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Influence of an Online Travel Community on Travel Decisions

  • Conference paper
Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2008

Abstract

Influence of online community member’s postings on travel decisions were analyzed using thematic networks. Tremapper was used to discover which country postings to be analyzed and resulted in analysis of 8 countries. This study identified 8 organizing themes from an analysis of 81 communication threads that consisted of 713 members and 1691 postings. Out of the 81 threads included in the study, 23 showed a clear evidence of influence. The members’ decisions were categorized by the information sources experience at destination such as residents and experienced travellers The analysis of the chosen countries and topics indicate that residents were more influential in food and beverage recommendations, safety concerns at the destination, and travel itinerary refinements (including things to do and places to see) whereas experienced travellers were more influential in accommodation recommendations, transportation, monetary issues like exchanging money and how much money to carry during the travel, destination information including tourist hassle at a specific destination, and itinerary advice.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Clemson University, USA

    Irem Arsal, Sheila Backman & Elizabeth Baldwin

Authors
  1. Irem Arsal
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  2. Sheila Backman
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  3. Elizabeth Baldwin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales Business School, Institut de Management Hotelier International, Cergy-Pontoise, France

    Peter O’Connor

  2. eTourism Competence Center Austria, Innsbruck, Austria

    Wolfram Höpken

  3. Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Ulrike Gretzel

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Wien

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Arsal, I., Backman, S., Baldwin, E. (2008). Influence of an Online Travel Community on Travel Decisions. In: O’Connor, P., Höpken, W., Gretzel, U. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2008. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77280-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77280-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-77279-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-211-77280-5

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