ABSTRACT
In contrast to many consumer goods and services, the consumption of travel experiences involves often extensive pre-and post-consumption stages in addition to the actual trip, which itself can spread over several weeks or months.These stages of the tourism consumption process are typically information intensive. Internetbased technologies have come to play a significant role in supporting consumers throughout this multi-stage process. The specific way in which the various technologies are used in the different stages depends on the particular communication and information needs they are expected to serve (Figure 2.1). Internet technologies are used in the pre-consumption phase to obtain the information necessary for planning trips, to formulate correct expectations, to evaluate, compare, and select alternatives, and to communicate with the providers of tourism products and services in order to prepare or execute transactions. In contrast, the functions served by these technologies during the actual consumption of tourism experiences are more related to being connected and obtaining detailed information relevant to a specific place and moment in time. During the post-consumption phase, Internet technologies are used in ways that allow for sharing, documenting and reliving tourism experiences through storytelling, as well as establishing close relationships with the places, attractions or product/service providers – such as in the case of Frequent Flyer programmes.
