Online bookings and online reviews
Digital travel, or digital tourism, refers to the travelers’ use of digital tools during the overall tourism experience. For instance, booking travel products online can be considered part of this digital process. According to Statista’s Global Consumer Survey, hotels, flight tickets, and car rentals were the main travel products booked online in the United States in 2022. Hotels and flight tickets also topped the list of the preferred travel services booked online in the United Kingdom, but train tickets for long-distance trips were more popular than car rentals in this case.Aside from online bookings, reviewing travel destinations, accommodation, and restaurants has become another important aspect of the overall digital tourism experience. From 2014 to 2022, the total number of user reviews and opinions on Tripadvisor, one of the most well-known travel review websites, experienced a fivefold increase. Tourists’ interest in posting and reading online travel tips and comments was confirmed by the fact that Tripadvisor was one of the most visited travel and tourism websites worldwide in January 2023.