Collaborative tourism in Europe: the role of travel motivations on new platforms and information sources

Abstract

The sharing economy has emerged as an alternative of suppliers of goods and services traditionally provided by long-established industries. Since its inception, the tourism industry has presented itself as one of the sectors that has allowed it to keep growing and in which the sharing economy has had a greater impact. Thus, this study analyses ‘collaborative tourism’ (the sharing economy in tourism) and the use of other information sources (comparators, social media…) and explores the profile and behaviour of tourists who participate in it (socio-demographic characteristics, nationalities and travel motivations). The paper also identifies the differences between the profile of tourists who use different kinds of collaborative platforms (Airbnb, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, Wikipedia, Coachsurfing and BlaBlaCar), differentiating between platforms where an economic transaction is required and those that are free. The results indicate the existence of a grouping together of cultures (countries) in four segments, depending on the use they do of sharing economy platforms. Applying a comprehensive analysis with 9,383 tourists from 19 European countries, the study provides interesting conclusions for destinations with a view to better designing marketing activities across different European countries.