Horizontal loyalty and new trends in information search
Abstract
Tourists can visit different destinations and they can be loyal to multiple destinations at the same time (horizontal loyalty). Tourists seek information to choose a destination using different information sources. In recent years, these sources have evolved. Advances in the Internet and social media are changing the way that information about leisure travel and its experiences are disseminated. The main goal of this study is to explain the relationship between information sources and loyalty, paying attention to horizontal loyalty. These results are useful for making decisions in tourism policy on loyalty programs for tourist destinations.
Full text
Ho izon al
Loyal y
and
New
T ends
in
ln o ma ion
Sea ch
A minda Almeida San ana
PhD. Candida e
[email p o ec ed]
Ins i u o
Uni e si a io de Tu ismo y Desa ollo Económico Sos enible (Tides)
Uni e sidad de
Las
Palmas
de
G an Cana ia
España
Se gio Mo eno
Gil
P o eso
Ti ula
de
la
Uni e sidad de
Las
Palmas de G an Cana ia (ULPGC),
doc o
po
la
misma uni e sidad. Ca-Di ec o
de
la
Cá ed a
UNESCO
de
Tu ismo y Desa ollo Sos enible de
la
ULPGC
[email p o ec ed]
Ins i u o
Uni e si a io de Tu ismo y Desa ollo Económico Sos enible (Tides)
Uni e sidad de
Las
Palmas
de
G an Cana ia
España
Abs ac
Tou is s
can
isi
di e en
des ina ions
and
hey
can
be
loyal
o mul iple
des ina ions
a
he
same
ime
(ho izon al
loyal y).
Tou is s
seek
in o ma ion o
choose
a
des ina ion
using
di e en
in o ma ion
sou ces.
In
ecen
yea s,
hese
sou ces
ha e
e ol ed.
Ad ances
in
he In e ne
and
social
media
a e
changing
he way ha in o ma ion abou
leisu e
a el
and
i s
expe iences
a e
dissemina ed.
The
main
goal
o
his
s udy
is
o
explain
he
ela ionship
be ween in o ma ion
sou ces
and
loyal y,
paying
a en ion o
ho izon al
loyal y.
These
esul s
a e
use ul
o
making
decisions
in
ou ism
policy
on
loyal y
p og ams
o ou is
des ina ions.
Keywo ds:
Ho izon al
Loyal y,
ln o ma ion
Sou ces,
Social
Ne wo ks, Des ina ions
1 P oblem De ini ion
Web 2.0
has
ans o med ou ism me hods
o
communica ion, in e ac ion wi h social
media, and o e all ou is beha io conce ning in o ma ion sou ces. lnc easingly
DMOs
a e engaging wi h consume s h ough digi al media, communica ing wi h hem
in
a long- e m ela ionship. Nume ous s udies
ha e
shown ha
social
media in luence
he in en ions o a ele s
o
isi a des ina ion. Howe e , he li e a u e
has
gi en li le
a en ion
o
he ela ionship be ween in o ma ion-seeking beha io
and
he
de elopmen
o
des ina ion loyal y.
In
ha
sense,
he academic li e a u e
has
shown
ha ou is s a e no only sha ing mo e digi al in o ma ion, bu hey a e
also
sha ing
hei ime wi hin se e al speci ic social media,
and
hei holiday ime wi hin a ew
des ina ions, becoming mo e loyal
o
mul iple des ina ions a he
same
ime
(ho izon al loyal y). Howe e , his apie
has
no been s essed
in
he ou ism con ex .
Thus,
he
aim
o
his s udy
is
wo old:
1)
o
analyze he
use
o
in o ma ion sou ces
used
by
loyal ou is s;
and
2)
o
explo e he ela ionship be ween ou is s'
in o ma ion-seeking beha io
and
subsequen loyal y.
Thus,
a segmen a ion
o
ou is s acco ding
o
he way
in
which hey
exp ess
hei loyal y
o
ou is des ina ions
is
pe o med. Two g oups we e iden i ied: ou is s "loyal
o
a single des ina ion
(DL)"
(Tou is s a e showing epea ed isi s
o
a single des ina ion no ha ing isi ed
any
o he des ina ion
o
a
same
se compe i o )
and
ou is s "ho izon al loyal (HL)"
(Sha e
46
you
isi s
be ween
a ious
des ina ions
in
he
same
se
compe i o ,
showing
epea ed isi s
o
mul iple des ina ions
a
he
same
ime).To achie e hose goals, a
wide su ey wi h 6,964 ques ionnai es
was
de eloped, conside ing ou is s om 17
Eu opean
coun ies.
2 Li e a u e Re iew
P e ious s udies ha e ied
o
unde s and how isi o s
use
he In e ne
o
ga he
in o ma ion
and
he way in which he bes ou ism p o ide s
can
le e age hese
channels (Buhalis
and
Law,
2008;
Ho
e
al, 2012; Papa hanassis and Knolle, 2011;
Xiang
and G e zel, 2010). Much esea ch
has
ocused on analyzing he impac
o
he In e ne
on co po a e b ands (lnd
and
Riondino, 2001). Howe e ,
i
has
omi ed he s udy
o
he in luence
o
In e ne
use,
pa icula ly he media and social ne wo ks, in he
de elopmen
o
loyal y.
Ea lie li e a u e on loyal y
has
shown
ha
cus ome s
can
be
loyal
o
a mul iple
b ands, (Oli e , 1999; Olson
and
Jacoby,
1974; B own, 1953;
Sha p
and
Sha p,
1997;
Yim
and
Kannan,
1999; Cunningham, 1956;
and
Dowling and Uncles, 1997).
This
ac
has
no been ex ensi ely s udied in ou ism, whe e ou is s
o
example,
can
be
loyal
o
di e en des ina ions a he
same
ime, wha
has
been
called ho izon al loyal y
(McKe che
e
al., 2012).
P e ious li e a u e highligh s many ac o s
ha
lead
indi iduals
o
e isi a
des ina ion.
These
include demog aphic cha ac e is ics
and
des ina ion image
(Assake , Vinzi,
and
O'Conno , 2011; McDowall, 2010). Mo eo e , acco ding
o
Oli e
(1999), cona i e loyal y, de ined
as
he in en ion and commi men
o
epu chase he
b and (Ha is
and
Goode, 2004),
is
he p io s age
o
beha io al loyal y. Recen ly,
Sun,
Chi,
and
Xu
(2013) p esen a summa y
o
he li e a u e
ha
has
s udied des ina ion
loyal y: mo i a ions, image
and
beha io in o ma ion sea ch. Howe e , he la e
has
no been paid special a en ion. P e ious s udies ha e no p ope ly analyzed he
ela ionship be ween using ce ain in o ma ion sou ces and he de elopmen
des ina ions loyal y.
Fa
less,
p e ious li e a u e
has
no ied
o
unde s and wha
is
he ela ionship be ween in o ma ion sou ces and ho izon al loyal y.
3
Concep ual
De elopmen
The esea ch hypo heses a e
as
ollows:
Hypo hesis
1:
ln o ma ion sou ces
used
by
DL
isi o s a e di e en om hose
used
by
HL
Hypo hesis
2:
Social
ne wo ks
used
by
DL
isi o s a e di e en om hose
used
by
HL
Hypo hesis
3:
ln o ma ion sou ces ha de e mine
DL
a e he
same
as
hose ha
de e mine
HL.
Hypo hesis
4:
Social
ne wo ks
ha
de e mine
DL
a e he
same
as
hose ha de e mine
HL.
4
P oposed
Me hodology
The da a se we e collec ed in Janua y 2011
and
consis s
o
po en ial ou is s
o
he
Cana y lslands,
aged
16 yea s
and
olde , om
17
Eu opean coun ies; Ge many,
Aus ia, Belgium, Denma k,
Spain,
Finland,
F ance,
Holland, l eland, l aly, No way,
Poland, Po ugal,
Russia,
Sweden, Swi ze land
and
Uni ed Kingdom. Eu ope
is
he
wo ld's la ges emi e egion, a egion which gene a es mo e han hal
o
in e na ional a i als,
52.1%
in 2013
(UNWTO,
2014).
The
pa icipan s we e 6,964
47
ou is s. S a i ied andom sampling gua an eed p opo ional ep esen a ion
acco ding
o
na ionali y,
age,
and
gende .
The
wo k
was
conduc ed h ough online
su eys
(CAWI),
a da abase
o
panellis s in
each
coun y
was
used.
5 An icipa ed
Resul s
This
s udy i s explo es he ela ionship be ween a elle s' loyal beha iou s
and
in o ma ion-seeking beha iou s. Table 1 shows
he
esul s.
The
Chi-Squa e s a is ical
analysis showed ha he
use
o Tou
ope a o 's b ochu es, he o icial websi e
o he
des ina ions
and
F iends
and
amilies we e di e en in bo h
cases.
The e we e
signi ican di e ences in e ms
o
how hese
wo
g oups seek a el in o ma ion.
Howe e , he e we e no di e ences in he
use
o
social
media be ween bo h g oups.
Table 1. ln o ma ion
Sou ces
and
Social
Ne wo ks; Di e ences be ween
HL
and
DL
DL%
HL%
Chl-2 Slg
Tou
ope a o 's
b ochu es
24.9 31.32 3.86 0.049
Tou is
lea le s
13.47 15.01 0.35 0.555
Holiday guide books 12.24 15.81 1.9 0.168
News,
a icles,
epo s
...
16.73 18.53 0.4 0.527
In e ne
ia
he
o icial
websi e
15.92 22.96 5.81 0.016
In e ne , o he
sou ces
26.12 28.8 0.76 0.385
T a el
agen s
13.88 14.1 0.01 0.942
F iends
and
amilies
19.18 24.87 3.55 0.06
None
o he
abo e
8.57 6.95 0.79 0.374
T ipad iso
14.69 15.31
o.os
0.824
Facebook
25.71 23.26 0.64 0.425
Myspace
2.86 3.22 0.13 0.717
linkedin
1.22 2.01 0.66 0.415
Xing
0.82 1.01 0.07 0.788
Flick
2.04 1.91 0.02 0.892
You ube
13.47 13.09 0.03 0.863
Pano amio
4.08 2.32 2.39 0.122
Twi e 4.9 4.23 0.16 0.692
Wikipedia 2.86 23.16 0.01 0.911
Table 2 summa izes he esul s
o he
es ima ion
o he
wo
p oposed models.
l
was
ounded ha he e a e a iables
ha
de e mine he
HL
and he
DL
and
o he s
ha
only de e mine ei he
he
HL
o
he
DL.
In
he
case
o
he in o ma ion sou ces, hey ali
ha e a di ec in luence on
he
HL.
Howe e , only h ee
o
hem a ec he
DL
(Tou
ope a o 1s
b ochu es,
News,
a icles,
epo s ... ,
T a el
agen s).
Mo eo e , wi h
ega d
o
social
media, a di ec
and
posi i e ela ionship be ween T ipAd iso
and
HL
and
a
nega i e ela ionship be ween
YouTube
and
HL
we e ounded.
48
Table 2. Logi Binomial Models
DL
HL
Ca ego ía
í em
p e p e
T ipad iso
0.321 0.141
Social
Ne wo ks
You ube
-0.366 0.158
Tou
ope a o 's
0.466 0.233 1.165 0.150
b ochu es
Holiday guide books 0.577 0.197
ln o ma ion
News,
a icles,
epo s
...
0.780 0.243 0.950 0.181
Sou ces
The
o icial
websi e
0.925 0.164
T a el
agen s
0.653 0.265 0.403 0.202
F iends
and
amilies
1.015 0.152
Cogni i e
image
Sun,
beach
and
li es yle
-0.270 0.089 -0.224 0.055
Relax
-0.101 0.046
Knowledge -0.211 0.077 -0.143 0.048
Mo i a ions
S a us
0.168 0.079
ln e ac wi h
o he s
-0.098 0.046
A ec i e
lmage
Heal hy
and
sus ainable
0.102 0.045
li es yle
lncome
0.007 0.003 0.012 0.002
Sociodemog aphic
Age 0.120 0.053 0.238 0.033
Numbe
o
holidays 0.123 0.022
Beha io
Likelihood
u u e
isi
0.392 0.186 0.122 0.028
Gene al
lmage
Gene al
lmage
0.215 0.076 0.198 0.047
49
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& O'Conno ,
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R.
(2008). P og ess in in o ma ion echnology and ou ism
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50