A Study on the Intentions of Dot-com Travelers to use Social Networking Websites

Abstract

This paper will present some significant findings about intention of Dot com travelers (Dot ComT) to use social networking travel websites. Social networking websites (SNW) are extensively used by youth travelers, mostly by free and independent travelers. Due to the advancements of information technology and emergences of social media, social networking travel websites have become an important platform of communication for dot com generation. The most important advantage of social networking websites (SNW) are information sharing and social interaction. Social networking websites (SNW) has changed the fundamental structure of communication and information gathering. It has become a tool for peer-topeer, person-to-person (P2P) marketing. The demographic profile of the Indian travelers is changing at a very rapid pace as the country has approximately 350 million people who belong to middle class. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Indias robust economic growth and rising household incomes would increase consumer spending to US$ 3.6 trillion by 2020. The maximum consumer spending is likely to occur in food, housing, consumer durables, and transport and communication sectors (Source: ibef.org). The tourism industry is primarily a service based industry and is dominated by young generation who is highly quipped with the advance technology and has strong urge to travel. This generation dot com generation/I-pad generation/connexivity kids who believes in value for money and love experiencing the new vistas of tourism has been greatly influenced in their travel intentions by the usage of social networking sites. The present study will try to explore the various intentions and reasons behind the high involvement of dot com generation on social networking websites (SNW) on the basis of information Sharing, Social interaction and Innovations.

Keywords: Dot-com Generation, Social Networking Travel Websites, Social Interaction, Information Sharing

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