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| THE IMPACT OF INTERNET ON THE TOURIST DESTINATION EVOLUTION: A CASE STUDY OF WUYUAN |
| ZHU Feng1, XIANG Yi-xian2, DING Xin-xin1 |
1. Business School, Shandong University at Weihai, Weihai 264209, China;
2. Faculty of Liberal Arts and Communication, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China |
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Abstract The history of world tourism development has demonstrated that scientific and technological reformation has always influenced tourism and industry significantly. However, the tendency illustrated by technological reformation and tourism developmental history has not been paid enough attention in Internet and tourism research fields. This paper introduces Internet as an important factor influencing tourism into tourism systematic analysis and figures out the specific effect Internet has on tourism system and the whole influencing mechanism. The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the impact of Internet on destination evolution considering its communication essence. With the purpose to contact more tourists and gain more personal tourism experience in Wuyuan, a research group with four members did a fieldwork there from April 1st to 7th, 2011 the time of cole flowers bloom. It is found that Internet has played a significant role in the evolution of TALC in Wuyuan. Firstly, as a new media, Internet has facilitated both in-group communication and public communication which may have stimulated the progress of the evolution from exploration stage to development stage. Secondly, the tourists have increased gradually due to destination image of Wuyuan widely spread through Internet, which has grounded the tourism market for government involvement later and speeded up destination development. Thirdly, the advantage of mutual communication Internet has magnifies communication effect of all governmental propaganda, celebrity effect and events promotion.
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Received: 13 April 2012
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2013, Vol. 28 
