Analyzing Social Media's Role in Tourism Destination Selection

This report examines the significant role of social media in the tourism sector, focusing on how platforms influence destination selection and customer decision-making. The study explores three main themes: the role of social media in tourism, the impact of various networking platforms on destination choices, and the factors on social media that influence people's decisions. The report highlights the importance of social media for promoting tours, connecting with travelers, and gathering customer feedback. It analyzes platforms like Facebook and Twitter, discussing their positive and negative impacts on the industry. The report also emphasizes the importance of customer reviews, recommendations, and the use of social media for providing accurate information and building trust. The report uses a case study on Malta to illustrate the practical implications of social media in tourism.

Research Methodologies

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2: MAIN BODY...............................................................................................1
Theme 1: To identify the role of social media in tourism sector...............................1
Theme 2: To analyze the impact of various networking platforms in selecting tourism
destination............................................................................................................... 3
Theme 3: To identify the factors of social media on which people rely while taking
decision....................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION...........................................................................................5
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................7

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
In the present era, social media plays an important role to change the lifestyle of
every person. It also provides platforms to enhance the communication between each
other and help to take better decision for the welfare of society as well as for country. It
is an interacted computer related technology that facilitates sharing of ideas through
network. Every person uses different methods in order to research on specific topic and
social media helps to take better decision for a company in order to reach on a way of
success. When people travel, firstly they check other’s reviews and then take decision
whether to go at that particular place or not and this is done by using social media.
Even, many companies also take their feedback from users and then post it on website.
In this way, almost more than half of a population depends upon social marketing in
order to develop plans, taking feedback and promoting their services in the market. The
literature review also provide Facebook and business model .
Literature review is a secondary tool that helps to gather information through
articles and books which is already given by someone. The entire report is based upon
literature review of social media and the way it creates impact on today's generation
along with its role in tourism sector. Further, literature review helps to analyse the
impact of various networking platforms in selecting tourism destination and also
identifies different factors of social media on which people believe while taking decision
to travel.
Aim: ”The impact of social media platforms on tourism destination selection – A case
study on Malta”
CHAPTER 2: MAIN BODY
Theme 1: To identify the role of social media in tourism sector
According to Prasad and Saigal, (2018) every business has to maintain great
communication with their customers and build a strong relationship that can be handled
by using social media because it is a channel that helps to promote tours and activities.
Further, tour providers use social media in order to connect themselves with travellers.
Even customers most of the time use social media such as website in order to take
decision for selecting their destination but it has been critically evaluated by Dahl,
1

(2018) that these websites are sometimes hacked by others and rival companies take
advantage of same. Thus, it leads to face many problems to tourists. This shows that
social media has their own importance in travel and tourism sector. Even tourists share
their own personal experience related to hotel, airlines and Malta in order to let other
people know about this trip. While on the other side, trip advisor also uses variety of
social sites in order to attract a wide range of tourists towards them and make their tour
successful during holidays (Importance of Social marketing, 2018).
As Macarthy, (2018) suggested that if tourists see the best style of content on
particular sites, it will definitely help to draw attention of a wide range of tourists towards
them and basically, social media tools are meant to be made to promote tourism
destination and even to promote this, Malta Tourism Commission launched website too
in order to explore various information related to attractive points to be visited and
hotels or restaurants which must be visited while planning for a tour in Malta. Perera
and Perera, (2018) stated that social media also uses as a customer service such as
by asking question and taking feedbacks in order to take reviews related to a particular
destination. Even it also help to take customers opinion whether it is good or not by
using websites or other social marketing tools. This ultimately helps to retain customers
and attract new ones. Customer service is a wide concept that must be initiated by
using tools of social marketing and its cost is nothing but while using social media as a
marketing tool, it must contain diversified content that helps to catch user’s attention. It
has been analysed that if a post is consistent, interesting and compelling then it may
increase the chances to attract a wide range of customers.
According to Iankova and et.al., (2018) Facebook is considered as the most
popular social marketing tool and King of Social Media because it has more than 450
million daily users and more than 42 percent publish more travel posts rather than any
other topic. It allows a variety of persons to keep interacting with each other and provide
relevant and consistent information that helps tourists to take decision for right time with
increasing the chances to gain visibility. The biggest advantage of using this as a
marketing tool is that whatever post on wall it also appears on friends news feed that
help to let other peoples know about various topic which further help to take better
decision.
2

Theme 2: To analyze the impact of various networking platforms in selecting tourism
destination
As per the views of Sunstein, (2018) various networking platforms play their own
role and create impact on Malta such that internet, which affect travel and tourism
sector. Now a days, tourism industry and interaction between customers has been
changed due to use of various social marketing tools. Internet creates a vast opportunity
to reach at a wide range of customers and create a positive impact on country as well
as tourism industry too by raising profit and contributing a large amount of money in the
economy of a state. Another positive impact of social media is to inspire travellers
during their vacations like by seeing post of their friends and relatives, 60 percent of
people inspire themselves to visit or attend an event that has never planned before.
Tuten and Solomon, (2017) critic that using social sites also create a negative impact on
individuals such as it diminishes privacy and this may lead to depression and hyper
tension which cause negative health consequences. Even it may sometimes provide
wrong data too. So, it is quite necessary to use social media in limited amount as it does
not lead to create impact on industry’s image or individual’s health.
According to Hollensen and Raman, (2014) Facebook Business approach is
another social networking platform that helps to catch a large number of people towards
them i.e. almost more than half of a public use this site regularly and even many travel
agents also keep updating their post related to travel and tourism. This is a platform that
helps to provide the best and relevant information and a mode of interaction of variety of
people. Promoting hotel and attraction points in Facebook cost nothing and it only
needs attractive and specific content with lots of pictures that lead to catch direct user's
attention. Many firms use this as a social marketing as a promotional tool while it also
has negative impact on tourism industry such that many image creates wrong impact
upon users that may lead to face heavy loss. So, it is quite necessary to use this
technique in limited zone so that it would not harm the other's brand (Facebook and
Twitter, 2018).
While Macarthy, (2018) argued that Twitter business approach is another
promoting tool on which 81 percent of people uses twitter and it is not just a best
platform for collect information but it also supoorts advertising and promotion. In tourism
3

industry, this is not as much preferred because its users are between 30-39 years old
only and tourist sector is mostly target young generation of Malta and Twitter is not used
by them as Facebook is used.
Patrick and et.al., (2014) state that using social media creates a positive impact
on tourism industry as it helps in booking and proper updating related to various new
attractions. Many airlines and hotels offer some loyalty points that are also utilized by
using websites and can take benefit from this. Another most important positive impact of
using social media it helps to saves time and find out exact information or data to some
specific point and even by taking feedbacks from other customers will also help to
create a positive image in market that will lead to build reputation and trust among
customers. Social media mainly focuses on highly shareable content that helps tourists
to identify the exact message which is necessary for them and if industry takes proper
review from their visitors then it will also help to grow towards success. Therefore,
variety of social media practices are used in tourism sector in order to attract a wide
range of tourists and also, to boost up sales that further leads to maximize the profit.
Theme 3: To identify the factors of social media on which people rely while taking
decision
According to Ashley and Tuten, (2015) in today's environment and growing
economic challenges, travel industry makes tourist life easy and boosts up travel
business by using social media. To help customers in their research process, websites
help them to get correct information. These help customers by providing exact level of
message which assists them to select the best tourist point for them. This provides
customer satisfaction and also further lead to create a positive environment for them.
As touts have so man expectations that must be fulfilled by tourism industry and there is
need to focus more on the improvement efforts that are made by them. Another
important factor that affects decision making in tourism destination is different agencies
and tour operators. They always regulated this sites in order to let people know about
new offerings and this helps tourists to choose the best destination during their holidays.
Dahl, (2018) argued that recommendation from friends and family is the best source of
information which many of the tourists take these into account while booking. In this
situation, travel operators use social media in order to let know what visitors experience
4

during their visit. This is considered as one of the most et way to communicate details
and even people take third party’s reviews while on the other side, they also get
negative reviews too and decision depends upon them only.
Prasad and Saigal, (2018) suggested that social media is considered as the best
medium on which people can easily trust while planning for a tour. This is one of the
most advanced and latest tools that is regularly updated by industry and even
customers also give their reviews which can be further read by viewers in order to know
specific information. It is one of the most useable key aspects on which more than half
people believe because it helps to provide accurate data of a particular destination while
on the other side, some negative attributes also made tourists dissatisfies such as
negative reviews of other people. So, it is better to visit that place in order to know
reality and for travel body, it is quite essential to keep their customers satisfied. With
their offering, travel and tourism sector always tries to use all advanced technologies in
order to attract a large number of customers and taking feedback from other, even helps
to take different actions in order to sort out those problems. Moreover, social media
helps to raise profitability for tourism sector and further, it leads to highly contribute in
the economy of a country.
CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION
By summing up the above discussion, it has been concluded that social media
creates a huge impact on travel and tourism sector that further leads to enhance Malta's
economic condition. By this secondary research, different authors stated their point of
views which help to conclude that social marketing has its own role in tourism industry.
This is done to promote or draw attention of a large number of customers in order to
encourage them to visit places and provide their reviews so that other people will know
and collect information related to specific topic. Importance of social media in industry
increases year by year because more than half of public depends upon the latest
technologies in order to determine different data which directly link to customer's
specific points. Further, it is also concluded that social media creates a positive as well
as negative impact on travel industry. Different networking platforms such as Facebook
and Internet affect industry’s overall performance and many tour operators also use this
5

technique in order to raise sales and maximize profit. From this report it has been
concluded that research skills are enhance that help researchers for their further
projects and project also addressed question such as social media is considered as
important platform for gathering information and it helps to takes better decision making
process and also addressed some factors that must be considered while selecting
tourist destination.
Secondary research also identifies various factors on social media on which
people believe while choosing the best destination. People completely depends upon
social networking sites while taking decision and it is the duty of travel agency to keep
their customers satisfied by providing best information to them which help while
choosing first attraction point. Overall, this literature review aids to provide bulk
information related to social media and its importance in travel and tourism industry.
6

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An
exploratory study of branded social content and consumer
engagement. Psychology & Marketing. 32(1). pp.15-27.
Dahl, S., 2018. Social media marketing: Theories and applications. Sage.
Hollensen, S. and Raman, A., 2014. Social Media Marketing. Marketing Canada-
Journal.
Iankova, S. and et.al., 2018. A comparison of social media marketing between B2B,
B2C and mixed business models. Industrial Marketing Management.
Macarthy, A., 2018. 500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and
Strategy for Business Facebook, , Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram,
LinkedIn, and More!. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Patrick, K. J. and et.al., 2014. Social media marketing. U.S. Patent Application
13/670,238.
Perera, G. R. and Perera, I., 2018. Influence of Social Media Marketing on the Brand
Image of Organizations in the Hospitality Industry of Sri Lanka. In Media
Influence: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice (pp. 371-383). IGI Global.
Prasad, P. and Saigal, P., 2018. Social Media Marketing: Tools and Techniques.
In Application of Gaming in New Media Marketing (pp. 202-214). IGI Global.
Sunstein, C. R., 2018. # Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media.
Princeton University Press.
Tuten, T. L. and Solomon, M. R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.
Online
Facebook and Twitter. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-vs-twitter/>.
Importance of Social marketing. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://iedunote.com/societal-marketing-concept>.
7