The influence of online tourist user-generated content on customers when choosing a holiday destination

Abstract

The revolution in Information Communication Technology with the shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 technologies has affected the Tourism Industry. Being an information-based industry, customers gather information from various sources to help them make a purchase decision. Due to the growing popularity of Web 2.0 applications, customers are making use of user-generated content to gather information on particular holiday destinations. The main aim of this study is to investigate the influence of user-generated content on customers’ purchase decision when choosing a particular holiday destination. Through secondary research, this study has mainly outlined the characteristics of tourism services, the creating and consuming of user-generated content from social media platforms, the credibility and accountability of user-generated content and traditional sources of information as well as the consumer’s buying decision process. Analysis of data collected through a quantitative online survey questionnaire, identified the objectives of the research. The findings from primary research indicate that user-generated content does influence customers’ purchase decisions when choosing a holiday destination. However it does not alter their original purchase intentions. Moreover, online users do not seem to question that user-generated content may be biased. Additionally, customers are more likely to gather information from both user-generated content and traditional sources of information when choosing a holiday destination. However, there is still a significant shift which indicates that user-generated content is being used more than other sources to gather information. Lastly, online users agree that user-generated content reduces the ‘intangibility’ of choosing a holiday destination.