Analysis on the impact of internet use on residents’ tourism consumption behavior and the mechanism of action

Tourism consumption as a typical representative of service consumption, has strong comprehensiveness and driving force, continuously expanding new consumption upgrade space. In the context of the digital economy, the development of the mobile internet has opened up new opportunities for the tourism industry acting as an important factor influencing the consumer behaviour of the residents. Based on 9007 resident survey data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2017, this paper explores the relationship between Internet use, access to information and residents’ travel consumption behavior by means of probit model and mediating effect model. First, according to the findings, Internet use has a positive impact on residents’ travel consumption behavior, increasing residents’ tourism expenditure. Second, the mechanism suggests that access to information plays a partially mediating role between Internet use and travel consumption behavior. Third, further analysis revealed that, for the retired population, the more frequently they use the Internet, the more likely they are to spend on travel. Compared to those with lower incomes, those with higher incomes will spend less on travel after retirement. With this in mind, in order to promote residents’ tourism consumption, speed and fee reduction should be continuously promoted, urban and rural information infrastructure should be strengthened, and accessibility of tourism information for residents should be improved. At the same time, there is a need to innovate the way tourism products are promoted, improve the types of tourism products and launch diversified tourism products.