The role of demographics and travel motivation in travellers’ use of the Internet before, during, and after a trip

This paper explores travellers' use of the internet before, during and after a trip. Data for the study were obtained using an internet-based questionnaire completed by members of an online panel of 513 respondents. Differences across socio-demographic characteristics confirm that the young, well-educated and affluent tend to be the first movers in taking advantage of the internet. A factor analysis identified eight motivational factors that are thematically similar to those found in other studies on travel motivation. The results show that the acquisition and sharing of travel information depends upon travel motivations. Travellers motivated by nature- and culture-related factors are characterised by intensive pre- and during-trip research and little information sharing, in contrast to travellers motivated by relaxation or social factors, who do less research but are more likely to share travel information and photos after their trips. The article ends with a discussion of the managerial implications of these findings for tourism service providers and destinations.