Abstract
Travel planning is highly reliant on the websites of tourist bureaus, professional travel writers and experienced (non-professional) travelers. This study examines the search preferences of Chinese speaking Generation Z (alternatively known as Post-Millennials, the iGeneration, Founders, Plurals, or the Homeland Generation) as they plan a trip to a destination unfamiliar to them. The findings indicated more than 70% of the websites they frequented were well-known international sites, including user generated content (UGC) and the sites of business entities. The sites most preferred by Generation Z were UGC websites, with 100% of the participants saying they frequently use them while travel planning. The Destination Management Office (DMO) website was not a popular source, being frequently used by only 13% of participants. Of the nine dimensions of destination information, the two rated most important were natural resources and natural environment, which suggests that travel planners strongly associate Kenya with these qualities. Leisure and recreation information ranked least important. The results indicate, firstly, the perceived destination image affects the perceived importance of the destination information, and secondly, with the exception of popular world-wide travel websites, travelers prefer using local sites which share the same language and cultural background.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Akama, J.S.: Tourism development in Kenya: problems and policy alternatives. Prog. Tour. Hospitality Res. 3(2), 95–105 (1997)
Akama, J.S., Kieti, D.M.: Measuring tourist satisfaction with Kenya’s wildlife safari: a case study of Tsavo West National Park. Tour. Manag. 24(1), 73–81 (2003)
Almeida-Santana, A., Moreno-Gil, S.: New trends in information search and their influence on destination loyalty: digital destinations and relationship marketing. J. Destination Mark. Manag. 6(2), 150–161 (2017)
Baloglu, S., McCleary, K.W.: U.S. international pleasure travelers’ images of four Mediterranean destinations: a comparison of visitors and non-visitors. J. Travel Res. 38(2), 144–152 (1999)
Beerli, A., MartÃn, J.D.: Factors influencing destination image. Ann. Tour. Res. 31(3), 657–681 (2004)
Buhalis, D.: Marketing the competitive destination of the future. Tour. Manag. 21(1), 97–116 (2000)
Buhalis, D., Law, R.: Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet—the state of eTourism research. Tour. Manag. 29(4), 609–623 (2008)
Choi, S., Lehto, X.Y., Morrison, A.M.: Destination image representation on the web: content analysis of Macau travel related websites. Tour. Manag. 28(1), 118–129 (2007)
Erkan, I., Evans, C.: The influence of eWOM in social media on consumers’ purchase intentions: an extended approach to information adoption. Comput. Hum. Behav. 61, 47–55 (2016)
Forbes.: Ctrip’s Strategic Investments Complementing its Efforts to Gain Market Share. Retrieved online on Aug 10, 2017 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2017/05/15/ctrips-strategic-investments-complementing-its-efforts-to-gain-market-share (2017)
Gretzel, U., Yuan, Y.-L., Fesenmaier, D.R.: Preparing for the new economy: advertising Strategies and change in destination marketing organizations. J. Travel Res. 39(2), 146–156 (2000)
Gretzel, U., Fesenmaier, D.R., Formica, S., O’Leary, J.T.: Searching for the future: challenges faced by destination marketing organizations. J. Travel Res. 45(2), 116–126 (2006)
Kenya Tourism Board.: Initiatives & Achievements of the Tourism Sector 2013–2016. Retrieved online September 5, 2017 from http://ktb.go.ke/news-events/major-initiatives-and-achievements-of-the-tourism-sector-2013-2016/ (2017)
Leung, D., Law, R., Van Hoof, H., Buhalis, D.: Social media in tourism and hospitality: a literature review. J. Travel Tour. Mark. 30(1–2), 3–22 (2013)
Liang, T., Scherer, R., Morrison, A.M.: Web site–based destination images: a comparison of Macau and Hong Kong. J. China Tour. Res. 7(1), 2–19 (2011)
Luna-Nevarez, C., Hyman, M.R.: Common practices in destination website design. J. Destination Mark. Manag. 1(1), 94–106 (2012)
Park, Y.A., Gretzel, U.: Success factors for destination marketing web sites: a qualitative meta-analysis. J. Travel Res. 46(1), 46–63 (2007)
Phelps, A.: Holiday destination image: the problem of assessment—an example developed in Minorca. Tour. Manag. 7(3), 168–180 (1986)
Qi, S., Law, R., Buhalis, D.: Usability of Chinese destination management organization websites. J. Travel Tour. Mark. 25(2), 182–198 (2008)
Stienmetz, J.L., Levy, S.E., Boo, S.: Factors influencing the usability of mobile destination management organization websites. J. Travel Res. 52(4), 453–464 (2013)
Xiang, Z., Gretzel, U.: Role of social media in online travel information search. Tour. Manag. 31(2), 179–188 (2010)
Acknowledgements
Funding for this study was provided by a research grant from the Macau Science and Technology Development Fund (grant number 081/2014/A).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Qi, S., Leung, R. (2018). The Search for Kenya: How Chinese-Speaking Generation Z Does Its Online Travel Planning. In: Stangl, B., Pesonen, J. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2018. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72923-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72923-7_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72922-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72923-7
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)