The role of internet and social media on travelers’ decision-making and booking processes

Abstract

[eng] Travel contexts and tourist behaviors are influenced by technological advancements in the last decades. Online travel industry offers its consumers a wide range of tourism goods and services and travelers evaluate these products with online travel information gathered through internet and social media. Consumer-generated content (CGC) shapes these sources with reviews, userratings, photos, videos. In this study, we aim to understand travelers‟ perceptions towards this content and intention to use these sources regarding their travel planning and booking processes. We measure the perceived attributes of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), Travel Review websites and social networks and evaluated socio-demographic profile of the participants in our survey. We have implemented one-way ANOVA test for making comparisons among CGC sources. We have also explored the perceptions of these information sources under Multiple Regression Model. Based on our results, we can emphasize that OTAs are the most widely used platform by travelers. Besides, female travelers and younger travelers are more likely to use social media for planning and booking their trips.