Abstract

Abstract An information search strategy refers to the combination of information sources utilized by a tourist when planning travel. This study describes the common information search strategies utilized by a group of destination-naïve international vacation tourists. Five hundred twenty-eight first-time vacation visitors to New Zealand were interviewed within their first 24 hours of arrival in the country and metric measures taken of their use of six information sources in the planning of their vacations. Six common search strategies are identified, together with their demographic and behavioral correlates—a low search strategy, four moderate search strategies—“guidebook brochure agent,” “guidebook friends,” “friends,” “net guidebook”—and a high search strategy, “friends net.”