54.6% 51.6% 66.5% 60.8% 67.0%

Destination sites 45.0% 33.0% 27.4% 41.6% 45.1% 54.7%

Travel search engines 37.6% 19.0% 10.5% 25.0% 24.0% 30.6%

General travel sites 31.9% 10.6% 13.0% 11.5% 16.5% 24.6%

Travel guidebook sites 26.6% 8.1% 7.7% 10.3% 17.6% 11.2%

Travel review sites 25.4% 11.6% 5.3% 18.1% 17.3% 28.6%

Newspaper or magazines 23.4% 5.3% 4.5% 4.2% 7.7% 10.3%

Social networking 19.8% 3.9% 5.8% 4.6% 5.9% 5.6%

Online communities 19.3% 4.8% 10.5% 4.3% 8.7% 11.6%

Photo/video sharing sites 18.7% 2.9% 3.6% 3.2% 4.9% 5.0%

Personal blogs 13.3% 4.8% 5.3% 3.2% 5.6% 4.8%

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Variation in Online Travel Planning Activities by American Travel Group

 Super

Planner

Does Not Bother

Me

Efficient Planner

Mixed I

Mixed IIMixed

III

Request printed materials/brochures

53.2% 29.3% 23.3% 27.3% 41.3% 52.2%

Print out travel information/online brochures

52.2% 35.7% 31.4% 40.3% 46.6% 57.1%

Watch videos 48.9% 11.9% 13.5% 15.8% 19.5% 23.1%Print out coupons 48.1% 20.9% 26.0% 25.5% 28.5% 36.4%Read travel-related blogs 42.1% 12.1% 15.2% 19.1% 20.3% 26.8%

Look at comments/materials other travellers have posted

35.8% 24.1% 13.5% 40.1% 38.4% 50.2%

Use interactive calendar of events 35.3% 13.9% 12.1% 19.4% 20.8% 29.7%

Use interactive trip planners to create personal travel plans

35.0% 11.9% 12.6% 15.6% 18.7% 26.2%

Download videos 26.0% 3.1% 5.4% 2.4% 4.7% 4.6%Use live chat to talk with travel experts

21.9% 2.9% 4.9% 2.5% 5.3% 4.7%

Listen to travel-related audio files 15.0% 2.1% 1.3% 1.6% 4.0% 4.0%

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Discussion

• Three “normative” strategies represent typical ways people respond to technology within the travel context.

• Generally speaking, use of Internet has more significant impact on travel plans than the other two areas.

• Seems travellers either take full advantage of online/offline channels (super planners) or intentionally reduce their use of these channels because they have already “figured out” what to look for (efficient planners).

• Once a channel is built into one’s media repertoire, its use in the future will remain stable.

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Conclusions and Future Research

• This paper paints a broad picture of how technology could “drive” people to develop certain preferences and even habits of use.

• Further analyses need to be done to examine other variables such as demographics that distinguish these user sectors.