Exploring gender differences in information search among domestic vistors to Yellow Mountain and Guilin, PRC.

In the dynamic global environment of today, understanding how consumers acquire information is important at the micro level for marketing management decisions and at the macro level for public policy decisions. Gender has been identified as a factor influencing information search and other meaningful consumer behavior constructs. Therefore, understanding gender differences in information search is critical. Based on the questionnaire survey on domestic tourists in Yellow Mountain and Guilin, China, this article explored the gender differences in tourist information search behavior by using independent sample t-tests and Chisquare analysis. Results indicated that male and female tourists differ significantly in terms of 1) the number of information topics searched; 2) which information topics are searched; and 3) which information sources are searched (p.05)