A Closer Look at Tourist Information Search Behaviour When Travelling Abroad: What Is the Role of Online Marketing in Choice of Destination?

Information search and the decision-making process of tourists have received great attention in tourism research literature and both are considered to be important theoretical and practical topics. This study contributes to these topics by studying international tourists during their trip in a destination using qualitative interviews and by focusing on the role of online marketing in tourists’ decision-making process. Altogether 57 international tourists in Savonlinna, Finland were interviewed during summer 2016 to find out the factors that affected their decision to come to Savonlinna. The results demonstrate how important it is for destinations to understand their international customers and understand what the destination they should actually be promoting is. Banners and social media do not seem to play an important role in new customer acquisition, but search engine optimisation and content marketing as well as product quality are at the top of the list.