Driving tourist behaviour: evidence from Google Maps usage among tourists
摘要
The widespread adoption of mobile internet and social media has positioned geolocated applications such as Google Maps as indispensable resources in contemporary tourism that not only facilitate navigation but also provide access to reviews, detailed information, and user-generated content. In our study, we investigated how tourists’ perceptions of key attributes of content on Google Maps—recency, credibility, and intelligibilityinfluence consumer behaviour. Based on survey data representing 358 Turkish tourists, the findings reveal that content perceived as recent, credible, and clear significantly enhances users’ enjoyment of the platform, which positively affects their behavioural intentions, including willingness to revisit or recommend destinations. However, the perceived interestingness of the content did not significantly affect effect enjoyment, and a higher level of education among respondents was associated with less reported enjoyment. For destination managers and tourism business owners, those results underscore the strategic importance of maintaining dynamic, trustworthy, easily understandable digital content to remain competitive in the evolving digital landscape. Ultimately, the results demonstrate that specific attributes of content on digital platforms such as Google Maps play a critical role in shaping tourist behaviour and decision-making processes.