Assessing Structure of Online Channel Use By American Travelers

Assessing Structure of Online Channel Use By American Travelers

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  Assessing structure ofonline channel use By American travelers Yeongbae Choe Daniel R. Fesenmaier National Laboratory of Tourism & eCommerce School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Temple University, Philadelphia, USA ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 1
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  Introduction Travelers Internet Suppliers • Obtaining / Sharing Information • DMOs, Travel Companies • TripPlanning (pre-, during) • Connecting the industry and travel markets • Purchasing products/services • Key components The Internet has transformed travelers’ behaviors as well as the distribution of the information in many different ways ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 2
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  Introduction • Consequently, aconsiderable amount of research have been conducted to understand the use of Internet for trip planning. – User characteristics, the impact, influencing factors, media repertoire etc. – (e.g. Bieger & Laesser, 2004; Beritelli, Bieger, & Laesser, 2007; Gretzel, Hwang, & Fesenmaier, 2012; Hsieh, & O’Leary, 1993; Hyde, 2007; Pan & Fesenmaier, 2006). • However, relatively little of research has focused on the hierarchical structure of online channel use for trip planning. – Indeed, people only use a small number of information channels based on their needs, a set of constraints and etc. ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 3
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  Introduction Hotel Websites General Search PortalSite Online Review Sites Destination Official Sites Social Media Sites Various Internet websites ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 4
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  Research Objectives • Theobjective of this study – to identify how online trip planners combine the various online channels for their trip planning, especially focusing on their structural relationships – to categorize online trip planners according by the use of online channel – to examine any differences in demographic, information, and online behaviors between respective groups ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 5
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  Methodology • A national-wideonline survey was conducted from January 7-9, 2013 – Population: Americans who had travelled and used the Internet during the calendar year 2012 • Data collected 1,043 usable samples (total 1,184 respondents) – Only used someone who used the Internet and had taken a trip 50 miles or more, one-way from home or that included an overnight stay – Respondents were asked which of the 14 online channels they used • Analysis – Guttman scaling procedure, Cross-tabulation, ANOVA ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 6
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  Respondents Characteristics Variable Gender: Male Female Age: 18 -21 years 22 - 29 years 30 - 39 years 40 - 49 years 50 - 59 years 60 - 69 years 70 and above Current employment: Employed full-time Employed part-time Retired Not employed Percentage Variable Annual household income: 49.0 Less than $20,000 51.0 $20,000 - $29,999 $30,000 - $39,999 4.6 $40,000 - $49,999 16.8 $50,000 - $74,999 20.8 $75,000 - $99,999 17.6 $100,000 - $149,999 19.8 $150,000 - $199,999 16.2 $200,000 or more 4.2 Highest education level: Less than high school 49.2 Completed high school 14.8 Some college, not completed 16.2 Completed college 18.5 Post graduate work ENTER 2014 Research Track Percentage 7.2 8.6 10.7 11.1 22.6 17.1 12.8 4.6 2.0 0.9 11.9 29.3 37.4 20.1 Slide Number 7
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  Use of onlinechannels Online Channel Frequency % Online travel agency sites (Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, or Orbitz.com) 707 69.0 Company sites (airlines, hotels, rental cars or tour operators) 635 62.0 Search engines (Yahoo!, Google or Bing) 592 57.8 Destination sites (provided by a city, state or attraction) 412 40.2 Travel Search Engines (Kayak) 268 26.1 Travel review sites (IGOUGO, Yelp! or TripAdvisor) 193 18.8 Social networking sites (Myspace, Facebook or Pinterest) 167 16.3 General travel sites (offering free travel brochures about destinations) 166 16.2 Travel guidebook sites (Fodors, Frommers or Lonely Planet) 123 12.0 Photo or video sharing sites (YouTube, Instagram, or Flickr) 113 11.0 Newspaper or magazine sites (New York Times or Conde Nast Traveler) 107 10.4 Special interest and online community sites 94 9.2 Personal blogs 64 6.2 Micro blogs (Twitter or Tumblr) 39 3.8 ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 8
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  Structure of Onlinechannel use • Guttman Scaling – The goal of the analysis is to derive a single dimension that can be used to position both the questions and the subjects – In this study, it is used to examine the cumulative structure of online channel use during an online trip planning stage • Procedure – – – – 1) construct a scalogram based on the number of online channel use 2) derive the ideal patterns and actual patterns from raw data 3) calculate the amount of error (differences between two patterns) 4) check the criteria (i.e. CR, MMR, and CS) ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 9
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  Structure of Onlinechannel use Online travel agency sites Company sites Search engines Destination sites Travel Search Engines Travel review sites Social networking sites Photo or video sharing sites General travel sites Newspaper or magazine sites Travel guidebook sites Special interest and online community Personal blogs Micro blogs Number of responses Number of online channel use 1 2 3 4 5 48 64 69 73 31 53 67 72 10 49 63 73 3 17 38 55 2 7 18 33 2 2 8 20 1 4 9 18 0 1 4 12 1 2 10 14 2 1 6 6 1 1 4 11 1 1 4 8 1 1 2 5 0 0 1 0 200 200 200 147 6 80 76 82 69 40 25 28 19 31 12 15 14 4 4 99 7 79 83 87 79 60 63 37 16 30 11 32 13 6 3 63 8+ 92 82 88 78 66 52 34 20 58 32 38 28 20 12 50 Coefficient of reproducibility (CR) =0.89; Minimum marginal reproducibility (MMR) =0.67; Percentage improvement=0.22; Coefficient of Scalability (CS) =0.67. ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 10 95 91 97 89 82 77 62 70 65 74 70 53 50 38 66
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  Group 1 Group 2 Group3 Group 4 Core Travel Search Enhanced Travel Search Travel Focused Search Comprehensive Search ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 11
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  Differences in demographicchar.   Core Current employment:    Employed full-time    Employed part-time    Retired    Not employed Education:    Less than high school    Completed high school    Some college, not completed    Completed college    Post graduate Age Generation    Young (1990 ~ 1994)    Gen Y (1981 ~ 1989)    Gen X (1965 ~ 1980)    Baby Boomers (1946 ~ 1964)    Greatest (1924 ~ 1945) Enhanced     43.8 14.3 19.0 21.3   .8 17.5 32.5 34.8 14.3   9.0 18.0 25.8 38.8 8.5 48.4 15.3 16.1 18.7   1.2 8.1 29.1 38.6 22.2   6.3 19.0 30.0 38.6 6.1 Travel  Focused   58.0 13.2 12.3 16.5   .9 9.9 23.1 37.7 28.3   5.2 21.7 29.2 40.1 3.8 Compre hensive   60.6 21.2 12.1 6.1   3.0 28.8 45.5 22.7   9.1 30.3 36.4 19.7 4.5 X2 26.753**     45.158***     22.785*           Note: Age, Gender, and Household Income are not significantly different ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 12
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  Differences in informationsearching Core Information Types    Hotel prices or places to stay    Info. about a particular destination    Airline fares and schedules/flight times    Things to do at the destination    Potential destinations to visit    Rental car prices and availability    Travel discount or promotion    Dining and entertainment     Maps and/or driving directions    Local event calendars at the destination    Travel packages for resorts, etc.    Stores or other places to shop    Cruises    Sites that distribute travel brochures    800 numbers  Number of information searched Travel  Focused Enhanced Compre hensive Total         55.8 53.0abc 53.5abc 23.0abc 26.0abc 29.8abc 20.3abc 16.3abc 15.5abc 8.3abc 11.0abc 11.8abc 9.0abc 1.0abc 1.8bc 3.36abc 74.6 72.6ade 65.7de 53.3ade 48.4ade 38.0de 39.8ade 39.2ade 32.6ade 26.8ade 27.1ade 26.8ade 21.0ade 8.1ade 2.3de 5.76ade 85.4 87.3bd 74.1b 72.6bdf 70.3bd 57.1bdf 61.3bd 64.6bdf 50.5bd 46.2bdf 40.6bdf 38.2bdf 33.0bdf 20.8bdf 10.8bdf 8.13bdf 89.4 93.9ce 86.4ce 89.4cef 80.3ce 81.8cef 74.2ce 83.3cef 63.6ce 69.7cef 66.7cef 68.2cef 56.1cef 53.0cef 34.8cef 10.91cef abc ad ENTER 2014 Research Track bd c   70.4 69.4 64.0 47.8 46.2 41.6 38.8 38.3 31.6 26.3 26.1 26.0 21.1 10.8 6.0 5.64 F-value   28.225*** 37.965*** 14.979*** 83.027***  56.836*** 32.677*** 53.064*** 83.087*** 42.744*** 69.903*** 47.971*** 45.099*** 37.536*** 75.503*** 48.742*** 253.078*** Slide Number 13
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  Differences in productpurchasing Core Online Trip products purchases Travel  Focused Enhanced Compre hensive Total F-value             59.8abc 75.9a 77.0b 89.1c 70.8 13.722***    Airline tickets 68.2c 61.3de 78.0cd 89.1e 69.3 9.856***    Car Rental 35.3bc 40.9de 55.5bdf 79.7cef 44.4 19.811***    Tickets to attractions/events 22.6abc 44.9ade 60.5bdf 78.1cef 41.8 45.894***    Travel package 8.2abc 17.6ae 21.5bf 53.1cef 17.2 29.734***    Cruise Reservations 5.7bc 10.2e 13.5bf 40.6cef 11.2 24.394***    Sport activity reservations 1.9abc 8.7ae 13.0bf 34.4cef 8.7 28.688*** 0.5c 2.5e 2.5f 21.9cef 3.0 31.149*** 2.17abc 2.91ade 3.97bdf 6.70cef 3.10 137.979***                Pleasure trips 1737abc 2289ade 3193bdf 4272cef 2409 30.457***    Business trips 1803c 2353e 2543f 3721cef 2420 5.053**    Lodging accommodations    RV rental/purchase Average number of purchased product Average spending on trips ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 14
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  Conclusions • The results of this study confirm that there is a strong hierarchical  pattern in the use of online channels for trip planning by American  travellers.  – Online travel agency sites are “essential” for all travellers and build the  foundation for all other channels •Online trip planners differ  – in terms of demographic,  information searching behaviour, trip product  purchasing behaviour, and spending on trip ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 15
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  Discussion • Theoretical Contributions –Identifies the use of information channels is uni-dimensional – Travellers can be categorized into several groups based on the level of media use • Practical Implications – DMOs and tourism suppliers could allocate their resources and turn their attentions to highly profitable channel – This study reveals ‘progression of sophistication’ in online travel planning • There are important differences between those that use only one channel and those that use, for example, five channels. ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 16
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  Thank you foryour attention Questions and comments? ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 17
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  What types ofWebsites have you used when you planned a trip over the past 12 months (January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013)? (Please select all that apply) Online travel agency sites such as Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, or Orbitz.com Company sites such as airlines, hotels, rental cars or tour operators Search engines such as Yahoo!, Google or Bing Destination sites such as those provided by a city, state or attraction General travel sites that specialize in offering free travel brochures about destinations Travel guidebook sites such as Fodors, Frommers or Lonely Planet Newspaper or magazine sites such as the New York Times or Conde Nast Traveler Travel Search Engines such as Kayak Travel review sites such as HoboTraveler, IGOUGO, Yelp! or TripAdvisor Photo or video sharing sites such as YouTube, Instagram, or Flickr Social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook or Pinterest Personal blogs Special interest and online community sites Microblogs such as Twitter or Tumblr I do not know None of the above ENTER 2014 Research Track Slide Number 18