Comparing Tourism Activity Patterns Influenced by a Tourism Information Source: A Case of the Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Abstract

With the development of the internet and mobile devices, tourists have been able to obtain information and then travel to various places or participate in diverse tourism activities in one travel excursion. This study investigates the patterns of tourist participation in tourism activities according to a tourism information source used through a relational approach using a social network analysis (SNA). This study utilizes raw data from 2021 Gyeonggi tourist survey data distributed by the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization. Our results indicate different patterns of participation in tourism activities between tourists using online sources and those using offline sources. In addition, the tourism activity distribution patterns of the centralities were hierarchically structured and differentiated depending on the tourism information source. The present study then offers theoretical implications and future study avenues, as well as practical implications, focused on developing tourism marketing strategies and content for the Gyeonggi province, South Korea.