‘The Impact of Culture on Tourists' Online Information Search Behaviour

Abstract

This chapter looks into the concept of culture and its impacts on travellers' online information search behaviour. The study is focused on two culturally diametric countries: United Kingdom and China (Hofstede, 2001) and they have been selected as case studies, representing values from the Western and the Asian cultures. In order to examine the effects of culture on online search behaviours, the research adopted a qualitative approach, and data was collected through interviews in order to enhance and elaborate the understanding on the subject studied. The results of this study show that culture influences the travellers' behaviour in the online environment, up to a certain extent, and as a result of this influences, different behavioural patterns between the British and the Chinese travellers emerged. Moreover, these findings bring implications for the marketers aiming at the British and the Chinese tourists, and they highlight the need to adopt different strategies in designing and marketing their tourism products for these two particular markets.