THE IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH ON TOURISTS’ INTENTION OF DESTINATION SELECTION: A CASE IN SRI LANKAN LOCAL TOURISTS

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.