Besöksanledningens vara eller icke-vara: informationsspridningens betydelse för attraktioners framgång

Even if there are many reasons for visiting attractions in Sweden, few of them can survive without a clear information strategy. The purpose of this project is to study German tourists' search for information before and during their trip to Sweden. By this, we aim to increase tourism actors’ knowledge on what they should do: what are the sources of information, and which are the combinations thereof, that contribute to the creation of appealing attractions – and thus to an increase in visitor numbers.
We want to understand how tourists’ behaviour affects the choice of attractions. The aim of the project is to contribute to knowledge on communication strategies, both online and offline. We will cooperate with Astrid Lindgren's World, and with the tourist office in the municipality of Ystad.
Studies done by Visit Sweden show that German tourists preferably choose official websites on the internet as their main source of information, followed by personal statements on the Internet (blogs, etc.), and various offline sources. But how do tourists actually do when seeking information? Which kind of information about attractions is most important; for how long do individuals stay on a site before moving on; how many pages do they surf? Moreover, the question is what kinds of information tourists are looking for at home, and how they do this. This is of interest both before these tourists are traveling, and during their stay in Sweden. This area is currently lacking systematic knowledge.

The purpose of the study is to examine and analyse how German tourists specifically look for information on what is marketed as Swedish attractions. This is studied both before and during their journeys.
The purpose can be divided into the following research questions, where one part is focusing on information search in Germany, before their trip (question 1-3), and one part during their visit in Sweden (question 4-5). The final part (question 6) is closely linked to the different ways in which Swedish tourism actors can develop their activities towards this market.
1) How do German tourists actually, in a very concrete way, use the Internet to learn more about Swedish attractions? Which channels do they use, and what kinds of information do they look for?
2) In which ways are online sources combined with offline sources?
3) In their search for information, what do German tourists experience as attractive main reasons for visiting?
4) In Sweden, is there a difference Germans’ search for tourism information, compared to the ones in Germany?
5) Are German tourists sharing information about the attraction before, during and after the trip? In this case, by which media?
These questions lead us to the final question about which sources of information result in German tourists visiting the attractions they have informed themselves about:
6) Which types of information search, both in Germany and in Sweden, result in German tourists actually visiting the attraction?
We will use different kinds of method. Research questions 1 to 3 will be answered by a questionnaire that is sent to individuals in Germany. In order to learn how German tourists actually search for information on the internet, we conduct an experiment, in which individuals are instructed to plan a trip to Astrid Lindgrens Värld and to Ystad. They do this on the internet in their own homes. Questions 4 and 5 will be answered by conducting structured interviews. Question 6 is included in questionnaire and interview, and will be answered by means of our concluding analysis.
Project results will hopefully lead to tourism actors’ strengthened ability to develop strategies for choice of message and information channel in order to reach the target audience in question, in this case German tourists. This is of great importance, as it demands for an enhancement of the share of international visitors, if the objective in growth that is specified in Vision 2020 is to be fulfilled.

Det må finnas många attraktiva besöksanledningar i Sverige, men det är få platser förunnat att klara sig utan en strategisk och tydlig informationsspridning. Det sökta projektet fokuserar på hur turister konkret går till väga när de söker information om attraktiva svenska besöksanledningar. Vilken information om attraktionerna är det som fastnar, hur länge stannar individerna på en hemsida innan de går vidare, och hur många hemsidor surfar de till? Därtill kommer frågan hur turisterna beter sig hemma, innan de reser, jämfört med när de kommer till Sverige. Det är inom detta fält forskningsprojektet vill göra en insats.
Syftet med studien är att undersöka och analysera hur besökare konkret söker efter information om det som marknadsförs som attraktiva besöksanledningar såväl före som under resan. Som målgrupp har tyska turister valts ut och undersökningen kommer att genomföras i nära samarbete med två svenska destinationer; Astrid Lindgrens Värld och Ystad kommun. Studien genomförs med hjälp av olika typer av metod: enkäter och intervjuer såväl före som under resan samt ett experiment där individer får i uppdrag att hemma i sin bostad planera en resa. Metoden ger svar på vilka hemsidor som besöks, hur länge, och i kombination med vilka andra sidor.
Den kunskap som genereras i projektet kommer till nytta för besöksnäringen då de får ökad insikt i turisters informationssökning såväl före som under resan. Detta är viktig kunskap då turisters sökande efter information påverkar deras beslut av vilka attraktioner som kommer att besökas. Resultatet av detta projekt kommer därför att kunna bidra till att producenter kan utveckla sina kommunikationsstrategier när det gäller informationsspridning via såväl online- som offline-källor för att bättre kunna nå den tänkta målgruppen.