The present research aims at understanding the value of travel guidebooks as an object of consumption in the context of the digital age. It does so by applying a consumer value perspective to an object that has traditionally been studied as an information channel or as a cultural text and not as an object of consumption. Holbrook's consumer value framework was adopted to identify the value dimensions associated with guidebooks, and the underlying reasons for their use. Given the explorative nature of the study, a qualitative study design was chosen, and fifteen indepth interviews were conducted. The results suggest that the use and value of guidebooks are strongly connected to emerging Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information needs are evolving due to technological development: the constant availability of online information has caused the temporal dimension of tourists' information needs to shift so that decisions can be postponed until right before consumption, making information search more serendipitous. Several types of value were identified which go beyond information needs, and they are: efficiency, excellence, play, aesthetics, status, esteem, spirituality and ethics.

The paper explores tourists’ smartphone-related information behavior on site in light of the concept of “planned serendipity”. The ability to gather information at anytime and anywhere can deeply influence tourists’ behavior, their information needs and the outcomes of their travel plans. In this study, the concept of planned serendipity is used to suggest that the outcome of travel information behavior on site is not entirely planned nor entirely serendipitous. The study employs the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) in combination with qualitative interviews, which allow the researcher to gather data both during the participants’ trip and afterwards. The thematic analysis resulted in four main themes related to information search connected to smartphone use: flexible plans; orientation in time and space; specificity of the query; aiming for optimization. Such conditions result in planned serendipity. The study thus contributes to the conceptualization of planned serendipity as an outcome of smartphone use during travel for information purposes.

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