The Internet is immensely popular with travelers and widely used by the tourism industry. New information and hardware products are constantly being added to the World Wide Web or introduced in the consumer and business marketplace. To understand the significance of the Internet as a communication medium and e-commerce market for the tourism industry and vacation consumption, Roger's diffusion of innovation theory was applied to the behaviors of individuals' planning vacations using the Internet. Specifically, Canadian travelers' historical use of the Internet and their current everyday use were studied using vacation diaries to explain the adoption of new technologies used for travel product information search and reservations or purchases. Participants were not constrained in any way to use certain technology or travel products. Innovation theory suggests innovators and early adopters would be more interested in and actually use the newest tourism online information sources and technologies. Results suggest Roger's adoption groups based on use history were predictive of current technology and online preferences and behaviors, and current Internet use level was also a strong predictor of new technology adoption and online behaviors.

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The ultimate goal of information distribution for a destination marketer is to stimulate travelers to make a purchase decision. Today, travel information can be obtained by travel technology, which enables travelers to exploit on-the-move information. Navigation services for travel technology are being more broadly used across the globe by providing a wide range of en route information. This study evaluates the effects of travel information disseminated by navigation services on unplanned behaviors during trips. The results of the study illustrate that travelers who use navigation during trips are more likely to be involved in unplanned activities and, hence, will have an increase in unplanned travel expenditures. Destination marketers can partner with travel technology providers to encourage better travel experiences for tourists and generate more travel revenues for the tourism industry.

This study examines online information value structure and its motivational communication competence using the motivational language theory (MLT). MLT explains how communication acts directed by managers to employees generate a greater motivation for work. Five information value dimensions -functional, hedonic, innovation, aesthetic and sign -were identifi ed through literature on the subject of MLT and applied to online information. This study confi rmed the multidimensionality of online information and proposed four online information dimensions: experiential (hedonicinnovation), sign, functional and aesthetic. The fi ndings also suggested that experiential (hedonic-innovation) and functional information values have signifi cant effects for travel motivation, including exploration, family togetherness, novelty, escape and socialisation. Copyright