Horizontal loyalty and new trends in information search

Horizontal Loyalty and New Trends in lnformation Search Arminda Almeida Santana PhD. Candidate [email protected] Instituto Universitario de Turismo y Desarrollo Económico Sostenible (Tides) Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria España Sergio Moreno Gil Profesor Titular de la Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), doctor por la misma universidad. Ca-Director de la Cátedra UNESCO de Turismo y Desarrollo Sostenible de la ULPGC [email protected] Instituto Universitario de Turismo y Desarrollo Económico Sostenible (Tides) Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria España Abstract Tourists can visit different destinations and they can be loyal to multiple destinations at the same time (horizontal loyalty). Tourists seek information to choose a destination using different information sources. In recent years, these sources have evolved. Advances in the Internet and social media are changing the way that information about leisure travel and its experiences are disseminated. The main goal of this study is to explain the relationship between information sources and loyalty, paying attention to horizontal loyalty. These results are useful for making decisions in tourism policy on loyalty programs for tourist destinations. Keywords: Horizontal Loyalty, lnformation Sources, Social Networks, Destinations 1 Problem Definition Web 2.0 has transformed tourism methods of communication, interaction with social media, and overall tourist behavior concerning information sources. lncreasingly DMOs are engaging with consumers through digital media, communicating with them in a long-term relationship. Numerous studies have shown that social media influence the intentions oftravelers to visita destination. However, the literature has given little attention to the relationship between information-seeking behavior and the development of destination loyalty. In that sense, the academic literature has shown that tourists are not only sharing more digital information, but they are also sharing their time within several specific social media, and their holiday time within a few destinations, becoming more loyal to multiple destinations at the same time (horizontal loyalty). However, this tapie has not been stressed in the tourism context. Thus, the aim of this study is twofold: 1) to analyze the use of information sources used by loyal tourists; and 2) to explore the relationship between tourists' information-seeking behavior and subsequent loyalty. Thus, a segmentation of tourists according to the way in which they express their loyalty to tourist destinations is performed. Two groups were identified: tourists "loyal to a single destination (DL)" (Tourists are showing repeated visits to a single destination not having visited any other destination of a same set competitor) and tourists "horizontal loyal (HL)" (Share 46 your visits between various destinations in the same set competitor, showing repeated visits to multiple destinations at the same time).To achieve those goals, a wide survey with 6,964 questionnaires was developed, considering tourists from 17 European countries. 2 Literature Review Previous studies have tried to understand how visitors use the Internet to gather information and the way in which the best tourism providers can leverage these channels (Buhalis and Law, 2008; Ho et al, 2012; Papathanassis and Knolle, 2011; Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). Much research has focused on analyzingthe impact of the Internet on corporate brands (lnd and Riondino, 2001). However, it has omitted the study of the influence of Internet use, particularly the media and social networks, in the development of loyalty. Earlier literature on loyalty has shown that customers can be loyal to a multiple brands, (Oliver, 1999; Olson and Jacoby, 1974; Brown, 1953; Sharp and Sharp, 1997; Yim and Kannan, 1999; Cunningham, 1956; and Dowling and Uncles, 1997). This fact has not been extensively studied in tourism, where tourists for example, can be loyal to different destinations at the same time, what has been called horizontal loyalty (McKercher et al., 2012). Previous literature highlights many factors that lead individuals to revisit a destination. These include demographic characteristics and destination image (Assaker, Vinzi, and O'Connor, 2011; McDowall, 2010). Moreover, according to Oliver (1999), conative loyalty, defined as the intention and commitment to repurchase the brand (Harris and Goode, 2004), is the prior stage to behavioral loyalty. Recently, Sun, Chi, and Xu (2013) presenta summary of the literature that has studied destination loyalty: motivations, image and behavior information search. However, the latter has not been paid special attention. Previous studies have not properly analyzed the relationship between using certain information sources and the development destinations loyalty. Far less, previous literature has not tried to understand what is the relationship between information sources and horizontal loyalty. 3 Conceptual Development The research hypotheses are as follows: Hypothesis 1: lnformation sources used by DL visitors are different from those used by HL Hypothesis 2: Social networks used by DL visitors are different from those used by HL Hypothesis 3: lnformation sources that determine DL are the same as those that determine HL. Hypothesis 4: Social networks that determine DL are the same as those that determine HL. 4 Proposed Methodology The data set were collected in January 2011 and consists of potential tourists to the Canary lslands, aged 16 years and older, from 17 European countries; Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Holland, lreland, ltaly, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Europe is the world's largest emitter region, a region which generates more than half of international arrivals, 52.1% in 2013 (UNWTO, 2014). The participants were 6,964 47 tourists. Stratified random sampling guaranteed proportional representation according to nationality, age, and gender. The work was conducted through online surveys (CAWI), a database of panellists in each country was used. 5 Anticipated Results This study first explores the relationship between travellers' loyal behaviours and information-seeking behaviours. Table 1 shows the results. The Chi-Square statistical analysis showed that the use ofTour operator's brochures, the official website ofthe destinations and Friends and families were different in both cases. There were significant differences in terms of how these two groups seek travel information. However, there were not differences in the use of social media between both groups. Table 1. lnformation Sources and Social Networks; Differences between HL and DL DL% HL% Chl-2 Slg Tour operator's brochures 24.9 31.32 3.86 0.049 Tourist leaflets 13.47 15.01 0.35 0.555 Holiday guide books 12.24 15.81 1.9 0.168 News, articles, reports ... 16.73 18.53 0.4 0.527 Internet via the official website 15.92 22.96 5.81 0.016 Internet, other sources 26.12 28.8 0.76 0.385 Travel agents 13.88 14.1 0.01 0.942 Friends and families 19.18 24.87 3.55 0.06 None of the above 8.57 6.95 0.79 0.374 Tripadvisor 14.69 15.31 o.os 0.824 Facebook 25.71 23.26 0.64 0.425 Myspace 2.86 3.22 0.13 0.717 linkedin 1.22 2.01 0.66 0.415 Xing 0.82 1.01 0.07 0.788 Flickr 2.04 1.91 0.02 0.892 Youtube 13.47 13.09 0.03 0.863 Panoramio 4.08 2.32 2.39 0.122 Twitter 4.9 4.23 0.16 0.692 Wikipedia 2.86 23.16 0.01 0.911 Table 2 summarizes the results ofthe estimation ofthe two proposed models. lt was founded that there are variables that determine the HL and the DL and others that only determine either the HL or the DL. In the case of the information sources, they ali have a direct influence on the HL. However, only three of them affect the DL (Tour operator1s brochures, News, articles, reports ... , Travel agents). Moreover, with regard to social media, a direct and positive relationship between TripAdvisor and HL and a negative relationship between YouTube and HL were founded. 48 Table 2. Logit Binomial Models DL HL Categoría ítem p e p e Tripadvisor 0.321 0.141 Social Networks Youtube -0.366 0.158 Tour operator's 0.466 0.233 1.165 0.150 brochures Holiday guide books 0.577 0.197 lnformation News, articles, reports ... 0.780 0.243 0.950 0.181 Sources The official website 0.925 0.164 Travel agents 0.653 0.265 0.403 0.202 Friends and families 1.015 0.152 Cognitive image Sun, beach and lifestyle -0.270 0.089 -0.224 0.055 Relax -0.101 0.046 Knowledge -0.211 0.077 -0.143 0.048 Motivations Status 0.168 0.079 lnteract with others -0.098 0.046 Affective lmage Healthy and sustainable 0.102 0.045 lifestyle lncome 0.007 0.003 0.012 0.002 Sociodemographic Age 0.120 0.053 0.238 0.033 Number of holidays 0.123 0.022 Behavior Likelihood future visit 0.392 0.186 0.122 0.028 General lmage General lmage 0.215 0.076 0.198 0.047 49 References Assaker, G., Vinzi, V. E., & O'Connor, P. (2011). 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