Study On The Empowerment And Disempowerment Of Overseas Self-service Tourists Using Mobile Media

With the advent of the mobile Internet era and the development of online travel in China,the mobile media represented by smart phones are gradually changing the way of travel.People's tourism activities are deeply influenced by the media.This study takes the empowerment as the core concept,from the situation of overseas self-service travel,discusses the relationship(including its process?mechanism and consequences)between mobile media and tourism practices of overseas self-help tourists.Through in-depth interviews,this study shows that in the process of journey via mobile media,overseas self-service tourists go through both empowerment and disempowerment.The empowerment mechanism including:in the anticipatory phase of journey,access to travel information and service;in the experimental phase of journey get instrumental support such as to solve the language and traffic problems encountered in unfamiliar and exotic environments and dietary recommendations;in the reflective phase of journey,carry out digital memory practice.While the disempowerment mechanism including:information explosion and information overload leads to the increase of time cost for self-service tourists to obtain information and make decisions;false sales harm the interest of self-service tourists and increase the risk of decision making;and alienation of social media on individuals.