The Online-Search Behavior of Tourists

The Internet has established itself as an important information source for tourism and is now used by a majority of tourists to satisfy their information needs. New media technologies provide new opportunities for tourists to find relevant information. However, to understand their search behavior, it has to be examined in terms of the types of information searched for, the types of technologies used, and its relationship to the various stages in the travel decisionmaking process and phases in the consumption of tourism products. It is also important to determine factors that influence online search behaviors. Three categories of factors have been identified: situationspecific factors, personal characteristics of the individual engaged in the search, and the perception and evaluation of the technologies used for the search.