Travel planning is a significant part of going on a holiday whether that is done online or not. Nowadays it’s a norm to find information through web searchers and I’m pretty sure we all do it. Planning travels online is beneficial on many levels, which is something that article The Changing Impact of the Internet on Travel Planning Behavior (Wang, Park, Zach & Fesenmaier 2016) focuses on.
The change
The reason I chose this particular article is because I find it interesting how internet has such a big impact on our daily lives. Without even knowing, it affects our behaviour. In regards of travel planning, people have adapted to the new way and it shows positive effects. For example I have only ever booked holidays online. Much like in the article, being online has made our lives easier. The results include more satisfaction, saving time and money as well as easier way to share information (Wang, Park, Zach & Fesenmaier 2016.)
Although the article points out how the impact of internet is decreasing, I would think otherwise. Internet is becoming more and more part of our lives and technology is improving with it. Along that, the ways we use internet have increased and I find myself reaching for my phone every time I think about travelling somewhere. Times have changed. In fact, I don’t know anyone who would plan their travels by calling a hotel walking to the airport to book tickets.
The message
The authors point out how the benefit of internet is directly impacting our behaviour in travel planning. Here are some of their findings that caught my eye.
- Using the internet for planning resulted in people exploring more places than they normally would have
- Not using internet as much for planning had significant impact on travels
- The changing trends of internet usage also effect travel planning behaviour
Next I will explain why these things specifically were the most interesting to me.
1. Increased exploration
As mentioned by Wang, Park, Zach & Fesenmaier (2016), people who did their travel planning online explored more new places at their destinations. I found this interesting because I tend to do the same thing.
When I’m planning a holiday I tend to search beforehand what the place has to offer. Sometimes I even do this at the destination but since a lot of things can be found online I can easily figure it out on the go as well. It has resulted in me finding places that I probably wouldn’t have visited otherwise.
2. Lack of experiences
The second bullet point is about how not using internet has significant impact on travels. By this I mean that those who decide to book their holidays more traditionally or by using online book as little as possible, result in missing out. They benefit less from the usage of internet and the efficiency that it brings (Wang, Park, Zach & Fesenmaier 2016).
Of course the situation is different now and I have some disagreements with the article due to it being from almost 10 years ago. Either way, some people still like to explore places on their own and find cool spots to hang out at.
3. Internet usage trends
Something that was brought up in the article is that those people who tend to use internet when travel planning are not tied to that “stage” (Wang, Park, Zach & Fesenmaier 2016). By this I mean that people who use less internet now can turn into the one’s who do everything online. Usually the affect is from low usage to high usage and I see why. For me it would be difficult to give up on travel planning online, since for me it feels so easy and effortless. This alone also affects the behaviour of people. As mentioned above those who use internet a lot for planning seem to have more experiences.
Conclusion
I believe that the article tries to shed light on how much the internet is changing our lives and behaviours. It may not seem like much, but something as simple as booking flight or even searching for them can be really time consuming if it was done traditionally. Honestly I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that. The article gave me insights of how simple things in life affect our behaviours. I think the next time I start planning a trip I’m going to be even more grateful that the internet exists and how easy it has made life for us.
Do you book your holidays online? If so, would you be able do travel planning without internet? Leave your comments below!
Bibliography
Wang, D., Park, S., Zach, F. & Fesenmaier, D. R. 2016. The Changing Impact of the Internet on Travel Planning Behaviour. Accessed 22 March 2022 https://lucit-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/outi_kahkonen_lapinamk_fi/EW8pd3FRs3pKs917vQF9d6oBcDDsExdhhrVlp3_O-9sFEA?e=6eX0k6.