SOCIALLY ENHANCED TRAVEL BOOKING: A CASE STUDY

Authors: ÅSA RUDSTRÖM; PETRA FAGERBERG

Source: Information Technology & Tourism, Volume 6, Number 3, 2003 , pp. 211-221(11)

Publisher: Cognizant Communication Corporation

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Abstract:

The ability to obtain user data in an unobtrusive way is instrumental to the success of recommendations based on collaborative data. In a travel booking scenario, where data about the current user were sparse, a solution based on displaying booking statistics was proposed. A prototype system was built in a joint project with the international transport and travel service company Stena Line. A qualitative user evaluation provided support for two hypotheses: 1) that displaying statistics of other travelers' booking choices would support users in the booking process; and 2) that users would form their own recommendations if presented with background information.

Keywords: Online travel booking; Recommender system; Collaborative recommendation; Social computing; Social navigation

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, SICS, Box 1263, 164 29 Kista, Sweden

Publication date: 2003-01-01

More about this publication?

Information Technology &Tourism is the first scientific journal dealing with the exciting relationship between information technology and tourism. Information and communication systems embedded in a global net have profound influence on the tourism and travel industry. Reservation systems, distributed multimedia systems, highly mobile working places, electronic markets, and the dominant position of tourism applications in the Internet are noticeable results of this development. And the tourism industry poses several challenges to the IT field and its methodologies.