The Internet Encyclopedia (Volume 3)

P1: IML/FFX P2: IML/FFX QC: IML/FFX T1: IML

Travel-REVISED WL040/Bidgoli-Vol III-Ch-39 August 14, 2003 17:52 Char Count= 0

TRAVELERS AND THEINTERNET 465

Pre-Consumption Consumption Post-Consumption

Planning

Expectation Formation

Decision-Making

Transactions

Anticipation

Connection

Navigation

Short-Term Decision-Making

On-Site Transactions

Sharing

Documentation

External Memory

Re-experiencing

Attachment

Figure 2: Communication and information needs in the three stages of tourism consumption.

trips, formulate correct expectations, and evaluate, com-

pare, and select alternatives, as well as to communicate

with the providers of tourism products and services to

prepare or execute transactions. In contrast, the functions

served by technologies during the actual consumption of

tourism experiences are more related to being connected

and to obtaining detailed information relevant at a specific

place and moment in time. During the postconsumption

phase, Internet technologies are used in ways that allow

sharing, documenting, storing, and reliving tourism ex-

periences, as well as establishing close relationships with

places, attractions, or product/service providers, as in the

case of Frequent Flyer programs. For example, e-mail will

typically be used in all stages, but mainly to obtain in-

formation or make reservations in the preconsumption

phase, to stay connected with family and friends while

traveling, and to share pictures and stories with members

of one’s travel party or other individuals after concluding a

trip. Although all Internet technologies are probably used

by travelers at some point or in some way, several appli-

cations have been identified as being of particular impor-

tance in the context of tourism experiences. The following

provides an overview of these technologies, how they tend

to be used, and the impact they have on consumers during

the various stages of the tourism consumption process.

Preconsumption

It is in the initial phase of the tourism consumption pro-

cess that most of the impacts related to Internet-based

technologies are currently experienced. Consumers use

the Internet and its diverse applications in this first stage

of the tourism experience to gather information, formu-

late expectations, inform/support their decision-making,

and reserve or purchase the various components (trans-

portation, accommodation, etc.) to be consumed during

their trips.

Brochureware

Brochureware refers to Web sites or Web pages cre-

ated by transferring the contents of printed tourism

brochures directly to digital environments. Brochureware

was one of the first Internet applications made available

to tourism consumers, owing to the fact that tourism

businesses quickly recognized the value of the Internet

as a powerful publishing medium. Web sites designed

as brochureware represent the simplest form of Web

design and completely ignore the content presentation

and communication possibilities the World Wide Web of-

fers (Hanson, 2000). Nevertheless, brochureware is the

most common way in which tourism information is cur-

rently made available to consumers and, consequently,

constitutes an integral part of tourism-related online

experiences. Despite their obvious limitations, digitized

tourism brochures on the Internet still support con-

sumers in that they enable potential travelers to browse

and evaluate tourism products without temporal or spa-

tial limitations. Furthermore, even the very basic im-

plementations of brochureware make use of hypertext

and provide hyperlinks that allow consumers to move

through online tourism information in ways that are typ-

ically not supported by printed brochures. Brochureware

is expected to give way to more interactive forms of

Web site content presentation as more and more tourism

businesses recognize the value of engaging consumers in

experiential ways.

Virtual Tours

Virtual tours are tools that enable the potential consumers

of tourism products to explore and immerse themselves

within an interactive Web environment in order to gain

the needed experiential information about a destination

or tourism establishment (Cho & Fesenmaier, 2001). The

term “virtual tour” is widely used on the Web and can

range from a series of pictures or slide shows to stream-

ing video and highly interactive virtual reality settings.

The realism provided through virtual tours creates im-

mersion, which, in turn, leads to immediate, direct, and

real experiences that generate a strong sense of presence.

As a result of this telepresence experienced through vir-

tual tours, consumers are able to construct a more vivid

picture of the tourism product and are therefore more

likely to reach well-informed decisions. Thus, the signif-

icance of virtual tours in the context of tourism lies in

providing consumers with an opportunity for “product

trial” before the actual purchase. Tourism products are, in

large part, experience-oriented intangible goods (Vogt &

Fesenmaier, 1998) that are typically consumed at a place

far away from the point of purchase and often cannot

be experienced without being consumed in their entirety.

Consequently, product trial is usually not available to

the potential consumers of tourism products. However,

tourism bears many risks because its components are con-

sumed in unfamiliar environments, constitute a signifi-

cant expenditure for most consumers, and typically entail

high involvement from the part of the consumer. Given