Travel Information Sources among United Arab Emirates Travellers | ||
| International Journal of Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality | ||
| Article 4, Volume 13, Issue 1, March 2019, Pages 48-57 PDF (508.31 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ijhth.2019.35104 | ||
| Author | ||
| Maryam Mannaa | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Travel information sources play an essential role in the travel decision- making process. The goal of this study is to investigate the most frequently used information sources by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) travellers and to define the influence of travellers' socio-demographic characteristics on their search behaviour. The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive survey to achieve this goal. The survey was developed and conducted in Dubai, the second biggest city in the UAE. Data analysis revealed that UAE travellers depend on the internet as the major source for travel information followed by social media (SM) and personal experience. The study findings also suggest that travel agents’ services still sought by the UAE travellers as a trustworthy source of information. Google and YouTube were found to be the most popular online search engines while Instagram and Snapchat represent the most prevailing SM applications pursued for travel information. The study results confirmed the growing significance of SM as a reliable source of travel information and the challenges faced by traditional providers of travel-related information. Implications for tourism marketers in terms of online marketing strategies were discussed. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| UAE Arab travellers; information sources; Internet; Travel Agents; social media | ||
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