Travel websites: Changing visits, evaluations and posts

Many studies concerning the role of web-based information in tourism measure one-time interactions. This paper presents results of a longitudinal study. Data collected in 2014 about website visits, evaluations and posts, are compared with data from 2007. The main finding is the advance of sites having a commercial interest in the information provided and the stagnation of consumer review sites without such an interest, the latter losing ground in visits and perceived reliability. The perceived quality of the information improved significantly in terms of extensiveness, novelty and usefulness for both site types. Posting behavior is rare and still limited to a small segment. Implications are outlined related to different forms of perceived credibility. Ways to attract more posters are sketched.