Analyzing the Role of Social Media in Tourism Destination Selection

This research report investigates the impact of social media platforms on tourism destination selection, focusing on how these platforms have transformed marketing and promotional activities within the tourism industry. It identifies various social media platforms used by tourism destinations, such a...Read More

Project

Contents
Title: Assessing the impact of social media platforms on tourism destination selection................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Aim:.................................................................................................................................................3
Objectives:.......................................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Research questions...........................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................4
Time scale and resources:................................................................................................................8
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

Title: Assessing the impact of social media platforms on tourism destination
selection
Introduction
Social media has complete changed the way arise business organisations are functioning in the
present scenario. There is a complete drastic change in the way various promotional nd
marketing activities are now taking place across industries. There is a complete sift in the way
service sector organisations are focussing on their functionalities. In the present research report
there is analysis of the way social media platforms are affecting the tourism destination selection
process, along with there is evaluation of the different platforms that are actually used by such
tourism destinations in the present changing times (Cypress, 2018). Further there is
determination of the the benefits of using social media platforms for tourists and tourism
industry. The research proposal is based on identification of the different research methodology
that are to be used or the purpose of fulfilling the overall requirements of research work.
Aim:
“To identify the impact of social media platforms on tourist decision while selecting tourism
destination”: A study on London Eye
Objectives:
 To identify the different types of social media platforms used in tourism industry
 To determine the impact of social media platforms on tourism destination selection
 To determine the benefits of using social media platforms for tourists and tourism
industry
Background
There is emerging trends where the tourism and travel industry is now working towards using of
social media platforms to lead towards excellent result for the business. Social media impact on
the tourism can be seen in the way people are using such platforms to gather information with
respect to the criteria of decision making. With the identified travellers haring their personal
positive and negative experiences as part of reviews helps in identification of the ways in which
future prospective customers can make their decisions (Faulknerand Faulkner, 2018). Present

research work will set up a background for the future upcoming research work in which there is
detailed evaluation about the respective platforms that are used by the tour and travel industry
organisations for enhancing their market visibility and presence part front is there will be
analysis of the ways in which such social media platforms benefitting the process pf people
making decisions it helps in the process of creation of better customer relations so that business
are able to reach the customer directly through such social media applications if people are
unsatisfied then they can provide the necessary feedbacks and it cats as a medium for the
organisations to identify the reason for customer dissatisfaction so that there can be corrections
made to maintain the social media image.
Research questions
 What are the different types of social media platforms used in tourism industry?
 Identify the the impact of social media platforms on tourism destination selection?
 What are some of the benefits of using social media platforms for tourists and tourism
industry?
Literature review
Different types of social media platforms used in tourism industry
As per the view points of Vanessa Lang (2020), In case of tourism industry there are many social
media platforms that are affecting the marketing functions. Facebook is one such platform where
hospitality organisations can focus on promotion of their marketing plan. However in recent
years the organic each on facebook has dropped to 5-6 percent for pages because of emergence
of various other platforms that are used by hospitality organisations for the purpose of
engagement with the target segment of customers. Another platform is instagram that is the
second most logged social media sites for daily use (Jadhav and et.al., 2018). As per the pew
research it has been founded out that 6 in every 10 instagram users are logging in at least once in
a day. There is 21 percent log in at least one in a week. People are spending lot of time on
instagram for hospitality organisations it is a powerful discovery platform in early stage of
buyer’s path to purchase. 89 percent of marketers are now saying that for tourism sector
Instagram has emerged as one of the most important social media channel (Pauwels and Mannay,
2019).

You tube is also a familiar platform that is second largest search engine after Google. People
across different parts of the world are watching 1 billion hours of video on you tube each day.
Hospitality organisations can use by recording of virtual meeting, creation of shows for local
attractions. Twitter is also one such popular social media platform that is having presently 335
million of active users and 40 percent of twitter users are saying that they are using the platform
daily. Linked In has emerged as one of the most popular social media website where there are
675 million members in more than 200 countries. Linked In is the world’s largest professional
networking and is also one of the most under social platforms for hospitality industry and hotels.
It is used for encouraging senior managers for professional networking and also or the purpose of
distributing of content across as a workplace brand. It also leads towards engagement and
connection with other fellow hotel marketers (Nusair., Butt and Nikhashemi, 2019). Pinterst is
also emerging platform that can be used for the purpose of discovery and not engagement. They
have added 51 million international monthly users in the year 2019. It helps in traffic to landing
pages on the hotel website for the purpose of promotion of destination content such as hotel blog.
The impact of social media platforms on tourism destination selection
As per the information in tourism boards (2020), In recent year with the development of
information and communication technology there is enhancement in the way social media usage
has gained wide popularity and wide importance among its existing users. Especially for the
purpose of making travel plans and purchasing of products for some specific purpose people are
now willing to focus on the way social media platforms can be used as a tool to analyze and
make decisions. Social media has emerged as communication platform for the purpose of
conveying the user generated contents and making supplies travel related information that can
act as a guide perspective for tourists across different parts of the world. Travelers are now using
social media platform for the purpose of making respective searches, analyzing all the options as
per their specific requirements and then further making a specific decision to select a particular
tourism destinations (Xu and Pratt, 2018). They are further spreading their experiences and travel
stores. Social media has also enabled various tourism destination markets to expand the reach of
their communication messages for their global audiences at comparatively lower costs. Social
sharing leads to better customer relations. Customer services is one of the most essential aspect
of tourism industry that has changed the way social media will now help in enhancing the
process of customer engagement. Now many tourism sector brands can reach their customers

directly through such social media platforms. When people are unsatisfied with a tourism
services they can also offer some feedbacks that leads to making required improvements and
changes in the present scenario of services being offered to customers. The rise of social media
has lead to development of two way communication between customers, agencies that leads to
creation of better engagement of content to attract more customers (The Impact of Social Media
on the Tourism Industry, 2020).
Benefits of using social media platforms for tourists and tourism industry
As per view points of Mchelle Mangan (2020), In context of travel and tourism sector social
media has emerged as a great tool for the purpose of enhancing the promotional and marketing
activities in this changing scenario. It is very helpful in the course of analyzing the market,
creation of communities. Further one of the most effective advantages of social media
applications is that it is very cost effectiveness as it is associated with low cost and is also helpful
in the process of enhancing the present brand image of various tourism destinations (Canov. and
Pucciarelli, 2019). It helps in connecting with the customer’s by distribution of the content so
that the website can get more visibility in less time period. It is one of the essential tools that can
be adopted in order to analyse the caging customer preferences and then offering then respective
services as per their changing demands (The Impact of Social Media on the Tourism Industry,
2020).
Proposed methodology
Research philosophy: it is the first layer that is related to describing the set of belief on which
research has to be built. There are different philosophies that include positivism that states that
there is reality; another is interpretivism that understands the focus of people ideas and thoughts.
Another philosophy is pragmatism. In present research work the researcher will be using
interpretvism philosophy of research to analyse he laid aims and objectives by collection of
information that is required to make analysis and further reach to relevant recommendations and
conclusions.
Research approach: it is related to the specific research approach that is to be used in particular
research work such as it includes inductive analysis and deductive analysis (DorstenE. and
Hotchkiss, 2018). It is necessary to clearly identify the specific research approach that can help
in making the decisions for data collection and making analysis of the study. Such as in the

present research work there will be use of inductive analysis for the purpose of generation of
necessary theories in order to reach to relevant recommendations.
Research strategy: it is based on several research strategies that can help in analysing the way
information will be collected (Guetterman and er.al., 2019). The different strategies that can be
used in a particular research work includes experimental research, action research, surveys,
interviews, case study research ad systematic literature review. A particular strategy is to be
selected based on the information and data that is required for the purpose of study. In present
research work the researcher will be using systematic literature review as the research strategy
that is selected based on the data that will be collected from existing sources that is available
journal articles, books in order to reach relevant recommendations (Gordon, 2019).
Choice of methods: there are different types of methods that can be used by researcher a per
specific requirements of the research work (Pelto, 2017). There are basically two types of
methods that include qualitative method and quantitative method of research. In qualitative
method of research there is core focus on theoretical form of information and quantitative
method involves numbers, and information that is generally depicted in numerical or quant form.
There can be use of mono method where the study involves only one method that is either it is
qualitative or it is quantitative. Another choice is mixed method that is based on use of two or
more methods of research that is commonly regarded as the use of both quantitative and
qualitative methodology multi methods is based in wider selection of methods as per the choice
made by the researcher (Taguchi, 2018). In present research work the researcher will be using
qualitative method of research work that is there will be use of just mono method.
Data collection: for the purpose of collecting of data there are two major methods that includes
primary method of collecting data in which directly the information is collected by the researcher
that is first hand information. On other hand there is another method that is secondary method
where there is collection of information based on identified and existing sources such as journal
articles, books and other online available sources that will help researcher in reaching to relevant
recommendations and conclusions in the course of research work (Hathcoat. and Meixner, 2017).
It is more authentic and reliable form of method as compared to the secondary method of
research work. In the present research work the researcher will be using secondary method of
research where there will be literature review that will be formed on the bass of collecting
information from the existing online sources.

Proposed analysis
Time scale and resources:
Time scale: Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that is used for the purpose of illustrating a project
schedule. This chart lists the tasks that are to be performed on the vertical axis and the time is
depicted on horizontal axis. In present report Gantt chart will be used for the purpose of deciding
the starting and the finishing date of each terminal of elements and the summary element of the
project (Almeida-Santana. and Moreno-Gil, 2017).

Resources: In the present research report there will be requirement of several resources that
includes human resources, financial resources, technological resources for the purpose of
completion of research as per specific requirements and the specified time deadline.
Reflection
The overall module is related with the process of developing detail understands of the way
research can be conducted and its overall importance in the process of learning. There are many
fundamental tasks that have to be performed in the course of a research work such as it includes
critical thinking plan and the process of time management, I worked by dividing all the
responsibilities so that each activity can be identified properly and it becomes more easy to avoid
duplication of tasks so that there is maximum utilisation of resources in the context of present
research work. I also worked on the aspect of time management so that the available time period
can be properly utilised to maximise the process of completing the research work. Apart from
this I worked on developing list of various essential documents for the purpose of finishing the
task effective project researched that is foundation of the excellent project management. Thee
were many challenges that raised in the course of present research work such as there was
challenges in beginning of research work where it was difficult lay down the respective aims
and objectives, there were also issues related to preparation of the research work. Further it is
identified that there is need to implement the research work with appropriate structure and there
is need to identify a suitable methodology that can assist in having a specific criteria of the
research wok. At each stage of the research work while i had to deal with the challenges to
ensure that if there is any type of paperwork then there is need to focus on maintain a particular
laid standard and quality of research work. For this purpose the present researched work will be a
set foundation that can help me in the process of preparing and learning about the upcoming time
period of study. The degree program is based on understand of the international hospitality

management and tourism aspect so that overall inferences with respect to this sector can be
understood through this module. The present research work has been very helpful to learn more
about the ways in which a particular activity and task can be executed and completed effectively
in the provided time frame.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Almeida-Santana, A. and Moreno-Gil, S., 2017. New trends in information search and their
influence on destination loyalty: Digital destinations and relationship marketing. Journal of
destination marketing & management, 6(2), pp.150-161.
Canovi, M. and Pucciarelli, F., 2019. Social media marketing in wine tourism: winery owners’
perceptions. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(6), pp.653-664.
Cypress, B., 2018. Qualitative research methods: A phenomenological focus. Dimensions of
Critical Care Nursing, 37(6), pp.302-309.
Dorsten, L.E. and Hotchkiss, L., 2018. Research methods and society: Foundations of social
inquiry. Routledge.
Faulkner, S.S. and Faulkner, C.A., 2018. Research methods for social workers: A practice-based
approach. Oxford University Press.
Gordon, L., 2019. Real research: Research methods sociology students can use. SAGE
Publications.
Guetterman and er.al., 2019. Contemporary approaches to mixed methods–grounded theory
research: A field-based analysis. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 13(2), pp.179-195.
Hathcoat, J.D. and Meixner, C., 2017. Pragmatism, factor analysis, and the conditional
incompatibility thesis in mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods
Research, 11(4), pp.433-449.
Jadhav and et.al., 2018. Impact of Facebook on leisure travel behavior of Singapore
residents. International Journal of Tourism Cities.
Nusair, K., Butt, I. and Nikhashemi, S.R., 2019. A bibliometric analysis of social media in
hospitality and tourism research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Pauwels, L. and Mannay, D. eds., 2019. The SAGE handbook of visual research methods. Sage.
Pelto, P.J., 2017. Mixed methods in ethnographic research: Historical perspectives. Taylor &
Francis.
Taguchi, N., 2018. Description and explanation of pragmatic development: Quantitative,
qualitative, and mixed methods research. System, 75, pp.23-32.
Xu, X. and Pratt, S., 2018. Social media influencers as endorsers to promote travel destinations:
an application of self-congruence theory to the Chinese Generation Y. Journal of travel &
tourism marketing, 35(7), pp.958-972.
online
The 6 Most Important Social Media Marketing Platforms For Hotels, 2020 [online], Available
through<https://fivestarcontent.co/blog/most-important-hotel-social-media-marketing-platforms>
Social Media and Tourism Marketing: A Match Made in Digital Heaven, 2020 [online],
Available through<https://uhurunetwork.com/social-media-and-tourism-marketing/>
The Impact of Social Media on the Tourism Industry , 2020 [online], Available through<

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4071855.html>