Travel Talk : eWOM Across Multiple Cultures

Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is considered the most important, informal means of communication between consumers (Derbaix and Vanhamme 2003). An increasingly important extension of the traditional face-to-face WOM used by consumers is the electronic word of mouth (eWOM), especially with regard to how eWOM is used within today’s online social media outlets (Weisfeld-Spolter et al. 2014). Within the travel and tourism industry, eWOM has become vitally important, as consumers tend to trust information from consumer-generated (social) media more than information from service providers (Ip et al. 2012). This is particularly true for the younger generation of Internet users—the “e-generation,” who are “digital natives” and who have used digital technologies since they were kids. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding on how today’s e-generation is using eWOM as tourists/travelers, from a multicultural perspective. In order to reach this aim, the following research questions are stated: (RQ1) How are e-generation consumers using eWOM when planning a trip?; (RQ2) How are e-generation consumers using eWOM during and after a trip?Morgondagens turist - Hur ska besöksnäringen bemöta e-generationen