Abstract:
Electronic Word of Mouth(E-WOM) has become an important determinant of
tourists’ decision-making process in the selection of travel destinations. With
the development of Information Technology infrastructure in Sri Lanka, there
is an increasing trend for the adoption of E-WOM among local tourists.
Therefore, the objective of this research was to identify the effect of E-WOM on
local tourists’ travel decisions in choosing travel destinations as an under
investigated area in Sri Lankan context. The research was designed with
quantitative research approach to identify the factors that influence on
selection of a travel destination of local tourists in Sri Lanka. Searcher’s Intent,
Trustworthiness of Message, Content Creator’s Expertise and Source Similarity
were found as the most effective factors through reviewing literature. A
conceptual model was developed based on those factors to test the
relationships in between the variables. A Questionnaire was distributed among
200 individualsthose who use travel blogs, websites in Sri Lanka. Pearson’s
product-moment correlation coefficient with two-tailed test was carried out to
test hypotheses. Results indicated that above mentioned factors positively
related with travel destination selection. Therefore, this study concluded that
identified factors are important in selecting travel destinations of local tourists.
This study contributes to tourism industry in Sri Lanka, in such a way that can
impact positively to the tourists when they select a travel destination.
