A study of the effects of information overflows among tourists

A study of the effects of information overflows among tourists
The presence of the internet, as well as other self-service technologies in the tourism industry, has made it easier for tourists to access any sort of information that they desire. However, the internet has a lot of information that creates the problem of information synergy or overload. Too much information is a problem for tourists since they are unable to select the most desired destinations due to having too many options to choose from. The Islamic tourism that occurred in Saudi Arabia during Hajj is an example of the magnitude and the confusion that can arise for people willing to visit pilgrimages. This research aims to identify the impact of online information gathering by tourists when heading to new places.
Aims and objectives
This research aims to determine how consumers evaluate the quality of online information and how tourism operators manage the amount of information available for tourists. It will also seek to determine the effects of potential information synergies or information overload. Saudi Arabia is a country that intends to move from relying too much on oil to becoming a manufacturing economy. This situation is likely to attract more visitors to the country including people who come for Islamic tourism during Hajj. To achieve its vision 2030, Saudi Arabia needs to invest massively in technology that will be required during Hajj by the tourists. This study will help in revealing the problems that tourists encounter when trying to identify hotels, airline services, transport, and other issues.

It will also suggest ways that can be used by tourism operators to help manage the amount and quality of information available for tourists so that they can help in addressing the existing problem.
Literature review
Information overflow is a problem that can affect tourists since it influences their selection and images formed regarding tourist destinations. Information overflow can jeopardize the cognition, attitudes, and emotion towards tourism information. Cognition of information overload can result in a positive effect on tourists’ emotion, attitude and examining effort. Tourism is linked with high financial and emotional risks that consumers have to minimize by acquiring as much information as possible to reduce the risk. However, online information is often too similar, complicated and ambiguous which leads to confusion especially to people who are not well informed about the system. Therefore, the internet could lead to disorientation and information overload among many users.
Additionally, the presence of too much information causes people to make wrong decisions since they are unable to process it for their use (Lu and Dogan 1322)
Choice overload which is the presence of many options can lead to negative consequences on the part of the tourists since they are unable to go through all the available choices and select the best for themselves. Even though people have numerous options such as vacation destinations, hotels, tours, and airfares when planning their vacations, it is important to determine how information overflow affects their level of satisfaction. According to the researcher is that there are five ways that tourists and travel advisors can avoid the adverse effects of choice overload, and that is by decreasing decision tasks difficulty, choice set trouble, preference vagueness and concentrating on decisions goals rather than the ways to accomplish the goals and embracing a suitable decision-making style (Thai and Ulku 5)
Many tourists are forced to deal with large volumes of data which contains reliable information as well as irrelevant and undependable data. Tourists find it hard to differentiate between the accurate information and that which is just there to confuse them. Effective data-mining methods are necessary to ensure that information is filtered so that reliable information can be retrieved quickly. This situation provides that customers find it easy to make decisions and become satisfied regarding their choices of tourism destinations (Zhu and Hee Jeong 525).
Methodology
This study will use the qualitative method in finding the data that is relevant for analyzing the problem of information overflow among tourists in Saudi Arabia. Questionnaires and interview methods will be used in collecting data. Interview and questionnaires will contain standardized questions that will help in gathering relevant information for the study. Simple random sampling is the method that will assist in selecting a representative sample of Islamic tourists. This method will ensure that every tourist has an equal chance of being chosen for the research. The information will be fed into the computer and trends will be analyzed to determine the effects of information overload on the level of satisfaction of tourists. The hypothesis will be tested using a structural equation modeling method as well as using the regression analysis.
Limitations
Due to the complexity of the Islamic tourism during Hajj in Saudi Arabia, it will be difficult to find people willing to cooperate during data collection. Most people during this time are concentrated on the religious activities and may not want to engage in other activities that divert their attention from what they are seeking to find. Personal biases may also affect the validity of the results since human being are subjective in their thinking and making judgments which are important in this study.
Conclusion
Information overload in the tourism industry has increased due to the advancement in technology. People use various platforms to get information that they want regarding any destination. Due to the presence of the internet and other platforms consumers can now access extensive information which leads to information overflow and disorientation. There is a need to carry out a study in this area to establish the effect of this problem and to try and find a solution to help consumers in the tourism industry.
Works Cited
Lu, Allan Cheng Chieh, and Dogan Gursoy. “A conceptual model of consumers’ online tourism confusion.” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 27.6 (2015): 1320-1342.
Thai, Nguyen T., and Ulku Yuksel. “What Can Tourists and Travel Advisors Learn from Choice Overload Research?.” Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality Research. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2017. 1-26.Zhu, Jing, and Hee Jeong Yun. “The Effects of Tourists Information Overload on Their Affect, Attitude, and Search Effort on Tourism Information (Focused on Tourists in Korea and China).” The Journal of the Korea Contents Association 16.6 (2016): 516-528.