A quantitative scoping review of information search behaviour in sport tourism

Abstract

ABSTRACT The first touchpoint for potential tourists is the information shared by the destination. Although information search behaviour is critical and has been reviewed from a general tourism perspective, less is known about sport tourism. With social media becoming the predominant source of information, it is necessary to determine how information is searched. Therefore, the purpose of this scoping literature review was to clarify the extent of peer-reviewed research on information search behaviour in sport tourism literature. The PRISMA extension for scoping review protocol was followed. Twenty-nine peer-reviewed journal articles published in English were examined. The findings showed that the first discussion was published in 1992, and most of the articles focused on active sport tourism. The majority of the information sources were offline; however, the usage of social media has been increasing drastically in recent times. Moreover, this study found that sport tourists acquire information to mitigate risk, which varies depending on the athletic activities they engage in at the destination. The results of this study benefit not only the potential tourists but also the tourism sector by enabling them to strengthen their destination marketing strategies. Additionally, this study introduces three propositions for future studies.