nztri

1. www.nztri.org

2. Developing timely research outcomes for industry, destinations, government and international agencies • Generating funding to support PhD student and masters student development • Over 80 members in different parts of the world • 8 research program areas including community economic development; heritage and culture; tourist behaviour; tourism and ICT.

3. Recent NZ Research Golden Bay Wellington

4. Recent Global Research

5. NZ Backpacker Industry Conference Backpacker Use of User-Generated Content (UGC) Name Luiz Mendes-Filho Auckland University of Technology In cooperation with The New Zealand Tourism Research Institute NZTRI I Private Bag 92006 I Auckland 1142 I New Zealand I Ph (+64 0) 21 109 8884 I nztri@aut.ac.nz I www.nztri.org

6. Outline of Presentation • User-Generated Content (UGC) • Traveller Reviews • Focus Group Results • Implications for BP Industry

7. User-Generated Content (UGC) • Data, information, or media produced by the general public on the Internet such as photos, videos, ratings, reviews, blogs

8. User-Generated Content (UGC) • Travel reviews -> web users share their experiences • Online travel reviews are used frequently to transmit travel-related decisions • 97.7% of Internet travellers read other travellers’ reviews during the process of planning a trip • TripAdvisor.com -> boasts close to 25 million reviews and opinions on more than 490,000 hotels and attractions

9. Traveller Reviews

10. Traveller Reviews

11. Focus Group Results • YHA Auckland - 10 backpackers from 6 different nationalities: England, Ireland, Wales, Australia, Germany and Korea • 90% used UGC when choosing which accommodation to book • 90% think that UGC has influenced their travel decision • Travel Consumer Review websites most used • LonelyPlanet.com 70% • TripAdvisor.com 50% • Hostelworld.com 20% • Mytravelguide.com 20% • Hostelbookers.com 10% • RealTravel.com 10%

12. Focus Group Results • Content generated by the Internet users is empowering online travellers in the planning and buying processes of their trips • 8 components of Consumer Empowerment: • Argument Quality • Information Framing • Source Credibility • Information Consistency • Recommendation Consistency • Recommendation Rating • Medium • Entertainment

13. Focus Group Results • Argument Quality - Participants consider argument quality important (“If the review is from 2 years ago, the hostel may be deteriorated by now”) • Information Framing - Participants feel more confident to make the decision to book accommodation if they have both positive and negative comments in their hands (“Looks more believable when there are both positive and negative comments”) • Source Credibility - Participants are concerned with the user-generated content on the Internet because they do not know who they are dealing with (“You have to be careful with the user comments”) • Information Consistency - Participants are keener to accept information that is similar to their own (“When I read the first comment about a hostel on the web and it has the same opinion as me, I stop researching and go for it”)

14. Focus Group Results • Recommendation Consistency - Participants believe that if similar experiences are repeatedly posted by different people on the web, the likelihood of backpackers trust in that experience is higher • Recommendation Rating - Recommendation ratings are considered quite important for the backpackers participants (“I used hostelworld.com looking for information about Auckland. I looked at anything above 60% rating first”) • Medium –Participants agree that medium such as technology, websites, search engines are essential for them to use before booking accommodation (“Websites are more updated than books. You can read a review posted yesterday from hostelworld.com”) • Entertainment - Participants feel entertaining by reading review comments on the Internet. They feel excited surfing on the websites to get opinions about the accommodation and its facilities

15. Implications/Lessons to BP Industry • Backpackers read traveller reviews before making decisions • Consider the 8 components in the design of the hostel websites: • Argument Quality • Information Framing • Source Credibility • Information Consistency • Recommendation Consistency • Recommendation Rating • Medium • Entertainment • Next stage of the research……..

16. Imaginative Travel: experiential aspects of user interactions with destination marketing websitesTim West-Newman NZTRI I Private Bag 92006 I Auckland 1142 I New Zealand I Ph (+64 9) 921 9999 Ext 8890 I nztri@aut.ac.nz I www.nztri.org

17. Background: Tourists and the Internet • Tourists are purchasing an experience rather than a collection of services. • Travellers consider many different kinds of kinds of information (e.g. functional, aesthetic) from a variety of sources (e.g. other traveller’s stories, guide books, documentaries) • These can work together to create a picture of what the traveller will experience. • This information is often sought through the Internet

18. Research • Interviewed backpacker travellers to N.Z. • Participants were interacting with destination website during interview • Sessions recorded on video with screen capture • Interested in what was going through their minds when they looked at website

19. Findings: Authenticity

20. Findings: Authenticity ‘ It’s kind of [like] you can see that nature is bigger than you. This person is totally dwarfed by the rocks around them yet they’re obviously able to navigate it. The falling water is very cool I don’t think it’s very typical of many places you find, it seems like it would be a great experience. There’s a huge rock which is a way of conveying some danger, make it risky ..it’s like you’re really navigating something, really doing something. Not like a museum where you just go there and look at something.’

21. Findings: Authenticity • Now the key factor in product differentiation • Used in the sense that experiences ‘resonate’ with expectations • Product of a ‘probing comparison between self and Other’

23. ‘This is more geared towards tourists. In all that video it gives me the impression that you need a lot of money … not to go to new Zealand. But to do all that stuff.’

24. Authenticity, Narrative and Self • People like to tell stories about themselves • They place themselves as protagonists in a story when consuming media • They also consume other’s stories • These stories allow people to explore different aspects of their identity/self • Such stories are seen as authentic when they resonate with personal constructions

26. Authenticity, Narrative and Self ‘It’s really about being active, being outdoors. Really exploring not just getting to a place by bus and just getting off the bus taking a picture. Really hands on if you really want to see a place, a really original place then you need to do some walking.’

27. Authenticity, Narrative and Self ‘It seems to me that the person who wrote the text might not be a backpacker … it sounds strange [for example] “more and more people are now choosing this kind of holiday”...I think backpacking is more… a way of life in the sense that....It is a holiday in the end [but] you’re also working and trying to make a living.’

28. Implications/lessons • Representations on the Internet have to fit with user expecations • Credibility is important • The perceived credibility of information on the internet depends on the nature of the content, who it’s from, and how it is presented