The role of digital information sources in the travel planning process

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.