iResearch’s recent travel related research found that 66.6% people gather travel information from friends and relatives, which shows potential of word-of-mouth marketing. Other ways people get travel information are shown below:
- Recommendations from friends: 66.6%
- Travel websites (e.g. ctrip): 45.2%
- Search engines: 44.4%
- Traditional media (newspaper, magazine, TV): 35.4%
- Travel section of portal sites: 33.8%
- Social networking sites (like tianya, mop): 33.1%
- Travel agency: 27.5%
- Others: 0.9%
It also found out 49.8% of people in the survey gathered information ONE WEEK before they went travelling; and, 30.2% looked for information half month before going on vacation.
