Tourism information seeking habits of Generation Z in the Covid era

Abstract

The emergence of Covid-19 and its rapid global spread disrupted nearly a decade of dynamic growth in Hungarian tourism. In 2020, significant restrictions and pandemic measures were introduced in all countries, leading to significant challenges for both the supply and demand sides of the tourism industry. Our study focuses on the consumer side through an examination of digital technology applications for tourism information gathering, and the changes in the tourism decision-making process caused by the pandemic. The role of several digital platforms has clearly been enhanced during the pandemic, but the picture is shaded by the significant differences in information gathering between the consumer groups presented in the primary research. The findings highlight those youngsters are very conscious of gathering information before travelling, but still many of them are unaware of and less interested in the travel-focused social networking platforms that have gained in importance in recent years.