Breaking up is hard to do: why do travellers unlike travel-related organizations

Authors

Ulrike Gretzel, University of ViennaFollow
Anja Dinhopl, University of Wollongong

RIS ID

90660

Publication Details

Gretzel, U. & Dinhopl, A. (2014). Breaking up is hard to do: why do travellers unlike travel-related organizations. Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014 (pp. 267-279). Switzerland: Springer.

Abstract

Previous studies have looked at relationship creation and maintenance between travellers and companies on social networking sites (SNSs), but have neglected relationship termination. This study examined travellers who ''unliked'' travel-related companies and destinations on facebook and found demographic and psychographic differences, as well as differences in characteristics related to travel planning, travel behaviour, and internet use to those who have never terminated such a relationship. Travellers have different motivations for unliking travel- related companies or destinations. Travellers routinely unlike travel-related com- panies for perceived faults in their social media presence (end of promotions, posting frequency or relevance), while travellers tend to unlike a destination based on offline experiences.