- Tourism Market Research
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Digital resources, like websites and apps, are increasingly influencing where travellers go and what they do. LJ Research, an Edinburgh-based tourism market research specialist, highlights the importance of tourism businesses to invest in online channels.
Their ongoing City Visitor Surveys poll over 3,000 visitors to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling each year. Results from January to October 2014 show that nearly 60% of visitors to these cities accessed digital media before visiting the city. This compares to only a third who accessed published media (like guidebooks and destination brochures) and around 10% who used ‘earned’ – verbal information – media.
Websites, like www.visitscotland.com as well as local destination websites were most popular among visitors. However, the steepest growth in recent years has been in the use of TripAdvisor: 28% of destination visitors used the review website as a pre-visit planning resource in 2014 compared to 23% last year.
Sean Morgan, Managing Director of LJ Research, said: “The increasing importance of technology on travel planning and booking is particularly relevant to note. Our research shows that visitors arrive in destinations better informed than ever. Prior to visiting, they know about the things to see and do, places to stay, eat and drink out. For a tourism business this underlines the importance of having an effective online presence. Websites are, unsurprisingly, extremely important for visitors nowadays and with the continued growth of smartphone and tablet ownership there is an increasing need for businesses to provide mobile friendly websites. Our research also reveals the increasing importance of apps in visit planning and, especially, during the visit itself: around a sixth of visitors are now using an app whilst in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Stirling.”
About LJ Research Ltd
LJ Research is a full-service market research agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland undertaking quantitative and qualitative market research. LJ Research are tourism specialists who conduct various types of travel research and tourism research, including visitor surveys and hotel research.