The role of travel experience and gender on travel information source selection

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to identify the most popular travel information sources used among tourists and investigates how travel information selection differs across travel experience and gender. Design/methodology/approach This study used convenient and quota sampling strategy, questionnaires were distributed to 270 respondents at Sultanahmet and Grand Bazaar areas. A screening question was used to classify respondents. Findings First, past travel experience, travel agent, travel websites and hotel websites are generally the most frequently used travel information sources in destination selection due to conveniences and reliability. Second, first-timers prefer to use external information sources such as Facebook, guidebooks, travel agents and newspapers to gather information about destinations, whereas repeat visitors prefer to use internal information sources such as friends’ suggestions and past travel experience. Lastly, female visitors rely more on internal information sources such as friends’ suggestions and past travel experience. However, males prefer to use external information sources like Facebook, television, blog, travel agents, newspaper and guidebooks in choosing Turkey as a destination. Research limitations/implications Because factors studied, travel information sources selected, number of respondents and questionnaire distribution area are limited, future studies can expand to a bigger area so more respondents could get more reliable results. Practical implications This paper could help tourism industries understand searching behaviours among different types of tourists better to promote businesses in convenient sources and reach target customers easily. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to study how travel information searching behaviours differ among tourists.

Tourist information channels as consumer choice: the value of tourist guidebooks in the digital age

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