Communication needs and information search preferences

The following questions relate to the sub-questions, “What are the same day rail visitors’ communication needs?” and “What are the same day rail visitors’ information search preferences? The following results relate to the communication needs and information search preferences of same day rail visitors and present the findings of Questions 7-10. To determine where the same day rail visitor would look for information about the Cape Town rail service tourism trips, checklists (Questions 7-9) were used that divided the communication platforms into three sub-categories, namely people, electronic media and mass media.

In summary: The same day rail visitor information would like to hear about promotions,

particularly Groupon deals; and would prefer to find information about the tourism trips on the internet, or in the print and broadcast media. The open-ended question 10 asking “where and how” the same day rail visitor found the information that prompted their participation on the current trip, support the promotion, particularly the Groupon ‘deal’ preference, followed by obtaining information from family or friend and the internet.

Question 7: “Where would you prefer to hear from Cape Town rail tourism trips from a person?”

Value

Friend/fam Kiosk WOM Staff Promotion TravelAgent

Fr eq u en cy 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 15.69 % 3.92 % 0 % 3.92 % 1.96 % 70.59 % 0 % 3.92 %

The majority of same day rail visitors indicated, as shown in Figure 4–3, that 70% (n=36) of respondents prefer to obtain rail tourism information via promotions while 15% (n=8) of respondents indicated they prefer information from family/friends. It is worthwhile noting that a minority of 3, 92% (n=2) each indicated they prefer obtaining rail tourism information from the tourism information kiosk, word of mouth or from a travel agent.

In observing the personal communication preference per demographic group, the findings indicated that across all male 78% (n=21) and female 65% (n=32) respondents, ‘promotion’ was rated as the communication preference from a person. However there are differences between the two sexes in that 25% (n=8) females indicated that they prefer to obtain communication from a friend/family member while no male respondents selected family/friend as a communication preference. Differences in the age groups revealed that 72% (n=24) of age group 25-44 years; 70% (n=7) in age group 45-64 and 62% (n=5) in the age group 18-24 years indicated ‘promotion’ as communication preference. Differences in nationalities indicated that 71% (n=33) South Africans; 100% (n=1) British; 100% (n=1) and German preferred ‘promotions’ as channel of rail tourism communication from a person.

Question 8: “Where would you prefer to hear from Cape Town rail tourism trips electronically?”

As can be seen in Figure 4-4, the data demonstrates that there is little difference between 34% (n=18) respondents who indicated their electronic communication preference to be the internet; and the 25% (n=13) respondents who indicated e-mail and Groupon deals

respectively. 9% (n=5) respondents preferred to obtain rail tourism information via social media.

All the same day rail visitors in terms of gender and age preferred the internet, e-mail and Groupon deals. However, a comparison between genders indicated that 25% (n=5) males preferred the internet, e-mail and Groupon deals respectively, while 40% (n=13) females preferred the internet; and 25% (n=8) preferred e-mail and Groupon deals respectively. Social media was favoured by 10% (n=2) male respondents and 9% (n=3) female respondents. The comparison between the age groups, showed that the internet 37% (n=3); Groupon deals 37% (n=3) and e-mail 12% (n=1) were favoured by respondents in the age group 18-24 years, while 29% (n=10) in the age group 25-44 years favoured the internet and 26% (n=9) preferred e-mail and Groupon deals respectively. In the age category 45-64, the internet was favoured by 50% (n=5) respondents, with 30% (n=3) indicating e-mails and 10% (n=1) respondents selected Groupon as electronic communication preference.

Question 9: “Where would you prefer to hear from Cape Town rail tourism trips in the mass media?”

Value

Print Posters TravelGuides CommuterNP Radio Television

Fr eq u en cy 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 36.73 % 4.08 % 20.41 % 8.16 % 22.45 % 8.16 %

Figure 4-5 Mass media information source preference

As seen in Figure 4–5, print media is preferred by 36% (n=18) respondents; while 22% (n=11) indicated the radio; 20% (n=10) preferred travel guides; 8% (n=4) preferred the commuter newspaper and television, and a mere 4% (n=2) preferred posters.

Question 10: “Where and how did you hear about or find the information for this trip?” This open-ended question required respondents to formulate their own responses in

terms of their information search experience. The majority of the respondents 77% (n=37) respondents indicated they obtained information via Groupon, followed by family and friends 10% (n=5), or the internet 6% (n=3). However only 2% (n=1) heard about the trip through word of mouth.

4.5.1 Communication channels preferences

The following results relate to the communication channel preferences of the same day rail visitors and present the findings of Questions 17-18.

In summary: The communication channels preferred by the same day rail visitor to

communicate with and hear from Cape Town rail service are email, via Facebook or the internet.

Question 17: “What method of communication would you like to use to communicate your feedback to Cape Town rail tourism?” This open-ended question required

respondents to formulate their own responses in terms of how they would prefer to communicate with Cape Town rail service in providing feedback on the rail tourism trips.

The findings (Figure 4–6) revealed that the majority of respondents 77% (n=37) would prefer to communicate trip feedback via e-mail, but 13% (n=6) said they would use Facebook; while 4% (n=2) preferred the internet and 2% (n=1) selected twitter and community newspaper respectively.

Question 18: “What method of communication would like Cape Town rail tourism to communicate with you or share your experience on the rail trip with you?” This open-

ended question required respondents to formulate their own responses in terms of how they would prefer Cape Town rail service to communicate with them.

As Figure 4–7 exemplifies that the majority of respondents 73% (n=30) would prefer Cape Town rail service to communicate with them via e-mail or Facebook 13% (n=5) and only 2% (n=1) selected the internet. A comparison between respondents providing trip feedback to Cape Town rail service and Cape Town rail service sharing trip information with same day rail visitors shows that e-mail, and then Facebook is the preferred channel of communication.