social media tourism destinations

National Geographic content straight to your inbox—sign up for our popular newsletters here

A woman takes a selfie with an iPhone at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park.

How Instagram Is Changing Travel

Social media-savvy travelers are increasingly drawing their destination inspiration from Instagram—but at what cost?

Puffed, gray-tinged clouds roll over Odda, Norway, reflected in the quiet azure waters of Lake Ringedalsvatnet. More than 2,000 feet above, a hiker is perched atop Trolltunga, a cliff that juts out of the mountain. There’s not another soul in sight—at least, that’s what Instagram might have you believing.

What photos of this iconic vista don’t reveal is the long line of hikers weaving around the rocky terrain each morning, all waiting for their chance to capture their version of the Instagram-famous shot. Between 2009 and 2014, visitors to Trolltunga increased from 500 to 40,000 in what many consider a wave of social media-fueled tourism.

Now six years old, Instagram has more than 500 million active users sharing an average of 80 million photos a day. Clearly we have an appetite for imagery, and it’s influencing our travel decisions.

“I see this desire to escape to these landscapes, to do something real, because more than ever everyone is buried in their phones,” says photographer Corey Arnold ( @arni_coraldo ), who shot the October 2016 cover story for National Geographic magazine. “But where do they get the inspiration to travel? Instagram.”

The proof is in the numbers. For example, in 2015, the tourism board of the small alpine town of Wanaka, New Zealand, began inviting and hosting “influencers”—social media trendsetters with large followings—to post about their adventures. The result was the fastest tourism growth in the country: a 14 percent increase.

Now you’re less than 10 clicks away from seeing an image on Instagram to purchasing a ticket to go there. Chris Burkard

According to Lake Wanaka Tourism, influencers provide an “incredible” return on investment.

“I guess following photographers on Instagram gives a more genuine expression than looking for inspiration in a tourism brochure,” says Johan Lolos ( @lebackpacker ), who launched his career as a paid brand and tourism photographer after trading Instagram posts for accommodation and experiences in Lake Wanaka.

And that is Instagram’s effectiveness as a marketing tool. People engage with Instagram 10 times more than with Facebook, which is why an estimated 48.8 percent of brands in the United States are on Instagram, with that number predicted to rise to 70.7 percent in 2017.

“Now you’re less than 10 clicks away from seeing an image on Instagram to purchasing a ticket to go there,” says Chris Burkard ( @chrisburkard ), a photographer with more than two million Instagram followers. “I’ve met people who have traveled to places because of my photographs, and I don’t mean that in an egotistical way … [That] wasn’t happening 10 years ago.”

This sharing of experiences has not only created communities where people can connect and share their lives, but it can also shine the spotlight on significant social and environmental issues. “The only way we’re going to get people to go out there and care about these places is if we get them there,” Burkard says. “That’s the first step to being a conservationist—caring about it. It’s never been more cool to be in nature.”

But what happens if something resonates with too many people? Perhaps the darkest underbelly of Instagram is when it opens the door for overcrowding, environmental degradation, and dangerous stunts.

“A lot of people are still very ego-driven. They want to portray that they are leading some kind of perfect life, which is quite silly really,” says photographer Trey Ratcliff ( @treyratcliff ). " I think it’s much more fun to be real."

• Nat Geo Expeditions

Perhaps most tragic is when the desire to replicate an experience comes at an unfathomable cost. In 2015, a 24-year-old Australian student lost her footing and fell to her death while trying to re-create the iconic shot at Trolltunga. In 2014, a Polish couple crossed the safety barrier at Cabo da Roca, Portugal, to capture a selfie and tumbled off the cliff’s edge. Similar reports of tourists ignoring official signage and safety warnings have been reported in sites across the globe.

The solution? Burkard believes we all have a responsibility to post accurate representations of the places we visit. “I often share the background story, especially if we’ve gotten a permit to go somewhere or do something other people normally wouldn’t be allowed to do,” he says.

The answer is not to stop traveling but to travel mindfully. Try going to places that aren’t being showcased, and share your own experiences instead of trying to mimic others, Burkard says.

“I think a lot about social media’s role in tourism. Now you can almost curate your whole experience based on the images you see online, and it’s an unnatural approach to travel. It makes me wonder what happened to exploration.”

Carrie Miller is a New Zealand-based writer, traveler, and storyteller for National Geographic Traveler magazine and other publications. She loves trying new things, from diving with great white sharks in Australia to riding reindeer in Mongolia. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram .

Become a subscriber and support our award-winning editorial features, videos, photography, and much more.

For as little as $2/mo.

Related Topics

• TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY
• PEOPLE AND CULTURE
• SOCIAL MEDIA

You May Also Like

How adding locations to posts can help—and hurt—your travels

The Masterclasses 2023: 10 travel writing tips from our experts

How travel insurance can—and can’t—help when plans change

How to capture your travels with a drone

How I got the shot: Richard James Taylor on capturing Mekong sunset magic in Laos

• Environment
• Paid Content

History & Culture

• History & Culture
• Mind, Body, Wonder
• Adventures Everywhere
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

• Topics ›
• Mobile social media worldwide ›

Social Media has the Greatest Influence on Travel Destination Choices

Sponsored post by booking.com.

The COVID years have paved the way for greater consumer trust and familiarity with advancement in biometric identity management and automatic check-in at airports. However, social media continues to cement itself as a crucial ingredient for many travelers, with 75% using social platforms as a source of inspiration for travel.

Description

This infographic show the share of respondents who were influenced to travel to a destination, by channel

Can I integrate infographics into my blog or website?

Yes, Statista allows the easy integration of many infographics on other websites. Simply copy the HTML code that is shown for the relevant statistic in order to integrate it. Our standard is 660 pixels, but you can customize how the statistic is displayed to suit your site by setting the width and the display size. Please note that the code must be integrated into the HTML code (not only the text) for WordPress pages and other CMS sites.

Infographic Newsletter

Statista offers daily infographics about trending topics, covering: Economy & Finance , Politics & Society , Tech & Media , Health & Environment , Consumer , Sports and many more.

Related Infographics

Small but mighty: european smes lead in jobs and value added, u.s. hoteliers feel upbeat about their business, sponsored post by booking.com, online travel platforms increase bookings for the vast majority of u.s. hotels, international travel expands faster than domestic in the growing market, the younger the traveler, the more international, sponsoed post by booking.com, where small businesses are the biggest employers, impact of branding, loyalty programs, and hotel stars on travelers' choices, chainification of the u.s. accommodation market, the top 5 considerations for us travelers when choosing a holiday destination, hotels are the top choice for travelers in europe, the role of branded chains in the u.s. hotel sector, top reasons u.s. lodgings use online travel platforms.

• Who may use the "Chart of the Day"? The Statista "Chart of the Day", made available under the Creative Commons License CC BY-ND 3.0, may be used and displayed without charge by all commercial and non-commercial websites. Use is, however, only permitted with proper attribution to Statista. When publishing one of these graphics, please include a backlink to the respective infographic URL. More Information
• Which topics are covered by the "Chart of the Day"? The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses on two sectors: "Media and Technology", updated daily and featuring the latest statistics from the media, internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries; and "Economy and Society", which current data from the United States and around the world relating to economic and political issues as well as sports and entertainment.
• Does Statista also create infographics in a customized design? For individual content and infographics in your Corporate Design, please visit our agency website www.statista.design

Any more questions?

Get in touch with us quickly and easily. we are happy to help.

Feel free to contact us anytime using our contact form or visit our FAQ page .

Statista Content & Design

Need infographics, animated videos, presentations, data research or social media charts?

More Information

The Statista Infographic Newsletter

Receive a new up-to-date issue every day for free.

• Our infographics team prepares current information in a clear and understandable format
• Relevant facts covering media, economy, e-commerce, and FMCG topics
• Use our newsletter overview to manage the topics that you have subscribed to

The power of Social Media in Tourist Destinations

Maria Perez

In today’s digital era, social networks have become an indispensable tool for the tourism sector. Not only do they serve as communication and information channels, but they also play a crucial role in promoting and creating the image of tourism destinations . Social media presence is essential for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), as it significantly influences tourists’ travel decisions. Discover in our blog post the most significant inisghts of this report or download it in full below. Let’s get started!

Behavior and Preferences of Today’s Travelers

Contemporary travelers are characterized by their access to a wide range of information and their ability to handle it quickly and fluidly. They are demanding and make informed decisions , contrasting information and searching for the best options and destinations available. They are also innovative and constantly on the lookout for new experiences, demonstrating a predisposition to change their travel plans according to their mood or emotions.

Social media plays a key role in the modern traveler’s decision-making process. From seeking inspiration and recommendations to validating decisions through social interactions, digital platforms have completely transformed the way travel is planned and executed. Travelers rely on social media for authentic information and real-world experiences from other users, which significantly influences their travel decisions.

Social Media Marketing

Successful tourism destinations are those that know how to take full advantage of the potential of social networks. Strategies such as advertising campaigns, collaborations with influencers , storytelling and user-generated content are effective tools to promote an attractive and credible image of the destination. Cultural adaptation of messages and inclusion of diversity in campaigns are key to connecting with a socially conscious audience.

Social media content encompasses a wide variety of formats, from immersive 360º videos and virtual reality to destination-related memes and short humorous videos. This content not only generates engagement with users, but also allows them to virtually explore and experience a destination before making a travel decision.

User-generated content is an invaluable tool for tourism organizations , as it conveys authenticity and trustworthiness. Travelers rely on the recommendations and experiences of other users when planning their trips, making UGC a powerful marketing tool. Although it does not directly impact sales, UGC improves brand perception and strengthens customer loyalty.

Key platforms

Instagram and TikTok are key platforms in the digital strategy of tourism destinations. While Instagram remains the platform of choice, TikTok is emerging as an important asset, offering opportunities to build communities and reach new markets. Adapting the content strategy to the characteristics and trends of each platform is critical to maximize the impact and reach of the destination’s message.

Best Practices for Social Media Management

Effective social media management requires planning, consistency and continuous monitoring. It is crucial to maintain a constant social media presence and adapt to emerging trends to stay relevant to an ever-evolving audience. Collaborating with influencers and promoting key content are effective strategies to increase audience reach and engagement.

Conclusions

In summary, effective use of social media and content strategies can make all the difference for tourism destinations in an increasingly competitive marketplace. By maximizing the potential of social media, tourism organizations can attract and retain modern travelers, building a strong brand and loyal fan base in the process.

If you want to learn more and explore the full report on the use of social media and content strategies in the tourism sector , download the report here.

Related news

Cultural Tourism Management

Sep 11, 2024

Cultural tourism has gained popularity over the past few decades, becoming an integral part of the global tourism industry. However, managing cultural tourism effectively requires a careful approach that balances the promotion and preservation of cultural heritage....

Smartvel, Co-Founder of the Spanish Aviation Tech Hub (SATH)

Sep 3, 2024

We are proud to announce that Smartvel is one of the founding members of the Spanish Aviation Tech Hub (SATH), a consortium formed by the leading technology companies in the aviation sector in Spain. SATH is dedicated to developing innovative digital solutions that...

Tourism Trends in 2024: More Volume, Less Budget

Sep 2, 2024

The summer of 2024 has brought notable changes in traveler behavior and the tourism industry as a whole. Despite the significant increase in the number of people choosing to travel, the budget allocated per tourist has decreased. This phenomenon has been driven by...

Stay in The Know: Subscribe to Smartvel Blog

43 ROLE AND IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN TOURISM – Contributions by Ulrike Gretzel

In this chapter I will summarize my contributions to understanding social media. I feel passionate about my research on social media because social media have changed the way we shop/consume (Zhou, Zhang & Zimmermann, 2013), learn, play, work, explore our identities and express our creativity, socialize, date (Finkel et al., 2012), find out about new trends and world events (and the latest gadgets), support causes and create movements, entertain ourselves, do research (Kozinets, 2020), fuel and follow our passions (Kozinets, Patterson & Ashman, 2017), find support, celebrate, grieve, and build our legacies; and, of course, they have revolutionized the way we travel (Gretzel, 2018). Social media have allowed me to stay in touch with family and friends, connect with new friends and colleagues, share my interests with others and join communities I never knew existed, learn about people and places, find out about hidden travel gems, and post lots of cat pictures. My drive to capture meanings and effects of social media use therefore emerges from a deep personal need to make sense of the world around me.

Besides these impacts on individual consumers, social media have also transformed the way tourism businesses and destinations can market. Social media provide especially smaller establishments and micro-entrepreneurs around the world with new opportunities to be seen and heard and to understand and connect with potential and existing customers. Importantly, social media platforms gave rise to new technological innovations like augmented reality that are revolutionizing the information landscape for consumers and businesses alike. At the macro-level, social media have not only helped create new economies (e.g., the sharing economy or, more generally put, the reputation economy) and new forms of value (co-)creation (Vargo, Maglio, & Akaka, 2008), but they have also led to significant social and political change across the globe.

At the same time, social media have brought the worst out in people, businesses, and society. They have enabled new forms of scams and identity theft, led to misinformation, discrimination, bullying, envy, hate crimes, filter bubbles and increasing polarization, have interfered with elections, and have enabled the emergence of new tech giants and new economic dependencies as well as new forms of censorship. They continue to challenge our privacy rights, make us buy junk, chain us even more to our technological devices, and sometimes keep us from experiencing RL (real life). I have been stalked on social media, have spent way too much time scrolling through feeds, and have bought unnecessary items. And I often see and hear about the negative impacts social media can have on tourism businesses and entire communities, whether it is Airbnb contributing to housing shortages or influencers leading mobs of tourists to formerly pristine areas (Gretzel, 2019).

Both aspects of social media, the good and the bad, make it absolutely critical to understand social media as more than just technological applications. My research has tried to grasp what social media are, how they are being used by whom and for what purpose, how they facilitate but maybe also hinder certain human behaviors, how they shift power, what dependencies they create, why they are so persuasive, what promises they hold in terms of making our lives better, and how they might develop in the future. And tourism is an important application area in which to study social media as a phenomenon because it provides a context in which exploration (but also stupidity, see Pratt & Tolkach, 2020), desire, mobility, risk, social dynamics, etc. lead to unique information and sharing needs and behaviors on the consumer side, while hyper-competition, fragmentation and volatility create an industry context in which social media applications seem to particularly thrive.

Social Media – A Research Journey

My social media research journey began organically while investigating the impact of the Internet on tourism. At the time, virtual travel communities sparked my interest in travel information that was not created and promoted by traditional tourism intermediaries. However, it was not until 2006 that my interest in social media research became more focused. Two important things happened that year: 1) I was introduced to CyWorld by my Korean graduate students, who also convinced the Korean Tourism Organization to invite me to speak at the inaugural Korea e-Tourism forum about the travel stories consumers increasingly create and share online (Gretzel, Lee & Lee, 2006); and, 2) I met a group of enthusiastic people from a relatively unknown travel start-up at a conference for destination marketers in Austin, Texas who were there to convince people that their platform, TripAdvisor, would revolutionize the travel industry.

These occurrences led (besides a life-long passion for all things Korean and an addiction to social media) to formal research projects with the respective organizations and the start of a research program. The research report written for the project with TripAdvisor was the first empirical research study on online travel reviews and continues to be available on the TripAdvisor website (Gretzel, Yoo & Purifoy, 2007). Up to this point, fifteen years later, this research interest in social media has continued to keep me extremely busy because of the fast-paced and complex evolution of social media.

Social media have grown and developed in unexpected and profound ways. While my research on social media has explored many avenues and aspects connected with these technologies, there are many areas that remain virtually untouched and require examining, while others warrant re-examining. In this chapter I outline some of the streams of research to which I have contributed so far.

I wanted to depict my personal research journey in relation to social media in a somewhat systematic way to help others explore some of the topics I have been interested in. Over the years, I have written over 100 social media-related contributions that span journal articles, edited books, book chapters, conference papers, industry publications, commentaries, and even a published poem about popular hashtags. Figure 1 depicts the words that most frequently appear in the titles of these publications.

Figure 1 shows that besides addressing social media and consumer-generated media in general ways, I have done a lot of work on online reviews and have looked at impacts from consumer as well as operator and destination marketing perspectives. It also shows that I have explored social media in different geographic contexts, including China, Australia, and Iran. And, while the analysis of textual elements of social media has always been a focal area of my research, visual elements and practices (travel photos, selfies, emojis, videos, etc.) have become an ever more important part of my social media-related research interests in recent years.

Looking more broadly at these publications, my social media research addresses six different lenses through which social media can be understood. Three of these lenses pertain to the technological foundations of social media and to the informational landscape they create. The other three speak to the human side of social media and describe the social and cultural phenomena that emerge from their use (Figure 2). The six lenses or ways of understanding are, of course, highly interconnected and the diagram depicted in Figure 2 suggests that the human activity feeds back into the technological and informational infrastructure through the digital traces it creates. Thus, both technological and human perspectives are needed to grasp the complexity and dynamic nature of social media.

Before diving into the specific themes I explored using these lenses, I would like to note that there were a few publications that did not fit this classification. First, I have published articles, chapters and two edited books that give broad overviews of social media in tourism and therefore cover several, if not all, of these themes. They are listed in Table 1. The latest addition to this list is a co-authored review paper that examines general trends in the social media in tourism literature (Zarezadeh, Rastegar, & Gretzel, 2018). Second, I have one publication that looks at social media from a learning and teaching perspective (Isacsson & Gretzel, 2011). Unfortunately, I never pursued this specific theme further despite its obvious importance.

Table 1. General Social Media Publications.

General Social Media Publications

Sigala, M., Christou, E., & Gretzel, U. (Eds.) (2012). Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality . Brookfield, VT: Ashgate.

Gretzel, U., Sigala, M., & Christou, E. (2012). Social Media Change the Name of the Game in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries. The European Financial Review , October 20, 2012, http://www.europeanfinancialreview.com/?p=5648

Gretzel, U. & Yoo, K.-H. (2017). Social Media in Hospitality and Tourism. In S. Dixit (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Consumer Behaviour in Hospitality and Tourism , pp. 339-346. New York: Routledge.

Zarezadeh, Z., Rastegar, R. & Gretzel, U. (2018). Reviewing the Past to Inform the Future: A Literature Review of Social Media in Tourism. Czech Journal of Tourism , 7(2), 115-131.

Sigala, M. & Gretzel, U. (Eds.) (2018). Advances in Social Media for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: New Perspectives, Practice and Cases . New York: Routledge.

Gretzel, U. (2018). Tourism and Social Media. In Cooper, C., Gartner, W., Scott, N. & Volo, S. (Eds.). The Sage Handbook of Tourism Management , Volume 2, pp. 415-432. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Social Media as Technology

The first lens refers to my work on social media in tourism that seeks to understand social media as technologies. This means looking at Web 2.0 technologies as the base on which social media are built, examining specific platforms like TripAdvisor, and investigating and classifying the technological affordances that shape social media use. I have also explored the relationship between social media and other technologies (smartphones and camera-technologies like GoPros, see Dinhopl and Gretzel, 2016) to understand the wider social media and device ecosystem and its implications for tourism.

Looking at social media as technologies also involves understanding their adoption and use. I have investigated this topic from consumer and organizational perspectives. A main thread in this research stream is how adoption is shaped by national and institutional contexts. Another key topic is whether social media allowed tourism providers to “leapfrog” earlier stages of Internet technology adoption and establish their online presence solely through social media. Finally, as a persuasion scholar, I have also examined social media as persuasive technologies. Specifically, I have conceptualized the potential of social media to induce behavioral change (e.g., regarding food waste and overtourism) and to support tourism-related activism through affordances that facilitate collective action (Gretzel, 2017).

Table 2. Social Media as Technology.

Technological Foundations

Ge, J., Gretzel, U. & Clarke, R. J. (2014). Strategic Use of Social Media Affordances for Marketing: A Case Study of Chinese DMOs. In Xiang, Z. & Tussyadiah, I. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014 , pp. 159-174. Berlin: Springer.

Gretzel, U. (2015). Web 2.0 and 3.0. In Cantoni, L. & Danowski, J. A. (Eds.). Communication and Technology, Handbooks of Communication Science (HOCS) series , pp. 181-192. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2015). Changing Practices/New Technologies: Photos and Videos on Vacation. In I. Tussyadiah & A. Inversini (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2015 , pp. 777-788. Berlin: Springer Verlag.

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2016). Conceptualizing tourist videography. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism , 15(4), 395-410.

Yoo, K.-H., Sigala, M., & Gretzel, U. (2016). Exploring TripAdvisor. In Egger, R., Gula, I., Walcher, D. (Eds.). Open Tourism: Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing and Collaborative Consumption Challenging the Tourism Industry, pp. 239-255. Berlin: Springer.

Persuasive Technology

Gretzel, U. (2017). Social Media Activism in Tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism , 15(2), 1-14.

Murphy, J., Gretzel, U., Pesonen, J., Elorinne, A.-L. & Silvennoinen, K. (2018). Household Food Waste, Tourism and Social Media: A Research Agenda. In Stangl, B. & Pesonen, J. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2018 , pp. 228-239. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International.

Gretzel, U. (2019). The Role of Social Media in Creating and Addressing Overtourism. In Dodds, R. & Butler, R. (Eds.). Overtourism: Issues, realities and solutions , pp. 62-75. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Technology Adoption

Gretzel, U., Kang, M. & W. Lee (2008). Differences in Consumer-Generated Media Adoption and Use: A Cross-National Perspective. Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management , 17(1/2): 99-120.

Shao, J. & Gretzel, U. (2012). Social media Usage by Chinese Community supported agriculture farms. CAUTHE National Conference 2012 . Melbourne, VIC, February 6-9, 2012.

Gretzel, U., Kennedy-Eden, H. & Mistilis, N. (2014). Organizational Factors Driving Technology Non-Adoption in Australian Tour Operators. 21st Annual ENTER 2014 Conference . Dublin, Ireland, January 21-24, 2014. http://ertr.tamu.edu/enter-2014-volume-4-research-notes/

Gretzel, U., Mendes Filho, L., Lobianco, M., Alonso Vazquez, M. & Mistilis, N. (2017). Technology Adoption by Tourism Operators in Australia and Brazil: An Institutional Theory Perspective. ENTER 2017 Conference.  Rome Italy, January 24-26, 2017. http://ertr.tamu.edu/content/issues/enter-2017-volume-8-research-notes/

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2018). A new cultural revolution: Chinese consumers’ internet and social media use. In Sigala, M. & Gretzel, U. (Eds.), Advances in Social Media for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: New Perspectives, Practice and Cases , pp. 102-118. New York: Routledge.

Zarezadeh, Z. & Gretzel, U. (2020). Iranian Heritage Sites on Social Media. Tourism Analysis , 25 (2/3), 345-357.

Soares, A. L., Mendes-Filho, L. & Gretzel, U. (2021). Technology adoption in hotels: Applying institutional theory to tourism. Tourism Review , 76(3), 669-680.

Social Media as Information

Social media platforms and applications differ from other Internet technologies because of their emphasis on the creation, sharing and curation of consumer-generated media (CGM). My research has focused on understanding the characteristics of CGM (especially their perceived trustworthiness), the motivations and traits of their creators, and their role in travel information search and decision-making processes (Table 3). Most of this research has focused on online travel reviews. My papers on false reviews were the first in tourism to investigate the phenomenon and formed the basis for later efforts by others to inform automated false review detection.

The publication that most stands out in this section is Xiang and Gretzel (2010), because it was one of the first to define social media for the tourism context and draw attention to their increasing importance and impact in the travel domain by illustrating the extent to which social media were starting to dominate travel information search. My recent work related to this theme of social media as information looks at the impact of mobile technology on consumer-generated media creation, specifically that of online travel reviews (Mariani, Borghi & Gretzel, 2019).

Table 3. Social Media as Information.

CGM Creation

Yoo, K. H. & Gretzel, U. (2008). Understanding Differences Between Online Travel Review Writers and Non-Writers. In Hara, T. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 13th Annual Graduate Education and Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism , Orlando, FL, January 3-5, 2008, pp. 21-29.

Yoo, K. H. & Gretzel, U. (2009). What Motivates Consumers to Write Online Travel Reviews? Journal of Information Technology & Tourism, Special Issue on Virtual Communities , 10(4), 283-296.

Yoo, K.-H. & Gretzel, U. (2011). Influence of Personality on Travel-Related Consumer Generated Media Creation. Computers in Human Behavior , 27(2), 609-621.

Yoo, K.H., & Gretzel, U. (2012). Use and Creation of Social Media by Travelers. In Sigala, M., Christou, E., & Gretzel, U. (Eds.), Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality (pp.189-206). Brookfield, VT: Ashgate.

Mariani, M. M., Borghi, M., & Gretzel, U. (2019). Online reviews: Differences by submission device. Tourism Management , 70, 295-298.

Role in Travel Information Search

Yoo, K. H. & Gretzel, U. (2008). Use and Impact of Online Travel Reviews. O’Connor, P., Höpken, W. & Gretzel, U. (Eds.). Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2008 , 35-46. Vienna, Austria: Springer.

Yoo, K. H., & Gretzel, U. (2008). The Influence of Involvement on Use and Impact of Online Travel Reviews. Hospitality Information Technology Association Conference , Austin, TX, June 15-16, 2008.

Gretzel, U. (2009). Das Online-Suchverhalten von Touristen. (in German). Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft, Special Issue on New Media, 2(1), 151-164.

Xiang, Z., & Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of Social Media in Online Travel Information Search. Tourism Management , 31 (2), 179-188.

Simms, A., & Gretzel, U. (2013). Planning a vacation using social media: Influences of demographic, psychographic, and trip-related characteristics. ENTER Conference 2013 . http://ertr.tamu.edu/ files/2013/03/enter2013_submission_15.pdf

Characteristics and Perceptions of CGM

Lee, W., & Gretzel, U. (2007). Impact of Sensory Information on Evaluations of Online Travel Reviews. In Hsu, C. and H. Tsai (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism , Houston, TX, January 4-6, 2007, pp. 815-822.

Yoo, K.-H., & Gretzel, U. (2009). Generational Differences in CGM Perceptions and Use for Travel Planning. In J. Petrick (Ed.), 40th Annual Proceedings of the Travel and Tourism Research Association Conference . Honolulu, HI, June 21-24, 2009. Travel and Tourism Research Association.

Yoo, K. H., Lee, K. S., & Gretzel, U. (2007). The role of Source Characteristics in eWOM: What Makes Online Travel Reviewers Credible and Likeable? In M. Sigala, L. Mich, J. Murphy, and A. Frew (Eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International ENTER Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, January 24-26, 2007, pp. 23-34. UK, Axon Imprint.

Yoo, K.-H., & Gretzel, U. (2010). Antecedents and Impacts of Trust in Travel-Related Consumer Generated Media. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism , 12 (2), 139-152.

Yoo, K.-H., Lee, Y.-J., Gretzel, U., & D. R. Fesenmaier (2009). Trust in Travel-Related Consumer Generated Media. In W. Höpken, U. Gretzel & R. Law (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009 , pp. 49-60. Vienna, Austria: Springer Verlag.

Maister, T. & Gretzel. U. (2018). What is Branded Content and is it Ethical? The Relevance Report 2019 . Los Angeles, CA: USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations.

Yoo, K.-H., & Gretzel, U. (2009). Comparison of Deceptive and Truthful Travel Reviews. In W. Höpken, U. Gretzel & R. Law (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2009 , pp. 37-48. Vienna, Austria: Springer Verlag.

Gretzel, U. (2022). Online Reviews. In Buhalis, D. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism Marketing and Management . Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Yoo, K.-H., & Gretzel, U. (2009). Detection of Deceptive Hotel Reviews: Influences of Length and Type of Review. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism . Las Vegas, January 4-6, 2009.

Social Media as Communication

As a tourism researcher with a PhD in Communications, looking at social media from a communication perspective is of great importance to me. Three distinct sub-streams of research belong to this theme: 1) social media as a language and rhetorical device; 2) marketing communications using social media; and, 3) communication flows mediated by travel opinion leaders and influencers (Table 4). I have adopted a linguistics lens to examine the peculiarities of social media language, such as emojis and hashtags. More recently, I have followed the visual turn in social media, with images and videos increasingly replacing text (Ge & Gretzel, 2019). In addition, I have looked at social media contents using rhetorical theory to understand argumentation and persuasion in social media contexts. Humor embedded in posts and memes plays a crucial role in grabbing the attention of social media users and eliciting engagement in the forms of likes, comments, or shares.

How to effectively market tourism services and destinations using social media is an issue with which many tourism marketers continue to struggle. Conceptualizing social media marketing communications as conversations and value co-creation opportunities that require unique approaches and extensive organizational commitment has been my focus in this research stream. Opinion leaders and influencers who translate the vast amount of available travel information into bite-sized, entertaining, and relevant contents for their loyal followers are increasingly mediating communication flows between marketers and consumers. I have been following this phenomenon for over a decade now, starting with key opinion leaders in China. Understanding the role of these influencers in destination marketing is a central theme in my current work (see Femenia-Serra & Gretzel, 2022).

Table 4. Social Media as Communication.

Linguistic and Rhetorical Perspectives

De Ascaniis, S. & Gretzel, U. (2012). What’s in a Travel Review? In Fuchs, M., Ricci, F., and Cantoni, L. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012 , pp. 494-505. Vienna, Austria: Springer.

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2017). The Role of Humour in Driving Customer Engagement. In Schegg, R. & Stangl, B. (Eds.). Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2017 , pp. 461-474. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International.

De Ascaniis, S. & Gretzel, U. (2013). Communicative functions of Online Travel Review titles. A pragmatic and linguistic investigation of destination and attraction OTR titles. Studies in Communication Sciences , 13(2), 156-165.

Ge, J., Gretzel, U. & Zhu, Y. (2018). Humour in Firm-initiated Social Media Conversations – A Conceptual Model. International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism , 2(4), 273-293.

Gretzel, U. (2015). #justsayin. Poem. CCT Conference, Fayetteville, Arkansas, June 18-21, 2015. Published in Sherry, J. F., Schouten, J., & Downey, H. (Eds.). Chicksaw Craft Threnody , p. 10. South Bend, Indiana: Aire Lyre Media.

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2018). Impact of Humour on Firm-Initiated Social Media Conversations. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism , 18(1-4), 61-83.

Gretzel, U. (2017). The Visual Turn in Social Media Marketing. Tourismos , 12(3), 1-18.

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2019). Social Media-based Visual Strategies in Tourism Marketing. International Journal of Semiotics and Visual Rhetoric , 2(2): 23-40.

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2018). Emoji Rhetoric – A Social Media Influencer Perspective. Journal of Marketing Management , 34(15-16), 1272-1295.

Shao, J., Yi, S., Shen, Y., Gretzel, U. & Joppe, M. (2020). Research on the Influence of Emoji Communication on the Perception of Destination Image: The Case of Finland. In Paris, C. M. & Benjamin, S. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2020 TTRA International Conference . June 16-18, 2020, Victoria, BC, Canada. Whitehall, MI: Travel and Tourism Research Association. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/ ttra/2020/research_papers/19/

Marketing Communication

Gretzel, U. (2006). Consumer-Generated Content – Trends and Implications for Branding. eReview of Tourism Research , 4 (3).

Yoo, K.-H., & Gretzel, U. (2010). Web 2.0: New Rules for Tourism Marketing, 41st Annual Proceedings of the Travel and Tourism Research Association Conference . San Antonio, TX, June 20-22, 2010. Travel and Tourism Research Association.

Shao, J., Davila, M.A., & Gretzel, U. (2012). Riding the Social Media Wave: Strategies of DMOs who successfully engage in social media marketing. In Sigala, M., Christou, E., & Gretzel, U. (Eds.), Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality (pp. 87-98). Brookfield, VT: Ashgate.

Gretzel, U. & Yoo, K. H. (2013). Premises and Promises of Social Media Marketing in Tourism. In McCabe, S. (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Marketing , pp. 491-504. New York: Routledge.

Buhalis, D., Mistilis, N., & Gretzel, U. (2014). Future eDestination Marketing: Perspective of an Australian Tourism Stakeholder Network. Journal of Travel Research , 53(6), 778-790.

Tischler, S. & Gretzel, U. (2017). Online-Marketing in Australien und Neuseeland. In Pforr, C. & Reiser, D. (Eds.), Tourismus in Australien und Neuseeland , pp. 79-94. Berlin: DeGruyter.

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2018). A Taxonomy of Value Co-creation on Weibo – A Communication Perspective. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , 30(4), 2075-2092.

Gretzel, U. (2022). Online Reputation Management. In Buhalis, D. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism Marketing and Management . Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Opinion Leadership and Influencers

Yoo, K.-H., Gretzel, U. & Zach, F. (2011). Travel Opinion Leaders and Seekers. In Law, R., Fuchs, M. and Ricci, F. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 201 1, pp. 525-536. Vienna, Austria: Springer Verlag.

Shao, J., & Gretzel, U. (2011). Social Media Created the Chinese Backpacker Star. In Frost, W., Croy, G., Laing, J., and Beeton, S. (Eds.), International Tourism and Media Conference , 28-29 November. La Trobe University and Monash University: Melbourne.

Hochmeister, M., Gretzel, U., & Werthner, H. (2013). Destination Expertise in Online Travel Communities. In Cantoni, L. & Xiang, Z. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013 , pp. 219-230. Berlin: Springer.

Shao, J. & Gretzel, U. (2014). Integrating Social Media Influencers into the Marketing Strategy of Chinese Travel Communities (Abstract). In Griffin, K. & Joppe, M. (Eds.). Proceedings of the ttra 2014 International Conference , Brugge, Belgium, June 18-20, 1079-1084.

Linton, H., Han, S. & Gretzel, U. (2017). TripAdvisor Super Contributors: Projecting Professionalism. Frontiers in Service Conference , June 22-25, 2017. New York.

Gretzel, U. (2018). Influencer marketing in travel and tourism. In Sigala, M. & Gretzel, U. (Eds.), Advances in Social Media for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: New Perspectives, Practice and Cases , pp. 147-156. New York: Routledge.

Femenia-Serra, F. & Gretzel, U. (2020). Influencer Marketing for Tourism Destinations: Lessons from a Mature Destination. In Neidhardt, J. & Wörndl, W. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2020 , pp. 65-78. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Femenia-Serra, F. & Gretzel, U. (2022). Destination Influencer Marketing. In Buhalis, D. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism Marketing and Management. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Social Media as a Form of Sociality

Social media get their name from their ability to connect people, and from the opportunities they provide for users to share content and socialize, i.e., discuss, debate, organize, show off, argue, and commune, online. The social aspects of social media are especially relevant for tourism as an activity that creates and fosters bonds and for which storytelling and information sharing have always been central aspects. In this context, I have looked at identity construction in online communities and among bloggers. Most of my research on online sociality has focused on the fans of TV shows that use social media to organize as a community that often engages in travel. Most recently, I have become interested in the #vanlife community as a neo-tribe with a very strong emphasis on social-media sharing (Gretzel & Hardy, 2019). My research on social media-facilitated sociality has also looked at the relationship between travelers and tourism providers/destinations. It has found that it is a rather complicated one that requires careful management because it is often short-lived and derives from a complex mix of functional and emotional needs. Table 5 provides specific references for the two sub-topics within this lens.

Table 5. Social Media as a Form of Sociality.

Identity Construction, Cyberfandom & Neo-tribes

Scarpino, M., & Gretzel, U. (2008). Cyberfandom: Understanding the new generation of media-induced travelers. In Croy, G., Beeton, S. & Frost W. (Eds.). Proceedings of the International Tourism and Media Conference . Melbourne, Australia: LaTrobe University & Monash University.

Lee, Y., & Gretzel, U. (2014). Cross-cultural Differences in Social Identity Formation through Travel Blogging. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing , 31(1), 37-54.

Shao, J., & Gretzel, U. (2009). Online Responses to a Chinese popular TV Series: Implications for Film-Induced tourism. In L. Lowry (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2009 Annual International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators (ISTTE) Conferenc e, October 15-17, 2009 in San Antonio, TX (Vol 21, pp.224-235). St. Clair Shores, MI: ISTTE.

Dinhopl, A., Gretzel, U. & Whelan, A. (2015). Labeling as a Social Practice in Online Consumption Communities. Special Issue on Online Consumption Communities. Psychology & Marketing , 32(3), 240-249.

Lee, Y.-J., Yoo, K.-H., & Gretzel, U. (2009). Social Identity Formation Through Blogging: Comparison of U.S. and Korean Travel Blogs. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism . Las Vegas, January 4-6, 2009.

Shao, J. & Gretzel, U. (2018). Power of Dramas: A Comparison of Voluntourism between Chinese and American Film Tourists. In Kim, S., & Reijnders, S. (Eds.), Film Tourism in Asia , pp. 187-201. Singapore: Springer Nature.

Shao, J., Scarpino, M., Lee, Y., & Gretzel, U. (2012). Media-Induced Voluntourism in Yunnan, China. Tourism Review International , 15(3), 277-292.

Gretzel, U. & Hardy, A. (2019). #VanLife: Materiality, Makeovers and Mobility amongst Digital Nomads. e-Review of Tourism Research , 16(2/3): 1-9.

Relationship with tourism businesses and destinations

Gretzel, U. & Fesenmaier, D. R. (2012). Customer Relations 2.0 – Implications for Destination Marketing. TTRA Annual International Conference , June 17-19, 2012. Virginia Beach, VA. http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1755&context=ttra

Gretzel, U. & Dinhopl, A. (2014). Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Why Do Travellers Unlike Travel-Related Organizations? In Xiang, Z. & Tussyadiah, I. (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2014 , pp.267-280. Berlin: Springer.

Social Media as Experience

Social media can also be viewed from a phenomenological perspective, as an increasingly central part of human experience in everyday life and during travel. Social media impact tourism experiences and create new forms of touristic experiences. Through this lens, I have explored how social media influence the tourist gaze, how they shape experiences before, during and after the trip, and how they change tourism in specific contexts, such as city tourism and adventure travel (Table 6). In relation to the tourist gaze, I have been interested in selfies as a particularly prominent way in which social media impact on touristic practices. In Dinhopl and Gretzel (2018), we show that social media audiences are internalized and guide every detail of the experience, from planning to post-trip social media sharing. My other work has also shown that these impacts span all phases of the experience, from the dreaming phase to trip satisfaction (Sedera et al., 2017) and post-trip memory work.

Table 6. Social Media as Experience.

Social Media-Enabled Tourist Gaze

Gretzel, U. (2010). Travel in the Network: Redirected Gazes, Ubiquitous Connections and New Frontiers. In Levina, M. & Kien, G. (Eds.). Post-global Network and Everyday Life , pp. 41-58. New York: Peter Lang.

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2016). Selfie-taking as touristic looking. Annals of Tourism Research. 57, 126-139.

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2015). Consumer Soiveillance: Observations of the Self by means of New Media Technologies. In Diehl, K. & Yoon, C. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Association of Consumer Research North American Conference, Special session on iMirror/iMirror: Digital Reflections of Self-Consumption . New Orleans, LA, October 1-4, 2015, p. 134.

Kozinets, R., Gretzel, U. & Dinhopl, A. (2017). Self in Art/Self as Art: Museum Selfies as Identity Work. Frontiers in Psychology , 8:731.

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2016). GoPro panopticon: Performing in the surveyed leisure experience, in S. Carnicelli, D. McGillivray, & G. McPherson (Eds.). Digital Leisure Cultures: Critical Perspectives , pp. 66-79. Routledge: London.

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2018). The networked neo-tribal gaze. In Hardy, A., Bennett, A. & Robards, B. (Eds.). Neo-Tribes: Consumption, Leisure and Tourism , pp. 221-234. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Impact on Experiences Beyond the Trip

Gretzel, U., Fesenmaier, D. R., Lee, Y.-J., & Tussyadiah, I. (2011). Narrating Travel Experiences: The Role of New Media. In R. Sharpley & P. Stone (Eds.), Tourist Experiences: Contemporary Perspectives , pp. 171-182. New York: Routledge.

Sedera, D., Lokuge, S., Atapattu, M., & Gretzel, U. (2017). Likes – the key to my happiness: The moderating effect of social influence on travel experience. Information and Management , 54(6), 825-836.

Gretzel, U. (2021). Dreaming about Travel: A Pinterest Netnography. In Wörndl, W., Koo, C. & Stienmetz, J. (Eds.) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021 , pp.256-268. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Specific Experiences

Gretzel, U. (2015). The role of technology-mediation in the context of adventure travel. In Black, R. & Bricker, K. (Eds.), Adventure Programming and Travel for the 21st Century , pp. 451-455. State College, PA: Venture Publishing.

Gretzel, U. (2019). Social Media and the City: Mediated Gazes and Digital Traces. In Šegota, T., Sigala, M., Gretzel, U., Day, J., Kokkranikal, J., Smith, M., Henderson, J. C., Seabra, C., Pearce, P., Davidson, R., Van Zyl, C., Newsome, D., Hardcastle, J., Rakić, T., Future Agendas in Urban Tourism Research: Special Editorial, International Journal of Tourism Cities , 5(2), 109-124. DOI: 10.1108/IJTC-12-2018-0095.

Gretzel, U. (2020). The growing role of social media in city tourism. In Morrison, A. M. & Coca-Stefaniak, J. A. (Eds.). Routledge Handbook of Tourism Cities , pp. 389-399. New York: Routledge.

Social Media as Data

Social media activities lead to digital traces that, when collected for research purposes, become data. This data fuels the algorithms of social media platforms but can also (at least to some extent) be extracted and interpreted to derive research insights and marketing intelligence. While I have used many different kinds of approaches to analyzing social media data, netnography has become my method of choice because it allows me to keep contextual information intact and to derive rich and meaningful insights. Table 7 lists some of my netnography work in tourism that was not included in any of the previous tables.

Doing research on social media and research with social media has sensitized me to specific data quality issues, which are starting to receive attention in the tourism literature (Xiang et al., 2018). For instance, numerical ratings in online travel reviews do not necessarily correspond with the sentiment expressed in the review text (Jiang, Gretzel & Law, 2010). And established approaches like semiotics, which has gained in importance as social media data have become more visual, need to be adjusted to fit the social media context and need to address the ethical considerations necessary for social media research (Ge & Gretzel, 2022).

Table 7. Social Media as Data.

Netnography

Gretzel, U. (2017). #travelselfie: a netnographic study of travel identity communicated via Instagram. In Carson, S. & Pennings, M. (Eds.), Performing Cultural Tourism: Communities, Tourists and Creative Practices, pp. 115-128. New York: Routledge.

Kennedy-Eden, H. & Gretzel, U. (2021). My Heritage in my Pocket: Mobile Device and App Use by Genealogy Tourists. Journal of Information Technology & Tourism , forthcoming.

Gretzel, U. & Murphy, J. (2019). Making Sense of Robots – Consumer Discourse on Robots in Tourism and Hospitality Service Settings. In Ivanov, S. & Webster, C. (Eds.). Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality, pp. 93-104. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.

Kozinets, R.V. & Gretzel, U. (2022). Netnography. In Buhalis, D. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism Marketing and Management . Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Rastegar, R., Zarezadeh., Z. & Gretzel, U. (2021). World Heritage and Social Justice: Insights from the Inscription of Yazd, Iran. Journal of Sustainable Tourism , 29(2/3), 520-539.

Social Media Data & Analysis

Jiang, J., Gretzel, U., & Law, R. (2010). Do Negative Experiences Always Lead to Dissatisfaction? – Testing Attribution Theory in the Context of Online Travel Reviews. In Gretzel, U., Law, R. and M. Fuchs (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 201 0, pp. 297-308. Vienna, Austria: Springer Verlag.

Ge, J., Alonso Vazquez, M. & Gretzel, U. (2018). Sentiment analysis: a review. In Sigala, M. & Gretzel, U. (Eds.), Advances in Social Media for Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: New Perspectives, Practice and Cases , pp. 243-261. New York: Routledge.

Ge, J. & Gretzel, U. (2022). Social Media Semiotics. In Buhalis, D. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism Marketing and Management . Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Marketing Intelligence

Gretzel, U., Lee, W. & K.S. Lee (2006). Listening to the Stories Consumers Tell. Proceedings of the Korea e-Tourism Forum . Seoul, Korea, September 8-9, 2006.

Jiang, J., Gretzel, U. & Law, R. (2014). Influence of Star Rating and Ownership Structure on Brand Image of Mainland China Hotels. Journal of China Tourism Research , 10(1), 69-94.

The Future of Social Media Research

Reflecting on my social media-related research journey fills me with gratitude to all my wonderful collaborators and co-authors. Very often it was them who charted the paths forward and it was their passion that inspired me. Thinking about the different themes that I have explored with them also makes me feel antsy because it is pretty clear that there is so much more that warrants investigation. Given the dynamic nature of social media, I realize that many themes remain underexplored and that many of the topics should be re-investigated as social media technologies and use cultures continue to evolve. Thus, while it is nice to summarize my research in this area and emphasize my contributions, I see the greatest value of this exercise in providing a research framework that illustrates different ways of understanding social media and, thus, can help with identifying research priorities and gaps.

I often get asked about the future of particular platforms or types of CGM. My answer is always that social media will continue to take on new forms and will transform our lives in ways that we cannot yet anticipate. But I also add that one thing is for certain: they are here to stay and will continue to shape tourism in wonderful as well as disruptive ways. Thus, there will be no shortage of social media-related research topics in the future.

Written by Ulrike Gretzel, University of Southern California, USA Read Ulrike’s letter to future generations of tourism researchers

Dinhopl, A. & Gretzel, U. (2016). Conceptualizing tourist videography. Information Technology & Tourism , 15(4), 395-410.

Femenia-Serra, F. & Gretzel, U. (2022). Destination Influencer Marketing. In Buhalis, D. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Tourism Marketing and Management . Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Finkel, E. J., Eastwick, P. W., Karney, B. R., Reis, H. T., & Sprecher, S. (2012). Online dating: A critical analysis from the perspective of psychological science. Psychological Science in the Public Interest , 13(1), 3-66.

Gretzel, U., Lee, W. & Lee, K.S. (2006). Listening to the Stories Consumers Tell. Korea e-Tourism Forum . Seoul, Korea, September 8-9, 2006.

Gretzel, U., Yoo, K. H. & M. Purifoy (2007). Online Travel Reviews Study . Technical Report. College Station, TX: Laboratory for Intelligent Systems in Tourism. Accessed online at (August 1, 2021): https://www.tripadvisor.com/pdfs/OnlineTravelReviewReport.pdf .

Isacsson, A. & Gretzel, U. (2011). Facebook as an edutainment medium to engage students in sustainability and tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology , 2(1), 81-90.

Jiang, J., Gretzel, U., & Law, R. (2010). Do Negative Experiences Always Lead to Dissatisfaction? – Testing Attribution Theory in the Context of Online Travel Reviews. In Gretzel, U., Law, R. and M. Fuchs (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2010 , pp. 297-308. Vienna, Austria: Springer Verlag.

Kozinets, R. V. (2020). Netnography: The essential guide to qualitative social media research . London: Sage.

Kozinets, R., Patterson, A., & Ashman, R. (2017). Networks of desire: How technology increases our passion to consume. Journal of Consumer Research , 43(5), 659-682.

Pratt, S., & Tolkach, D. (2020). Stupidity in tourism. Tourism Recreation Research , https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1828555 .

Vargo, S. L., Maglio, P. P., & Akaka, M. A. (2008). On value and value co-creation: A service systems and service logic perspective. European Management Journal , 26(3), 145-152.

Xiang, Z., Du, Q., Ma, Y., & Fan, W. (2018). Assessing reliability of social media data: lessons from mining TripAdvisor hotel reviews. Information Technology & Tourism , 18(1), 43-59.

Xiang, Z. & Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of Social Media in Online Travel Information Search. Tourism Management , 31 (2), 179-188.

Zhou, L., Zhang, P., & Zimmermann, H. D. (2013). Social commerce research: An integrated view. Electronic commerce research and applications , 12(2), 61-68.

Women’s voices in tourism research Copyright © 2021 by The University of Queensland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Why social media is a must-have marketing channel for tour operators

By Kevin Tjoe — 28 Feb 2022

marketing strategies   social media   tourism marketing

Updated April 2023 – Could #hashtags help grow your guest list? 

Can TikTok really boost your travel bookings?

If you’re running tours or activities in the tourism industry, chances are you’re maintaining a social media presence too. That’s because it’s the place to be found. 4.55 billion people now use social media actively, and as a population, we spend a surprising 15% of our waking hours scrolling our social feeds. That popularity translates into more bookings for many tourism businesses. 

Let’s explore the role of social media in tourism marketing at key points in the customer journey – and how you can use it to maximize your reach and impact.  

How does social media influence tourism?

The importance of social media in the tourism industry cannot be overstated. Social media and tourism pair beautifully together, because they both focus on sharing experiences. 

As highlighted by global tourism industry statistics , social media’s impact on tourism can be particularly potent for younger demographics. 46% of Generation Z travelers say Instagram influences their travel decisions, with 50% also taking cues from Facebook posts. Millennials are just as receptive to social media, with 51% saying their travel decisions are influenced or inspired by Facebook interactions. Given that Millennials alone make up 31.5% of the global population, that can be a massive share of your market you can easily and affordably reach!

So, what exactly is the role of social media in tourism marketing and at which points in the customer journey can social media have an effect?

Building awareness & providing inspiration

Those social posts about lounging over the water in the Maldives, camping at Yosemite or going on safari in Tanzania ? They all inspire wanderlust and raise awareness of those unique places in the world.  Destination marketing can be just as important as promoting your specific products or services when it comes to the phenomenal impact of social media on tourism. As a result, effective social media marketing might not focus solely on inspirational content about your tours or activities but also highlight the truly amazing aspects of your special corner of the world.

Assisting with travel planning

Helping would-be guests dream about travel is a great outcome, but converting that interest to action is key for your business. Social media can be a powerful place to help customers form travel plans and solidify their travel dates. 

To encourage these positive social media effects on a tourism business, you could: 

• Post quick up-to-date videos on the best times of year to book
• Discuss any exciting events coming up in the area, and 
• Share useful tips about travel to your location

Easing the booking process

Now to convert that travel intent into active bookings. Online bookings can originate from a variety of sources – from Instagram, to big Online Travel Agents (OTAs) – so it helps to direct traffic to your own dedicated booking website or online tour scheduling software .

It’s so important that you have a secure, seamless online booking process available to capture interest from any location at any time of day. It’s also important that resellers and online travel agents can see live availability and make real-time reservations for your tours or activities, so you’ll be able to capture every ounce of that online interest.

Sharing experiences

The importance of social media in the tourism industry becomes crystal clear when you consider the way people love to share and recount their tourism experiences online. Social posts can be an incredibly important source of social proof, and a post from friends or family could be enough to inspire that next getaway. This is why it’s vital to follow up on your guest experiences with automated review requests for your website, social pages, or TripAdvisor. 

Benefits of social media marketing for tour operators

As a tour operator, you know the importance of reaching new customers and keeping existing ones engaged. Social media marketing can help you achieve both of these goals and much more.

In this section, we’ll explore some of the key benefits of social media marketing for tour operators.

Enhanced brand awareness

As a tour operator, social media marketing is an effective way to increase brand awareness. By creating and maintaining an active social media presence, tour operators can reach a wider audience and increase their visibility in the market. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn allow tour operators to showcase their products and services, share customer feedback and reviews, and create engaging content that appeals to their target audience. You can also play around with Instagram stories to show the more human side of your brand. Schedule Instagram stories to come out during peak hours when your audience is online.

By regularly posting high-quality content and interacting with followers, tour operators can build a strong online community and establish their brand as a trusted authority in the industry. This can lead to increased bookings, as customers are more likely to choose a tour operator with a recognizable brand and positive online reputation.

Increased customer engagement

Social media marketing can be a powerful tool for tour operators to increase customer engagement. By regularly posting relevant and interesting content, responding to comments and messages, and actively participating in online conversations, tour operators can create a sense of community with their customers. This engagement can lead to increased customer loyalty and advocacy, as customers feel more connected to the brand and are more likely to recommend the tour operator to others.

Targeted and relevant ads

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow tour operators to create targeted and relevant advertisements that reach potential customers who are interested in their products or services. These ads can be based on a user’s interests, demographics, behavior, and more, ensuring that they are delivered to the right audience at the right time. This level of customization and targeting helps tour operators to maximize their advertising spend and improve their ROI by reaching people who are most likely to convert into paying customers. Additionally, social media platforms offer valuable analytics and reporting tools that allow tour operators to track the performance of their ads and make data-driven decisions about their marketing strategies.

Cost-effective marketing campaigns

One of the biggest online marketing challenges tour operators face is managing their marketing budget effectively. Social media marketing provides a cost-effective solution by allowing tour operators to reach a large audience with minimal spending. Compared to traditional advertising channels like print or TV, social media platforms offer much lower costs per impression or click, allowing tour operators to stretch their marketing dollars further.

On a similar note, social media platforms offer a range of advertising options to suit different budgets and objectives, from simple boosted posts to more advanced targeting options like custom audiences and lookalike audiences. By leveraging social media marketing, tour operators can maximize their reach and engagement while keeping their advertising costs under control. 

Social media tactics to reach customers and get more bookings

Social media is an essential marketing channel for tour operators who want to reach new customers and increase bookings. However, with so many social media platforms and marketing tactics available, it can be challenging to know where to start. 

Whether you’re just getting started with social media marketing or looking to take your campaigns to the next level, these tips and tricks will help you succeed. And if you’re looking for even more tour operator marketing ideas, you can check out more tour operator marketing ideas here.

• Share high-quality photos and videos of your tours and activities to showcase your offerings and entice potential customers
• Keep your Facebook page updated with fresh content and engage with your followers through comments and messages
• Use Facebook Ads to target specific audiences based on interests, demographics, and behaviors, and drive traffic to your website or booking page
• Join relevant Facebook groups for travelers, adventure enthusiasts, or people interested in your destination to promote your tours and interact with potential customers
• Utilize Facebook Events to promote upcoming tours and activities, and encourage followers to RSVP and share with their friends and networks.

• Share visually stunning photos and videos of your tours and activities to showcase your offerings and capture the attention of potential customers
• Use Instagram Stories to provide a behind-the-scenes look at your business and create a sense of exclusivity and urgency for potential customers
• Utilize Instagram Reels to create short, engaging videos that highlight the unique experiences and adventures you offer
• Collaborate with influencers or micro-influencers who have a following that aligns with your target audience, and have them showcase your tours and activities on their Instagram accounts
• Use relevant hashtags to increase your reach and attract potential customers who are searching for content related to your destination or activities
• Engage with your followers and potential customers by responding to comments and direct messages, and by following and engaging with relevant accounts in your industry

You can check out these great examples of tour operator Instagram pages for more inspiration.

• Share updates and news about your tours and activities on Twitter to keep your followers and potential customers informed and engaged
• Use relevant hashtags to increase the reach of your tweets and attract potential customers who are searching for content related to your destination or activities
• Monitor and respond to customer questions and comments on Twitter to provide excellent customer service and build a positive reputation for your business
• Retweet and engage with other relevant accounts in the tourism industry to build relationships and increase your visibility within the community
• Create high-quality videos showcasing your tours and activities, and upload them to YouTube to provide potential customers with a virtual tour and entice them to book
• Use targeted YouTube Ads to reach potential customers who are interested in your destination or activities, and drive traffic to your website or booking page
• Collaborate with relevant YouTubers or influencers to showcase your tours and activities to their audience and expand your reach
• Create virtual tours of your destination or activities to provide potential customers with an immersive and engaging experience, even before they book
• Utilize YouTube’s analytics tools to track views and engagement metrics and adjust your content and advertising strategies accordingly
• Create inspiring travel boards on Pinterest that showcase your destination and the experiences and activities that you offer
• Use relevant keywords in your board titles, descriptions, and pins to increase visibility and attract potential customers who are searching for content related to your destination or activities
• Collaborate with relevant influencers or travel bloggers to feature your destination or activities on their boards and increase your reach
• Include a “book now” call-to-action on your pins to drive traffic to your website or booking page

• Create short, engaging videos showcasing your destination and the experiences and activities that you offer on TikTok
• Participate in trending challenges and use popular hashtags to increase the reach of your videos and attract potential customers who are searching for content related to your destination or activities
• Use TikTok Ads to target specific audiences based on interests, demographics, and behaviors, and drive traffic to your website or booking page
• Collaborate with relevant TikTok influencers or micro-influencers to feature your destination or activities in their videos and increase your reach

Key takeaways

In today’s digital age, social media has become a crucial component of any tourism business’s marketing strategy. By leveraging the power of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest, tour operators can effectively promote their destination and activities, reach new customers, and increase bookings. From creating visually stunning content to engaging with followers and collaborating with influencers, there are countless ways that tour operators can use social media to drive business success.

Simply put, prioritizing social media marketing can be a key element of a business’s overall marketing strategy, tour operators can position themselves for success in the competitive tourism industry.

Easily manage incoming bookings from your social media platforms with the help of an online booking software. For example, Rezdy automates the entire booking process with advanced tools such as real-time availability viewer, automated guest communication, and the ability to accept secure digital payments.

Ready to join the thousands of Rezdy operators that increased their bookings by an average of 27% in 2022? Start your FREE  21-day trial  or  book a demo  today.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to subscribe to the  Rezdy newsletter , where you’ll receive weekly up-to-date learnings and news from the Experiences industry, straight into your inbox.

Start free trial

Enjoy 21 days to take a look around and see if we are a good fit for your business.

No obligations, no catches, no limits, nada

Marketing Materials

How to write a tourism newsletter that captures readers’ attention

How TikTok travel trends are helping tour operators increase direct bookings

Top tactics for social media booking growth

Bring Visitors to Social With These Tourism Marketing Tips

Tourism marketing on social media has evolved. While social media has been a key player in connecting destinations with potential travelers since its inception, the medium has changed to place a greater emphasis on video content and algorithmic discovery. In order to see results from social media, marketers now have to invest in the dynamic short-form video format while also understanding how to create a content marketing strategy that sticks the landing with audiences. For tourism marketers, it’s not just about posting beautiful photos anymore but about highlighting engaging, authentic experiences that audiences will want to watch and engage with. 

Let’s dive into the world of social media marketing for tourism to help you build a robust strategy — in this blog, we explore: 

• Why social media is important for tourism.
• The best social channels for tourism marketing.
• Five steps to developing a tourism social media strategy. 

Why Social Media Is Important for Tourism Marketing

Tourism is a massive $5.8 trillion industry across the globe. To put it into perspective, the industry averages nearly one billion tourist arrivals yearly. Marketing destinations to an audience this large — a sizable portion of the global population — requires channels that are able to reach almost everyone, and nothing fits that criteria quite like social media.

Social media is electric; content can spread to thousands of people in minutes and marketers simply do not see that kind of reach outside of expensive paid campaigns. Tourist destinations can reach a global audience, engage with future travelers and showcase their unique offerings without breaking the bank. 

The benefit of modern social media is that it is simple. A ten-second video filmed on a phone can reach comparable audiences to a paid campaign. With the right strategy, particularly by optimizing content to strike gold on the algorithm, marketers can drive awareness, boost bookings and foster a community of loyal followers.

The Best Social Media Channels for Tourism Marketing 

There is no universal answer for which social channel marketers should invest in. Different channels cater to different audiences and have varying purposes depending on your brand’s goals.

• Facebook is home to an older demographic and is great to share detailed information about your offerings to audiences with buying power. However, marketers have to compete with saturated newsfeeds, and boosting posts with ad spend is the name of the game to gain an audience.
• Instagram focuses on visuals and has recently entered the world of social entertainment with Reels. Reels perform well organically, meaning marketers can gain significant traction without spending a lot on ads.
• TikTok is the channel that disrupted the market and inspired change from all platforms. It offers the opportunity to reach younger demographics who seek fun experiences, which aligns well with the tourism industry.

5 Steps To Develop a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Tourism

Successful social media campaigns for travel marketing have many moving pieces, including channel strategy, identifying audiences, creating engaging content and measuring results to make refinements. 

Here are some tips that will help bolster your tourism marketing campaigns .

Practice Social Listening

Social listening is the easiest way to determine what audiences want, how they’re talking about you and what content they’re most likely to engage with. Traditionally it has involved monitoring mentions of your brand as well as relevant keywords, however, it has evolved to include AI-powered features such as:

• Social listening trends and topics identification - to help you make better-performing content.
• Advanced filtering - to ensure you cut out all the noise, including using images as a reference for filters rather than just keywords.
• Competitive benchmarking - to help you figure out where you stack against your competitors.

Dive Into Tourist Demographics 

Understanding your target audience is key to developing content that works for them. Consider factors like age, location, interests and travel preferences. Budget is also important, as older travelers may have the buying power for all-inclusive experiences, while younger travelers may be more interested in sightseeing and other low-cost activities. These factors will help create content that resonates most with your audience demographic across social channels.

Localize Campaigns When Relevant 

Social media is global, and tourism campaigns can find a more vast audience than other mediums. Developing a global social media strategy by localizing campaigns by region and language can make them more relevant and engaging. This could involve highlighting attractions that are appealing to international audiences but old news for locals, sharing local stories, or even partnering with influencers who have traveled from afar. When it comes to tourism, there is nothing more authentic than a testimonial from a real tourist who had an amazing time, and in many cases, they will create user-generated content.

Measure Success

The best way to create a successful campaign is through experimentation and iteration. Social media analytics tools allow brands to track the performance of their campaigns in ways that native social analytics do not allow. Metrics such as engagement, reach and conversion rates are valuable to understand what’s working and what’s not — and platforms such as Dash Hudson offer even more sophisticated metrics, such as Entertainment Score , to rank how entertained audiences were by your content on a scale of 1 to 10, or Dash Hudson's Predictive Vision AI , which uses AI to give a star rating to content that will perform well with audiences before you even post it.

Lean Into Stunning Visuals 

Ultimately, tourism marketing is visual. High-quality images and videos make all the difference in inspiring travelers to visualize themselves at your destination. Text provides meaningful context to help drive bookings, but it is the imagery that tells the story of what your travel spot is and what experiences travelers can expect once they’re there.

Social Media Marketing Tourism Examples 

Let’s look at the brands that are already doing a good job with social media marketing in the tourism industry. The following brands come from a variety of different areas and have different target audiences, but it is clear that they excel at common factors such as entertainment and creating content that resonates with audiences.

Eden Roc Cap Cana 

Luxury resort Eden Roc Cap Cana uses social to its fullest potential, combining a mix of static imagery and dynamic video to showcase guest experiences, events and seasonal highlights.

The Viator travel app has a vibrant, digital-first approach to marketing. The brand understands that social media users care about experiences, and it also pairs its content with specific aesthetics, such as colors or astrological signs, to truly inspire viewers to picture themselves in the moment.

Celebrity Cruises 

Celebrity Cruises has a robust TikTok marketing strategy, using the video format to immerse viewers in international destinations and experiences. The brand’s top-performing posts are notably behind-the-scenes footage of the crew answering questions and having fun.

Explore Charleston

Explore Charleston uses TikTok to partner with local businesses, tourist destinations and independent creators to create a compelling narrative about the city’s vibrant community.

NYC Ferry has taken a modern, trendy approach to TikTok — appealing to Gen Z riders with humorous content and all the latest trending sounds . This is a great example of an organization taking a much different approach for TikTok, as diverse channel strategies are essential for maximizing social media impact.

Breeze Airways

Breeze Airways excels at video on Instagram, including sharing a plethora of fun Reels showcasing flights, destinations and marketing campaigns. Its focus on flight staff helps give a face to the brand, while its content helps to demystify the flying experience.

Dash Hudson For Your Tourism Strategy

Stunning visuals are a huge factor in travel — 37% of travelers in the United States used their mobile phones to find travel inspiration on social media. To make your tourism marketing as impactful as possible, brands should use a combination of compelling images and videos to entice users. 

Dash Hudson offers a suite of tools to support your tourism marketing strategy and visual content. With a wide range of features like Visual IQ , Campaigns and Social Listening , you can create better content with AI-powered insights that predict visual performance, report on your success in just a few clicks and develop a cohesive profile of your audience. 

What is tourism marketing?

Tourism marketing involves promoting a destination, tourism-related product or service, with the goal of attracting visitors and boosting bookings.

How does social media impact tourism and travel? 

Social media has a significant impact on tourism and travel. It allows brands to reach a global audience, engage with potential travelers and showcase their unique offerings. It also provides travelers with a platform to share their experiences, influencing the decisions of others through user-generated content.

How has social media changed tourism? 

Social media has revolutionized tourism by making it more interactive and personalized. It has given travelers a way to share their experiences and opinions, and algorithms serve content to people who have expressed an interest in travel. For tourism brands, it offers a budget-friendly way to market to a large number of people.

How is social media boosting global tourism? 

Social media has removed all limitations in destination discovery. Travelers can find content about any location, get inspired by UGC, and make decisions based on what they’re seeing on their feeds. Many tourist destinations have seen sudden upticks in travelers because of social media trends, which are impossible to predict but highly beneficial when they happen.

Don’t Miss Out

Join our community of experts to get the latest social media resources, trends and tips delivered straight to your inbox
each week.

Related Articles

The Only Software Marketers Need to Succeed and Scale

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Social media influence on tourists’ destination choice: importance of context

2019, Tourism Recreation Research

Related Papers

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012

Professor Dimitrios Buhalis

Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing

Michael Schuett

Journal of Digital Marketing and Communication

Santus kumar Deb

Scholars Bulletin

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences

PANAGIOTA DIONYSOPOULOU

Journal of Advanced Management Science

Celia Rafael

Aaron Tham , Judith F. Mair , Glen Croy

Razvan Dina

In a society dominated by information, online communication between people, companies and groups comes as an easy, normal, ordinary solution. The spectacular development of social media applications, characterizing nowadays online communication systems, determine more and more people and businesses to use them for acquiring and giving information, for promoting or criticizing products and services. Despite the fact that the use of social media applications seem very efficient, cheap and easy to use for promoting a company's products or services, there is a high risk of failure associated with. The organization has to take into account the messages transmitted might be received differently by the targeted users. Hence, a well documented communication strategy is needed also for social media applications which, based on community particularities, on different possible behaviors of community members, on past information and feedback, can successfully construct a positive image for ...

Roe Fremstedal

This book discusses the relation between morality and self-interest. It argues that being moral is rationally required, all-things-considered, even in cases where morality conflicts with self-interest by requiring self-sacrifice (e.g., donating money to charity, or refusing to go along with immorality despite punishment). Thus, it denies that self-interest (prudence) can justify immorality. Still, normative conflict between morality and prudence raises deep concerns about the rational authority of morality and the coherence of practical reason. Ruth Chang writes, “If being moral involves making one’s life go worse, why should one be moral? And if conflicts between moral and prudential values [or reasons] are genuine, how in such cases can practical reason guide decision about what to do?” (2004: 118). There are several difficult questions that arise with such conflicts: First, is practical reason is divided against itself, and therefore unable to guide action, all-things-considered? Second, is it rationally required, all-things-considered, to be moral? Immoralism denies the latter. But the problem follows from the former issue, known as Sidgwick’s dualism of practical reason, in which competing moral and prudential reasons fail to make anything rationally required, all-things-considered. The same problem arises with normative pluralism (although the literature rarely mentions it): For we seem unable to resolve normative conflict if we lack a standard that allows rational comparison and ranking of competing reasons, all-things-considered. However, the problem here is not just immoralism that denies moral requirements. For normative pluralism also undermines moral anti-rationalism that sees moral requirements as being defeatable, all-things-considered. Like moral rationalism, anti-rationalism requires an overall judgment, all-things-considered, which is exactly what normative pluralism (and the dualism of practical reason) undermines.

RELATED PAPERS

Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej

Jozafat Bulak

Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa

Constantin Necula

Julio Cabero

Silvana Pareja

Proyecto Itálica UPO , Maite Velázquez Guerrero , Yolanda Peña Cervantes , Adriana Roales , Adalberto Ottati

Jaco Gericke

29.yohana putri ning setiawan

Essam Eldin Metwally Ahmed

Yearbook of The National Society for The Study of Education

Gloria Ladson-Billings

Coleção Meira Mattos

Tassio Franchi

Trung Nguyen

Dr. Anant Lakshendra

Naukovij časopis NPU imeni M.P. Dragomanova

Iryna Sasina

Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques

2016 IEEE Annual India Conference (INDICON)

Mohammad Sayeh

Physical Review B

German Samolyuk

شریه علمی علوم و مهندسی آب و وفاضلاب,

Journal of Water and Wastewater Science and Engineering

NAWA Journal of Language and Communication

sadrag Shihomeka

Anuario de Derechos Humanos

Alejandra Riveros

Gorga : Jurnal Seni Rupa

Muhammad Ghifari

Bruno Domingues Galli

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Digital Travel Summit APAC 2025

August 12 - 13, 2025

The Role of Social Media in Tourism Marketing

Social media has changed every single aspect of our lives, including the way we consume. These developments have significantly affected businesses mainly through enabling new marketing strategies. Tourism, being one of the most vibrant sectors of the global economy, is undoubtedly a part of all these.

Merging social media and tourism marketing will lead to excellent results for your business. Here we have gathered information about the essentials of social media in tourism marketing: what is the role of it and how it can be effectively used.

Importance of the Social Media

Social media impact on tourism is seen in the ways people research before going on a trip. Now people are encouraged to share their travel experiences. Thus, social media has transformed the way people make decisions. People build their trust in a tourism agency based on the reviews of the others.

Social sharing for better customer relations

Customer service is another essential aspect of the tourism industry that has changed with social media. Now brands and businesses can reach their customers directly through social media. When people are unsatisfied with a tourism service, they can call the companies to account for that. Thus, solving the problems of the customers in the kindest ways will lead to a better reputation for a company.

Social sharing might be the most significant factor that affected the tourism industry. Social media enables especially young people to share the most significant memories from their travels with a vast audience. Tourism companies should know that this is a more powerful way of attracting new travellers than simple advertisements and encourage people to share their real experiences online.

As seen above, the rise of social media led to the development of two-way communication between agencies and customers and customers to customers. To benefit from this impact of social media on the tourism industry, turning to social media is vital for a tourism agency.

How to Create Strategies

The tourism industry is highly competitive. Once tourism companies are aware of the possible benefits of social media for their business, they use ways through which they can increase their brand awareness.

Engaging content is the king

Creating engaging content is the most crucial step to go if you aim to attract more customers. Since the tourism industry is significantly connected with visual experience, visual material is the most engaging way to catch attention. You should use catchy photos and impressive videos that are simple and fun.

User-generated content is one of the best ways to get people to engage with your business. Influencer marketing will help a lot to make your business visible among the others. After specifying your target location and audience, you can get in touch with tourism influencers and experts. You will not believe how fast your brand is reaching followers, thanks to influencers.

Increase visibility

After you are familiar with the role of social media in tourism marketing, you notice that whatever you do, being social is the key. To increase your visibility, you should be actively contacting your customers by listening to them or answering their questions. You can research your keywords and join in the conversations around your service. As we stated above, providing customer service online is an excellent way of making your voice heard.

The tourism industry is extensive and seasonal, so you should be relevant when it comes to timing. Whether popular or undiscovered, every location has its own season. ​ Digital marketing agencies ​ can help you provide up-to-date campaigns to advertise your newest services.

Best Social Media Channels for Tourism Marketing

As in any other industry, Big Three of the social media -Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been the leader in the tourism industry as well. Even though these channels have their own audience, travel is among the most shared topics on all of them.

Facebook is an excellent platform to catch users among various social groups. Facebook’s Recommendations feature enables people to share their experiences. It can be used effectively for travelling purposes, to reach information about what users are telling about your travel business.

Thanks to its emphasis on visual material, Instagram is one of the most effective social media channels. It is a great platform for tourism businesses to engage with their current and future customers. Using Instagram will help you attract people, especially the millennials, as they form a group that is highly active on Instagram. You should follow the travel hashtags and create your own to maximize the popularity of your posts.

While Instagram takes over your visual material, Twitter is your voice. This platform allows you to talk about short travel tips and promos. Even though Twitter can be used for photos and videos of your brand, its actual strength is being especially useful for providing customer service. If you want to join in conversations, you need to have an active Twitter account.

Other than the Big Three, there are various platforms that you can use to get in contact with different groups of travellers. For example, LinkedIn is significant for B2B. Business travellers share information on Linkedin groups about many topics, including business trips. If you want to reach business travellers, you use LinkedIn to reach them depending on the locations in which you provide service.

Widely used by generation Z, Snapchat is another platform that is important for your tourism marketing strategy​ if you are targeting young customers. It is a rapidly growing social media channel on which you can share what is happening at the moment. You can share gripping snaps about your tourism business to catch attention.

Social media has transformed the ways to build a reliable brand. For the tourism industry, the age of brochures and billboards are over. The key to business success is to collect social shares, positive user reviews and customer satisfaction on social media.

In this text, we tried to show that social media is a big opportunity for tourism companies. To make use of its advantages, the ​ Digital Agency Network​ can help you find the most suitable agency for your tourism marketing.

Author:Gizem Tas

Related Posts

*NEW* Destination Marketing 2.0 – How can you put agility and personalisation to work to know your customers better, predict what they want, and delight them to take away friction?

*NEW* New Zealanders are opening their hearts and hometowns to the world!

How Social Media Has Changed Travel

What kind of impact has social media had on the travel and tourism industry? Find out 14 ways social media has changed travel.

To say that we, as a global culture, are obsessed with our phones and scrolling through social media is a vast understatement. It’s a worldwide addiction that you need only lift your head and look around to verify. Social media has changed the way we shop, date, communicate, work… and social media has changed the way we travel! 

As an intrepid traveler, I’ve roamed the world with my husband for over 15 years. We’ve spent the last three of those years as full-time travel writers and videographers, and the change in the travel sector is glaringly obvious to me in my personal travels. Social media has changed travel in just about every way imaginable, or so it seems. But, what do the numbers say? Is it really what it appears? Let’s take a dive into all the ways social media has impacted the travel industry—the good, bad, and the ugly.

Wandering With Let’s Roam

It’s not just social media that has changed travel. Technology has no doubt impacted travel in some amazing ways, too! For instance, the Let’s Roam Scavenger Hunt App is loaded with historic scavenger hunts , urban art walks , bar crawls , and an innovative Local’s Guide to help you explore the world with ease. We have hunts in over 600 cities worldwide, and it’s all right at your fingertips. Discover something new today!

Social Media Impact on Travel

According to an article by Forbes Magazine , there are more than 300,000,000 posts just on Instagram that are hashtagged with the word “travel.” That breaks down to over 100,000 posts every single day for more than 8 years. That doesn’t even come close to the true amount when you take in those who don’t utilize hashtags or those who chose one of the thousands of other travel-related tags to use. Now, given that 4.76 billion people are social media users as of 2023, according to a new study by We Are Social and Hootsuite , that’s a whole lot of people looking at travel-related material. 

Millennials, or those who were pretty much born and raised with the ability to Google, are now the most populous group on the planet , and YPulse puts their spending power at 2.5 trillion dollars in a 2020 survey . Given that millennials also travel more than previous generations and that 97% of millennials use social media while traveling, the effects of social media platforms on the travel industry are no-brainers! Let’s take a look at a few specific ways that social media has changed the landscape of the travel industry.

Ways Social Media Has Changed Travel and Tourism

1. social media has increased general travel knowledge..

There’s no doubt about it; we now have the travel world at our fingertips. With Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok basically operating as image and video search engines, we can look up any place in the world and see it in detail in seconds. Plus, the more you look at travel, the more social media sites know that you like travel, and the more pictures and videos they flood your feed with… brilliant how that works!

With hundreds of thousands of travel influencers out there (plus regular folks sharing their vacations), the amount of information on specific destinations now on your everyday scroll is mind-blowing! According to a study done in Economics journa l, a whopping 91.35% of people surveyed were turned on to a travel destination by pictures or information they saw on social media. Long gone are the days of booking a vacation to your parent’s favorite spot or a place that is famous in your region. Now, travelers are privy to detailed information about faraway lands, complete with edited photos to lure them to wander. 

2. Social media has increased accessibility to travel.

With so many social media influencers, marketing ads, and budget-travel experts helping us out now, worldwide travel is much more accessible to most people. It still blows my mind how many older people in my life assume that travel is exorbitantly expensive or that they would never be able to see the world. I hear it all the time! Those in the age group that routinely uses social media know better. 

Budget tip websites, travel hacking blogs, and YouTube travel gurus have taught us how to see the world on a dime, and for that, I’m very grateful. On a personal note, I can attest that I spend approximately half the amount of money traveling the world full-time as I spent living in the United States. I am able to do this based partially on lessons learned from years of travel, but it’s also heavily based on the information that I glean from social media and the internet in general. 

3. Social media has helped change the travel demographic.

Until the Millennial generation and the rise of social media, big travel experiences were mostly reserved for special occasions—a yearly family vacation or honeymoon, for instance. Travel was seen as something you could do (hopefully) when you retired. That’s no longer the case. Millennials, who are currently right in the heart of their career and rearing families, are traveling more than any other generation. Gen Z isn’t far behind. We’re traveling as much during the busy years of our lives as Boomers are during their retirement. 

Research shows that while millennials do travel more, they are also more likely to travel for different reasons than just leisure. Bleisure travel, or the mix of business and leisure, has become a huge part of the tourism industry in recent years as more and more jobs go remote. Social media certainly helps fuel this phenomenon with countess profiles touting the perks of the digital nomad life and how to make money while traveling. 

4. Social media has increased travel FOMO.

Oh, FOMO, the fear of missing out… social media has created an envy and a desire to experience what we see on our screens for ourselves. We see our friends and family and all those influencers on some remote beach, enjoying a local film festival or trying exotic foods in a street market, and it causes many viewers to wish they were doing the same. This obviously doesn’t apply to everyone who sees the images. My own father and sister have zero desire to travel the world despite my career. They couldn’t care less. But for many, this knowledge that these amazing experiences are out there and that they are missing out on them is a primary driving force to travel.

5. Social media has created a false travel universe.

Speaking to that travel envy… is it really what it seems? The simple answer is no! A study by Alliance Global has shown that 36% of Millennials surveyed confessed to posting misleading and false information to glamorize a destination or trip. Why? Why would you deliberately mislead your followers? When asked, 65% of the deceivers stated that they did it to make friends and family envious. Fifty-one percent said they also do it to compete with other social media posters. The latter stat is probably the influencer crowd speaking. 

With TikTok and YouTube providing monetization to large accounts, there is a push to present the most eye-catching content, and that involves cropping out graffiti, editing the water color with Lightroom, only photographing certain aspects of a city or location, and, sometimes, outright lying about an experience. This especially goes if you’re representing a hotel or tourism board, which many influencers are being paid to do. According to stats provided by Stackla , social media users do say they make travel decisions based on user-generated content (UGC) far more than content by travel influencers. So, there’s an awareness that people are being paid to present this info, and people do take that into account. However, according to the numbers, your friends and family might be fudging the facts, too!

6. Social media has increased location targeting.

Social media has changed the locations that people travel to. Let’s take a look at the Riviera Maya in Mexico as an example. Cancun has been a top tourist destination for decades, and Playa del Carmen is popular with cruisers, but most people, until recent years, would not have heard of little Tulum. Now, you’ve undoubtedly seen scores of couples on bikes posing in front of the “Follow that dream” street sign or the Ven a La Luz sculpture outside Ahau Hotel.

According to Travel Pulse , Tulum received around 250,000 visitors in 2017. This was after being listed as an up-and-comer with TripAdvisor in 2016. In 2022, after those couple of spots became Instagram sensations, the Cancun Sun reports that Tulum has had years with more than 2 million visitors. That is quite a growth spurt! 

7. Social media has caused socioeconomic changes due to tourism.

While the uptake in tourism dollars certainly increases the overall GDP of popular destinations, it has also caused some difficulties. Now, social media is not the only reason there has been an increase in travel across the board, but it plays a huge part. Some of the negative effects we’ve seen from this include locals being driven from affordable housing so that Airbnbs can be created for tourists and the increase of poverty in popular tourist destinations. Many of the destinations that are hashtag-targeted blow up in popularity much faster than the local population and infrastructure can support.

Let’s take a look at Mexico again. There have been several online articles written about disputes and frustration within Mexico City. Locals are reportedly being evicted from their apartment complexes because owners are turning them into more profitable vacation rentals and homes for digital nomads. According to Euronews, the number of legal evictions increased by 27% from the year 2020 to 2021, and that doesn’t even include non-legal rental agreements. Tulum too has seen an uptake in poverty levels attributed to migrant workers coming in to build luxury hotels and vacation rentals. These workers are reportedly living in poverty in temporary (and illegal) squatter villages. According to the Cancun Sun , between the years of 2015-2020, at the height of its tourism surge, Tulum’s poverty rate almost doubled, the highest numbers recorded for the Yucatan region.

8. Social media has changed travel motivation.

Not only has social media contributed to more people traveling, but it has also changed the reasons why people travel. According to an article by Travel Pulse and statistics by Jet Cost , a survey of 4,000 Americans aged 22-37 stated that 21% admitted their primary reason for travel was to get snaps for their social media page. Sixty-one percent said they would not consider a vacation destination where they could not take and post pictures. That means approximately 1/5th of Millennial travelers are doing it for the Gram.

9. Social media has changed the travel planning process.

It’s a rare occasion these days that a perspective traveler busts out a traditional travel guidebook (although you should). Travelers use Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok as search engines, pulling up and following hashtags and accounts that specialize in their intended destination. We save posts that give pertinent information, create Instagram albums with all the specific attractions we want to see, and take notes from YouTube listicles. Before long, the whole trip is prepared in photo form, all logged on our smartphones.

According to YouGov’s 2022 Travel and Tourism Report , 39% of Gen Z tourists state that their primary source of information when planning a vacation is social media. Many more use it as a secondary source or for inspiration. This is an increase over previous generations, so it looks like the future of travel will rely even more heavily on the influence of UGC on social media. 

10. Social media has changed customer service.

Diana Trowbridge, vice president of marketing for Marriott, via an interview with Travel Pulse states that customer service is much more difficult than it used to be. Hotels must not only rely on the in-person experience, but they must provide a comprehensive social media profile, increasing their burden. 

Customer service agents must respond quickly to complaints submitted via Twitter, WhatsApp, or Facebook in order to avoid negative reviews that impact their future traveler’s perceptions. Hotels are increasingly responsible for not just shelter and a pleasant stay but a profile-pic-worthy, envy-inducing experience. It’s no longer good enough to be a great hotel; you must present as a great hotel. 

More Than Hotels

Hotels aren’t the only ones that must adapt. Tour companies, restaurants, and attractions that don’t utilize social media in a savvy way will likely struggle, at least with international travelers. Having a social media account is no longer enough, either. Social media strategists are constantly evolving, researching, and adapting their strategies to target the needs and interests of travelers. This might include featuring posts on your business’s environmental footprint, your ethics around animal tourism, and what you’re doing to be inclusive of all cultures and people groups. All of these aspects (and many more) and how they are presented to the public via social media affect the bottom line. 

11. Social media has decreased the element of surprise.

Since the rise of social media, it’s hard to travel to a destination that you haven’t seen before. As we’ve proved, most travelers are choosing destinations based on what they’ve seen online or on social media, and they’re researching these places thoroughly before making a decision to travel. Since there’s a known problem with influencer exaggeration and heavily doctored photos, smart travelers are digging for the truth, so by the time they actually visit the destination, they likely know much more about it than they would have if they had taken this trip 20 years ago. 

There’s a balance to traveling wisely—finding the best deals, experiences, and locations and having some sense of spontaneity. I often fight this battle myself. In essence, I’m a budget traveler and believe that I get more out of the experience when I’ve researched the culture, traditions, local restaurants, and authentic experiences. However, it’s always a balance between a detailed itinerary and leaving room for spontaneous day trips and evenings spent with new local friends. Sometimes, the amount of information I know about my destination takes away from the wanderlust and awe of stumbling upon the unknown. 

12. Social media has changed the actual travel experience.

I can speak to this one personally, and you probably can, too. When I first started traveling heavily, around 2009 or so, there were definitely places where you waited in line, and there were tourists with camera phones, but nothing like today. Recently, my husband and I took a road trip through Turkiye, and two specific spots were glaring examples of this change.

The number of photographers with giant angel wings ready and waiting to photograph young girls along the white limestone cliffs of the natural pools at Pamukkale was staggering! We sat in the blue water pools as TikTok influencers performed sexy dances around us, and women in flowing gowns and wings posed at our backs to get that perfect shot. 

From there, we visited Cappadocia, and as we soared over the incredible landscape in a hot air balloon, dozens of women and couples were shooting with local photographers below us. There are businesses that specialize in renting elaborate, flowy dresses and vintage cars just for these Instagram photoshoots. That is certainly something you would not have seen ten years ago. 

It’s quite common now to wait in long lines just to get that Insta-snap at places like Norway’s Trolltunga, the Ahau Hotel sculpture in Tulum, or sunrise pics at Angkor Wat. It’s common for us to be walking down a cobblestone street in Europe (probably vlogging) and catch a TikTok dance being filmed in front of us. In short, waiting and taking turns to get the shot is now an everyday part of travel in many parts of the world. 

13. Social media has created new travel industry jobs.

Social media has undoubtedly created a whole new arena of jobs, including digital marketing specialists working with hotels, professional UGC creators, and YouTube video makers. We aren’t just talking side hustles, either. Social media influencers are pulling in massive paydays. The most successful ones have retirement funds, investment portfolios, and multiple properties all funded by their lucrative social media contracts. 

Hotels, resorts, and tourism boards now have social media managers who work with the traditional marketing team to handle their public appearance. A realm of photography has developed that focuses solely on producing professional-looking staged photos for Airbnb properties. Tourism boards are hiring influencers to produce content that draws visitors to their cities. It’s a huge business. 

14. Social media has increased awareness of travel downfalls.

Social media has helped raise awareness of questionable aspects of the travel industry. Multiple accounts, for instance, have called out and shamed animal tourism businesses that do not treat their animals with care and love. Social media has assisted in massive beach cleanups in India and many other locations, organizing efforts for the masses who came out to help. Social media has shone a light on the sometimes unacceptable behavior of influencers as well. Whole accounts are dedicated to embarrassing travelers who treat the environment flippantly or are unsafe in their attempts to capture photos. While some of these accounts can be a bit harsh, hopefully in the long run, social media spotlights will lead to more culturally, environmentally, and socially responsible travelers. 

Keep Scrolling!

Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no doubt that social media has changed travel in just about every way possible. While some of the effects are certainly negative, social media has also opened up swaths of opportunities for whole new generations to travel the world their way. With the amount of information now at our fingertips, it’s possible for every kind of traveler to find the trip that suits them perfectly and aligns with their ethics, too.

Have you ever found your next vacation destination from a social media post? Let us know in the comments! 

Social media isn’t the only way to find a great trip! We happen to love providing you with amazing options via our travel blog. Our writers are avid travelers and experts in their crafts. Check out our travel section for tons of amazing trip ideas! 

Looking for a more meaningful way to travel? Take some cues from “ Travel With Purpose: Long-Term Volunteer Opportunities .”

Frequently Asked Questions

Social media impacts travel negatively by overrunning popular destinations that don’t have the infrastructure to support the masses and by presenting false information about destinations .

Yes! According to Economics Journal, 91.35 % of people say they have been inspired to travel because of a social media post . Now, the sky seems to be the limit when it comes to traveling.

With millennials traveling more than any other generation and 97% of them using social media , daily scrolling exposes millions of prospective travelers to inspiration each day.

Social media apps like Instagram are used for travel inspiration and planning . Google Maps and Translate are wonderful for directions and language, and Let’s Roam has amazing scavenger hunts!

Technology has positively impacted travel by increasing knowledge and accessibility . Travel apps provide inspiration, directions, language help, and local guides for food and attractions .

Featured Products & Activities

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Effects of social media tourism information quality on destination travel intention: mediation effect of self-congruity and trust.

• 1 School of Logistics, Transportation and Tourism, Jiangsu Vocational College of Finance and Economics, Huaian, Jiangsu, China
• 2 College of Business, Gachon University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea

The asymmetry of tourism information makes social media an important information source. Previous research has been conducted on the influence of tourist-generated content on tourism consumption behavior, but few studies have concentrated on the mechanism of tourism information quality on consumers’ travel intention in the social media environment. Adopting the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this paper aims to investigate how the information quality of social media affects consumers’ travel intention rationally and emotionally and the moderation effect of tourists’ prior knowledge. The empirical results indicate that the quality of social media information positively affects travel intention and self-congruity and trust mediates the relationship between the quality of social media information and travel intention. Moreover, this study identified that tourists’ prior knowledge negatively modifies the relationship between information quality and self-congruity in line with the proposed hypotheses. The research explores the influence mechanism of tourist-generated content quality on consumers’ travel intention, which benefits destination management and content marketing.

1 Introduction

Information is the basis of decision-making, and any decision-making is based on the collection, analysis, and evaluation of information, so is the decision-making behavior of tourism consumers. As the pyramid of Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom (DIKW) puts forward, data is the source of information, information is the cornerstone of knowledge, knowledge is the basis and condition of wisdom, and wisdom is the application and productive use of knowledge ( Rowley, 2007 ). On the whole, from data to wisdom, it is a process of continuous processing of data, which is a spiral process and a process of data generating value. With the arrival of the big data era, massive data has penetrated into every industry and field and become an important factor of production. In the Web 2.0 environment, consumers’ travel decision-making behavior relies more on the management and utilization of data and information than ever before. Through social networks, blogs, etc., dormant data on the Web flows in two directions (between users and data providers), making it easier for users to participate in and expand information and transform it into knowledge. However, the availability of information and the creation of knowledge/wisdom do not grow at the same speed ( Malik et al., 2018 ). That makes it more urgent to study how information can be more efficiently transformed into knowledge and wisdom, i.e., how this information is processed through their cognitive perspective to drive the decision-making process.

Social media has greatly improved consumers’ ability to acquire information and knowledge about public events, products, and services ( Bertot et al., 2010 ). In addition, social media improves information exchange, reduces uncertainty, and brings users a sense of belonging ( Zehrer and Grabmüller, 2012 ), fundamentally changing individual travel plans and consumption patterns of travel and leisure ( Hudson and Thal, 2013 ). Therefore, when consumers search for online tourism information, social media has become the essential way ( Xiang and Gretzel, 2010 ) and a prominent place of creating, distributing, and marketing content that is unique to the users ( Sin et al., 2020 ). Even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising UGC content related to tourism impacts numerous consumers to travel ( Flores-Ruiz et al., 2021 ). Hanafiah et al. (2022) documented that social media still plays a vital role in influencing travel intention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accordingly, the influence of social media travel information on consumer behavior has become a hot topic in academic research. Some studies focus on adopting social media tourism information and use the technology acceptance model to explain the motivation or influencing factors of potential tourists’ adoption of social media information ( Chung et al., 2015 ; Cheunkamon et al., 2020 ). It is suggested that potential tourists are more inclined to use the contents of social media with similar interests to themselves when making travel plans ( Ayeh et al., 2013 ). The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) documented that potential tourists’ adoption of online review information is influenced by the dual path factors of the central and peripheral path ( Filieri and McLeay, 2014 ). Some scholars focused on social media tourism information or e-word-of-mouth influencing tourists’ decision-making behaviors (such as hotel and destination choices). Chung and Han (2017) used the ELM model to verify the persuasive effect of social media tourism information on tourism decision-making. Kapoor et al. (2022) proposed that information quality positively impacts hotel stay intention.

Notably, the ELM theory is a classical framework for interpreting the influence of social media tourism information or TGC on tourist behavior. However, the ELM framework only focuses on the direct influence of persuasion factors on consumer behavior without considering the psychological transformation process of potential tourists. Many existing studies use consumers’ attitudes or perceived destination impressions as mediators ( Yadav et al., 2021 ; Kapoor et al., 2022 ), while few studies proposed psychological factors behind the changes in tourists’ attitudes.

Social media has given consumers a novel experience. Compared with the promotional content of businesses, the emotional evaluation of destinations and their perceived credibility of tourist-generated content (TGC) may play a greater role in consumers’ decision-making process ( Iordanova and Stainton, 2019 ).

Tourist-generated content is not only the explicit content created, published, and shared by users but also includes implicit content, such as user identity, status, relationship, and reputation. This implicit content acts as symbolic clues to stimulate consumers’ association and associate typical tourist images of destinations with their personality characteristics. As a result, the destination image becomes an available resource for self-expression ( Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998 ) and an extension of self ( Belk, 1988 ). Morand et al. (2021) also highlight the influence of tourism ambassadors as destination image inducers within the online realm. In other words, in the social media environment, destination symbolism significantly changes tourists’ attitudes. So far, few studies combine the symbolic meaning of destination with the above-mentioned dual-path persuade model.

To compensate for the deficiency, this study proposes an integrated rational and emotional decision path to explain how tourism information on social media affects consumers’ travel intention, focusing on explaining the psychological mechanism behind consumers’ emotional decision path. Furthermore, considering that consumer product knowledge is an important factor influencing information processing ability ( Petty et al., 1997 ), this study also examines the moderating effect of tourists’ prior knowledge in different decision-making paths.

2 Literature review and hypothesis development

2.1 elaboration likelihood model.

The ELM is one of the most frequently used frameworks in information processing studies and a persuasion model. According to this model, there are two paths to persuade consumers to form and change their attitudes: the core and peripheral paths ( Petty et al., 1983 ). The central path refers to consumers’ comprehensive thinking and analysis of information, forming or changing their attitudes toward products. In contrast to the central path, the peripheral path means that consumers change their attitudes through peripheral clues or implicit hints, which are simple rules or information shortcuts such as brand image and source attractiveness that consumers use to assess a recommendation rather than evaluating the quality of the arguments used by a source ( Petty and Cacioppo, 1986 ).

This study uses social media tourism information quality as an explanatory variable to construct a dual decision-making path model. The core path of ELM corresponds to the rational decision-making path of tourists, which is reflected in that consumers get the perception of destination and generate travel intention through in-depth reasoning and thinking of tourism information itself, that is, the direct influence of tourism information quality on consumers’ travel intention. The peripheral path corresponds to the emotional path, which includes two clues. First, the symbolic meaning of the destination gives consumers the possibility of self-construction. When the self-image of the viewer matches the image of the publisher, the destination becomes a source for individual self-expression, which can easily arouse the viewer’s resonance. The second clue is the trust or emotional experience the tourism destination brings to tourists, especially when consumers cannot form the impression of the destination from the perspective of rational cognition. The feeling or emotional experience brought by tourism information has become the key factor for tourists to make decisions.

2.2 Tourism information quality on social media

The immateriality and simultaneity of production and consumption of tourism products determine that tourists usually search for information in order to reduce risks and uncertainties when making travel decisions. Tourists create and share destination tourism information through various social media platforms (blogs and microblogs, content or virtual communities, and social networks) ( Tsiakali, 2015 ) and produce a large number of user-generated content (UGC). Social media is turned into a collection of tourist destination images ( Luo and Zhong, 2015 ), which influence tourists’ cognition and choice of destination ( Nezakati et al., 2015 ). More and more consumers take tourism information on social media as an essential reference when choosing destinations ( Chung et al., 2015 ). In this study, tourism information is defined as “tourist-generated content (TGC) including texts, pictures, and videos about tourist destinations on social media platforms.” TGC or the shared memorable tourism experiences are both cognitive and emotional ( Kim et al., 2012 ), and are inseparable from tourists’ behavioral engagements ( Servidio and Ruffolo, 2016 ). In other words, the more tourists participate in the activities, the better they can retrieve the memories ( Coudounaris and Sthapit, 2017 ) and present them on social platforms. Furthermore, the distinctiveness of tourists’ memorable tourism experiences is crucial for destination management and marketing ( Wearing and Foley, 2017 ). By classifying city attractions, Yu et al. (2021) proposed to identify the unique patterns of attractions to recognize what can be a memorable cue or stimuli of tourists’ shared memorable experiences on social media.

As Yeap et al. (2014) stated, information quality is “how the provided information is useful for the consumer.” Information quality is a strong predictor of the credibility of information sources and website quality ( Filieri et al., 2015 ), indicating that the quality of information content itself is the core factor in persuading consumers. Our study follows this argument and takes information quality as the independent variable. Different scholars put forward their own opinions on the measurement of information quality. For example, based on the characteristics of the information content itself, the quality of content can be measured from the four indicators of relevance, understandability, adequacy, and objectivity ( Park et al., 2007 ), or authenticity, authority, and relevance ( Wang, 1998 ), value ( Filieri and McLeay, 2014 ), accuracy and completeness ( Zhang et al., 2014 ), richness and usefulness ( Bovee, 2004 ).

The marketing value of information quality is that it has a significant impact on consumers’ willingness to adopt information and purchase decisions. The quality and characteristics of online information will affect tourists’ decision-making. For example, information accuracy, relevance, and timeliness will affect tourists’ adoption behavior of online comment information ( Filieri and McLeay, 2014 ). Positive UGC can stimulate consumers to produce both emotional (motivation and pleasure) and cognitive responses (perceived information quality), form direct behavioral responses (information sharing and direct purchase), and potential behavioral responses (future purchase intention and brand commitment), respectively ( Kim and Johnson, 2016 ).

2.3 Travel intention

Behavioral intention usually refers to an individual’s possibility or attitude tendency to take action on an activity or object ( Smith, 2004 ). Purchase intention is also considered the most effective predictor of consumer purchase behavior ( Morwitz and Schmittlein, 1992 ). The intention is used to predict various consumer behaviors, including travel decision-making behaviors, and researchers can learn how individuals will act from their behavioral intentions ( Sheeran, 2002 ). Travel intention is the main driving force for tourists to travel to destinations ( Woodside and Lysonski, 1989 ). It can predict tourists’ travel behavior and is the tendency of individuals’ expectations, plans, or intentions on whether their future behavior will be carried out ( Lam and Hsu, 2006 ).

Consumers’ impression of products or services is formed through processing various information sources. If the information content is perceived to be complete, accurate, relevant, and authentic, it is easy for consumers to pay attention to and deeply process it and form a rational cognition and attitude toward the destination. The higher the quality of online reviews, the stronger the purchase intention of consumers ( Park et al., 2007 ). High-quality information enables users to understand specific products or services better, gain support, and be able to make better decisions ( Kim et al., 2017 ). Many scholars have empirically tested that online travel reviews significantly positively impact consumers’ booking intentions ( Lu et al., 2013 ; Sparks et al., 2013 ; Torres et al., 2015 ; Zhao et al., 2015 ). Lata and Rana (2021) also verified that information quality is a predictor for online hotel booking intentions. Based on the above literature, this study presumes H1.

H1 Social media tourism information quality positively impacts consumers’ travel intention.

2.4 Self-congruity

Self-congruity stems from one of the core constructs of social psychology: self-concept. Self-concept can be understood as self-image. It is an individual’s comprehensive evaluation of his own behavior, ability, values, and other aspects. It is a subjective perception and cannot be directly observed. “Protecting, maintaining, and promoting one’s self-concept or symbolic self is one of the most basic goals of human behavior” ( Onkvisit and Shaw, 1987 ). Self-congruity is an extension of self-concept, also known as self-concept congruity or self-image congruity. Sirgy et al. (1991) proposed that self-congruity refers to “the degree of matching or consistency between the symbolic image of a product/brand and the self-image of customers.” In tourism, self-congruity refers to matching tourists’ self-image and typical image.

The degree of consistency between consumers’ self-concept and product user image will affect consumers’ attitudes toward products ( Sirgy, 1982 ). The symbolic meaning of a brand can explain this: all social behaviors have symbolic meaning, and consumers can show their public image and construct their desired identity by using a brand ( Helgeson and Supphellen, 2004 ). Symbolic consumption stems from socialized human behavior–human beings constantly construct, maintain, promote, transform, and express their “self” in social behavior ( Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998 ; Escalas and Bettman, 2005 ). Therefore, consumption is a universal behavior of human beings, and brands become a resource for people to obtain symbolic meaning in the consumption process. Consuming a certain brand and being associated with a brand image becomes a means for consumers to construct, transform, and express themselves in daily life ( McCracken, 1987 ). Thus, the symbolic meaning of a brand is actually a projection of consumers’ self-concept of the brand. For instance, the perceived luxuriousness of a coffee shop leads to high self-congruity, and thus increasing customers’ willingness to pay a price premium ( Li et al., 2022 ).

Like brand images, destination images are also symbolic. Chon (1992) was the first to introduce self-congruity into the field of tourism, and he found that the higher the degree of self-congruity of tourists is, the more satisfied they are with the destination. People identify with brands or businesses that help define or reinforce, improve or enhance, and communicate their self-concept to others or society. This identification significantly impacts attitudes and behaviors such as purchasing intention, recommendation intention, price sensitivity, and loyalty ( Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003 ). Ahn et al. (2013) proposed that self-congruity affects tourists’ destination choice behavior. Egota et al. (2022) verified that self-congruity directly impacts destination satisfaction, engagement, and expectations.

Consumers are more attracted to the information posted by like-minded publishers. It is obvious that when consumers read other users’ reviews or content, they look for similarities with their preferences and profiles ( Tsiakali, 2015 ). Users on the Internet are more likely to collect information that supports their worldview, exclude different information, and build polarized communities around shared narratives ( Yu and Ko, 2021 ). Furthermore, viewers always process self-related information and then deal with unrelated information ( Fast and Tiedens, 2010 ). This is because the highly relevant information is easier to notice and recognize, helping maintain a consistent self-image. Based on the literature, the following hypotheses are driven:

H2 The quality of social media tourism information positively affects self-congruity.

H3 Self-congruity plays a mediating role in the effect of information quality on travel intention.

Trust is the confident and positive expectation of an individual to another individual or organization in social communication under the circumstance of risk ( Moorman et al., 1992 ). Mayer et al. (1995) proposed that trust is composed of the trustor’s perception of the trustee’s competence, benevolence, and integrity, which indicates the willingness of the individual to bear risks in the transaction and reflects the individual’s cognition of the transaction risks. In the field of tourism, trust is a kind of confidence, belief, and expectation that consumers hold in the tourism destination, and they are willing to believe that the tourism destination has the ability and can meet the needs of consumers in tourism as promised.

Because of the asymmetry of tourism information, consumers cannot experience the quality of tourism products before arriving at the destination. In order to obtain more accurate destination perception, consumers tend to obtain information through more reliable channels. The content shared by users of social media is mostly from consumers’ own experiences rather than business publicity. Due to its non-trading attribute and open access, UGC is regarded as more objective and fair ( Ridings et al., 2002 ), which provides important decision-making reference for consumers to search for tourism information. Compared with promotional materials provided by tourist boards and commercial enterprises, the credibility of UGC is higher, and the perceived credibility of the destination may play a greater role in the consumer decision-making process ( Iordanova and Stainton, 2019 ). Although travel-related UGC is more reliable than information created or uploaded by official tourism organizations ( Fotis et al., 2012 ), there are cases where the user is concerned about their trust in the reliability of online travel reviews as the sources can modify and misuse in various ways ( Fan et al., 2018 ). Sparks et al. (2013) found that user-generated and detailed information is an important clue to trust. Mahat and Hanafiah (2020) documented that information’s accuracy, reliability, confidentiality, and privacy lead consumers to trust information sources. In the social media environment, trust significantly impacts purchase intention ( Hajli, 2014 ). Trust is vital for online tourism marketing because it increases the interest in purchase behavior ( Li et al., 2020 ). Based on the literature, the following hypotheses are driven:

H4 The quality of social media tourism information positively affects trust.

H5 Trust plays a mediating role in the effect of information quality on destination tourism intention.

Tourists have a high degree of trust in destinations because of their similar characteristics, and also have a high sense of identity with destinations that help define, strengthen, and improve their self-concept and reduce the inconsistency between ideal and reality. Self-image consistency will promote consumers’ attachment to the product, induce consumers’ emotional commitment to the brand, improve the relationship between consumers and the brand, and show a kind of emotional trust ( Kressmann et al., 2006 ). The higher the consistency between consumers and information publishers is, the higher the trust of consumers in users’ published content, which shows that self-congruity is the clue of trust ( Ayeh et al., 2013 ). Thus, the hypothesis is proposed:

H6 Trust is mediating in the relationship between self-congruity and travel intention.

2.6 Prior knowledge

Prior knowledge is also known as consumer knowledge or consumer expertise, which refers to the relevant knowledge and experience consumers can rely on when choosing products to solve specific consumption problems ( Mitchell and Dacin, 1996 ). Consumer knowledge is divided into familiarity and expertise ( Jacoby et al., 1986 ). As per knowledge hierarchy (DIKW), knowledge is derived from information but is not a subset of information. It is the information that is “understood,” associated with specific situations, and can guide “how” actions. The knowledge can be available in different formats, but analyzing, understanding, and categorizing it requires extra attention to convert it to wisdom ( Malik et al., 2018 ). In the era of information explosion, knowledge eliminates the false and preserves the true, eliminating the coarse and preserving the fine. Knowledge makes information useful and can solve the “how to” problem for a specific recipient in a specific environment, improving the efficiency and quality of work. At the same time, the accumulation and application of knowledge play a very important role in enlightening wisdom and leading the future.

The level of consumers’ knowledge affects how they collect and use information, ultimately affecting their evaluation, purchase, and use of products ( Cordell, 1997 ). As an embodiment of cognitive ability, the knowledge level greatly influences information processing and decision-making ( Alba and Hutchinson, 2000 ).

According to the ELM theory, individual attitude change has central and peripheral pathways, and the ability to process information affects individuals to adopt central or peripheral pathways ( Petty et al., 1983 ). Consumer knowledge is an important factor influencing information processing ability ( Petty et al., 1997 ). Tourists with a high level of prior knowledge have adequate processing and utilization of information, and a more accurate understanding of the meaning of information. They are more inclined to choose the central approach for fine processing and in-depth analysis of information, forming or changing their attitudes to things based on evaluating the quality of the information itself. While tourists with low prior knowledge are less capable of thinking about a message, they are inclined to use peripheral cues (such as emotional stimulation, preference for information expression methods, etc.) to evaluate a message ( Petty et al., 1997 ).

It has been proved that consumers’ prior knowledge is a very important moderating variable in their information processing ( Roehm and Sternthal, 2001 ). Tourists with higher prior knowledge have stronger cognitive needs and are more willing to obtain information before making travel decisions ( Teichmann, 2011 ). Furthermore, consumers with more prior knowledge tend to adopt rational analysis and seldom evaluate products by peripheral cues ( Ratchford, 2001 ), while novice tourists are more inclined to make use of peripheral information or relatively simple clues (such as tourist images of destination and emotional stimulus) for information evaluation ( Sirgy and Su, 2000 ; Beerli et al., 2007 ). Kumi and Limayem (2012) advocated that high-expertise consumers are more likely to rely on perceived content quality to make the decision, while individuals with low expertise are more likely to rely on contextual factors. That is, tourists’ prior knowledge can strengthen the possibility of tourists’ rational information processing and weaken the possibility of tourists’ emotional information processing. Therefore, the following assumptions are put forward:

H7 Tourists’ prior knowledge positively regulates the impact of tourism information quality on tourism intention.

H8 Tourists’ prior knowledge negatively regulates the impact of information quality on self-congruity.

H9 Tourists’ prior knowledge negatively regulates the impact of information quality on trust.

Based on the above analysis, the conceptual model ( Figure 1 ) is as follows.

Figure 1. Research model.

3 Research method

3.1 data collection.

In order to enhance the reliability of the research results, this study released and collected questionnaires on Credamo. 1 Credamo platform is a professional survey platform with samples and a strict credit investigation system, and it has provided scientific research and education data services for teachers and students in more than 2,000 colleges and universities around the world, including MIT, New York University, Hong Kong University of science and technology, Peking University, Tsinghua University. The questionnaire was released and collected in March 2022, and each sample was paid 3 Chinese Yuan (CNY). To ensure the accuracy and quality of the results, respondents need to meet two conditions: they are social media users and have browsed TGC. Therefore, at the beginning of the survey, we gave the concept of TGC and corresponding examples and asked respondents to recall their recent experience of browsing the tourism destination information on social media. As a result, a total of 530 samples were collected, and 399 valid ones were left after excluding invalid questionnaires.

Among the valid samples, the proportion of men and women is relatively balanced, accounting for 42.9% (men) and 57.1% (women), respectively. The age group of 29–39 accounts for the largest (54.6%), followed by the age group of 18–28 (36.1%), which is in line with the younger characteristics of social media users. More than 89% of the respondents have a bachelor’s degree or above. They have a good understanding and decision-making ability to ensure data accuracy. Those with incomes between 5,001–15,000 yuan accounted for 64.7 percent of the total, which is consistent with the income level of Chinese residents. In short, from the perspective of demographic characteristics, the sample is well-representative (see Table 1 ).

Table 1. Demographic characteristics ( n = 399).

3.2 Measurement design

To ensure content validity, we use relatively mature scales when measuring variables and make necessary adjustments according to the context of the study. Likert 5 scoring method was adopted (1 = “strongly disagree” and 5 = “strongly agree”). The questionnaire mainly includes three parts: (1) tourists’ preference for social media, (2) key variables, and (3) demographic characteristics. An eight-item scale ( Wang, 1998 ; Bovee, 2004 ; Park et al., 2007 ; Zhang et al., 2014 ) operationalized information quality. Self-congruity mainly refers to Sirgy et al. (1997) , including four items; Four items ( McAllister, 1995 ) which were utilized to measure trust. A four-item scale ( Kerstetter and Cho, 2004 ; Füller et al., 2008 ) was used to measure prior knowledge. Finally, four items ( Smith, 2004 ) were used to assess travel intentions (see Table 2 ).

Table 2. Construct reliability and convergent validity.

3.3 Reliability and validity

The reliability of each construct was measured with Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. As shown in Table 2 , the values of all factors were above the recommended threshold of 0.7 based on George and Mallery’s (2003) criterion. The reference scales in this study were all previous mature scales, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the measurement model. Factor loadings exceeding the recommended 0.5 ( Hair et al., 2013 ) were accepted. The measurement model indices were all within recommended thresholds ( x 2 /df = 1.385, normed fit index (NFI) = 0.947, goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.958, standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) = 0.035, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.031), indicating that the measurement model achieved acceptable fit ( Browne and Cudeck, 1992 ). To ensure construct validity, we CFA analysis followed by a calculation of average variance (AVE) and composite reliability (CR) to assess the convergent validity of the measurement model. The validity results showed that the average variance (AVE) values exceeded 0.5, and CR values greater than the threshold of 0.7 (see Table 2 ) recommended by Fornell and Larcker (1981) .

Furthermore, we evaluate discriminant validity using the square root of AVE. As shown in Table 3 , the square root of the AVE values of each construct was greater than the correlations between pairs of latent variables, indicating that the discriminant validity was satisfactory.

Table 3. Correlation and discriminant validity.

4 Hypothesis testing

4.1 main effect test.

Firstly, regression analysis was performed to test the effect of tourism information quality on travel intention. The analysis results ( Table 4 ) show that the quality of social media tourism information has a significant positive impact on tourism intention ( b = 0.372, p -value < 0.001), indicating that the main effect is significant supporting H1.

Table 4. Main effect and mediating effect.

4.2 Mediating effect test

The test results ( Table 4 ) show that information quality has a significant positive impact on self-congruity ( b = 0.526, p -value < 0.001), and self-congruity plays a positive role in affecting travel intention ( b = 0.198, p -value < 0.001) thus the data supports H2 and H3. Similarly, information quality has a significant positive impact on trust ( b = 0.150, p -value < 0.001), and trust plays a positive role in affecting travel intention ( b = 0.296, p -value < 0.001), supporting H4 and H5. Furthermore, the impact of tourism information quality on tourism intention is still significant ( b = 0.211, p -value < 0.001), indicating that self-congruity and trust partially mediate between information quality and travel intention. Moreover, self-congruity had a significant positive effect on trust ( b = 0.083, p -value < 0.01), both self-congruity ( b = 0.198, p -value < 0.001), and trust ( b = 0.296, p -value < 0.001) had significant positive influences on travel intention, indicating that trust acts as a partial intermediary between self-congruity and travel intention supporting H6. In addition, this study examined the mediating effect size using the bootstrap method ( Hayes and Rockwood, 2017 ). According to the result in Table 5 , the bootstrap 95% confidence interval (CI) did not contain 0, indicating the mediating effect was significant, and the total indirect effect accounts for nearly half of the total effect (43.5%).

Table 5. Mediating effect test.

4.3 Moderating effect test

A series of regression analyses using PROCESS ( Hayes and Rockwood, 2017 ) was conducted to test the moderating effect further. We test the moderating effect of tourists’ prior knowledge on the relationship between information quality and tourism intention. The results in Table 6 show that the interaction term has a significant negative impact (β = −0.234, p -value < 0.001) on tourism intention rather than a positive role mentioned in Hypothesis 7. Next, spotlight analysis was used to test the moderating effect further. Based on one standard deviation of the average value of tourists’ prior knowledge, tourists were divided into tourists with high (M + 1SD) prior knowledge (PK) and low (M − 1SD) PK for simple slope analysis ( Figure 2 ). The results show that compared with tourists with low PK (Simple Slope = 0.569, p -value < 0.001), tourists with high PK (Simple Slope = 0.135, p -value < 0.05) are less possibly influenced by tourism information on the social media platform, which means that the more knowledge they have about destinations, the less they rely on information when making travel decisions.

Table 6. Moderating effect test.

Figure 2. Interaction of information quality (IQ) and prior knowledge (PK) on travel intention (TI).

Then a moderated mediation model ( Hayes and Rockwood, 2017 ) was conducted to test whether the mediating effect would be weakened or strengthened when the level of moderating variable was changed. Table 6 shows that the interaction of information quality and prior knowledge has a negative effect on self-congruity ( b = −0.176, p -value < 0.05). The interaction effects at different levels of prior knowledge (the mean of prior knowledge ± 1 SD) were further examined, and it turned out that the relationship between information quality and self-congruity is stronger when prior knowledge is low ( b = 0.615, p < 0.001) rather than high ( b = 0.290, p -value < 0.01; Figure 3 ). Table 7 shows the conditional indirect effect of information quality on travel intention through self-congruity at different levels of the moderating variable prior knowledge (M ± 1SD). The indirect effect was strong for lower PK group [β = 0.108, 95% CI: (0.051, 0.185)] and was weak for higher PK group [ b = 0.051, 95% CI: (0.017, 0.110)]. Thus, Hypothesis 8 was supported. As the interaction items of information quality and prior knowledge did not significantly influence trust ( b = −0.052, p -value > 0.05), rejecting H9.

Figure 3. Interaction of information quality (IQ) and prior knowledge (PK) on self-congruity (SC).

Table 7. Conditional indirect effects of information quality (IQ) on travel intention (TI) via self-congruity (SC) at levels of prior knowledge (PK).

In addition, we examined the conditional direct effect of information quality on travel intention after adding two mediator variables. Overall, the interaction of information quality and prior knowledge has a significant negative effect ( b = −0.176, p -value < 0.05) on travel intention ( Table 6 ), while this effect is mainly reflected in the group with low prior knowledge ( b = 0.397, p -value < 0.001). However, for tourists with a high prior knowledge level (M + 1SD), the impact of tourism information quality on travel intention is no longer significant ( b = 0.047, p -value > 0.05).

5 Discussion, implications, and limitations and future work

5.1 discussion.

Integrating rational and emotional perspectives, this study explores tourism information quality’s direct and indirect impacts on consumers’ travel intentions. In addition, the moderating role of prior knowledge in the influence of information quality on rational and emotional decision-making paths is tested.

The empirical results show that consumers’ processing of tourism information and making tourism decisions are the results of both rationality and sensibility, and self-congruity and trust play a mediating role in emotional decision-making. The results align with Levy’s (1959) assertion that consumers are not functionally oriented and the symbolic meaning of products largely influences their behavior. It also proves that, as Sirgy and Su (2000) proposed, the more consistent tourists’ self-concept with the image of the destination, the more positive they will be toward the destination and have the intention to visit.

It is found that tourists’ prior knowledge negatively moderates the direct impact of social media tourism information quality on tourism intention. Compared with expert tourists, novice tourists’ tourism decisions are more dependent on tourism information content. It is contrary to the view proposed by Teichmann (2011) that the higher the level of professional knowledge of tourists, the more inclined they are to obtain information from outside before making tourism decisions. The possible reason is that consumers’ familiarity with the destination is inversely related to their willingness to use the platform ( Abd Aziz et al., 2010 ). Tourists with a high level of prior knowledge have rich destination knowledge or personal experience, so they can better identify the information about the destination on the social media platform, and their attitude toward the destination no longer depends too much on the information contained on the media platform.

The analysis results also show that factors such as travel knowledge and previous travel experience have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between information quality and self-congruity, consistent with Beerli et al. (2007) . Novice travelers rely more on relatively simple information cues, such as the image of a destination’s visitors. The information shared by typical tourists is transformed into a symbolic and emotional information clue, which stimulates the novice tourists to carry out the association, draw their own image close to the image of the destination, and invest emotional commitment to the destination so as to achieve “balance” in the way of emotional decision-making.

It must be pointed out that in the Web 2.0 era, social media was not only an information platform but also an influence platform ( Hanna et al., 2011 ), enabling consumers to have more power than ever before. When interests are damaged, consumers can express their dissatisfaction through negative word of mouth, which can have great negative impacts on the destination image as well as the sustainable development of the local tourism industry ( Liu et al., 2020 ). Thus, all stakeholders should work toward transforming the tourism market from unregulated to regulated ( Liu et al., 2021 ).

5.2 Implications

5.2.1 theoretical implications.

First, this study innovatively integrates rational and emotional decision-making paths to explore the impact of social media tourism information on consumers’ tourism intention. The generation of tourism intention comes not only from the rational evaluation based on functional information clues but also from the emotional evaluation based on self-congruity and trust. It is verified that the tourist destination has both functional value and symbolic value for tourists. Second, from the perspective of self-congruity, this study explores the behavior tendency before traveling. Previous studies mainly focused on the impact of self-congruity on post-tour behavior, such as tourist satisfaction ( Murphy et al., 2007 ) and revisit intention ( Matzler et al., 2016 ). This study enriched the research on the impact of self-congruity on consumers’ pre-tour behavior and confirmed that self-congruity also impacts consumers’ destination behavior intention before traveling. Third, it verifies the boundary conditions of the tourism information quality on tourism decision-making. Information asymmetry is the premise of the value of social media. Because of the asymmetry of tourism information, consumers pay more attention to the non-trading attribute of social media and tend to offset uncertainty perception with the help of user-shared information. When the asymmetry of tourism information decreases, the impact of social media tourism information will also decline, and tourists’ prior knowledge can offset tourists’ dependence on tourism information. Expert tourists are more insensitive to the risk of tourism information asymmetry than novice tourists. As the empirical analysis results of this study show, the impact of tourism information quality on tourism intention is more obvious among novice tourists.

5.2.2 Practical implications

Social media has endowed tourism consumers with more ways of self-expression and value demands. In the context of “attention economy,” this study provides empirical support for guiding destination operators to carry out content marketing, destination image building, and tourism enterprise service innovation. First, this study found that the quality of TGC directly affects consumers’ travel intentions and indirectly affects consumers’ travel intentions through self-congruity and trust. Therefore, tourism destination management should pay attention to the incentive and management of TGC, and encourage tourists to create value together. On the one hand, tourism managers should encourage publishers to continue to create and share high-quality tourism information that is complete, rich, eye-catching, authentic, and credible so that visitors, especially consumers who have not visited the destination, can form a clearer and rational understanding of the destination through the functional attributes of information transmission. On the other hand, the social attributes of media platforms should be utilized to create opinion leaders and destination spokespeople through hidden attributes such as identity, relationship, and popularity of publishers, to stimulate consumers’ emotional experience and value demands for maintaining their own image. For consumers are not only “motivated by reason” but also “motivated by emotion.” Especially, the destination administrations should establish a good image and conduct transparent supervision on the unethical incident timely and efficiently. Second, this study found that the more consistent the consumer’s self-image with the destination image, the easier it is to generate tourism intention. Therefore, the tourism destination management party should not only pay attention to the dissemination of functional information but also use the symbolic meaning of the destination to design publicity information to shape their personality and differentiation advantages. It will stimulate consumers to regard the destination image as an extension of their self-image, so that consumers can express their personality and maintain their image by traveling to the destination. Third, the direct impact of the quality of TGC on tourism intention mainly exists in the novice tourist group, while the role of the expert tourist group can be almost ignored. Therefore, for novice tourists, tourism destination operators or managers should pay attention to guiding and encouraging publishers to introduce the security factors such as tourism destination services and infrastructure that novice tourists are concerned about so as to weaken the negative impact of cognitive bias on tourism intention. Especially during the pandemic, fear of COVID-19 and perceived risk significantly negatively impact attitude ( Bratić et al., 2021 ; Rather, 2021 ). Destination operators should use social platforms to pass on authentic information about safety measures to visitors to minimize tourist’s negative feelings and diminish the perceived fear of COVID-19.

This study also found that novice tourists are more likely to rely on symbolic cues or emotional cues of tourism information than expert tourists. Therefore, the choice of publishers is very important. When the image of publishers is consistent with the brand image, it is easier for visitors to remember the brand ( Knoll et al., 2015 ). Publishers with a higher matching degree with the brand/destination image are more likely to arouse positive interaction of visitors and lead to a positive attitude toward the destination.

In conclusion, this study provides a new research perspective on how social media travel information affects the decision-making of potential travel consumers. Furthermore, it verifies the symbolic value of a tourism destination and provides a theoretical reference for optimizing its brand image value. At the same time, it provides support for destination management to carry out content marketing.

5.3 Limitation and future work

The world tourism industry has been inevitably influenced a lot due to unprecedented mobility restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) ( Gössling et al., 2020 ). Nevertheless, we did not consider the epidemic’s influence as a leading factor because of the following considerations. First, it is often difficult to reasonably operate the independent variable of COVID-19 when collecting data from the questionnaire. Future research should encourage the application of big data analysis techniques (including natural language processing, machine learning, etc.) and experimental methods to gain more and deeper insights into changes in tourist behavior and new tourism consumption phenomena brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic ( Chen and Li, 2022 ). Besides, China may be different from other countries and regions in terms of epidemic prevention policies. How to localize epidemy-related tourist behavior studies in China is also a topic that need attention and future directions.

In addition to the above, this study still has several limitations that lead to directions for future work. First, this study took the tourism information quality on social media as an overall dimension to test its impact mechanism on consumers’ travel intention and did not subdivide it into functional and emotional information cues, which can be further tested in future work. Second, we use prior knowledge as the moderating variable in this study. Finally, since consumer involvement ( Geng and Chen, 2021 ; Yadav et al., 2021 ) may influence consumer decision-making, involvement can be tested as a moderating variable in the future. Third, the empirical data of this study only covers vacation tourism destinations in China, and whether the findings are applied to other destination types should be further verified.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Author contributions

HW: formal analysis, writing—original draft preparation, and supervision. JY: visualization and project administration. Both authors contributed to the conceptualization, methodology, validation, data curation, writing—review and editing, and read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• ^ https://www.credamo.com

Abd Aziz, N., Musa, G., and Sulaiman, A. (2010). The influence of travel motivations and social factors on travel web site usage among malaysian travellers. Asian J. Bus. Account. 3, 89–116.

Google Scholar

Ahn, T., Ekinci, Y., and Li, G. (2013). Self-congruence, functional congruence, and destination choice. J. Bus. Res. 66, 719–723. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.09.009

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Alba, J. W., and Hutchinson, J. W. (2000). Knowledge calibration: What consumers know and what they think they know. J. Consum. Res. 27, 123–156. doi: 10.1086/314317

Ayeh, J. K., Au, N., and Law, R. (2013). Predicting the intention to use consumer-generated media for travel planning. Tour. Manag. 35, 132–143. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2012.06.010

Beerli, A., Meneses, G. D., and Gil, S. M. (2007). Self-congruity and destination choice. Ann. Tour. Res. 34, 571–587. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2007.01.005

Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. J. Consum. Res. 15, 139–168. doi: 10.1086/209154

Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., and Grimes, J. M. (2010). Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Gov. Inf. Q. 27, 264–271. doi: 10.1016/j.giq.2010.03.001

Bhattacharya, C. B., and Sen, S. (2003). Consumer-company identification: A framework for understanding consumers’ relationships with companies. J. Mark. 67, 76–88. doi: 10.1509/jmkg.67.2.76.18609

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Browne, M. W., and Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociol. Methods Res. 21, 230–258.

Bovee, M. W. (2004). Information quality: A conceptual framework and empirical validation . Ph.D. dissertation. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas.

Bratić, M., Radivojević, A., Stojiljković, N., Simović, O., Juvan, E., Lesjak, M., et al. (2021). Should I stay or should I go? Tourists’ COVID-19 risk perception and vacation behavior shift. Sustainability 13:3573. doi: 10.3390/su13063573

Chen, G., and Li, M. (2022). Tourist behavior research related to the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Chin. Ecotourism 12, 114–124.

Cheunkamon, E., Jomnonkwao, S., and Ratanavaraha, V. (2020). Determinant factors influencing thai tourists’ intentions to use social media for travel planning. Sustainability 12:7252. doi: 10.3390/su12187252

Chon, K. S. (1992). Self-image/destination image congruity. Ann. Tour. Res. 19, 360–363. doi: 10.1016/0160-7383(92)90090-C

Chung, N., and Han, H. (2017). The relationship among tourists’ persuasion, attachment and behavioral changes in social media. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 123, 370–380. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2016.09.005

Chung, N., Han, H., and Koo, C. (2015). Adoption of travel information in user-generated content on social media: The moderating effect of social presence. Behav. Inf. Technol. 34, 902–919. doi: 10.1080/0144929X.2015.1039060

Cordell, V. V. (1997). Consumer knowledge measures as predictors in product evaluation. Psychol. Mark. 14, 241–260. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6793(199705)14:3<241::AID-MAR3>3.0.CO;2-B

Coudounaris, D. N., and Sthapit, E. (2017). Antecedents of memorable tourism experience related to behavioral intentions. Psychol. Mark. 34, 1084–1093.

Egota, T., Chen, N. C., and Golja, T. (2022). The impact of self-congruity and evaluation of the place on wom: Perspectives of tourism destination residents. J. Travel Res. 61, 800–817. doi: 10.1177/00472875211008237

Elliott, R., and Wattanasuwan, K. (1998). Brands as symbolic resources for the construction of identity. Int. J. Advert. 17, 131–144. doi: 10.1080/02650487.1998.11104712

Escalas, J. E., and Bettman, J. R. (2005). Self-construal, reference groups, and brand meaning. J. Consum. Res. 32, 378–389. doi: 10.1086/497549

Fan, A., Shen, H., Wu, L., Mattila, A. S., and Bilgihan, A. (2018). Whom do we trust? Cultural differences in consumer responses to online recommendations. Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag. 30, 1508–1525. doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-01-2017-0050

Fast, N. J., and Tiedens, L. Z. (2010). Blame contagion: The automatic transmission of self-serving attributions. J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 46, 97–106. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.10.007

Filieri, R., Alguezaui, S., and McLeay, F. (2015). Why do travelers trust Tripadvisor? Antecedents of trust towards consumer-generated media and its influence on recommendation adoption and word of mouth. Tour. Manag. 51, 174–185. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2015.05.007

Filieri, R., and McLeay, F. (2014). E-WOM and accommodation: An analysis of the factors that influence travelers’ adoption of information from online reviews. J. Travel Res. 53, 44–57. doi: 10.1177/0047287513481274

Flores-Ruiz, D., Elizondo-Salto, A., and Barroso-González, M. O. (2021). Using social media in tourists sentiment analysis: A case study of andalusia during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability 13:3836. doi: 10.3390/su13073836

Fornell, C., and Larcker, D. F. (1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics. J. Mark. Res. 18, 382–388.

Fotis, J., Buhalis, D., and Rossides, N. (2012). “Social media use and impact during the holiday travel planning process,” in Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism , eds M. Fuchs, F. Ricci, and L. Cantoni (Vienna: Springer), 13–24. doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-1142-0_2

Füller, J., Matzler, K., and Hoppe, M. (2008). Brand community members as a source of innovation. J. Prod. Innov. Manag. 25, 608–619. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5885.2008.00325.x

Geng, R., and Chen, J. (2021). The influencing mechanism of interaction quality of UGC on consumers’ purchase intention–an empirical analysis. Front. Psychol. 12:697382. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697382

George, D., and Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for windows step by step: A simple guide and reference 11.0 update , 4th Edn. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Gössling, S., Scott, D., and Hall, M. C. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: A rapid assessmet of COVID-19. J. Sustain. Tour. 29, 1–20. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708

Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., and Sarstedt, M. (2013). Partial least squares structural equation modeling: Rigorous applications, better results and higher acceptance. Long Range Plann. 46, 1–12.

Hajli, M. N. (2014). A study of the impact of social media on consumers. Int. J. Mark. Res. 56, 387–404. doi: 10.2501/IJMR-2014-025

Hanafiah, M. H., Md Zain, A., Asyraff, M. A., and Makhasi, G. Y. M. (2022). The roles of technology acceptance, user credibility and Covid-19 perceived health risk in tourist’s social media user-generated-content usage intention. Enlightening Tour. Pathmaking J. 12, 337–365. doi: 10.33776/et.v12i1.5427

Hanna, R., Rohm, A., and Crittenden, V. L. (2011). We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem. Bus. Horiz. 54, 265–273. doi: 10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.007

Hayes, A. F., and Rockwood, N. J. (2017). Regression-based statistical mediation and moderation analysis in clinical research: Observations, recommendations, and implementation. Behav. Res. Ther. 98, 39–57.

Helgeson, J. G., and Supphellen, M. (2004). A conceptual and measurement comparison of self-congruity and brand personality: The impact of socially desirable responding. Int. J. Mark. Res. 46, 205–233. doi: 10.1177/147078530404600201

Hudson, S., and Thal, K. (2013). The impact of social media on the consumer decision process: Implications for tourism marketing. J. Travel Tour. Mark. 30, 156–160. doi: 10.1080/10548408.2013.751276

Iordanova, E., and Stainton, H. (2019). Cognition, emotion and trust: A comparative analysis of Cambodia’s perceived and projected online image. Tour. Stud. 19, 496–519. doi: 10.1177/1468797619837970

Jacoby, J., Troutman, T., Kuss, A., and Mazursky, D. (1986). Experience and expertise in complex decision making. ACR North Am. Adv. 13, 469–472.

Kapoor, P. S., Balaji, M. S., Jiang, Y., and Jebarajakirthy, C. (2022). Effectiveness of travel social media influencers: A case of eco-friendly hotels. J. Travel Res. 61, 1138–1155. doi: 10.1177/00472875211019469

Kerstetter, D., and Cho, M. H. (2004). Prior knowledge, credibility and information search. Ann. Tour. Res. 31, 961–985. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2004.04.002

Kim, A. J., and Johnson, K. K. (2016). Power of consumers using social media: Examining the influences of brand-related user-generated content on facebook. Comput. Hum. Behav. 58, 98–108. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.047

Kim, J. H., Ritchie, J. R. B., and McCormick, B. (2012). Development of a scale to measure memorable tourism experiences. J. Travel Res. 51, 12–25. doi: 10.1177/0047287510385467

Kim, S. E., Lee, K. Y., Shin, S. I., and Yang, S. B. (2017). Effects of tourism information quality in social media on destination image formation: The case of Sina Weibo. Inf. Manag. 54, 687–702. doi: 10.1016/j.im.2017.02.009

Knoll, J., Schramm, H., Schallhorn, C., and Wynistorf, S. (2015). Good guy vs. bad guy: The influence of parasocial interactions with media characters on brand placement effects. Int. J. Advert. 34, 720–743. doi: 10.1080/02650487.2015.1009350

Kressmann, F., Sirgy, M. J., Herrmann, A., Huber, F., Huber, S., and Lee, D. J. (2006). Direct and indirect effects of self-image congruence on brand loyalty. J. Bus. Res. 59, 955–964. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2006.06.001

Kumi, R., and Limayem, M. (2012). “Impact of online content on attitudes and buying intentions,” in Proceedings of the eighteenth Americas conference on information systems , Seattle, WA.

Lam, T., and Hsu, C. H. (2006). Predicting behavioral intention of choosing a travel destination. Tour. Manag. 27, 589–599. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2005.02.003

Lata, S., and Rana, K. (2021). What are the determinants of consumers’ online reviews adoption for hotel bookings: A structural equation modelling approach. Enlightening Tour. Pathmaking J. 11, 171–193. doi: 10.33776/et.v11i1.5354

Levy, S. J. (1959). Symbols for sale. Harv. Bus. Rev. 37, 117–119.

Li, M. W., Teng, H. Y., and Chen, C. Y. (2020). Unlocking the customer engagement-brand loyalty relationship in tourism social media: The roles of brand attachment and customer trust. J. Hosp. Tour. Manag. 44, 184–192. doi: 10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.06.015

Li, R., Laroche, M., Richard, M. O., and Cui, X. (2022). More than a mere cup of coffee: When perceived luxuriousness triggers chinese customers perceptions of quality and self-congruity. J. Retail. Consum. Serv. 64:102759. doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102759

Liu, Y., Yao, Y., and Fan, D. X. F. (2020). Evaluating tourism market regulation from tourists’ perspective: Scale development and validation. J. Travel Res. 59, 975–992. doi: 10.1177/0047287519871107

Liu, Y., Zhang, R., and Yao, Y. (2021). How tourist power in social media affects tourism market regulation after unethical incidents: Evidence from China. Ann. Tour. Res. 91:103296. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2021.103296

Lu, X., Ba, S., Huang, L., and Feng, Y. (2013). Promotional marketing or word-of-mouth? Evidence from online restaurant reviews. Inf. Syst. Res. 24, 596–612. doi: 10.1287/isre.1120.0454

Luo, Q., and Zhong, D. (2015). Using social network analysis to explain communication characteristics of travel-related electronic word-of-mouth on social networking sites. Tour. Manag. 46, 274–282. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2014.07.007

Mahat, Z. D. N., and Hanafiah, M. H. (2020). Help me TripAdvisor! examining the relationship between Tripadvisor E-WOM attributes, trusts towards online reviews and travellers behavioural intentions. J. Inf. Organ. Sci. 44, 83–112. doi: 10.31341/jios.44.1.4

Malik, Z., Hashmi, K., Najmi, E., and Rezgui, A. (2018). Wisdom extraction in knowledge-based information systems. J. Knowl. Manag. 23, 23–45. doi: 10.1108/JKM-05-2018-0288

Matzler, K., Strobl, A., Stokburger-Sauer, N., Bobovnicky, A., and Bauer, F. (2016). Brand personality and culture: The role of cultural differences on the impact of brand personality perceptions on tourists’ visit intentions. Tour. Manag. 52, 507–520. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2015.07.017

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., and Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Acad. Manag. Rev. 20, 709–734. doi: 10.5465/amr.1995.9508080335

McAllister, D. J. (1995). Affect-and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Acad. Manag. J. 38, 24–59. doi: 10.5465/256727

McCracken, A. (1987). Emotional impact of possession loss. J. Gerontol. Nurs. 13, 14–19. doi: 10.3928/0098-9134-19870201-06

Mitchell, A. A., and Dacin, P. F. (1996). The asessment of alternative measures of consumer expertise. J. Consum. Res. 23, 219–240. doi: 10.1086/209479

Moorman, C., Zaltman, G., and Deshpande, R. (1992). Relationships between providers and users of market research: The dynamics of trust within and between organizations. J. Mark. Res. 29, 314–328. doi: 10.1177/002224379202900303

Morand, J. C., Cardoso, L., Pereira, A. M., Vila, N. A., and de Almeida, G. G. F. (2021). Tourism ambassadors as special destination image inducers. Enlightening Tour. Pathmaking J. 11, 194–230. doi: 10.33776/et.v11i1.5137

Morwitz, V. G., and Schmittlein, D. (1992). Using segmentation to improve sales forecasts based on purchase intent: Which “intenders” actually buy? J. Mark. Res. 29, 391–405. doi: 10.1177/002224379202900401

Murphy, L., Benckendorff, P., and Moscardo, G. (2007). Linking travel motivation, tourist self-image and destination brand personality. J. Travel Tour. Mark. 22, 45–59. doi: 10.1300/J073v22n02_04

Nezakati, H., Amidi, A., Jusoh, Y. Y., Moghadas, S., Aziz, Y. A., and Sohrabinezhadtalemi, R. (2015). Review of social media potential on knowledge sharing and collaboration in tourism industry. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 172, 120–125. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.344

Onkvisit, S., and Shaw, J. (1987). Self-concept and image congruence: Some research and managerial implications. J. Consum. Mark. 4, 13–22. doi: 10.1108/eb008185

Park, D. H., Lee, J., and Han, I. (2007). The effect of online consumer reviews on consumer purchasing intention: The moderating role of involvement. Int. J. Electron. Commer. 11, 125–148. doi: 10.2753/JEC1086-4415110405

Petty, R. E., and Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: central and peripheral routes to persuasion. New York, NY: Springer.

Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., and Schumann, D. (1983). Central and peripheral routes to advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of involvement. J. Consum. Res. 10, 135–146. doi: 10.1086/208954

Petty, R. E., Wegener, D. T., and Fabrigar, L. R. (1997). Attitudes and attitude change. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 48, 609–647. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.609

Ratchford, B. T. (2001). The economics of consumer knowledge. J. Consum. Res. 27, 397–411. doi: 10.1086/319617

Rather, R. A. (2021). Monitoring the impacts of tourism-based social media, risk perception and fear on tourist’s attitude and revisiting behaviour in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Curr. Issues Tour. 24, 3275–3283. doi: 10.1080/13683500.2021.1884666

Ridings, C. M., Gefen, D., and Arinze, B. (2002). Some antecedents and effects of trust in virtual communities. J. Strateg. Inf. Syst. 11, 271–295. doi: 10.1016/S0963-8687(02)00021-5

Roehm, M. L., and Sternthal, B. (2001). The moderating effect of knowledge and resources on the persuasive impact of analogies. J. Consum. Res. 28, 257–272. doi: 10.1086/322901

Rowley, J. E. (2007). The wisdom hierarchy: Representations of the DIKW hierarchy. J. Inf. Sci. 33, 163–180. doi: 10.1177/0165551506070706

Servidio, R., and Ruffolo, I. (2016). Exploring the relationship between emotions and memorable tourism experiences through narratives. Tour. Manag. Perspect. 20, 151–160. doi: 10.1016/j.tmp.2016.07.010

Sheeran, P. (2002). Intention—behavior relations: A conceptual and empirical review. Eur. Rev. Soc. Psychol. 12, 1–36. doi: 10.1080/14792772143000003

Sin, K. Y., Mohamad, A. A., and Lo, M.-C. (2020). A critical review of literature in the rising tide of social media towards promoting tourism. Enlightening Tour. Pathmaking J. 10, 270–305. doi: 10.33776/et.v10i2.4887

Sirgy, M. J. (1982). Self-concept in consumer behavior: A critical review. J. Consum. Res. 9, 287–300. doi: 10.1086/208924

Sirgy, M. J., and Su, C. (2000). Destination image, self-congruity, and travel behavior: Toward an integrative model. J. Travel Res. 38, 340–352. doi: 10.1177/004728750003800402

Sirgy, M. J., Grewal, D., Mangleburg, T. F., Park, J. O., Chon, K. S., Claiborne, C. B., et al. (1997). Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence. J. Acad. Mark. Sci. 25, 229–241. doi: 10.1177/0092070397253004

Sirgy, M. J., Johar, J. S., Samli, C. A., and Claiborne, C. B. (1991). Self-congruence vs functional congruence: Predictors of consumer behavior. J. Acad. Mark. Sci. 19, 363–375. doi: 10.1007/BF02726512

Smith, K. H. (2004). Implementing the “marketing you” project in large sections of principles of marketing. J. Mark. Educ. 26, 123–136. doi: 10.1177/0273475304265542

Sparks, B. A., Perkins, H. E., and Buckley, R. (2013). Online travel reviews as persuasive communication: The effects of content type, source, and certification logos on consumer behavior. Tour. Manag. 39, 1–9. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2013.03.007

Teichmann, K. (2011). Expertise, experience and self-confidence in consumers’ travel information search. Int. J. Cult. Tour. Hosp. Res. 2, 184–194. doi: 10.1108/17506181111139591

Torres, E. N., Singh, D., and Robertson-Ring, A. (2015). Consumer reviews and the creation of booking transaction value: Lessons from the hotel industry. Int. J. Hosp. Manag. 50, 77–83. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.07.012

Tsiakali, K. (2015). Tourists’ personality and consumer behaviour in social media. Mytilene: University of The Aegean.

Wang, R. Y. (1998). A product perspective on total data quality management. Commun. ACM 41, 58–65. doi: 10.1145/269012.269022

Wearing, S. L., and Foley, C. (2017). Understanding the tourist experience of cities. Ann. Tour. Res. 65, 97–107. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2017.05.007

Woodside, A. G., and Lysonski, S. (1989). A general model of traveler destination choice. J. Travel Res. 27, 8–14. doi: 10.1177/004728758902700402

Xiang, Z., and Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of social media in online travel information search. Tour. Manag. 31, 179–188. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2009.02.016

Yadav, N., Verma, S., and Chikhalkar, R. D. (2021). eWOM, destination preference and consumer involvement–a stimulus-organism-response (SOR) lens. Tour. Rev. 77, 1135–1152. doi: 10.1108/TR-10-2020-0506

Yeap, J. A., Ignatius, J., and Ramayah, T. (2014). Determining consumers’ most preferred E-WOM platform for movie reviews: A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach. Comput. Hum. Behav. 31, 250–258. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.034

Yu, J., and Ko, E. (2021). UGC attributes and effects: Implication for luxury brand advertising. Int. J. Advert. 40, 945–967. doi: 10.1080/02650487.2021.1898773

Yu, Q. Q., Pickering, S., Geng, R., Dorothy, A., and Yen, D. A. (2021). Thanks for the memories: Exploring city tourism experiences via social media reviews. Tour. Manag. Perspect. 40:100851. doi: 10.1016/j.tmp.2021.100851

Zehrer, A., and Grabmüller, A. (2012). Social media marketing in tourism education: Insights into the development and value of a social network site for a higher education institution in tourism. J. Vacat. Mark. 18, 221–228. doi: 10.1177/1356766712449368

Zhang, K. Z., Zhao, S. J., Cheung, C. M., and Lee, M. K. (2014). Examining the influence of online reviews on consumers’ decision-making: A heuristic–systematic model. Decis. Support Syst. 67, 78–89. doi: 10.1016/j.dss.2014.08.005

Zhao, X. R., Wang, L., Guo, X., and Law, R. (2015). The influence of online reviews to online hotel booking intentions. Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag. 27, 1343–1364. doi: 10.1108/IJCHM-12-2013-0542

Keywords : information quality, travel intention, self-congruity, trust, prior knowledge

Citation: Wang H and Yan J (2022) Effects of social media tourism information quality on destination travel intention: Mediation effect of self-congruity and trust. Front. Psychol. 13:1049149. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1049149

Received: 20 September 2022; Accepted: 28 November 2022; Published: 22 December 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Wang and Yan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Jinzhe Yan, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Positive and negative effects of Social Media on the Tourism industry

Social media tourism statistics

Importance of social media in the tourism industry, impact of social media on tourism, impact of social media influencers on tourism, negative effects of social media on the tourism industry, advances in social media for travel, tourism, and hospitality, examples of tourism social media campaigns.

Would you prefer to listen rather than read????

The social media phenomenon has this incredible power to impact various industries . The tourism industry seems to be very susceptible to the effects of social media platforms . To what extent, though?

The travel industry is among the early adopters of new technologies and solutions . Social media networks enabled the sector to improve various processes and deliver better experiences to travelers worldwide.

Let’s see the most crucial social media tourism statistics , followed by the effects of social media on tourism , and some of the most noteworthy examples of social media use in the sector .

The relationship between social media platforms and the travel industry is best understood through relevant stats. Here are the most interesting social media tourism statistics. 

When it comes to travelers and social networks, it’s surprising to discover that almost 85% of millennials use someone else’s social posts when planning their vacations . Around 43% of them won’t go on a vacation if they can’t be sure that their followers can see their vacation posts , while 34% book a hotel because they saw it via user-generated content. 

People from all corners of the world keep using social media channels to talk about their travels. In fact, 74% of people who travel use social media while on vacation . During 2019, social media users kept generating a travel-related hashtag search volume of 1 million every week . 

According to recent research, social media became a vital part of tourism companies’ strategic operations during the pandemic, and consumption increased by 72% .  

Social media tourism statistics also reveal some interesting shifts in tourism marketing strategies pursued by travel agencies, hotels, travel agents, and OTAs. 

The travel industry continues to be the most engaging industry on Instagram, with an average engagement rate of 1.41% . The engagement rates on Twitter are 0.04%, TikTok 8.74%, and Facebook 0.27%. The spike in TikTok travel industry posts engagement indicates that this social media channel can provide very lucrative opportunities to the travel sector in the future. 

Representatives of tourism businesses use various marketing channels in their mix. However, the International Tourist Research Centers found out that 88% of tourism businesses actively use social media to promote destinations and offers and understand the attitudes of consumers. 

Paid ads continue to be the favorite social media marketing strategy for travel marketers, and the most attractive platform is Facebook . According to recent research, almost 80% of travel marketers use Facebook to launch paid ad campaigns to achieve a range of goals, from increasing awareness to boosting booking rates. 

With the above stats in mind, it’s pretty clear that social media is quite an important asset for the tourism sector. 

When it comes to the importance of social media in the tourism industry, we first have to acknowledge the opportunities social media platforms deliver to hotels, travel agents, agencies, and OTAs. The power of social media lies in the sheer number of people who use it daily:

• Facebook has 2.93 billion monthly active users ;
• Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users ;
• Twitter has 290.5 million monthly active users ;
• TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users .

Any business or individual involved in the tourism sector can create and use these social media platforms for free. They can create official profiles and use them to provide relevant information, answer users’ questions, or engage with users to create a large following. No wonder many marketers use social media to help hotels and travel agents increase visibility. 

More importantly, social media platforms offer paid marketing opportunities . They have access to a ridiculous amount of information on their users. It’s important because it enables travel marketers to launch comprehensive marketing strategies. The platforms have advanced targeting options allowing marketers to target very specific demographics.

Another important factor is engagement and interaction. Social media platforms are also communication channels. They also support the integration of AI and chatbots that travel companies can use to answer important questions or enable online booking. 

Finally, travel companies can use social media with social media analytics software . It can help them make sense of the data, measure KPIs such as engagement and click-through rate, and gauge followers’ sentiment.

Leverage Mize Tech for Better Engagement

Drive growth with innovative solutions. Discover how Mize Tech can elevate DMCs.

Social media’s impact on tourism is huge . The best way to understand is to discover what people do before going on a trip. Social media helped create this environment where people are invited to research a tourist destination and share personal photos and videos. In other words, social media has completely changed the way people make travel decisions.

In fact, according to GlobalData, 30% of Gen Z and 32% of millennials see a direct engagement with a brand as the most important purchasing decision factor . The same report indicates that social media has also changed the best customer services paradigm. Travel companies now use social media channels to enhance customer service and offer availability 24/7/365.

Social media has also enabled travelers to do comprehensive research on destinations. An average traveler has 400 digital moments on average before making the booking decision, and almost 90% of those experiences are mobile experiences. 

One of the studies reveals that 27% of travelers make the initial decision to travel to a specific destination thanks to Facebook posts. 

Social media didn’t only transform how travel and hospitality companies market their offer but also how they interact with customers to facilitate direct bookings. A recent survey by GuestCentric discovered that 49% of hoteliers see social media as the second most important marketing and sales priority. We are talking about a 4.5% increase over one year.

Finally, we have reviews via social media. Travelers are four times more likely to choose a hotel with reviews higher than other hotels at the same price point. 76% of travelers are willing to spend more when booking a hotel if most reviews are positive and the score is high. 

More importantly, properties that responded to over 50% of the reviews posted via social media were able to boost occupancy rates by a staggering 6.4% . 

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies. Influencers have become important for the tourism sector. However, they are still not as important as organic social media reviews and posts.

Authentic photos and videos have more value to travelers than paid and staged visuals influencers create and share. Almost 40% of people report that influencer photos and videos don’t impact their decisions when choosing a hotel or resort. 

However, one of the recent studies suggests that this might change in the foreseeable future as social media influencers have the potential to impact all stages of the travelers’ decision-making process, including:

• Information search;
• Evaluating alternatives;
• Purchase decisions;
• Satisfaction;
• Experience sharing.

It partially applies to a tourism business interested in attracting young travelers. It appears that young travelers positively respond to social media influencers, specifically Instagram influencers . Influencers have the power to affect their followers’ intention to visit the places featured in their content.

At the same time, it’s equally important to consider how tourism positively impact and benefits local communities . Explore the synergy between tourism and community development in our focused piece, where we uncover the myriad ways tourism can be a force for local empowerment.

Beyond the significant impact of social media influencers on tourism, there’s a critical need for tourism businesses to craft travel experiences that remain etched in customers’ memories. Uncover effective strategies and practical tips to achieve this by delving into our comprehensive guide about customer journeys in the travel and tourism sector.

Social media doesn’t only have positive effects on the tourism industry. It also has the potential to negatively affect it. One of the biggest concerns for tourism brands is maintaining the brand image. However, as one comparative study finds out , negative interactions on the official social media posting can potentially hurt a travel brand’s image.

The problem with social media is that negative comments don’t only spread among the followers. Potential customers can see these comments and start to second-guess their decisions to travel with the company or book through it.

Finally, as we’ve all seen in the past, social media can negatively affect the tourism industry in one geographical location. The event that comes to mind is the Maldives tourist authority’s Twitter campaign idea . Instead of promoting the tourism industry, the campaign backfired, and the entire sector in the Maldives suffered.

The tourism and hospitality sectors didn’t become interested in leveraging social media only because of billions of people using it. It goes beyond destination marketing via paid ads and influencers. Over the last decade, there have been some significant advances in social media that benefit the entire travel industry.

Take Facebook, for instance. The platform has released a Marketing API , which travel companies can use to streamline advertising on Facebook. Additionally, companies can use Conversions API to enrich their internal marketing data with Facebook’s data. It helps them optimize ad targeting, run a cost-efficient operation, and achieve specific goals.

The advances helped make the Facebook ad platform one of the most comprehensive paid ads platforms online.

When it comes to promoting destinations to reflect modern travelers’ expectations, Instagram hit the sweet spot with the 2020 Reels update . Instagram users, including influencers, can create stunning 15-second videos to highlight some destinations, activities, or services. 

The best way to understand the power of social media is to look at some campaigns and the extent of their success.

#ArtsinLB – destination social media marketing

Long Beach arts and culture are among the main tourist attractions in this location. However, the city of Los Angeles managed to take center stage. To bring culture and arts back into the spotlight, Long Beach CVB decided to use social media influencers for every major social channel, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. 

The results were outstanding. The #ArtsinLB generated almost 2,000 unique posts, and the posts generated 38 million impressions . 

Visit Wiltshire – driving social engagement through the roof

Visit Wiltshire is a renowned tourism development organization. After receiving funding from the Discover England Fund, the organization decided to use a multi-channel marketing approach with social media as its central piece. 

The organization was mainly focused on building a social following on Facebook, creating content with engagement in mind.

The campaign lasted for six weeks, and the results were that audience reach increased by 125%, and social engagement actions increased by 156% . 

Discover Your South Africa – increase the number of visitors and considerations

South African Tourism is one of the leading organizations in Africa’s travel sector. The organization wanted to increase the number of visitors from Ireland and the UK. Social media platforms appeared to provide the best opportunities to promote destinations in South Africa to this specific demographic . 

They created a sharable interactive quiz featuring Instagram-like square images. The campaign turned out to be a huge success – it reached 1.5 million UK and Irish users, and the bookings increased by 57% .

Beekman Tower – increasing click-through rates

Beekman Tower is a renowned Manhattan hotel and one of the top tourist attractions in this borough of New York City. The hotel wanted to keep attracting the valued guests while staying true to the modern-classic experience it offers. They decided to go for social media because the hotel market in this area is fast-paced, and competition is harsh. 

The social media campaign targeted Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. After social listening and analysis, they created content that perfectly resonates with their target audience. Every post generated 3,000 impressions on average, but more importantly, posts generated 1,500 clicks on average . 

At this point, the ties between social media and the tourism industry have become inseparable. The impact of social media on tourism and hospitality is immense. Today we have tourism businesses of all sizes leveraging social media to increase awareness, engage with potential guests, and improve bookings. 

Given the current situation, it’s safe to assume that we will continue to see travel companies using social media to establish a better position in their target market. 

Subscribe to our newsletter

Yay you are now subscribed to our newsletter.

Marc Truyols has a degree in Tourism from the University of the Balearic Islands. Marc has extensive experience in the leisure, travel and tourism industry. His skills in negotiation, hotel management, customer service, sales and hotel management make him a strong business development professional in the travel industry.

Mize is the leading hotel booking optimization solution in the world. With over 170 partners using our fintech products, Mize creates new extra profit for the hotel booking industry using its fully automated proprietary technology and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue across its suite of products for its partners. Mize was founded in 2016 with its headquarters in Tel Aviv and offices worldwide.

Related Posts

The Final Travel Brand’s Guide to Tourism Marketing

54 min. Tourism and advertising are old partners: the two industries have been supporting each other’s growth since the commercialization of travel in the 1930s. Nearly a century has passed, and their relationship continues to outlive global insecurities, economic crises, and health pandemics. The importance of marketing in the tourism industry can’t be overstated, not […]

Opening Up to New Markets While Maintaining the Brand 

8 min. Case study of adapting the Mize brand for the East Asia market Making a cultural adjustment  – finding the balance between global and local  The process of growing globally can be very exciting and, at the same time, challenging. Although you are bringing more or less the same products and vision, the way […]

Travel Niche: What It Is, How to Leverage It, Case Studies & More

14 min. Niche travel is one of the few travel sectors that have maintained their pre-COVID market growth. By catering to specific traveler segments, niche travel developed products around adventure travel, eco-tourism, LGBTQ+ travel, and wellness retreats. Take adventure tourism as only one segment of the niche tourism market.  In 2021, it reached 288 billion […]

Sustainable Tourism: Six Destination Marketing Tactics to Attract Millennial and Gen Z Travelers

Learn how to engage eco-conscious audiences and boost your destination's appeal.

Millennials and Generation Z comprise more than half of the world’s population. Combined, their buying and spending habits amass a significant impact on the global economy and the travel industry is no exception. On average, millennials take 35 vacation days per year, followed closely by Gen Z with 29 trips annually. However, these generations aren’t just looking to travel. They place a greater emphasis on sustainability and are considerate of the environmental footprint of their travel choices. 

As the demand for sustainable travel continues to surge, 77% of those aged 18-29, report that sustainability impacts their travel decisions. They are seeking destinations that put the planet first and offer unique and authentic eco-friendly experiences. Millennial and Gen Z travelers are shaping the future of sustainable tourism and global travel trends.

Are you curious about how your destination marketing organization (DMO) can connect with this vital market segment? Dive into these innovative strategies to promote sustainable and responsible tourism.

1. Discover Authenticity: Enriching Visitor Experiences

These consumers are not your typical travelers. They seek authentic and culturally immersive travel experiences that allow them to connect to the destination and contribute positively to the places they visit. Around 60% of Millennials consider an authentic cultural experience as the most vital part of their travel. At the same time, Gen Z travelers cite engaging with the local culture and community at a grassroots level as an important element of theirs.

To capitalize on this, offer an enriching exploration that showcases the rich native culture of your destination and supports your local communities. You should highlight opportunities for meaningful interactions with locals (about 79% of Millennials and Gen Zs prefer spending a day like a local when they travel) and encourage the preservation of your destination’s uniqueness and integrity.

2. Escape the Crowds: Off-Peak Travel Experiences

Provide opportunities for secluded travel experiences during less crowded times. 79% of Asian-Pacific Millennials and Gen Zs prefer to travel during off-peak season to beat the crowds. In China, this figure skyrockets to 90%. While 70% of American Millennial and Gen Z travelers seek out experiences that their family and friends have likely not heard of. By highlighting off-peak travel, you can support sustainable tourism by reducing the strain on natural resources and ecosystems that might be overwhelmed during peak tourist seasons.

Targeting Millennials and Gen Zs with deals outside peak summer periods offers better value due to lower flight and accommodation costs. Promoting off-season travel ensures that your DMO maintains an always-on approach , allowing you to connect with millennial and Gen Z travelers year-round on their terms. 

3. Off-the-Beaten-Path: Embrace “Destination Dupes”

Travelers in 2024 are looking to visit more affordable destinations that offer the charm of famous spots but remain less well-known . These bucket list alternatives are called “destination dupes”—less crowded destinations that are as delightful as the tried-and-true destinations travelers love.

The dupe destination trend has gained wide popularity among Millennial and Gen Z travelers, fundamentally altering their travel habits and behaviors. Dupes offer an affordable alternative to overcrowded hotspots and ensure sustainability by diverting tourists away from overcrowded areas and reducing the negative environmental impact of over-tourism. This redistribution or dispersement of travelers helps spread tourism demand across multiple locations, easing the pressure on natural resources.

4. Visual Storytelling: Captivating Audiences through Social Media

Having grown up in the digital age of modern technology and the internet, Millennial and Gen Z travelers naturally turn to social media for travel inspiration and booking recommendations. Social media has become an excellent tool for storytelling, as a whopping  75% of millennials and 81% of Gen Z travelers report that they look to social media when choosing a travel destination. 

Social media is a powerful avenue for highlighting destinations that promote sustainable and responsible tourism. For example, Visit Costa Rica and Visit Norway are DMOs that use social media to highlight sustainable tourism initiatives such as eco-friendly accommodations, indigenous cultural experiences, and sustainable travel practices and tips. 

5. Shared Success: Strengthen Your Destination’s Impact with Partnerships

Considering that social media is a primary source of travel inspiration for Millennial and Gen Z travelers, DMOs could enhance their sustainability outreach efforts by engaging influencers and bloggers . These travelers are more inclined to choose a travel destination based on online content shared by peers rather than branded travel ads. By highlighting user-generated content (UGC) that reflects genuine stories of travelers, you can create targeted social media ads and campaigns. For example, Visit California is successfully executing this approach, sharing sustainability-focused UGC from satisfied travelers. 

You can also partner with your local businesses on a co-op marketing strategy  to drive travelers to your destination that are looking for sustainable experiences.  By aligning your message with key stakeholders about the sustainable experiences that your destination has to offer and combining budgets to make them go further, you can  broaden your reach.  Utilize co-op marketing to build your own sustainable ecosystem.

6. The Art of Slow Travel: Embracing Mindfulness

Beyond simply unplugging from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, Millennial and Gen Z travelers crave slow and mindful travel experiences that nurture their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. 61% of these travelers prioritize making travel plans that offer personal wellness and well-being experiences.

‍ Slow travel means slowing down to savor the journey while mindful travel emphasizes being considerate of the impact of travel adventures on the environment. Slow and mindful travel helps to support sustainable tourism by encouraging travelers to stay longer in one destination and explore it at a leisurely pace. This decreases their carbon footprint and minimizes pressure on local ecosystems and natural resources.

Emphasize experiences such as nature walks, landscape views, cycling, hiking, and using local amenities that are sustainable for the environment. For example, Visit Colorado advocates for sustainable travel by highlighting outdoor recreation in its national parks and natural heritage, while Visit Maine promotes slow travel experiences along its scenic coastline and outdoor adventures. 

Building Sustainable Communities: Initiatives for the Future

With the ongoing need for sustainability in hospitality, Millennials and Gen Z travelers aren't simply exploring the world; they are reshaping it and defining what it means to travel sustainably. Their travel choices reflect an awareness of their environmental impact and a thirst for genuine experiences. These travelers are not passive tourists but rather, active change-makers who are pushing the industry towards more responsible practices and ushering in a new age of conscious exploration. Now’s the time to adjust your marketing strategies to reach them.

For more sustainability resources, learn how to:

• Jumpstart Your Destination's Sustainability Strategy
• Showcase Your Destination's Sustainability Initiatives Online and Off
• Make the Most of Your Destination’s Sustainability Efforts . 

Discover how you can harness the power of sustainability for your destination, and engage these travelers by contacting our destination marketing experts today.

More Articles You Might Be Interested In

Rethink roas: leverage lifecycle marketing to unlock advanced metrics for your hotel.

Discover how a lifecycle marketing strategy can turn every booking into a loyal, returning customer.

Google's Cookie Announcement: What it Means for Travel Marketers

Learn how to adapt your strategies to Google's recent cookie update.

Summer Travel Trends: A Record-Breaking Year Equals New Opportunities for Travel Marketers

When summer hits, travel goes full steam ahead–and this year is no exception.

“We look at technology as the enabler of guest experience. We are able to learn a lot about the guest and ensure that’s kept in what we call ‘The Golden Profile.’ When a guest arrives, we want to be able to cater to their individuality and their needs. Through time and through a lot of feedback, we continually evolve that to be more and more robust.”

“We're focused on having a lot of opportunities to collect information that the guests provide us. There's a lot of shopping behavior and historical activity that you can get from guests. Many have gotten good at collecting customer information. I think the real trick here in the landscape that we're in today and over the next few years will be how to activate that data.”

"Our digital ad experience with Sojern has been nothing short of top-notch... Sojern works very effectively with keeping our lines of communication open and being aware of our internal deadlines. When the digital ads are presented to us, the team at Valencia Hotel Group is consistently pleased with the designs delivered. They have been an amazing strategic partner."

"My experience with Sojern design team was very smooth and efficient. The example/template provided was very helpful, to explain what we were looking for. Based on all brand elements (ie: fonts, colors, tagline…) and a selection of pictures I provided, they were able to put together a very nice and well-balanced ad selection."

"It was an absolute pleasure working with the entire team at Sojern. We were looking for a simple way to reach potential guests on social media, and Sojern provided a simple solution. They answered all our questions quickly and put together well-designed ads that the entire staff was thrilled with and did it quickly."

Let’s Start a Conversation

We’re ready to help you take the guesswork out of your digital marketing. Contact us to tap into the travel industry’s most intelligent marketing platform.

• Social Pulse Podcast: Hospitality
• Social Media Management
• Social Media Marketing

Tourism Marketing Unplugged: Real Challenges, Real Solutions

Written by Mike Allton

Last modified Sep. 10 2024

Table of Contents

Social media marketing for tourism is no walk in the park. Constantly battling to stay relevant and engaging in the fast-paced digital landscape can feel like an uphill climb, the unique blend of promoting destinations, driving sales, and keeping an audience captivated is riddled with challenges.

How do you break through the noise?

How do you maintain engagement and drive results in an ever-changing industry?

The frustration and pressure can be overwhelming—but the good news is there are proven strategies and solutions to these hurdles.

Our guest today is the key to unlocking these solutions. Kevin Furst, the social media manager at Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, has an impressive background in crafting successful social media campaigns and building engaging communities with experiences spanning from consumer packaged goods to the ski and recreation industry. Kevin has consistently turned challenges into triumphs through creative and innovative solutions.

Today, Kevin will share his insights and experiences on navigating the social media challenges in the tourism sector.

[Listen to the full episode of the Social Pulse: Hospitality Edition (powered by Agorapulse) below or read on for the transcript highlights.]

And you can sign up now for a free trial of Agorapulse and get started right away.

Common Tourism Marketing Challenges

Can you start by sharing some of the common challenges you face in social media marketing for tourism.

Kevin Furst: For the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau, what makes us so unique is how large we are as a destination. We’re about 2,400 square miles, which is roughly the size of the state of Delaware. We are also a membership-based organization. So we have 600+ members who are essentially our clients, and we are posting on their behalf to our audience of almost 675,000 followers across all platforms. So one of the major challenges we have is making sure that we get enough content for our members and making sure that they’re getting posted on these platforms. As you can imagine with 600+ members and a social media team with two people, getting to all those members and creating all that content for the members can be quite a challenge.

We like to break everything down by season. We are a four-season destination, so we have a lot of members and businesses that are just winter-based. We have some that are just solely summer, so we’re always thinking two to three months ahead just so we can get that content—whether it’s us going out and capturing it, whether it’s us requesting that content from the member. We’re always two to three months ahead just to make sure that we have all of our content lined up. Do we have to go out and get a video for a Reel, for a TikTok? Do we have to help get some photos for an upcoming blog post?

I think one of the biggest challenges for us in the Pocono Mountains is covering such a large area with 600+ members. But we’ve come up with some creative solutions to help us make sure we’re checking all those boxes and getting our members out in the social mix.

Mike Allton: That is, first of all, a huge knowledge bomb that you’ve dropped already, which is that we need to be thinking seasonally, folks. We need to be thinking ahead and planning for the kind of content and conversations that we’re going to want to have two, three, four months down the road.

Just to help me understand real quick: The businesses, the resorts, and that sort of thing in the Poconos—are they members of your organization?

Kevin Furst: Yes. So we cover a four-county region in the Poconos, and everybody from a large waterpark resort right down to a mom-and-pop shop boutique can sign on to become members and get some pretty major benefits at becoming a member through social media coverage. We have our television network, Pocono Television Network, and blogs, our website, and billboards. So we have a lot of resources available to these members for most of the time, a very small fee. We help them get their business out in front of millions of people.

Staying Ahead With Audience Engagement

Mike Allton: You’re covering a massive landmass. You also are working and serving a huge number of local businesses all while trying to stay ahead of an industry that’s changing quite rapidly all the time. How do you do that?

How are you staying ahead? How are you maintaining audience engagement on social media?

Kevin Furst: The biggest thing we do to stay ahead is, when I first started the job three years ago, I came in and [about] three months in, they’re like, “So what did we do for member XYZ?” And I just sat there at my desk, like, “I can’t tell you, I have no idea.”

So I built this massive spreadsheet that tracked how many times we posted, what time of the day, and this was the time I was doing everything manually. So I could quickly look at this spreadsheet and see how many posts per season, and how many posts per quarter each one of those members got. And that helped get me to a certain point.

But then we implemented Asana . So with Asana, our entire PR and marketing teams can go on there and see what content, what themes—whether it’s an annual event coming up or a social media holiday, or upcoming blogs.

• We do a lot of posts that are centered around our blogs, more itinerary-based. So that helps plan out some of that content in advance.
• We’re also looking backward, too. So at the beginning of each month, we’ll look at the previous three months to see what content performed the best. And then since we’re planning two to three months, we’ll look at the content that we posted that month for the last three years, so that’ll help us identify any annual events that maybe a member didn’t send to us yet or any events that we don’t have updated date and time for any social media holidays. You know that there’s a social media holiday for just about everything. We always look to see if there are any that we missed that did well in the previous three years.
• We’re using the spreadsheet just to check out how many posts each member had in Asana for our entire team to collaborate, across marketing membership, PR, and the television network. So we’re using all of that to help create content, and then we’re also using our website search data. I’ll go in there weekly and see what visitors to our website are searching for.
• A good example was last February. Every year for Valentine’s Day, we’ll go in, I would say, like the last week of January, early February, [is when] we’ll start posting Valentine’s Day content. Last year, when I went in early January, Valentine’s Day was already the third most searched topic on the website, so we pivoted pretty quickly and started posting that Valentine’s Day content knowing that’s what people were looking for.
• W e were always looking at all the different data sources and also what the visitors were commenting on each of the channels. We’ll look at all that and then, monthly, we’ll also post just a text post on Facebook, saying, “What are you looking forward to the most this fall in the Poconos?” We’ll categorize each one of those comments on that post to help us cater to what upcoming content we should start producing.

How have you worked with specific campaigns?

(An example may be of a challenging campaign and how you navigated it successfully.)

Kevin Furst: Last year, we had a pretty mild winter, and we struggled with getting our visitors to know that our ski areas are open.

If someone’s coming from New York City or Philadelphia, and it’s 50 degrees, and there’s no snow in the backyard, people are not necessarily thinking about skiing. So last year we launched a campaign to promote all our live webcams throughout the region. We have one or multiple live webcams at each one of the ski areas. We were posting weekly a live look-in at this specific ski area with everything that ski area has to offer.

Whether it was “kick off the ski season,” or “this ski area is making snow,” or “January’s Learn to Ski Snowboard Month,” we were identifying certain key events and activities at each one of the resorts and using our live webcams as a way to show people, “Hey, it’s cold here. It may not be snowing, and it may not be 32 degrees in New York City, but we’ve got tons of snow. Come out for the day, come out for a weekend.” So we used that both on social media. We put that on billboards throughout the region as well, as digital campaigns, and also ran some broadcast commercials around our live webcams—and it was an easy way to use tools we already had with the live webcams to get the word out.

Mike Allton: But that’s also a complete omnichannel campaign. So that is impressive. A lot of marketers haven’t tackled that specifically. You mentioned two social media pros on your team. How big is the team overall?

Kevin Furst: It’s myself and the social media coordinator. For social media, the entire marketing team. I think there’s eight of us now.

Mike Allton:   Still not a large team and yet you’re doing these boots-on-the-ground campaigns that are coordinated with digital campaigns. That’s terrific.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Pocono Mountains | Wander, Explore & Discover the Poconos (@poconotourism)

Community Engagement

Let’s talk about community engagement—because a lot of the folks that I’ve talked to on this show [know] that community is huge, and some would argue it’s essential. I’m wondering how and what the role of community engagement is, and how that plays off into your overall social media strategy.

Kevin Furst: Community engagement is probably one of the biggest things that we look at for the success of a social media post.

“It’s nice to have 10,000 followers, but we don’t really look at any of the vanity metrics in terms of follower count. We look at the amount of likes, comments, and shares on a post to see how successful each one is. And then, like I said earlier, we’ll go back the month before just to see which one of those posts had the most engagement and see what we can do to replicate that type of content for that upcoming month of content.” (Kevin Furst, Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau)

We do have a team that helps with answering our comments, so we do try to go in and answer every social media comment posted on all of our channels within two hours, and we do it in such a way that will elicit a response.

So, we’re asking if someone says, “I had such a great time there,” and say they went whitewater rafting, we’ll ask them, “Was it your first time? Did you stay for the bonfire after?” We’ll ask them some questions that hopefully get a response back just to start that conversation.

We’ve also had posts go out and campaigns where somebody will ask a question, and then we turn around and plan their entire vacation to the Pocono Mountains just through the comments and DMs, which is pretty cool.

So they’ll say, “Hey, I’m coming to Stroudsburg, we’re staying here, and it’s just me and my wife. What can we do?” So, we’ll hook them up with the Historic Walking Tour, the Pocono Beverage Trail. If they like outdoor hiking, we’ll direct them to different hiking trails within the Delaware Water Gap. We’ll build that entire itinerary, and on our website, we do have an itinerary builder. We can build the whole thing out, send them the link, and all they have to do is click on it, and they have their entire trip ready to go.

We always try our best to answer the questions and be as transparent as we can in answering if somebody has a question about anything to keep that engagement going.

Mike Allton: You already talked once about how you were integrating social media, the live feeds at the billboards, and that sort of thing.

Do you have any other examples of how you integrate your social media efforts with some of those other omni-channel mediums?

Kevin Furst: One we launched recently is another focus on our small towns.

We are going out and capturing social media content that is itinerary-based.

So say it’s, “Hey, check out five places to eat in downtown Stroudsburg. If you love the outdoors, make sure you check out Delaware Water Gap,” and we’ll build out an itinerary from the hike to a place to eat or a different place to shop for, let’s say, a TikTok or a Reel.

Then we have billboards on the major interstates that say, “Check out Delaware Water Gap exit 310 ” that are on the highway leading up to that exit off the highway before they go into New Jersey.

And then with our broadcast commercial, we have—I think at this point—something pretty much for all of our large, major small towns in the Poconos showing off everything they have to offer.

A lot of this wouldn’t be possible without [our] quarterly, strategic content meetings with the entire team and leadership and our membership team. Whether someone on our board mentions certain things they’re seeing within their communities, or if they’re seeing certain things slow down in their neighborhood, or at their business, we’ll work that into our content.

And then we also listen to all of our members, so we send out quarterly emails with a survey of, “What are you guys doing? What can we do better? How can we help?” And we use that to plan all of our campaigns.

What are some creative solutions that you’ve implemented to overcome obstacles and drive results?

Kevin Furst: Not a sponsored podcast here, but we recently this year just started using Agorapulse , and that was a huge tool that we brought into our marketing mix and social media mix as well. That has so far saved us so much time in scheduling content, as well as listening to what our followers and visitors are saying and what our members are saying on the platforms as well.

But also a big part of it was [that] we were missing the major component of reporting , and then reporting was a big thing that we were missing. So we would have members reach out—whether it’s monthly, or after a large event. If we’re doing a co-op, they would reach out asking how everything performed, on social media.

And before that was all manual. So we were going into each backend of the platforms, finding the date that those were posted for that specific member or event, pulling all that data, putting it into a spreadsheet, and making pretty graphs and charts, which would take hours.

So now with the Agorapulse platform and using the labels, we’re able to pull a report and get it off to a member in five or ten minutes. And because each one of these members is a stakeholder, we do label each one of our posts with the county that it’s in, the city it’s in, the name of the business or member, any key attributes, whether it’s outdoor adventure, biking, or winter campaign, or if it’s a blog post or if it’s on our television network.

We can quickly create those reports and see how something’s performing, and then I also see how we can improve things as well for upcoming campaigns or posts.

Mike Allton: Okay, I also have to be transparent: I didn’t know that … that Kevin used Agorapulse. I wasn’t aware you were a customer. So thank you for sharing that. That’s fantastic!

I love that you’re using the labels as you were talking about your use. As soon as you mentioned having to find manually a post that one of your members was interested in, the labels feature popped into my mind.

And for those who aren’t familiar, if you’re not using Agorapulse, anytime you share a post, or even if you’re looking at a comment or a direct message, you can label it inside of Agorapulse. That just makes it super easy to surface that kind of content in a variety of ways. And the labels are up to you.

So you can use it just like Kevin said for counties or specific members, you could use it for types of posts. There’s a lot of options there. So back to you guys, Kevin, I want to talk more about the work that you’re doing because it sounds like you’re doing a lot of education.

How important do you think educating your audience about the benefits of all these different destinations you’re promoting is?

Kevin Furst: Education is super important for not only the visitor but also our members. So we do a little bit of both.

We have quarterly meetings with our members to let them know what’s available and how we can help with social media as one of those tools. And then we also educate them on what we’re seeing in certain trends, what’s performing well, and what content we need from them—whether they post it themselves and we repurpose it, or we come out and capture that content of what our audience wants and what they’re looking for.

On the visitor side, it’s been a lot of trial and error as social media platforms are changing what seems like daily.

We’ve learned through our audience, looking at TikTok, our itineraries, showing a tour, and day-in-the-life-of content performs well. Visitors are using social media now more than search engines to plan their trips. The more we can pack into that 30-45 second video, showing them, “Hey, 9:00 am, I’m grabbing breakfast here, at 10:30 am I’m hitting the trails here. 1 pm. I’m grabbing a beer at this brewery.” We’re planning their entire day in one post, whether it’s showing off the entire Poconos in that post or that specific town. Our content is trying to educate everybody on where or how to plan their trip but also how much there is to do here in the Poconos.

Some people just think of us as a water park destination. We have three water parks in the Poconos within 30 minutes of each other and then the six ski areas. So we’re always trying to plan that entire day. So we’ll say, “Hit the water park in the morning, and then drive 10 minutes down the road to go to the outlets to go another 10 minutes and hike in the National Park.”

That’s the type of content that resonates the most with our visitors and viewers on our platforms. Most of our platforms (except YouTube) skew heavily towards women between the ages of 25 and 45. So we cater towards that audience just because most of the time it’s the moms that are pushing that “BUY” button on the vacation. (For YouTube, which houses more long-form content for our television network, we have started jumping into YouTube Shorts.)

Mike Allton: I love that you’re focusing on telling stories and showing people what it would be like if they were there. It gives them that ability to relate and understand and see themselves as somebody who’s already enjoying a day in the Poconos, getting up early, going for a hike, and having a beer later. That’s all very storytelling-esque. So I love that.

From a tool perspective, you mentioned a couple: Asana and Agorapulse.

Are there other tools or the other features of those tools that have helped you manage and navigate social media and all the challenges they’re in?

Kevin Furst: I think just implementing both Asana and Agorapulse. Both saved us hours on a daily and weekly basis.

Asana has become a pretty big tool as well because we’ve built custom forms for our members. We’ll send out member communications where they can go into that form, let us know upcoming events/deals, and send us photos through the form. We’ll also tell them about what upcoming social media holidays are coming up in the next two to three months. And what do they offer that could tie into those holidays? And then that’ll help us with TEMA 2, get out there, and schedule time, get content for those specific days.

I would say between Agorapulse and Asana and listening to all the podcasts out there and checking out other destinations to see what’s performing well for them.

I would say those are the biggest two that help streamline this major beast of content creation.

How do you measure it all? How are you connecting the dots between the work that you’re doing on social media and the impact that that’s having on the actual business?

Mike Allton: Are there specific metrics or KPIs that you prioritize? And like, literally, how do you connect those dots?

Kevin Furst: For us, we do look at the overall impressions and reach. But we also look at the engagement and click-throughs to our website.

For our website, we don’t want visitors spending hours on it. We want that to be a springboard to where they’ll go in, check out that member’s listing, and then hopefully hit that book now, or visit a website. So we’re tracking that entire journey from social media. Or a paid ad over. Are they clicking through to that website? We’ve changed our website and redesigned it recently, and we’re excited when we see them go to a listing, and then they’re leaving the site almost immediately to go to our member site.

Any other website might get a little scared when that bounce rate skyrockets, but we’re measuring that click-through to a member site, and we’re also getting monthly reports from Tourism Economics looking at the occupancy and overall booking and traffic into the Poconos.

We use those as the main indicators of how well the region is doing, and we’re in constant communication with each one of our members, as well as our board, which is made up of member properties. So we have a good idea of what’s performing well, where there are some weak points, and what we need to push.

Like right now we’re leading up into a very busy fall season, and our small towns do get double, triple, and quadruple the traffic for fall foliage. So we’re in the process of launching some campaigns that focus on those small towns with some tips on where to find parking, where to find the best scenic overlooks, arriving early, and itineraries.

We’re trying to get ahead of the traffic in these small towns and try to help them manage that a little better.

Mike Allton: Love those perspectives. And I couldn’t agree more with how you are measuring success. Too often, frankly, I ask people those questions, and they start talking about vanity metrics. They start talking about engagement. And that’s where they stop. I mean, it’s important. You made this point earlier to look at how much engagement you’re getting on social media, but that’s not a business metric. That’s not helping your bottom line.

If it’s not leading to traffic and actual revenue, that focus on your members is very commendable.

Kevin, this has been so much fun. I’ve loved this conversation. Folks, we’ll have all the links to Kevin and the Poconos in the show notes.

[Check out previous episode transcripts of the Social Pulse: Hospitality Edition on the Agorapulse blog.]

That’s all we’ve got for today, but don’t forget to find the Social Pulse Podcast: Hospitality Edition on Apple where we’re digging into the challenges, successes, and stories of social media community professionals in the industry, just like you. Subscribe to gain valuable insights that you’ll be able to apply to your work and social presence from every episode. Drop us a review. We’d love to know what you think.

More from the blog

How Hospitality Marketing Has Changed Since the Pandemic

How to Turn a Crisis Into a Growth Opportunity

Marketing That Resonates With Corporate Meeting and Events Audiences

Keep up to date with social media marketing!

Our newsletter is packed with the hottest posts and latest news in social media.

Utah cities among the most “Instagrammable” places. Is that impacting tourism?

Tourism in the state has been growing “pretty consistently” during the past decade, one official said, but it isn’t solely because of social media..

From red rocks and ski slopes and mountain peaks to serene lakes, Utah’s picturesque scenery draws people looking to find spots they saw on social media — and then post their own photos.

Three cities in Utah made a list of “Instagrammable” small cities across the country, according to a Heepsy analysis recreated by The Salt Lake Tribune that looked at hashtags on the social media platform.

Utah also is among the top states for Instagram hashtags, according to a Tribune analysis.

Tourism in the state has been growing “pretty consistently” during the past decade, said Ben Cook, director of marketing and communications for the Utah Office of Tourism .

That’s not solely because of social media, he said, but as Instagram, TikTok and other platforms have grown in popularity, they have become a source of travel inspiration and information.

And Utah has lots of fodder for inspiration, Cook said.

“We live in a place where Mother Nature played favorites,” he said.

The state also uses social media to encourage people inspired to travel here to do so responsibly, Cook said.

Local tourism agencies also use social media to stress safe, sustainable and responsible travel in popular destinations like Moab , Kanab and Park City .

Social media is useful for engaging with fans and keeping Park City “top of mind when thinking about potential travel opportunities, said Dan Howard, vice president of communications for Visit Park City .

Moab in top three for small cities, Utah high overall

Heepsy , a marketing platform for social media influencers, looked at Instagram hashtags in 50 cities with fewer than 300,000 residents.

The Salt Lake Tribune recreated that study, removing Portland, Oregon and Carmel, California because the populations cited in the analysis were for different cities.

Moab, Park City and Kanab all made the list, with Moab coming in third for hashtags per square mile and 11th for overall posts.

Most posts tagged with Moab were from Arches and Canyonlands national parks or surrounding red rocks where people can drive or bike off-road.

Park City cracked the top half for overall posts and hashtags by area but fell to Breckenridge in density despite more posts overall.

Kanab rounded out the list for overall posts and beat out three cities in hashtag density.

As a whole, Utah also is more “Instagrammable” than most other states.

There are nearly 16 million posts tagged #utah, more than all but 10 other states. That is lower than the average, but more than 100 million tags for California and New York skew the numbers.

Neighboring states are also popular, with 32 million posts tagged in Colorado, 25.6 million tagged in Arizona and 9 million in Nevada.

Utah has about 188 tags per square mile, putting the Beehive State in 24th for density of posts.

Tourism industry uses social media to encourage responsible travel

Those posts, and social media in general, play a big role in tourism, Cook said.

He pointed to a 2023 American Express Travel report on its annual travel trends survey that found:

75% of respondents decided to travel to a particular destination because of social media.

49% of respondents wanted to travel somewhere that would look great in photos and videos.

48% of respondents wanted to travel somewhere they could “show off on social media.”

It was less common in this year’s survey, with 39% of respondents looking to social media for travel inspiration, but it’s still made the tourism industry adapt.

“All of the campaigns that we run to draw visitors to Utah extend to social media as well,” Cook said.

Visit Park City views social media as a “nurturing” tool instead of a sales tool, said Howard, the group’s vice president of communications. Instagram and other social media platforms help keep Park City on people’s minds as a destination.

Timing is everything when it comes to success with social media posts reaching an audience, Howard said.

Last year, he said, Visit Park City posted a powder skiing video as the “winter faucet turned on around the holidays” and it got more than 100,000 views on Instagram.

But it’s hard to consistently have viral posts “unless you’re a Kardashian with a publicist and massive production budget behind you,” Howard said. Social media is a balance of goals, resources and timing, he said.

“I think that we have done a pretty good job in the past and will likely keep our current presence as is to highlight the town and how it shines,” he said.

Cook, with the state’s tourism office, stressed the agency doesn’t post spots locals want to keep protected — largely because “popular places just can get inundated.”

Shuttle lines at Zion National Park and cars circling to find spots at popular viewpoints in Bryce Canyon National Park are just two examples of that.

The crush is so much that public officials are complaining. Gov. Spencer Cox was one of several governors to sign on to a letter calling on the federal government to tame overcrowding at national parks in Utah and the West as a whole.

The Utah Office of Tourism gets why people want to come here, Cook said — the state has “so many amazing places. But the state agency wants to make sure people travel thoughtfully and responsibly, he said.

Through its own social media posts, Cook said, the office tries to balance resident and visitor interests, while encouraging people to support local businesses and to be safe.

“We want people to come to Utah, we want them to spend more and go home,” he said. “And we want them to go home in the same car they came in.”

To stay safe, the state has some key tips:

Be prepared for the altitude change.

We’re in a high-alpine desert. Drink lots of water.

Some places are best accessed with a guide, especially outside the national parks and off the beaten path.

Follow the rules and safety guidelines of whatever attraction you’re visiting, like staying inside barriers on trails.

Megan Banta is The Salt Lake Tribune’s data enterprise reporter, a philanthropically supported position . The Tribune retains control over all editorial decisions.

RELATED STORIES

Utah has the third lowest rate of hospital beds in the nation. here’s why., here’s who moved to utah from california recently — and where they’re living, utahns, are your property taxes going up check out the tribune’s interactive map to see how much your bill may go up., harris put trump on defensive, and kept him there, bagley cartoon: tiny tyrants, backcountry.com, once the outdoor industry’s ‘cool brand,’ sells to investment firm, live event: join us for a solutions-oriented conversation about utah’s lds vs. non-lds divide, why these salt lakers created a ‘human’ bike lane on south temple, featured local savings.

The Impact of Social Media on the Tourism Industry

• By Christian Brandt
• August 6, 2023

In today’s digitally connected world, where friends, family, and even strangers are just a click away, social media has undeniably become an integral part of our daily lives. But have you ever stopped to ponder over the impact of social media on the tourism industry?

From sharing breathtaking travel photographs to seeking recommendations and reviews, social media platforms have revolutionized the way we plan, experience, and reminisce about our vacations. But their impact goes far beyond mere photo sharing.

It’s a fascinating terrain where influencers have the power to make or break a destination, where viral videos can turn a hidden gem into a must-visit hotspot, and where travelers can connect with locals in ways never before possible.

In this post, I will unravel the powerful impact of social media on the tourism industry and show how it’s changing the world of travel!

The Rise of Social Media in Tourism

In the not-so-distant past, the tourism industry relied heavily on traditional marketing channels like print media, television, and travel agencies. However, the rise of social media marked a paradigm shift in how tourism operates. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube brought about a new era of digital connectivity, opening boundless opportunities for the industry.

Statistics showcase the significance of social media in tourism. Countless travelers turn to social media to research destinations, read reviews, and share their experiences. The industry leverages these insights to tailor services and cater to modern travelers’ preferences.

Smartphones play a vital role in facilitating social media engagement while traveling. Easy access to mobile internet and a plethora of social media apps empower tourists to document and share their experiences instantaneously. As a result, they become content creators, amplifying destinations’ reach and influencing other travelers’ choices.

Social media’s evolution continues to impact the tourism industry significantly. The ease of sharing experiences, the speed of information dissemination, and the power of digital connections have transformed how travelers plan, experience, and remember their journeys. The rise of social media in tourism has not only changed how we explore the world but has also revolutionized strategies employed by businesses and destinations to stay relevant in an increasingly connected world.

Sign In and Don't Miss!

Join the giving getaway community and claim your free copy of '100 hidden gems across the globe' spanning over 100 pages.

We promise we’ll never spam! Take a look at our Privacy Policy for more info.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Positive Impacts of Social Media on Tourism

Now let us delve into the positive impacts that social media has brought to the tourism industry. From increased exposure and customer engagement to the power of user-generated content, social media has transformed the way destinations are marketed and experienced. Let’s explore the fascinating ways in which these positive factors have shaped the landscape of modern-day travel.

Increased Exposure and Reach

One of the most significant positive impacts of social media on the tourism industry is the unprecedented increase in exposure and reach for destinations and businesses alike. Social media platforms serve as powerful marketing tools, allowing destinations to showcase their unique attractions, culture, and experiences to a global audience.

Furthermore, social media’s sharing capabilities enable travelers to share their experiences in real-time, acting as brand advocates and influencers for the destinations they visit. This organic word-of-mouth marketing extends the reach of destinations far beyond traditional marketing boundaries, reaching audiences that may have previously been challenging to target.

Through the strategic use of hashtags, location tags, and collaborations with travel influencers, destinations can gain more visibility and attract the attention of their target audience. The power of social media algorithms also plays a crucial role, as engaging and relevant content is often prioritized and exposed to a broader audience.

Enhanced Customer Engagement

Another positive impact of social media on the tourism industry is the enhanced customer engagement it facilitates. Unlike traditional marketing channels, social media allows direct and real-time communication between travelers and tourism businesses, creating a more personal and interactive experience.

Travelers can engage with destinations, hotels, airlines, and tour operators directly through comments, messages, and posts. This level of accessibility fosters a sense of trust and transparency, as businesses can respond promptly to inquiries, provide assistance, and address customer concerns. Positive interactions and excellent customer service on social media can lead to enhanced brand loyalty and repeat visits.

Moreover, social media serves as a platform for travelers to share their feedback and experiences openly. This user-generated content, whether positive or constructive, provides valuable insights for destinations and helps them improve their services and offerings.

In return, tourism businesses can share updates, promotions, and behind-the-scenes content, keeping their audience informed and engaged. This two-way communication strengthens the relationship between travelers and businesses, creating a community of passionate advocates for the destination.

Additionally, social media allows destinations to run engaging contests, polls, and interactive campaigns, encouraging travelers to actively participate and share their experiences. This gamification of content further boosts engagement and expands the reach of the destination’s message.

User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-Generated Content (UGC) has emerged as a game-changer for the tourism industry, revolutionizing the way destinations are perceived and marketed. Unlike traditional promotional materials, UGC relies on authentic and unbiased content created by travelers themselves, making it a powerful tool in shaping traveler perceptions and influencing their travel decisions.

The impact of UGC lies in its ability to build trust and credibility. When travelers see real people enjoying and endorsing a destination, they feel more confident and inspired to explore it themselves. UGC acts as social proof, assuring potential visitors that the experiences showcased are genuine and attainable.

Destinations have embraced UGC by curating and featuring this content on their official social media accounts, websites, and marketing campaigns. By doing so, they not only amplify the reach of UGC but also strengthen the sense of community among travelers. This inclusive approach makes travelers feel valued and recognized, leading to a higher level of engagement and brand loyalty.

In addition to its influence on potential travelers, UGC also provides invaluable insights into destinations. By analyzing the content shared by travelers, businesses can identify emerging trends, understand customer preferences, and make data-driven decisions to enhance their offerings.

Furthermore, the rise of digital influencers and travel bloggers has amplified the impact of UGC. Collaborating with these influencers allows destinations to tap into their dedicated and engaged audiences, creating a ripple effect of UGC that spreads across social media channels.

• 15 Airplane Travel Essentials For Your Next Long-Haul Flight
• The Price of Popularity: The Impact of Overtourism on Destinations
• 12 Unethical Activities You Should Avoid When Traveling
• Best Carry-on Backpack for International Travel: 15 Budget Options

Fostering Digital Influencer Partnerships

Fostering digital influencer partnerships has emerged as a strategic approach for the tourism industry to leverage the power of social media and reach wider audiences. Digital influencers, such as travel bloggers, vloggers, and social media personalities, have amassed dedicated and engaged followings, making them influential brand advocates for destinations.

By collaborating with digital influencers, tourism businesses can tap into their authentic storytelling and captivating content creation skills. These influencers can showcase destinations in a relatable and aspirational manner, resonating with their followers and inspiring travel decisions.

When digital influencers share their travel experiences, it creates a ripple effect of user-generated content (UGC). Their followers often engage with and share the content, extending the destination’s reach far beyond traditional marketing efforts.

Influencer campaigns can take various forms, including sponsored trips, product reviews, and destination takeovers. These collaborations provide a dynamic and immersive experience for the influencer’s audience, encouraging them to explore the destination through the influencer’s lens.

However, transparency and disclosure are essential in influencer partnerships. Ensuring that sponsored content is identified as such maintains trust and credibility with the influencer’s audience.

Beyond the immediate impact, influencer partnerships can have long-term benefits. Building ongoing relationships with digital influencers can result in sustained visibility and continuous engagement with the destination’s target audience.

Negative Impacts of Social Media on Tourism

Let us now examine the negative impacts that social media can exert on the tourism industry. As much as social media has revolutionized travel experiences, it also brings forth unique challenges and considerations that destinations and businesses must navigate. So let us now delve into the darker side of social media’s influence on tourism and explore ways to address these concerns responsibly.

Overtourism

Overtourism stands as a significant negative impact of social media on the tourism industry. While social media has undoubtedly amplified the visibility of destinations, it has also led to the exponential growth of tourist footfall, surpassing the carrying capacity of certain places. 

As picturesque locations and unique experiences are shared widely on social media, they become viral trends, attracting hordes of travelers seeking to capture the same enchanting moments. As a consequence, popular destinations face overcrowding, congestion, and strain on local infrastructure and resources.

Additionally, overtourism can lead to increased prices, gentrification, and displacement of residents as the focus shifts from sustainable growth to short-term profits.

Addressing overtourism requires a multifaceted approach. Destinations must focus on sustainable tourism practices, manage visitor numbers through innovative measures like visitor quotas or timed entry, and promote lesser-known attractions to disperse tourist traffic.

Furthermore, social media influencers and travelers alike have a responsibility to promote responsible tourism practices, encouraging a mindful approach that respects local communities and their environments.

Misinformation and Negative Reviews

Misinformation and negative reviews represent another significant negative impact of social media on the tourism industry. While social media provides a platform for authentic user-generated content, it also opens the door to the spread of false information and negative feedback, which can have detrimental effects on destinations and businesses.

In the age of information, rumors and inaccurate details about destinations can quickly circulate through social media channels. Misleading content, whether unintentional or malicious, can harm a destination’s reputation and dissuade potential travelers from visiting.

Negative reviews and complaints posted on social media platforms can significantly influence a traveler’s decision-making process. One negative experience, blown out of proportion, can create a lasting impression on potential visitors, impacting a destination’s tourism revenue.

The challenge for the tourism industry lies in managing and addressing such misinformation and negative reviews effectively. Proactive reputation management and prompt response to customer feedback are crucial in mitigating the impact of unfavorable content.

Destinations and businesses can also focus on encouraging positive customer experiences and cultivating a strong online presence through engaging content and exceptional customer service. Building trust and credibility with their audience can counterbalance the effects of isolated negative incidents.

Privacy and Security Concerns

Privacy and security concerns emerge as significant issues arising from the impact of social media on the tourism industry. As travelers share personal information, location data, and travel plans on social media platforms, they inadvertently expose themselves to potential risks and threats.

One primary concern is the risk of privacy breaches. When users share their travel itineraries and check-ins, they may unknowingly disclose sensitive information, making them vulnerable to theft, fraud, or even physical harm if accessed by malicious entities.

Geotagging features on social media posts can pinpoint a traveler’s exact location, potentially revealing their absence from home and making them susceptible to burglary. Similarly, oversharing travel plans may lead to unwanted attention or safety risks.

Additionally, public Wi-Fi networks often used by travelers can be vulnerable to cyber attacks, compromising personal data such as passwords and credit card information. The use of public charging stations could also expose devices to data theft through USB ports.

Destinations and tourism businesses face their own privacy and security challenges. From managing customer data to ensuring secure online transactions, protecting visitors’ personal information becomes a crucial responsibility.

To address privacy and security concerns, travelers must exercise caution when sharing personal details on social media. Utilizing privacy settings and restricting the visibility of posts can help minimize exposure to potential risks.

Tourism businesses can implement secure payment gateways, encryption protocols, and data protection measures to safeguard customer information. Providing clear guidelines to visitors on responsible social media use during their stay can also contribute to a safer travel experience.

• 20 Best Cities for Hiking in Europe: Breathtaking Trails and Peaks
• 25 Cheapest Travel Destinations In Europe Worth Visiting In 2023
• Think Before Giving: The Harm Of Giving Money To Child Beggars
• 20 Most Underrated Countries to Visit Around the World in 2023

Case Studies: Real-Life Examples

In this section, I will present five instances that showcase the powerful influence of social media on the tourism industry. From destinations experiencing unprecedented growth to unique travel trends sparked by digital platforms, these real-world examples reveal the transformative nature of social media in shaping our travel experiences. 

1) Iceland’s Tourism Boom

Social media played a significant role in promoting Iceland as a picturesque destination. Stunning landscapes, including the Northern Lights and unique natural wonders, were shared widely on platforms like Instagram, attracting a surge of tourists. While this brought economic benefits, the sudden influx also led to overtourism concerns, pushing the Icelandic government to adopt sustainable tourism practices and manage visitor numbers effectively.

2) Tourism Recovery in New Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, social media played a crucial role in the city’s recovery. Local businesses and tourism authorities used platforms like Twitter and Facebook to share updates on rebuilding efforts and showcase the city’s cultural richness. As a result, travelers were encouraged to support the revitalization, contributing to the city’s tourism resurgence.

3) The Rise of Geotagging in Bali

Bali’s pristine beaches and lush landscapes attracted hordes of travelers seeking idyllic vacations. With the rise of geotagging on Instagram, popular spots in Bali became viral trends, leading to overcrowding and environmental degradation. As a response, local authorities launched campaigns to raise awareness of responsible tourism and protect the island’s fragile ecosystems.

4) Airline Crisis Management

Airlines have faced numerous challenges with social media, as negative incidents and customer complaints can quickly go viral. Companies like United Airlines and British Airways experienced public relations crises when videos of passenger mistreatment circulated on social media. Responding swiftly and transparently to such incidents became critical in managing their reputations and restoring public trust.

5) Airbnb’s Influence on Travel Trends

Airbnb disrupted the traditional accommodation industry with the power of social media. Its user-friendly platform allowed travelers to share their unique and authentic stay experiences, inspiring others to opt for local and personalized lodging options. As a result, boutique hotels, homestays, and experiential accommodations gained popularity, reshaping travel preferences and fueling a demand for more meaningful travel experiences.

These case studies demonstrate how social media’s impact on the tourism industry can be both transformative and challenging. They highlight the importance of responsible use, strategic marketing, and proactive measures to navigate the evolving landscape of modern-day travel.

Social media has had a profound impact on the tourism industry. It has revolutionized the way travelers research destinations, connect with other travelers, and share their experiences. Both tourists and businesses must navigate these challenges effectively, as social media continues to shape and transform the tourism landscape in significant ways.

Now how about you? Feeling inspired by the transformative power of social media on the tourism industry? If you’re ready to embark on your own unforgettable travel experiences and explore destinations like never before, feel free to use the search widgets or click on the ad banners on this website to plan your next adventure.

By booking your accommodations , flights , and rental cars through Giving Getaway, you’ll not only enjoy a seamless travel experience but also contribute to a good cause!

Every completed booking will earn a commission, with 50% of the profits going towards charity events like the 2021 Christmas gift drive for kids and teens in a children’s home in Montenegro .

Subscribe to Giving Getaway’s Newsletter and Claim Your Free Copy of ‘100 Hidden Gems Across the Globe’ spanning over 100 pages!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Hi! My name is Christian, I am constantly traveling since June 2020 and I want to help you make the most of your next trip, while at the same time I seek to support charitable causes around the world – with your help!

Albanian Traditions and Customs: Rituals, Beliefs, and Festivals

20 Unique Travel Destinations Around the World: Unique Getaways

15 Hidden Gems in Brussels You Shouldn’t Miss in 2024

Is Traveling Alone Fun? 8 Insights from My Years of Solo Travel

15 Hidden Gems in Barcelona You Shouldn’t Miss in 2024

10 Benefits of Traveling at a Young Age: Start Early, Explore More

Top 10 Best Hard Case Carry-On Luggage Options for Jetsetters

Uvac Canyon in Serbia: The Balkans’ Best-Kept Secret!

15 Most Underrated Cities In Mexico To Visit In 2024

12 Best Travel Shoes for Walking: Ultimate Comfort on the Road

Comment Section

Related posts.

Are you curious about the ancient rituals, vibrant festivals, and mystical beliefs that shape Albanian traditions and customs? Dive in to discover more!

Discover 20 unique travel destinations around the world. Explore hidden gems and uncharted adventures for unforgettable getaways off the beaten path.

Discover the best hidden gems in Brussels! From captivating museums to cozy cafes, explore the city’s unique charm beyond the tourist trail.

Explore the world of solo travel with insights and memories from my adventures. Is traveling alone fun? Dive into my story and find out!

Copyright © 2019-2024 by Giving Getaway

Impressum | Contact us | Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

[email protected]

Copyright © 2019-2022 by Giving Getaway

• Transportation
• Single & Multi-Day Tours
• Museums and Attractions
• Destination Marketing Organizations
• Google Things To Do
• Zaui Marketplace
• System Status
• Case Studies
• API Documentation
• Reseller Signup

What is Social Tourism and How It Is Redefining Travel with Examples

By: Zaui Software

September 9, 2024

Table of Contents

What Does Social Tourism Mean and How It Is Redefining Travel with Examples

The impact on a tourism destination.

The tourism industry has its own long list of benefits and detriments. In a tourist destination, money flows into the local economy with booms in tourism development. Businesses emerge, housing values increase. More tax dollars are received for infrastructure and social services progress. Local artisans and entrepreneurs also find new opportunities to showcase their crafts and services, boosting the cultural fabric and economy. 

But it can also bring serious challenges with a lack of tourism management. Tourism growth can create mass tourism as tourist numbers explode. Straining local resources, creating huge waste problems and degrading the natural environment. This influx can lead to overcrowding, increasing the strain on infrastructure and leading to higher living costs for residents. The tourist may outprice the locals resulting in a loss of local culture that was there for generations. Furthermore, the over commercialization of cultural heritage sites can lead to the degradation of their authenticity and significance. 

What is Social Tourism?

Social tourism is a concept that combines travel with social, cultural, or environmental benefits, focusing on impactful, accessible tourism and social inclusion. It benefits both travelers, local population and the environment when done right.

Like the old campsite rule goes, “Leave it better than when you found it.”

It’s not just about visiting new places but also about contributing positively to the local people. Fostering social connections creates a healthier tourism industry. This approach not only enriches the travel experience but also helps in building more resilient and sustainable communities. 

Social tourism aims to provide travel opportunities to people who might not typically have access, such as low-income individuals, the elderly, or people with disabilities. It also emphasizes responsible and sustainable tourism practices that adds to (not exploits) the areas being visited. By prioritizing these groups, social tourism helps ensure that travel benefits are more widely shared. 

What are the 4 key elements of Social Tourism?

Tourism research shows there are four key elements of social tourism.

1. Inclusivity and Accessibility  

Social tourism initiatives often work to remove barriers to travel, ensuring that all people, regardless of their socioeconomic status, can experience the benefits of travel and tourism activities. This might involve providing subsidized travel options, organizing trips for specific groups, or creating accessible travel experiences for those with disabilities. Making travel more inclusive helps to bridge social divides and fosters a sense of global community. 

2. Community Engagement

Social tourism encourages travelers to engage with local communities in meaningful ways. This can include staying in locally-owned accommodations, utilizing local businesses, participating in community-based tourism projects, attending local events or engaging in cultural events. Such engagement promotes mutual respect and understanding between travelers and the local community, enriching the experince on both sides.

3. Sustainability and Responsibility  

The focus is on minimizing the negative impacts of tourism development on the environment and local communities while maximizing the positive. This includes promoting eco-friendly travel practices, supporting local economies, and preserving cultural heritage through sustainable development and responsible tourism. Sustainable practices ensure that tourism can continue to be a source of benefit without depleting the resources it depends on. 

4. Educational and Cultural Exchange

Social tourism often includes an element of learning and cultural exchange, where travelers and host communities share knowledge, skills, and cultural practices. This can lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of different cultures and ways of life. Educational experiences can transform travel into a journey of personal growth and global awareness.

How social tourism is redefining travel with examples

Social tourism is evolving as travelers seek more meaningful and responsible ways to explore the world. Tourism research shows both social enterprise and for profit companies thrive when social tourism is an important aspect of operations. 

Here are some of the top global trends in social tourism:

1. Growth of Community-Based Tourism

Trend : There is a rising demand for community-based tourism (CBT), where travelers engage directly with local communities, staying in locally-owned accommodations and participating in community-led activities.

Impact : This trend supports local economies and provides authentic cultural experiences, allowing travelers to connect more deeply with the places they visit.

Example: Chiang Mai, Thailand

Overview : Chiang Mai is a hub for cultural tourism and has seen significant growth in community-based tourism. The surrounding villages offer homestays and cultural experiences that allow visitors to engage with local traditions and lifestyles.

Highlights : Hill tribe experiences, handicraft workshops, and sustainable agriculture tours.

2. Emphasis on Sustainability

Trend : Sustainability is becoming a core focus in social tourism. Travelers are increasingly conscious of their environmental impact and prefer eco-friendly options, from accommodations to transportation.

Impact : Many tour operator companies are adopting sustainable practices, such as reducing carbon footprints, minimizing waste, and promoting conservation efforts. This trend is leading to the development of green tourism certifications and standards and provide attached social benefits.

Example: Copenhagen, Denmark

Overview : Copenhagen is known for its commitment to sustainability and has been recognized as one of the greenest cities in the world. The city promotes eco-friendly tourism through extensive bike lanes, green spaces, and sustainable urban planning.

Social Tourism Initiatives : Copenhagen offers community-based experiences that focus on sustainable living, such as guided tours of urban gardens, renewable energy projects, and eco-friendly neighborhoods like Vesterbro.

3. Inclusive and Accessible Travel

Trend : There is a growing movement to make travel more inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities, the elderly, and low-income individuals. This includes tourism professionals designing tours and accommodations that cater to diverse needs and aims to extinguish social exclusion.

Impact : Businesses are recognizing the importance of accessibility in tourism, leading to more tailored offerings that ensure everyone can enjoy travel experiences.

Example: Wheel the World

Overview : Wheel the World is a travel company dedicated to making adventure travel accessible for people with disabilities. They offer a wide range of accessible travel experiences, from city tours to outdoor adventures, all designed with inclusivity in mind.

Social Tourism Focus : Wheel the World collaborates with local communities and businesses to ensure that their tours are both accessible and supportive of local economies. They provide accessible accommodations, transportation, and activities in destinations worldwide, including Machu Picchu, Patagonia, and more.

4. Voluntourism with a Focus on Ethical Practices

Trend : Voluntourism, where travelers volunteer their time and skills in communities, is evolving to prioritize ethical practices. There’s a shift away from short-term, superficial volunteering towards long-term, impactful projects that truly benefit local communities.

Impact : Ethical voluntourism is gaining traction, with a focus on programs that are community-driven, sustainable, and aligned with local customs rather than just the desires of tourists.

Example: Global Vision International (GVI)

Wildlife Conservation in South Africa : Volunteers contribute to ongoing wildlife research and conservation efforts, including tracking animals, monitoring behavior, and assisting with anti-poaching initiatives.

Teaching and Community Development in Fiji : Volunteers work with local schools and community centers to improve education, promote health and wellness, and support local infrastructure projects.

Marine Conservation in Thailand : Volunteers participate in coral reef monitoring, beach cleanups, and environmental education programs aimed at protecting marine ecosystems and promoting sustainable fishing practices.

5. Cultural Preservation and Heritage Tourism

Trend : There is increasing interest in cultural preservation and heritage tourism, where travelers engage with and support the maintenance of local traditions, languages, and historical sites.

Impact : This trend is helping to preserve endangered cultures and heritage sites while providing economic benefits to communities. It also educates travelers about the importance of cultural diversity and history.

Example: Explora Rapa Nui on Easter Island, Chile

Overview : Explora Rapa Nui is a sustainable tourism initiative that focuses on preserving the rich cultural heritage and natural environment of Easter Island, one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. The initiative is part of the Explora chain, known for its commitment to sustainable travel and deep cultural immersion.

6. Rise of Digital Nomadism and Social Impact Travel

Trend : With the rise of remote work, more digital nomads are seeking travel opportunities that allow them to contribute positively to the communities they visit. This includes participating in social wellbeing projects while living and working abroad.

Impact : This trend is leading to the development of coworking and coliving spaces that integrate social impact initiatives, allowing digital nomads to support local communities while enjoying a flexible lifestyle.

Example Impact Hub

Overview : Impact Hub is a global network of coworking spaces designed for social entrepreneurs, innovators, and organizations committed to creating positive social and environmental impact. With locations in over 100 cities worldwide, Impact Hub provides a collaborative environment where individuals and organizations can work, connect, and grow their impact-driven ventures.

 7 . Focus on Localized Travel Experiences

Trend : There’s a growing preference for localized travel experiences, where tourists explore off-the-beaten-path destinations and engage in everyday life activities of local residents.

Impact : This trend is helping to disperse tourism away from overcrowded hotspots, promoting more equitable distribution of tourism benefits and reducing the strain on popular destinations.

Example: Withlocals

• Overview : Withlocals is a global platform that connects travelers with local hosts who offer personalized, private tours and experiences in their cities or regions. The platform focuses on creating authentic, off-the-beaten-path travel experiences that allow visitors to engage with local cultures and everyday life.

8. Educational Travel and Lifelong Learning

• Trend : Educational travel is becoming increasingly popular, with travelers seeking experiences that offer personal growth, new skills, or deeper knowledge about the destinations they visit.
• Impact : Programs offering language immersion, craft workshops, historical tours, and environmental education are gaining popularity, appealing to travelers interested in learning and personal development.

Example: Learning Journeys by National Geographic Expeditions

Overview : National Geographic Expeditions offers Learning Journeys that blend educational content with travel. These trips provide opportunities to explore diverse cultures, history, and environments through the lens of National Geographic’s expertise.

9. Use of Technology to Enhance Social Tourism

Trend : Technology is playing a larger role in social tourism, from platforms that connect travelers with volunteer opportunities to apps that promote sustainable travel choices.

Impact : Tech-driven platforms like community tourism booking sites, virtual reality experiences that showcase destinations ethically, and apps promoting eco-friendly travel options are making it easier for travelers to engage in social tourism.

Example: Workaway

Overview : Workaway is a global platform that connects travelers with hosts offering volunteer opportunities in exchange for accommodation and meals. The platform emphasizes cultural exchange and community engagement, making it a popular choice for travelers seeking meaningful experiences while contributing to local projects.

10. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Integration

Trend : More companies, especially within the tourism and hospitality industry, are integrating social tourism into their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. This includes organizing employee volunteering trips, supporting local communities where they operate, and promoting responsible travel practices.

Impact : This trend enhances a company’s reputation and contributes to the broader social tourism movement by embedding social responsibility into their business models.

Example: Intrepid Travel

• Overview : Intrepid Travel is a global adventure travel company known for its small-group tours that emphasize responsible travel, cultural immersion, and sustainable practices in its tourism policy. The company has made social tourism a core component of its CSR strategy, focusing on positive impacts for both travelers and the communities they visit.

11. Innovations in online travel marketplaces

Trend: Travelers are looking to spend travel money ethically, and with travel providers that value sustainability and other social initiatives. Travelers are also looking to make bookings that benefit local communities rather than large, third-party companies.

Impact: Purchasing travel experiences from people and teams committed to sustainability and social projects directly supports those important initiatives. And making direct bookings rather than through resellers helps more of the money travelers spend to stay local.

Example: Painted Circle

Overview: Painted Circle is an innovative travel marketplace that was actually created by tour operators. Unlike big travel resellers, Painted Circle only serves as an online travel guide that then helps travelers make direct bookings – this helps travel businesses keep more money local while also being able to offer better deals to travelers. Businesses can join for free here .

Social Tourism Initiatives: Painted Circle provides a free platform for travel businesses to showcase their efforts to promote inclusion, sustainability, and social impact. They also provide travelers the opportunity to access special offers and discounts through an innovative travel pass that helps even more money circulate to local economies and nonprofit organizations.

These trends reflect a broader shift towards more responsible, meaningful, and sustainable tourism industry practices. As social tourism continues to grow, it’s likely that these trends will evolve further, driven by changing consumer values and the global emphasis on sustainability and social impact.

How do you run a social tourism business?

Passion and purpose. For everything else, there is Zaui .  Zaui is a reservation management system built specifically for the tourism, transportation, and destination management industries. A powerful platform for running your social tourism business. Schedule your demo of the industry’s most powerful booking engine and tour operator system.

Inside Zaui: Product News, Tips & Tricks

• People & Culture
• Tours & Activities
• Industry News

What Does Social Tourism Mean and How It Is Redefining Travel with Examples The impact on a tourism destination The...

• Online Booking System Features

12 Must-Have Features in Your Online Booking System

12 Must-Have Features in Your Online Booking System Businesses of all sizes rely on booking and reservation software to help...

• Tips & Tricks

Key to productivity in shuttle business management

Key to productivity in shuttle business management: Leveraging Zaui transportation management tools for long term success In the fast-paced world...

Curabitur nec nunc ut augue tincidunt interdum quis a diam. Suspendisse vel justo vitae mauris sodales commodo. Nullam dapibus nisi mi, id lobortis urna scelerisque ac. Duis auctor enim sit amet quam lacinia malesuada.

‘Be here to have fun, not to take pictures’: Seven attractions ruined by social media

O vernight celebrities being created by social media is a common modern phenomenon. But what happens when it does the same for travel attractions – turning previously obscure sights and locations into the next “must-visit” spot?

For an example of this phenomenon in action, just look to the  Palmera Inclinada – an extravagantly leaning palm tree in Lanzarote that became an overnight sensation on social media when its unique character was captured by a passing travel influencer.

The leaning tree was a serious hit online. But the deluge of would-be influencers on this previously undiscovered patch of Lanzarote ended up causing it permanent damage and leading to its removal. Now the story is held up as a modern parable of when tourism goes wrong.

Of course, trending tourist destinations are nothing new. But the rapid Wild West nature of social media – and in particular TikTok – means that sights can go from zero to full speed in record time. What’s more, the process can be hugely unpredictable, even for those in the know.

“TikTok’s algorithms mean that videos can go viral a lot quicker than on YouTube or Instagram,” says Dina Zubi from social media experts Corq. “That means quirky sights or picturesque spots can reach millions of users within a few hours.”

The content itself is different from past platforms, too. Rather than enforcing your status with selfies at luxury hotels, the emphasis on TikTok is often on the uniqueness of the content. 

“It’s more about passion-first travel, rather than destinations,” says Stevie Johnson, the head of influencer agency Disrupt. “People pay attention to crazy and weird things – that’s how you capture attention.”

How does it happen so quickly? Compared with other social platforms, TikTok is known for being particularly ruthless in its use of artificial intelligence, finding out exactly what captures users’ attention and then serving it to them accordingly. 

Pause for even a few seconds to admire a video of one user standing by a viral backdrop (the colourful “blossom” houses of Notting Hill , for example) and the algorithm works out that you might be interested in seeing similar videos. It may also start pushing them on users you know or who match your profile.

“When something is going viral, it often creates a domino effect where creators are trying to capture similar content,” says TikTok expert Ben Rosen, a director with social media agency Connect. Though creators have to be quick, as today’s viral content can be tomorrow’s tumbleweed.

Like it or not, TikTok is clearly shaking up travel in ways that can be hard to keep track of, creating must-see attractions overnight. Here are the destinations that have experienced the viral treatment:

Extreme driving – in the East Midlands

Local drivers have been splashing their way through the shallow waters of Rufford Ford for decades. But when the East Midlands landmark became famous on YouTube and TikTok, things got out of control.

Videos of TikTokers speeding through the ford after heavy rain, thus creating a dramatic log-flume effect, soon amassed millions of views. Those who managed to ruin their car in the process did even better. The craze even drew real-life onlookers, with scores of visitors cheering the daredevil drivers from the safety of the bridge.

After some months of viral fame, councillors decided that enough was enough. In December 2022, they ordered that the ford be blocked off to all vehicles – much to the annoyance of some TikTokers who hadn’t yet recorded their content.

Racing through Angkor Wat

Cambodia ’s most famous temple is hardly short of tourists. Yet a mischievous new TikTok trend has upped the stakes somewhat.

Conservationists have criticised attention-seeking influencers for creating a viral new challenge in which they run through the ancient ruins in a way that mirrors a popular computer game called Temple Run.

The experts say the challenge is insensitive and risks damaging the ruins. Judging by the comments on social media, some users clearly agree – but that hasn’t stopped the videos amassing millions of views.

Overwhelmed beauty spots

When it comes to scenic beauty, the charm is in the feeling of peace and isolation – even if it is somewhat of a fiction. These days, maintaining that illusion can be borderline impossible, thanks to social media .

Across Britain, beauty spots and historic sights are dealing with an influx of selfie-hunters looking for the perfect content – even if it means annoying others.

On TikTok, one content creator went viral – and not in a good way – for touching Stonehenge, despite the protests from security. Meanwhile, at national parks such as Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons, visitors have been baffled to see influencers queueing up to get the perfect selfie.

Hiker and Brecon Beacons expert Carys Rees says she now avoids the most popular spots during peak times. “Luckily, there are quieter parts which are just as charming,” she adds.

The town that said ‘no’

The sepia glow of autumn could well be social media’s favourite season, judging by the enthusiasm for chunky-knit sweaters and pumpkin-spiced lattes.

Last September, the autumn fascination hit a snag, when a small town in New England (Pomfret in Vermont) declared that it was fed up with the sheer volume of seasonal selfie-seekers.

The tiny yet picturesque town – population just over 900 – had become known as a go-to spot for what locals call “foliage season”. But complaints about trespassers on private land prompted locals to call time.

A local decree now states that the road necessary to access the town’s farmland will be closed to non-residents for three weeks during September and October.

Security guards for popular ice cream bar

While most restaurants would jump at the chance of free publicity, TikTok fame can be a mixed blessing.

In London, it’s become routine that a recommendation from a TikTok foodie can result in venues being subjected to hours-long queues, as scores of social media followers descend.

For all London’s gastronomic pull, the current epicentre of this particular culinary craze appears to be Paris, where the ice cream café Folderol has become a pilgrimage destination for TikTokers and Instagrammers.

While business is evidently booming, not everything has been so positive. Last September, Folderol decided to hire a bouncer to keep the queueing under control. Meanwhile, a suitably Parisian sign has been installed chiding wannabe influencers.

“No TikTok: be here to have fun, not to take pictures,” it reads. Naturally, it has since gone viral on social media.

Breaking Bad goes wrong

Residents in the town of Albuquerque in New Mexico had somewhat of an early insight into what it means to be internet famous.

The mountainous south-western city enjoyed a tourism boom after the runaway success of  Breaking Bad , the acclaimed drug drama set in New Mexico. Yet a fixation with recreating one particular scene caused a headache for locals.

In 2015, the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, had to plead with fans to stop hurling pizzas onto the roof of the real house that was used as the residence of protagonist Walter White. After his pleas fell on deaf ears, the home’s owners installed a fence.

You might think that a show that finished more than 10 years ago might not be hip with social-media-savvy young travellers – but you’d be wrong. According to a 2023 survey from education platform EduBirdie, it is one of the top shows named by Generation Z as an influence on their travel plans.

Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential guide to the day's agenda from The Telegraph - direct to your inbox seven days a week.