Abstract
Using search engines for travel purposes has become increasingly important on the Internet. However, the domain of tourism is complex and fragmented and thus gives rise to many problems in information search. This study provides a comparative analysis of the languages of the tourism websites represented through search engines and travel related queries using search engines. By employing a text analytical approach, the results of the study show that huge discrepancies exist between the representation of the industry and user queries for a specific destination. This finding offers important insights for developing systems that can better support travel-related search and planning on the Internet.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Dann, G. M. S. (1997). The Language of Tourism: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Wallingford, UK: CAB International.
Gretzel, U., Fesenmaier, D. R., & O’Leaty, J. T. (2006). The transformation of consumer behaviour. In D. Buhalis & C. Costa (Eds.), Tourism Business Frontiers (pp. 9–18). Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Hwang, Y. H., Gretzel, U., Xiang, Z., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2006). Information search for travel decisions. In D. R. Fesenmaier, K. Wöber & H. Werthner (Eds.), Destination Recommendation Systems: Behavioural Foundations and Applications (pp. 3–29). Wallingford, UK: CABI.
Jansen, B. J., & Molina, P. R. (2006). The effectiveness of Web search engines for retrieving relevant ecommerce links. Information Processing and Management, 42(4), 1075–1098.
Jeng, J., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2002). Conceptualizing the travel decision-making hierarchy: A review of recent developments. Tourism Analysis, 7, 15–32.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Leiper, N. (1990). Tourist attraction systems. Annals of Tourism Research, 17(3), 367–384.
MacCannell, D. (1989). Introduction to special issue on the semiotics of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 16(1), 1–6.
Pan, B., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2006). Online information search: vacation planning process. Annals of Tourism Research, 33(3), 809–832.
Smith, S. L. J. (1988). Defining tourism: a supply-side view. Annals of Tourism Research, 15(2), 179–190.
Vogt, C. A., & Fesenmaier, D. R. (1998). Expanding the functional information search model. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(3), 551–578.
Woodside, A. G., & Dubelaar, C. (2002). A general theory of tourism consumption systems: A conceptual framework and an empirical exploration. Journal of Travel Research, 41(2), 120–132.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Wien
About this paper
Cite this paper
Xiang, Z., Fesenmaier, D.R. (2008). Identifying the Online Tourism Domain: Implications for Search Engine Development for Tourism. In: O’Connor, P., Höpken, W., Gretzel, U. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2008. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77280-5_43
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77280-5_43
Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna
Print ISBN: 978-3-211-77279-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-211-77280-5