A FRAMEWORK EXPLAINING HOW CONSUMERS PLAN AND BOOK TRAVEL ONLINE

The dynamics of online searching and purchasing is becoming better known and understood as researchers study various products sold via the Web. Even though there is a prevalence of travel products purchased online, integrated frameworks that identify the various determinants of the decision process and how they interact is still sparse in travel literature. In this study, a Conceptual Framework was developed showing the connection between online searching, planning and booking of leisure travel products and the relationship between these variables is tested using logistic regression. It confirms that consumers plan then book travel and that beliefs and attitudes influence one’s intention to book travel online. Furthermore, beliefs about travel agents affect beliefs and attitudes towards online searching. This study aims to make a contribution by testing for the first time the relevant variables of planning and booking in a proposed Framework. It uses data collected from an online questionnaire completed by 1,198 respondents. We could expect that more travel products will be booked online in the future as online intelligent agents become more user-friendly and powerful, and as portable devices such as smartphones and iPads become more prevalent and versatile.