Online tourist information search strategies

Technological advances continue to significantly change tourist information search behaviour. This paper revisits online tourist information search strategies by reconceptualising them as a combination of goals, approaches and online sources. Based on pre-trip and post-trip interviews and trip planning diaries, the paper investigates how tourists search for information online. An online tourist information search strategy framework is developed by considering how tourists integrate approaches and sources to meet their information search goals. The key contributions of the study are the redefinition of tourist information search strategy in an online context, a classification of sources that more suitably reflects online information-scapes, and the identification of interesting and often complex search patterns that suggest changes in information search strategies over the course of trip planning. •Previous researchers conflated tourist information search strategies with information sources used by tourist.•Defining “strategy” as a construct consisting of a combination of goals, approaches and sources.•Proposing a tourist information search strategy framework for online search contexts.•Classifying information sources that more suitably reflects online information-scapes.