Travellers' Use of Information Obtained at Tourist Information Centres: Comparison between Information Seekers and Convenience Stoppers

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This study seeks to understand the information behaviour of travellers who stopped purposely at a tourist information centre (TIC) in comparison with those who stopped for other reasons. The results of the study of Illinois TIC visitors indicate that information seekers acquire more information and tend to use it more to assist/finalize their current travel decisions. Changes in travel decisions brought about by information obtained at a TIC are not limited to secondary and en route travel decisions but encompass core decisions such as length of stay and accommodation decisions. Changes in length of stay and expenditure are brought about by changes that occurred to different aspects of a trip. The association between types of information gathered and changes in different aspects of a trip varies substantially with the purpose of the stop.