Online and offline information sources used by international tourists and their effectiveness in constructing destination attributes

Abstract

Tourism is an important industry globally and a critical industry for Indonesia. Despite the importance of tourism to Indonesia’s economy, there is a general view that the industry has untapped potential. Given Indonesia’s prodigious tourism resources and strategic geographical location, it fails to draw the highest possible tourist numbers and receipts. Government has implemented some ambitious and strategic efforts to boost the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia. However, the country still lags behind its regional competitors in number of foreign tourists and receipts. Therefore, this study investigates information sources, both online and offline, as the lifeblood of the travel and tourism industry. Using factor analysis, information source attributes were examined to discover the rationale behind the selection of sources by international tourists. This paper also analyzed which sources used and constructed destination attributes, in acknowledgement of the significance of a destination image as a factor of travel decision making. This research focuses on international tourists and uses Bali as the case study. Results indicate that international tourists use both online and offline sources. The findings also indicate that the main reasons for the selection of sources are the interactivity and usergenerated content of sources. The results of this research can be used in tourism policy and marketing strategies by central and local governments as well as tourism communities.