An Exploratory Study on the Satisfaction and Barriers of Online Trip Planning to China: American College Students' Experience

ABSTRACT The Internet is one of the major information sources for trip planning. However, sometimes it can be difficult to use, especially for planning a trip to a novel destination with a different culture. Using mixed methods which comprise process tracing, think-aloud protocol, and clickstream analysis, this research explores the usability problems and barriers when American college students are planning trips to China online. The results illustrate that American students had a frustrating planning experience. While some of the problems are technical or functional in nature, more than half of the problems encountered were due to cultural barriers. As the dominant information portal most American students used, Google.com induces bias in travel information space and is not a suitable tool for trip planning to China.