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Sir. Frank Moore Honoured |
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Traveller's tales spread fast on web
 Travellers are increasingly turning to blogs, web reviews and interactive websites to source information, a new STCRC study has found.
However, traditional tourism information sources such as state tourism websites are still considered the most credible and trustworthy.
The study surveyed more than 12,500 people about their travel planning behaviour.
It examined the effect of sites such as Facebook, MySpace and You Tube on consumer behaviour.
These interactive sites often feature User Generated Content or UGC, as users supply content in the form of comments, reviews and opinions.
"These types of sites have created a unique new 'word-of-web' phenomenon that can spread rumours and information much more quickly than word of mouth to millions of internet users anywhere, anytime," said Dr Carmen Cox, senior lecturer in marketing at Southern Cross University.
"We found that potential travellers used UGC as an additional source of information to help with their planning process, rather than as a complete substitute for other information sources," Dr Cox said.
Marketing and tourism academics from the Australian Regional Tourism Research Centre at Southern Cross University joined forces with information systems researchers at Victoria University to conduct the STRCRC and Tourism New South Wales-funded study.
For further information on this report, contact the Australian Regional Tourism Research Centre on
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