Impact of Social Media on UK Tourism: A Research Proposal

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
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Table of Contents
TITLE OR TOPIC:...........................................................................................................................................3
BRIEF INTRODUCTION:................................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH QUESTION OR HYPOTHESIS:......................................................................................................4
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES................................................................................................................................5
OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................................................................5
RATIONALE..................................................................................................................................................6
LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................................................7
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.........................................................................................................................9
DESIGNING OF RESEARCH.........................................................................................................................11
ETHICAL CONSIDERATION.........................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................13
APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................................15
Gantt Chart............................................................................................................................................15
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TITLE OR TOPIC:
“To assess and understand the impact of the use of social media on UK tourism”
BRIEF INTRODUCTION:
Digital technology has made a huge mark in everybody’s life and in every sector of every country.
Business, banking, education, trade tourism etc. social media has helped in flourishing the business in a
cost-effective manner (Perrin,2015). The use of digital technology in context to tourism has increased
very much. The young people of all over the world travel the most and want to explore everything, for
gathering information and sharing information digital technology like the internet and social media is
the best platform (Great Britain,2019). Through digital technology, the travellers can share their
experiences, can post pictures, videos and blog. Travel bloggers are nowadays are sharing so much
about every place that a traveller can know the insight of the place he/she wants to explore.
Tourism in the UK is always been very high because of its royal family, heritage buildings, ancient and
modern blend infrastructure, weather etc. People are very crazy about natural sceneries and weather
which are perfect in the UK and because of which tourism is increasing day by day. The UK has wide land
and people travel there because of food, culture, nightlife, adventure etc. all the information related UK
tourism can be obtained by a traveller on social media (Perrin,2015).
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RESEARCH QUESTION OR HYPOTHESIS:
The research questions are listed below:
 What is the role of social media in UK tourism?
 What are the impacts of social media on tourism in the UK?
 What are the services offered by social media to the travellers?
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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study is to understand the impact of the use of digital technology on UK tourism to what
extent it has helped the travellers to make their travel easy and fun.
OBJECTIVES
The key objectives of the study are:
1. To understand the importance of social media.
2. To identify the benefits of social media in UK tourism.
3. To identify the services offered by social media to tourism.
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RATIONALE
This research project is about the tourism in the UK and the factors that may affect the research are the
topic of research, access of the data, whether primary or secondary or both etc. affects the research.
The topic chosen is the tour and travel in the UK with the impact of social media and the factor which
affects the travellers to explore the UK (Perrin,2015). Social media has helped many tourists who visit
the UK as it gives detailed information about the place they want to visit. Right from the visa and ticket
booking to the food and stay everything can be done online with the help of social media therefore
social media has a great impact on tourism in the UK.
To conduct the research the primary data will be accessed through questionnaire and the scope of
tourism in the UK and the importance of digital technology will be discussed along with the feasibility of
the research how much time it will take, what resources will be used and how much money it will cost to
conduct the research.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Perrin (2015) has stated that social media has become very important in planning a vacation, as it gives
full information to the traveller about the place to visit. Travellers can get detailed information about
the experience of the other travellers and enable storytelling about the travel experience by posting
blogs, pictures, videos etc. It has found through a survey that online reviews ratings are influencing the
travellers to plan their vacation. Social media helps the traveller to explore each and everything online
to prepare the vacation and right from the booking of tickets to stay and food everything can be done
with ease because of the social media. Social media impacts the economy of the country and generates
employment. The UK attracts many tourists all over the world because of its sustainability and rich
heritage. Social media has made the UK very popular by giving the insight into the UK. There are many
places which are high in sustainability and tourism policy has helped the UK to maintain sustainability
and increase the revenue. The tourism in the UK has increased tremendously from last few years over
more than 40 million tourists visited the UK in the year of 2018 (Perrin,2015). The various places in the
UK became so famous because of its culture and beauty. These places are known to the tourists because
of social media as it reaches to the mass and the tourist or the travellers can share and post information
on the social media and interested tourist can communicate and interact also. This is how social media
has evolved to have a huge impact on the tour and travel industry. With the help of social media the
travel agencies like Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings, Make My Trip etc. are making so much money and
flourishing their business because it provides detailed information about the place and travellers also
prefer to travel with such agencies which help travellers and gives a personal touch and generates
employment (Nedelea and Costea,2016).
Tourism is a widely increasing sector in today’s modern and high-tech world it has contributed to the
world's GDP up to 10.4% in the last eight years. Tourism is an industry which provides benefits to the
travellers and the host communities (Nedelea and Costea,2016). As tourism is the biggest sector of
business and high earnings and when it is properly planned then the sustainability of the place can be
improved along with improved livelihoods, cultural heritage etc. with this tourism provides a better
platform for the entrepreneurship to start a business. Social media has widely promoted the travel and
tourism industry and made the experience of the travellers worth remembering. The use of social media
has been increased drastically and which has made a transitional shift in the tour and travel industry it
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has replaced the traditional methods of booking and travelling which was a hassle for the travellers
because they do not have any detailed information and moreover they cannot contact or inquire
directly. Social media has not only providing the information but it has given a base for interaction and
direct contact with the host (Nedelea and Costea,2016).
Tour and tourism have a great impact on the revenue generation contribute to the economy. With the
use of social media the competition has also increased in the tour and tourism which has ultimately
increased the services of tourism and the hospitality also (Perrin,2015).. Social media site like Facebook
and I Instagram they have created so many pages of different tourist’s places with all the attraction and
the details of the place. More than 200million posts are made and reviews are found on Facebook by
800 million active users where they can directly reach and interact virtually about the place they want to
visit (Nedelea and Costea,2016). This has made tourism so updated and wide sector of earning. Other
applications are also available worldwide which has made a tremendous mark in the world of tourism
and hospitality very popular and easy for the travellers to do the bookings online and explore the place
virtually. If particularly discussing the UK then a traveller can plan the vacation with the help of the
applications and the tourism agencies which are working and active 24*7 in customer service. The social
media not only helps in making the tourism experience nice but it also helps in promoting the tourism of
a particular country. More than 50% of promotion is done automatically by the travellers who post
pictures on social media and the rest is done by the tourism agencies and the tourism department of a
particular country. This is how social media has played an important role in travel and tourism ( Nedelea
and Costea,2016).
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research method used in this research project is a mixed methodology where the data is being
collected by both the method quantitative and qualitative method. The quantitative method includes
the primary data and the qualitative method includes the secondary data (Johnston,2017). The primary
data is collected by various sources like filling of questionnaire and doing surveys, whereas on the other
hand the secondary data can be collected through reading various literature reviews, journals,
magazines, articles, research paper etc. for this research project a sample size of 50 is taken for filling
the questionnaire and analyzing the outcomes.
Sample Selection
For this research project a sample size of 50 respondents is taken into this research project, from which
20 are the employee of the travel agencies, 20 are foreigner tourists and 10 are the domestic tourists.
Data Collection
In lieu of the aims and objective of the research project the data is collected based on the primary
method and secondary method. The project uses both the approaches of secondary data collection and
primary data collection. The primary data that is the qualitative data is collected through filling the
questionnaire from the respondents where the respondents are informed in prior to the research
project and the purpose of the same (Johnston,2017). The secondary data is the qualitative one and the
study of the data is very important to conduct research with the help of this method. The collection of
data is done through literature reviews, journals, magazines, articles etc.
Primary data
The methodology used for the data collection in this research project is a quantitative method. In this
type of method, the data is collected from preparing and filling the questionnaire. The sample size for
this research project is taken, 50 respondents. The respondents have to fill the questionnaire and then
the outcome is analyzed. The accuracy is maintained in this type of method as the data is directly
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collected from the respondents and the objective of the research is fulfilled easily. The respondents are
not pressurized to fill the questionnaire and they are informed in prior to the purpose of the research
and no respondent is harmed in the whole process of the research (Johnston,2017).
Secondary Data
In this research project, the quantitative method is used and the data is collected from various literature
reviews, journals, magazines etc. are being studied and the information is gathered. In the second
method of data collection about 10 literature review will be taken, 2 journals and random sample size
will be taken. This method of data collection is valid and reliable as it was taken from various works of
researchers and authors (Johnston,2017). There is no alteration is made in the original work of the
author or the researcher. The use of the literature review, journal, and magazines is purely done for the
research purpose. This method is time-consuming and making any evaluation from this data is very
difficult.
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DESIGNING OF RESEARCH
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Identifying the problem
Framing the objectives and
aims

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ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
Ethical consideration is taken into the research study, to avoid any legal issue related to intellectual
property like copyrights, patent etc. The collection of data for this research project is done only to
maintain its accuracy and to decrease the level of error in the outcomes. This research project is purely
carried out for the academics purpose only has not caused any damage to any of the resources. The
respondents are informed about the aim and purpose of the research in prior and they are not
pressurized in any form. The personal information and data are completely secured and kept
confidential, the data is not used by any unethical means and it is not manipulated in any way.
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Literature review
Designing the research project
Data collection
Interpretation of data
Outcomes and conclusion
Findings and recommendation