Applying the Engell-Kollat-Blackwell model in understanding International tourists' use of social media for travel decision to Ghana. (original) (raw)
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Utilisation of social media by international tourists to Ghana
Anatolia An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality research - Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group)
Contemporarily, social media has become pervasive in tourists’ decision-making to travel to any destination. The study assesses the use of social media in travel decision-making of international tourists on Ghana. The study revealed that tourists consider social media platforms as useful for their travel planning. The study also revealed that the social media platform frequently used by the tourists was Facebook with some also using Google map. However, Twitter and TripAdvisor were identified by tourists as rarely used. In conclusion, social media is used and seen useful by international tourists’ decision to travel to Ghana. It is recommended that GTA and tourism business should have their businesses visible on these social media platforms to quickly reach tourists who use them.
Social Media in Travel Decision Making Process
2017
Travel and tourism is one of the most promising sectors in the world, and information is extremely important in this industry. These days, the way of traveler in utilizing this information throughout their travel decision making process has changed. The broad development of Information and Communication Technology especially in tourism industry is one of the factor which made this change happened. It is mainly associated with the emergence of social media as one of the Web 2.0 platform, which offers interactivity to users. The purpose of this study was to find out the travel decision-making process through the use of social media especially from the point of view of Indonesian traveler community members. The theoretical background in this study is based on the concept of consumer behavior, specifically the theory of travel buying behavior and also on the concept of the usage of information on social media. Data was collected through interviews with traveler community’s members "...
Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 2023
This study examines the impact of social media on the behavior and decision-making processes of travelers while choosing places Social media platforms serve as channels for travelers to gain inspiration and plan their journeys, while also providing opportunities for tourism enterprises to promote services, engage with consumers, and evaluate visitor sentiments. A comprehensive survey, including of primary and secondary data, was distributed to 388 participants, mostly consisting of students, educators, teachers, private business owners, and government people. The data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS 25, which included the use of descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The survey results indicate that social media has a notable beneficial effect on tourists' decision-making processes when choosing a destination. Nine out of ten variables are identified as having a significant impact on social media usage in tourism decision-making through multiple regression analysis. This empirical study highlights the significance of marketers understanding visitor behavior and decision-making processes, recognizing their potential influence on brand loyalty, customer happiness, and situational dynamics. Hence, it is imperative for tourism stakeholders to integrate social media factors into the strategic development of tourism offerings. Social media has become an essential tool for both travelers and travel firms in modern culture. The research clearly demonstrates that social media has a substantial impact on visitor behavior. The overriding result suggests a significant influence of social media on the travel patterns of visitors from Bangladesh. It is recommended that policymakers and tourist marketers utilise social media channels to strengthen the development of tourism in Bangladesh. This study provides significant information for professionals and policymakers who are looking to handle the ever-changing impact of social media on travel behavior and decision-making.
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS (ISSN: 1109-9526), 2024
More than 3.049 billion monthly active social media (Facebook) users are engaging in sharing content, views, surfing, and bridging their friends and family. Web 3.0 is a buzzword now That is going to ensure the decentralization of information, blockchain technology, data security, data privacy, and individual control over private data. The world's scenery has been changed through the invention of the internet and social media has changed the landscape in the same way in this century. Social media has revolutionized the way companies convey their assortment of products and services to prospective customers. It has become a catalyst for changing the decisions of social media users. It has enabled every little firm to become a large conglomerate to pinpoint their niche customer segment and reach them effectively with various techniques. It has been observed that influencers in social media have a noteworthy and robust correlation (i.e., 73%) and contribute the most to travelers' travel decision-making, indicating the least reliability (28% correlation). The study shows that the R square value is 0.88 and the adjusted R square value is 0.88, indicating that travelers' decisionmaking is 88% shaped by social media influencers. Therefore, the boom of social media has also facilitated the way people communicate with each other, especially when they seek recommendations for purchasing something or availing of a service. It provides a platform for both consumers and businesses to have two-way communication where both parties can interact effectively on a real-time basis without incurring much expense. Social media has also brought a lot of tourist destinations closer to tourists that are situated in a remote part of the country or in a place that is quite untouched by tourist groups. It allows destination organizations like sites, parks, hotels, and amusement centers to conveniently publish multimedia content involving blog posts, images, videos, and interactive games and attract visitors to these destinations. Social media marketing also provides real-time information on customer profiles, behaviors, and perceptions to the marketing manager. It also influences tourist groups in making travel decisions like choosing a destination, a time of travel, or a package that they might want to avail of. In this research paper, we have identified four social media stimuli and shown their correlation with tourists' decision-making. In this paper, it has been identified that more than 80% of the time, social media has a positive influence on travelers' decisions about their tour itinerary. Social media has WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Influence of Social Media on Tourists' Destination Selection Decision
Scholars Bulletin, 2019
Social media are interactive communication platform usually used for community-based inputs, content sharing, interaction and collaboration among people. Prominent social media platforms are, facebook, twitter, google+, wikipedia, LinkedIn etc. These social media channels serve as source of information and influence in decision-making process. Travel experience, photos, videos and other contents shared on social media may influence other prospective tourists in their destination selection decision. This study intended to discover the impact of social media on tourists' decision making. Data have been collected from 167 respondents using judgmental sampling technique. Collected data were analyzed using principle component analysis where 15 variables were reduced to two factors (social media information about destination and social media word-of-mouth). Further, the extent of influence of obtained factors on tourists' destination selection decision was identified using regression analysis and stated that these two factors explains 52.2% of the variance in data.
The Effect Of Social Media-Based Promotion On Tourism Decisions-Making
International Journal of Environmental, Sustainability, and Social Science
This study aimed to determine the social media promotion effect on travel decisions. This research design is survey research. The population in this study was people who searched for tourist information and made travel decisions. The sampling techniques in this study used purposive sampling with 110 samples. The data collection technique used a questionnaire tested for validity and reliability. The data analysis technique used to answer the research hypothesis is a simple regression test. This research indicates that there was a positive effect of social media promotion on travel decisions. The results of this study were the coefficient of determination (R2) which is 66.2%, the results of the Fcount test are 211.612 with a significance value of 0.000, then the t-count results are 14.547 with a significance value of 0.000. These results show that promotion through social media simultaneously and significantly influences travel decisions.
The Impact of Social Media on Inbound Tourists Decision in Georgia
ISCONTOUR 2020 Tourism Research Perspectives: Proceedings of the International Student Conference in Tourism Research, 2020
In the modern world, social media has become an important part of marketing communications. In the social space, companies are actively using various attractive photo or video materials to promote a tourism product or service, making it easier for tourists to decide where to spend their vacation. In today's information society, social media plays a significant role in the tourism industry. In Georgia, as with the rest of the world, within the development of tourism, social networks have become actively involved in tourism as a marketing tool. The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of social media platforms on travellers' decision making in Georgia. In the framework of research, the condition of social media platforms and review sites in Georgia generally assessed, and it also identified the factors that affect inbound visitors. For this research, it has used primary and secondary research studies. Primary research included tourists' and tour-operators' quantitative research; the paper also includes a case study on the importance of communication during the crisis. Secondary research included existing Georgian and foreign academic sources. In the study revealed the role of media platforms in tourists' decision-making process the most impacted by social media segments, as well as the advantages of using the media channels by local tour operators. There is a lack of academic research in Georgia regarding the impact of social media, and considering how trending this topic has become, it is important to conduct the study.
The role of social media sites in trip planning and destination decision-making processes
2019
The main aim of this study was to examine the influence of social media sites on trip decision making process as well as to investigate the most used social media sites during trip planning through a review of literature. This study was based on an extensive review of literature from a range of peer reviewed papers on social media and tourist destination planning. A number of sources were accessed such as Science Direct, Google Scholar, Emerald Insights Journals, Institutional Repository, Scopus, JSTOR, Taylor & Francis, SAePublications, Sabinet, and ProQuest, while articles from tourism organisations such as the World Tourism Organisation were also consulted. The sources were thus used as part of data collection procedure and were critically examined for information related to social media and travel decision-making processes. The objectives of the study were achieved through literature findings which demonstrated that social media sites are used at each stage of trip planning but ...
Social Media and its Impact on Decision Making for Trip
European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Social networks are not a new phenomenon of the human community. Social communication tools represent a revolution in terms of the possibility of publicity for enterprises. In this way mechanisms of social networks have not only changed the instruments, but also the communication. Social media is not focused exclusively on the development platform of promotion and communication, but also in the implementation of services to create new business opportunities and career. Professional groups present in networks are often closed and specifically dedicated towards specific groups in order to achieve defined objectives and set by direction of the company that benefit from these platforms. Social communications tools represent a revolution in terms of publicity opportunities for enterprises. Social media is becoming the key marketing tool for organizations who manage tourist destinations, in this way having a major impact on tourism markets. The role which social media is playing in variou...
Influence of New Media on Travel Decision Making
Atna - Journal of Tourism Studies
Tourism, one of the largest industries in the world, has recorded consistent growth since the end of Second World War. Travel is a key factor in the process of tourism, where the tourist is the main player as well as the ultimate consumer of the products and services offered to him/her. A tourist‟s decision to travel is by itself a complex process because there are many factors that influence the decision. The New media, which has emerged in the wake of tremendous advancements in information and communication technologies is also influencing the decision making process in modern times. Here, an attempt has been done to examine the influence of new media in the various stages of decision making process and the role played by it. A questionnaire based survey was undertaken to conduct the study and the analysis reveals various kinds of influences of new media.