CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Social media has shaped our lives in many ways, and tourism is no exception. Social media has
been used by tourism-related industries as well as customers. It has enabled the industry to grow
exponentially with its various information-sharing platforms. Social media is known to be the
most powerful online networking tool. Social media channels are also defined as interactive
technologies and digital channels that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas,
interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks (Kietzmann
& Hermkens, 2011). The rising phenomenon of Web 2.0 technologies contributed significantly to
the daily importance of social media (Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014). Social media has emerged as a
powerful information and communication channel which have significantly changed the practice
of marketing communication for many companies, including those in the tourism and hospitality
industry (Song & Yoo 2016).

The reliability of the content shared on these channels contributes to the power of social media,
and these contents provide solid knowledge to travellers about destinations and tourism products
(Leung et al., 2013) (Yoo & Gretzel, 2011). The influence of social media on travel decision-
making has attracted much attention from tourism scholars, and there are numerous studies
regarding that topic. In addition to that, ‘social media tourism’ has been on the rise, where the
destinations are discovered by travellers and tourists through social media. Upward trends in
social media usage, specifically among tourism consumers, have prompted hospitality and
tourism organizations to investigate the role of social media in the travellers’ decision-making
process (Fuchs, Scholochov, & Höpken, 2009). Social media provides potential tourists with
access to other travellers’ experiences, which is a vital source of information while making plans
for a vacation.

The travel planning process is complex and can be classified as a high-risk and high-cost
decision. Travellers have identified the various uses of social media in aiding them to search,
organize, and share their travel experiences (Leung et al., 2013). Today, social media comprises
various platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, etc.) which allow
individuals to post content and multimedia in real-time from various locations. Social media is
not only used by travellers who would potentially visit a destination, but the usage of social
media has also been significant for tourism-related businesses. Even though there are numerous
studies related to social media and tourist behaviour there is very limited research done on how
social media has been used by tourism-related businesses. There are many ways in which social
media has been a helpful tool for businesses, like in the marketing process, and others, which
will be discussed later in this project.

As an intern in a tourism consultation company, I had to deal with clients and customers through
social media. Social media was the most important tool which was used to share, communicate,
and market the new products. Social media was of key importance to promote the products and
services efficiently and effectively. It is essential to develop a good relationship with the client to
ensure its efficacy, being trustworthy and consistent with the material that has been released to
sustain long-term projects. Working as a ‘Content Manager’ for a tourism counselling company
also provided me with various insights regarding the use of social media in tourism businesses.
Using social media during the internship to promote and market the products and services was of
key importance, along with other duties that involved social media. Social media was not only
used to promote, market and sell those products and services, but they were also used to educate,
inform and raise awareness of the audience.

Websites and social media provide a wealth of information regarding the experiences and
reviews of the destination, property, facilities, and restaurants in tourism through different
platforms (Manap Khairul, Hilmi A., 2013). Most tourists always use the Internet for destination
information to decide on which destination they should travel to. All actors in the tourism
industry value chain, including tourism boards, travel agents, tour operators, transportation
providers, hotel and restaurant operators, destination management companies, and local tourism
management organizations, use social media tools to reach potential customers (Ernestad V.,
2010). Aiding to the research and studies by scholars on the roles of social media, there are
numbers and statistics which portray the influence of social media in the tourism industry is huge
and growing. According to research by Macdonald (2019), 82% of people, of whom 92% were
Gen Z generation–born between 1997-2012 (‘Generation Z’, 2022), have researched a
destination after being inspired by social media posts of others online.
Similarly, another report by Statista (Leisure Travel, n.d.), showed that 36.5% of people use
social media for travel inspiration and ideas, with 60% sharing their content from holidays or
travels. it was also noted in the same report that one million travel-related hashtags are searched
every week, connecting the travellers all around the world. All these studies and facts from all
the sources show that social media is the most easily accessible source of information currently.
Aside from calling into question the legitimacy and reliability of information sharing, it also
demonstrates just how influential the various platforms have become.

1.2 Statement of Research Problem

The hospitality industry tends to be very customer-centric and also one that prides itself on
reaching out to its guests and providing a personalized experience. In traditional marketing, our
lives are saturated by print media, radio and television. The downside of traditional marketing is
the high cost, and it is a one-way communication. Social media encourages customer
engagement, and being on Web 2.0 promotes two-way traffic. It allows for a faster response and
a lower cost investment than is typically achieved with traditional marketing.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The study aims to investigate the current trends in social media marketing within the hospitality
industry.

1.3.1 The Specific Objectives are to:

i. To identify the most popular social media platforms used by hospitality businesses;
ii. To analyze the effectiveness of different social media marketing strategies; and
iii. To assess the impact of social media on customer engagement and brand loyalty.

1.4 Justification

Currently, the hype surrounding social media strategies for marketing is on the increase, but the
hotel industry is still trying to cope and see the advantage of the latest trends on the internet.
Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are growing daily. Challenges faced by hotels are the
‘how to’ engage the consumers and to lead them towards becoming a guest or share their
experience for the hotel within their virtual network. For the past decades, the Internet has
gradually changed to a stage where the search engines take control of website traffic. Therefore,
businesses that jumped onto the social media wagon earlier see the payoff, as they have
established their relationships and viral networks (Walsh, 2010). This research will attempt to
give an insight into the hospitality industry on the effects of social media; furthermore, to
establish if social media is effective and recommended, and if so, provide an insight and
proposition for adopting social media as a platform for marketing purposes.

1.5 Limitation

This study is based on secondary data and a personal approach to evaluate the effects of
marketing and social media in the hospitality industry. The advantage of using a secondary data
source is the fact that such information exists. It is less time-consuming, and the data gathering
cost is reduced in studies as compared to using primary data collection. According to Stewart and
Kamins, the disadvantage of secondary data is that when collecting, reporting and interpreting
the information, it consists of its own set of problems. The data collected tend to produce
deliberate and intentional bias, hence the findings have the potential to arrive at varying,
conflicting conclusions (Stewart & Kamins, 1993). It can be hard to validate. Thus, conclusions
drawn from secondary sources must be drawn carefully. The study will attempt to focus on issues
in social media by utilising secondary data to illustrate the matter stated with examples.

1.6 Research Area

People have been travelling and visiting new destinations for centuries, and it has been a very
important part of their lives. Adding to that, travelling to a destination after being influenced by
social media has been seen as a millennial phenomenon, and it keeps on growing. Tourism is a
business which continues to grow despite economic conditions. In the digital age, tourism
growth has grown over the years with better access to different forms of online platforms, as a
matter of fact. By understanding the factors that stimulate a traveller's use of social media,
tourism businesses are leveraging social media to engage with potential customers and tourists.

Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and recently TikTok have transformed
the tourism industry. These platforms have made it easier for people to explore and discover new
destinations and share their experiences with their audience. It has enabled tourism businesses to
market and promote their destinations and tourism products easily and virtually. These different
roles of social media have enabled the tourism industry to grow and thrive even in times of crisis.
The main aim of the project is to analyse the use of social media by different tourism
stakeholders and the changes the usage has created in the tourism industry. This research looks at
the different practices in the tourism industry by suppliers and consumers as of now, which has
helped in the development of the tourism industry exponentially. These practices, in turn, have
also shifted some dynamics in the industry, and those will be discussed in this project. The
important goal of this project is to identify the changes that are happening in the tourism industry
due to the use of social media and understand how tourism agents are adapting to those changes.

Therefore, looking at different roles of social media in tourism, this project will be focused on
how social media has transformed tourism practices and how tourism agents and stakeholders are
adapting to these changes.

1.7 Research Question

The tourism industry has seen changes due to the use of social media in how it operates and how
travellers are reacting. This research will discuss how the use of social media has changed how
the tourism industry works. Along with that, it will also discuss the way in which tourism
stakeholders adapt to these changes. How is social media reconfiguring the tourism industry, and
in what ways are tourism agents adapting their business practices to this change?

1.8 Sub Questions

To answer the research question, it is divided into two sub-questions. Answering the following
sub-questions will provide a holistic answer to the main research question. The first sub-question
will look at the current tourism practices in the tourism industry and the trends by which social
media is being used. The second sub-question will dive into the changes that are seen in the
tourism industry and the ways the tourism agents are adapting to these changes.

i. What are the existing common practices of social media in tourism?

ii. How are the tourism agents adapting to changes that have occurred in tourism due to
social media?

These sub-questions will help answer the main research question, which will provide the project
with a balanced result. With these sub-questions answered, the project will have shown how the
tourism industry has been reconfigured due to the use of social media by the users, both suppliers
and consumers. This will, in turn, bridge the gap that has been seen in the literature, which will
be discussed in the next chapter.

1.9 Glossary
Facebook
A social networking site where conversations take place between friends and family, to share
photographs or humorous links you find on the Web and even locate long-lost friends (Nations,
2008).
Flickr
A photo sharing website that enables members to upload their photos and enables new ways of
organizing pictures and to have it publicly posted (Turnbull, 2005).
LinkedIn
A professional social network that connects one to trusted contacts and enables one to exchange
knowledge and opportunities with a network of professionals (Weinberg, 2007).
Social Media
Social media is a social instrument of communication that encompasses a media with a social
component (Commoncraft, 2008).
Twitter
It is a Miniature Blog where one can keep people abreast of what an individual is up to without
the need to spend a lot of time writing an entire post on the subject.
YouTube
It is a website where an individual can upload, share and view videos.
Web 2.0
The term "Web 2.0" is generally affiliated with an online community that encourages interactive
information sharing, interoperability, user-centred design and collaboration on the World Wide
Web (O'Reilly, 2005).
 CHAPTER TWO:

CONCEPTUAL ISSUES, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE

REVIEW

2.1.0 CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

2.1.1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the studies relating to the definition and meaning of social media in tourism, the
roles of social media in tourism and their application through the perspectives of suppliers and
consumers are presented. This chapter aims to depict the importance of social media in tourism
with the help of current bodies of literature on the topic. It further helps to build and provide
concrete evidence that the research on this topic has recognized the importance of the roles of
social media in various ways. On one hand, this review portrays all the important roles of social
media in tourism, like marketing, promoting, connecting, and sharing of the destination and
tourism products by both suppliers and consumers. On the other hand, this review also
successfully shows that there is another side to this, where the use of social media has increased
the concerns of mass tourism. The way the users, let that be consumer or supplier, use social
media has a huge impact on the image, authenticity, and numbers in the destination. This will be
later used during analysis and discussion in the project.

Here, the first part of the review is general concepts in social media and tourism. This mainly
talks about how social media is being used in the tourism industry and the basic concepts that are
used while studying and researching the topic. Then the review is further divided into two
perspectives, which are through suppliers and consumers. This consists of the body of literature
discussing the use of social media by tourism businesses and entrepreneurs (suppliers) in the
promotion and marketing of the destination and tourism products. The other includes various
uses of social media by consumers of the content generated by the tourism suppliers to
understand the current situation of the tourism industry on social media. The second part of this
review talks about the impacts and concerns that social media has brought about in the tourism
industry. This section focuses on the studies that talk about the destination image, ethical use of
data and mass tourism.

2.1.2 Social Media

By definition, social media is the combination of various internet tools that enable users to
generate, exchange and modify content continuously (Noone, McGuire, & Rohlfs, 2011). As of
December 2011, the online social networking application Facebook had a total of 845 million
active users, out of which 425 million used Facebook mobile products (Facebook, 2011). To put
this number into perspective, if all the Facebook users from around the world were to unite and
form a country, it would be the third most populous country in the world, next to only China and
India! At the same time, 60 hours of video were uploaded every minute on the video-sharing
website YouTube (YouTube, 2011). The average number of Tweets people sent per day on social
networking and microblogging website Twitter during February 2011 was 140 million
(Twittercounter, 2011). Twitter also reported a whopping 182% increase in the number of mobile
users over the previous year. If these figures are anything to go by, it means that social media is
here to stay. Social media today is being embraced not only by teenagers but also by members of
Generation X who will soon become the biggest chunk of the spending population, as well as by
members of Generation Y who are on the brink of joining the workforce (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010). Improving economic conditions in developing countries has led to a significant rise in the
number of people with access to the internet, which results in an increased participation in social
media sites (Violino, 2011).
A huge contributing factor is the growth of cell phone owners with instant and easy access to
social media. It is thus only logical to believe that businesses today, irrespective of the industry,
cannot ignore the huge potential of social media. Before the advent of social media, consumers
relied on companies for information, and marketing & PR managers of these companies would
selectively put forth only what they needed to publicize. Today, with websites like Yelp,
Urbanspoon and Tripadvisor, more people follow what the customers say about a business.
According to Pew Research, more people are relying on sources they trust, such as social media
reviews made by their friends, family and colleagues, rather than trusting commercially driven
institutions such as news broadcasting agencies and advertisers. Hence, being truthful and
genuine on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can help a business build a huge
base of loyal customers (Lanz et al., 2010).
2.1.3 Social Media vs. Traditional Media
The one point that differentiates social media from traditional media is user participation. Like
traditional media, social media serves as a vehicle to reach out to and inform consumers;
however, it is only social media that allows consumers to participate and propagate their views.
According to Forrester Research on social media, approximately half of adults who go online
take part in social networking. This number has a significant implication for businesses that want
access to data-rich information. Marketing companies use customised data mining software that
enables them to keep track of consumer behaviour, spending patterns and satisfaction ratings.
These findings are used to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns in terms of ROI
and other performance indicators (Kasavana, 2008). Social Media & Hospitality Industry The
parameters of social networking websites possess several unique implications for the hospitality
industry, including guests, staff, and management. These sites provide a platform for a rating
system that can be used to generate, monitor, and evaluate the reputation and image of the
business. Online consumer-generated content is perceived as highly credible and, in fact, more so
than information attributed to the hospitality entity (Starkov & Mechoso, 2008). Hospitality
company participation in online social networking is a cost-effective means for interaction and
engagement with potential clients. Participation in these websites provides businesses with direct
access to active users without the need to add any additional hardware or software. A social
networking site that is easily accessible, straightforward, and appealing enables participants to
become engaged in unique ways. It comes as no surprise that many hotels, restaurants and travel
businesses have entered the social network space. Hospitality businesses are proactively
interacting with their customers by coming up with innovative, customised solutions and much
responsive and prompt customer service (Kasavana, Nusair, & Teodosic, 2010). Online consumer
reviews play a big part in the choice of hotels and travel consumers make today.
With a rise in the number of websites (like Yelp, TripAdvisor and social networking sites such as
Facebook, MySpace, etc.) that allow potential consumers to look up reviews by other real
consumers, the way information is perceived today has changed considerably. Making a unique
social network that allows guests to create a profile and share opinions, feelings, stories, photos,
etc. can be a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage. If a guest decides to participate in
an online network, shares a testimonial or recounts an experience or downloads content, others in
the network are likely to be affected by the opinion of the postings. More so than the content
contained at a company specific or industry related website (Green, 2009). Another networking
and communication tool that has become popular is blogging. The Travel and Tourism Industry
today is faced with consequences that blogs have not only positive impacts but also negative
ones, if not managed properly (Thevenot, 2007).
Any individual can upload content in the form of images, audio or video for others to respond
and comment, which forms the basis of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has given popularity to user generated
content (UGC) where information is gathered from different online sources all of which
collaborate to form the final source (Cox, Burgess, Sellitto, & Buultjens 2009). An effective
means to benefit from this trend is to carefully follow the comments that are posted relating to
your business. Research has proven that hotels that engage their customers via social media get
their customers to spend more, have higher repeat clientele, and get more referrals from their
guests. However good, bad, or ugly, it is vital that no comment goes unnoticed because for every
benefit a hotel rakes in with positive feedback, suggestions and tracking consumers, it can be on
the receiving end of unfair criticism and negative publicity if it leaves important issues
unaddressed (Kasavana, 2008).
2.1.4 Social Media & Marketing
In today’s time, any aspect of a business that deals with communicating with consumers has
social media as an integral part. Be it marketing, branding, PR, customer service or any other
function of a business that requires you to reach out, social media plays a vital role. (Berkowitch,
2010). However, before taking the plunge, one of the key questions most businesses ask is how
to measure the ROI of social media. According to Stelzner (2010), close to 90% of marketers are
using social media to market their businesses, out of which 65% have just started or are only a
couple of months into it. Out of the ones who are currently using social media, almost more than
half are on social media for more than 6 hours per week, while 12.5% spend more than twenty
hours per week. Going by the trends, companies that have just started using social media spend
little time compared to ones that have been on it for a while. In terms of the benefits, most
businesses cite brand awareness and publicity as the highest return, followed by an increase in
foot traffic which was followed by finding new business partners, a rise in search engine
rankings and generating leads.
2.1.5 Mobile Social Media
Considering that nine out of every ten Americans today have mobile phones, out of which thirty-
three per cent are smartphones, it is only reasonable to acknowledge that most companies in the
U.S. are either already engaged or are planning to enter mobile marketing (Kaplan, 2012). From
‘Palm VII’- the first mobile device to offer location-based service that came out in 1999, to the
launch of the iPhone in June 2007, which exploded the mobile marketing scene, there has been
tremendous growth in this sector. A new form of mobile marketing was coined, known as mobile
social media. With the iPhone and Android giving users access to over 250,000 applications,
companies such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Google Latitude, etc. that extensively use the
‘checking-in’ feature, which notify other users and give businesses an opportunity to
continuously track and market based on an individual’s location. Companies use the unique
characteristics of mobile social media in areas such as market research, communication,
relationship development/ loyalty programs and sales & promotions.
The scenario in developing countries is very different from the US, where ninety per cent of the
population has access to both devices. In the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) countries,
mobile ownership exceeds PC ownership by as much as four times (Kaplan, 2012). Even
globally, mobile connectivity has a much higher penetration. According to the Pew Research
(2007), the primary mode for internet access worldwide by 2020 would be through mobile
devices. The way technology is shaping up, we might see the mobile phone as a single utility
device that integrates all our daily needs. It may not be possible to predict the future of mobile
social media with utmost certainty but going by the numbers of one of the market leaders -
Foursquare, that was founded in 2009 and has a net worth between $500 million and $1 billion in
just three years it is only rational to conclude that it will only move forward.
2.1.6 Application of social media in Tourism
With the invention of the internet, the possibility of networking and communicating through
numerous channels has grown exponentially. There are different kinds of networking platforms
and channels, and social media has been one of them. Social media plays a particularly central
role in tourism while playing an important role in all aspects of life and society and in all
industries. One of the reasons for their key role in tourism is that the tourism industry is an
information-intensive industry, which aligns with the business model of social media (Werthner
& Klein, 1999). Tourism is also social in nature, where recording, recalling, sharing, and talking
about travel experiences are enjoyable and socially important activities.

Another reason for the "natural fit" between tourism and social media is the asymmetries in
information and the experiential nature of tourism. Tourism has always been characterized by
these characteristics, so tourists make or at least inform their decisions largely based on personal
sources of information, which is known as ‘word-of-mouth’. Similarly, social media enables
‘electronic word-of-mouth’ (EWOM). It is different from traditional word-of-mouth in a way that
it is asynchronous, many-to-many and not limited to one’s social circle, as discussed in the
papers by Litvin, Goldsmith & Pan (2008). In the studies done by Kaplan & Haenlein 2010),
they emphasize that social media cannot be understood without first defining Web 2.0. This is a
term that defines a new way in which end users use the World Wide Web, a place where content
is continuously altered to allow sharing in a collaborative manner by all operators. Adding to that
(A.M. Kaplan, 2010), use the definition of social media as “a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that
allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content” in his studies.

The position of social media has been illustrated and researched progressively in the tourism
industry, which has been recognized as an emerging concept. Where ‘Travel 2.0’ is a new term
that has been developed as one of those emerging concepts which indicates the progress of social
media’s significance in travel in the travel industry which has been studied by numerous scholars
like (Chu, Deng, & Cheng, 2020; Baker & KaWon, 2019; Lo & Yao, 2019; Chang, Ku, & Chen,
2019; Mariani, Styven, & Ayeh, 2019). Apart from the influences on tourist consumption
behaviour, social media's evolution has influenced the research area related to tourism and
hospitality as well.
For the last twenty years, researchers have acknowledged that social media has made it essential
for tourists to decide and plan their trip (Zarezadeh, Rastegar, & Gretzel, 2018; Cholprasertsuk,
Lawanwisut, & Thongrin, 2020). The TikTok video platform has been studied by academics in
different fields. For example, Du et al. (2020) analyzed tourist behaviour related to a TikTok
video recording. While some tourists use this social media platform to share memories, express
themselves, interact with others and peek, others make use of it to market their products (Omar
& Dequan, 2020). TikTok has also been studied in research that explores consumer satisfaction
regarding purchasing products and services or searching for information on attractions (Han &
Zhang, 2020; Susilo, 2020). Hence, the following part of this review consists of social media
roles from suppliers’ and consumers’ perspectives.

2.1.7 Social Media from Supplier’s Perspective

With the advent of social media, there is an increasing role for social media in many aspects of
tourism, especially when it comes to searching for information, making decisions, and promoting
tourism, through the platforms of social media by focusing on the best applications to engage
with customers (Sahoo & B.G., 2017). Sahin & Sengun (2015) focus on the importance of social
media in tourism marketing. He mentioned that the tourism industry has started to use social
media as a new marketing approach in this rapidly growing internet technology. This is
demonstrated as an excellent technique to exploit social media to sell tourism products and
services. Many countries and states view social media as a primary tool for supporting their
tourism industries.

An organization's social media marketing strategy describes how the organization utilizes social
media resources to fulfil the organization's marketing target. The social media strategy helps to
implement and promote eminent approaches offering insights on markets and consumers that are
used to build and change the company's business strategy. The company needs further decisions
on optimizing the marketing resources available to win more customers based on the amendment
strategy they are going towards in terms of using social media marketing to market their
company (Gohil, 2015). Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier (2009) pointed out that User Generated
Content (UGC) has shaped how a destination is visible on social media, and this has also
influenced the decision on the selection of the destination subsequently. The researchers also
mention that UGC can provide travel consumers with incomparable, unparalleled, latest, and
differentiated formats of information indeed (Leung, Law, Hoof, & Buhalis, 2013).

Most businesses monitor social media to identify problems and mitigate complaints as a result of
social media (Sparks & Bradley, 2014), which in turn enables them to provide customer service
at new levels in different ways. Social media further offers opportunities to engage with existing
and potential customers beyond transactional interactions, permitting new ways of customer
relationship management. According to Gretzel & Fesenmaier (2012), people follow destinations
on social media platforms to be entertained and express emotional attachments, while they
engage mostly with travel companies for information and discounts.

A widely recognized role of social media in the tourism literature is its importance for crisis
communication and management. A company's ability to use social media effectively to spread
public relations messages aimed at preventing or managing a crisis is one aspect of this concept
(Sigala, 2011). For instance, (Hvass, 2014) illustrates the use of social media by airlines during
the 2010 ash cloud crisis as one of those abilities. On the other hand, the literature discusses how
social media can be used to connect with tourists during crisis times. According to (Schroeder et
al. 2013), travellers are likely to turn to social media during a crisis because of their prominent
use of smartphones during travel. It is because of their reduced access to traditional media
devices, such as radio as compared to residents and their greater risk perceptions. Therefore,
increased information needs are induced by their unfamiliarity with the destination and with
organizations that could provide help.

2.1.8 Social media from the consumer’s perspective

Social media is not only a tool to communicate and share, but it has also been used as a
marketing tool by many companies in recent years. Social media has advanced from being a
platform for individuals simply enabling to simply stay connected with their family and friends.
It is now a place where consumers can learn and educate themselves more on the topic of their
favourite companies and the products and services they offer. These sites have been utilized by
marketers and retailers as another way to reach their consumers, providing them with a new
shopping experience. “Technology-related developments such as the rise of powerful search
engines, advanced mobile devices and interfaces, peer-to-peer communication vehicles, and
online social networks have extended marketers’ ability to reach shoppers through new touch
points” (Shankar et al. 2011, 30) (Paquette, 2013). (Vemeulen & Seegers 2009) believe that
online exposure to other customers’ experiences could amplify potential tourists’ awareness and
consideration of travel. In today's increasingly mobile world, social media are no longer just used
to inform travellers, but are also used to guide decisions and provide interpretation during the
journey (Fotis, Buhalis & Rossides, 2011). Hence, they are not only influencing where tourists
are going but also the quality of their experiences in the destinations.

The tourists are not only able to consume others’ content online but are also inspired to share
their travel content. Among the interesting findings of this study (Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier,
2009) are that travel content on social media encourages daydreaming, stimulates fantasies,
evokes nostalgia, and takes the consumer to exotic destinations. Despite the fact that social
media users often post travel-related content to help others or to share experiences with loved
ones, they also report that the process can be very enjoyable (Gretzel & Jamal., 2020). (Kim &
Fesenmaier 2017) demonstrate that such sharing not only entertains but also leads to more
positive evaluations of the past travel experience and therefore fulfils an important psychological
function. This has added to the destination image where consumers are able to share their image
of the destination, which is raw and authentic. Consumers are not limited to looking at the
content created by DMOS, media and marketers now because of social media, which has
changed the way one views the destination. It has been suggested in the studies (Balomenou &
Garrod, 2019) that the changes in photo-taking and photo-sharing practices brought about by
social media influence the circle of representation greatly, with consumers contributing a great
deal to the projected image of a destination.

An important role of social media in tourism that has received little attention in the academic
tourism literature is social media activism, which provides opportunities for consumers to
organize and protest (Segerberg & Bennett, 2011). The studies by Mkono & Tribe (2017)
identify social media activism as one of the main roles of tourists using social media, but their
conceptualization of activism and their research context are limited, so they ignore many aspects
of social media activism relevant to tourism. Social-media-based whistleblowing exposing
problematic or even illegal practices by tourism and hospitality businesses is becoming more and
more common as smartphones make it extremely easy to record and capture proof of evidence,
which is then immediately shared online with others (CNBC, 2017).
(Miller 2017) explains that social media “help foster social change by creating a conversational
environment based on limited forms of expressive solidarity as opposed to an engaged, content-
driven, dialogic public sphere”. Some researchers have warned that merely engaging in symbolic
actions might lead to moral licensing effects and thus less cause-related behaviour afterwards
(Soyer, Cornelissen & Karelaia, 2013). Social media have also been identified to support
activism as they encourage fluid membership and asynchronous participation (Cammaerts 2015).
This goes on to show that social media is more than a platform for content sharing for consumers
in tourism.

2.2 Social Media in Tourism and its concerns

2.2.1 Destination image

Photography and tourism are intricately linked (Garrod, 2009), and social media provide new
outlets for tourists to curate and share their travel photographs (Lo et al., 2011). Social media
also changes how tourists take photographs and videos, and how they frame their visuals
(Dinhopland & Gretzel, 2016). Travel advertisements, travel guides, and the popular media have
traditionally influenced what tourists depict in their photographs. There are repercussions to this
so-called circle of representation (Jenkins, 2003), which has changed because of social media.
Tourists are now participating actively in establishing what the iconic, must-see destinations are
on social media platforms by sharing their photographs publicly (Månsson, 2011). This has led to
loss of control for destination marketers on their brand (Gretzel, Kang & Lee, 2008).

This phenomenon has also been discussed in different literature, where, with the invention of
technology and social media platforms, the power relation can shift. Tourism has long been
characterized as an information asymmetric market in which tourists have a lower level of
information than their suppliers. However, with the advent of modern technologies, and
especially with the wide diffusion of the participative Web 2.0 functionalities, it is not difficult to
envisage situations where the information asymmetry is reversed, and a traveller is more able to
fully value the product offered than the supplier.

2.2.2 Use of Social Media Data

The ethical issues regarding datafication and the use of social media data in research are also of
rising concern. Social media research requires a different way of thinking about data (Quan
Haase & Young, 2010), as data is widely available but also incredibly noisy. In the studies
(Xiang et al. 2017) on social media research demonstrated that the issue of data reliability is
significant, and exploring it further is of importance. Using social media data to validate the
quality of the destination or tourism product is questionable. The study by Xiang et al. (2017)
revealed a severe problem in the reliability of online review data. Particularly, data from even a
highly reputable website like TripAdvisor might yield unreliable results and thus potentially
invalid conclusions. this study revealed that data quality issues could result from the innate
nature of social media and inconsistencies in user behaviour.

2.2.3 Mass tourism and social media

Mass tourism is a feeling of suffering due to tourist overload (Borg, 1992) in a place, expressed
through an individual or collective reaction to the local authorities or in the press, tourists are
rarely, if ever, taken to task. Mass tourism has the peculiarity of involving both locals and
tourists at the destination, as these also suffer from promiscuity and visitor density. Little
literature talks about the relationship between social media and mass tourism. Social media
technologies hold the power of persuasion, which encourages users to post and share their
experiences online for others to view. This power also enables users to manufacture and produce
the contents that are shareworthy, and it is done so through visual platforms like Instagram,
TikTok and also through location-based applications like Foursquare and Snapchat (Gretzel,
2019). This means that social media are networks of desire that help fuel the creation and
consumption of content (Kozinets et al., 2016), where the attractions of travel-related content are
evident. The study by Gretzel (2019) discusses how social media not only heightens motivations
to travel, but also fosters travel to specific destinations and influences behaviours at destinations.
Further, it asserts that social media use does not constitute the only, or even the most important,
cause of mass tourism, but it certainly encourages behaviours that contribute to crowding, and it
perpetuates images that influence others to travel to certain places and behave in certain ways
once there.

2.3.0 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Relevant Theories Related to Social Media Marketing Approach

This section reviews major theoretical frameworks which may be applicable to the study and
understanding of social media. One can separate these theories into three schools: micro-theories
deal with those frameworks studying the dynamics of contribution of information online and
communication of individual social actors; macro- theories are those theories looking at the
structure and dynamics of social actors and social media content through global or abstract
views; pseudo-theories include the recent conceptual frameworks in marketing and social media
proposed mostly by non-academics. Pseudo-theories may make sense intuitively, but have yet to
be tested empirically and rigorously with scientific methods. All schools of theories and
frameworks might contribute to our understanding of the nature of social media, why people
contribute, how they form relationships, and how one can discover the opinion leaders and
valuable social media content.
Micro-Theories
a. Word of Mouth/Psychological Ownership Theory and Perceived Control
Historically, tourism researchers have found that advice from friends and relatives is the most
frequently obtained and influential source of information used by consumers in their travel
decision making (Crotts 1999; Perdue 1993). The information communicated by friends and
relatives is construed to be more credible, honest, and trustworthy than that generated from
marketers, since the communicators are not compensated for the referral. Advancements in the
Internet and Web 2.0 technologies now allow consumers to access personally meaningful
critiques not only from friends and relatives but from strangers (e.g. travel blogs, which continue
to grow in popularity). As an illustration, TripAdvisor, currently purports over 40 million reviews
attracting over 50 million unique users each month (Dépêches 2010). Asatryan & Oh (2008)
applied Psychological Ownership Theory in explaining why former guests are motivated to offer
WOM feedbacks. On one level, some customers develop feelings of connections with firms they
are loyal to that manifest into a sense of ownership, as evidenced by the ‘mine’, ‘my’, ‘our’
language they use in their reviews. In such circumstances, one would assume that a loyal guest
would provide positive feedback to others, directing their negative feedback to management
(Mattila 2001). However, where no such loyalty exists, the motive to write either a negative or
positive review may be a desire to control or influence the business indirectly by communicating
with its future potential customers. Loyal consumers' motives in posting positive reviews on
travel blogs are attempts to reward firms; the motives of non-loyal customers are based on the
satisfaction of being helpful to other consumers. According to Pierce, Kostova, & Dirks (2003),
the desire by the consumer to control through such communications may result in feelings of
efficacy, intrinsic pleasure, and extrinsic satisfaction in providing such advice to others. These
propositions point to strategies in which a firm can leverage customer feedback and social media
for a firm’s strategic benefit. On one hand, firms should enhance the perception of psychological
ownership and control among their customer base through loyalty and guest feedback and
service recovery programs; they should keep more negative evaluations internal and positive
feedback external. On the other hand, firms that do not emphasize customer loyalty or guest
feedback should expect customers to both reward and punish their performance through social
media.

Social Exchange Theory

Given that all social media are dependent on users providing content, an understanding of the
motives of why individuals participate appears fundamental. Social exchange theory was
originated from sociology studies exploring exchange between individuals or small groups
(Emerson 1976). The theory mainly uses cost-benefit framework and comparison of alternatives
to explain how human beings communicate with each other, how they form relationships and
bonds, and how communities are formed through communication exchanges (Homans 1958).
The theory states that individuals engage in behaviors they find rewarding and avoid behaviors
that have too high a cost. In other words, all social behavior is based on each actor’s subjective
assessment of the cost-benefit of contributing to a social exchange. They communicate or
exchange with each other contingent on reciprocal actions from the other communicating party
(Emerson 1976).

The mutual reinforcement could be analyzed through a microeconomic framework, though many
times the rewards are not monetary but social, such as opportunity, prestige, conformity, or
acceptance (Emerson 1976). The theory was arguably best summarized by Homans (1958, p.
606) when he wrote: Social behavior is an exchange of goods, material goods but also non-
material ones, such as the symbols of approval or prestige. Persons that give much to others try
to get much from them, and persons that get much from others are under pressure to give much
to them. This process of influence tends to work out at equilibrium to a balance in the exchanges.
For a person in an exchange, what he gives may be a cost to him, just as what he gets may be a
reward, and his behavior changes less as the difference of the two, profit, tends to a maximum.
Hence, the reasons why people engage in a social exchange have been posited as

i. an expected gain in reputation and influence on others;

ii. an anticipated reciprocity on the part of others;
iii. altruism; and
iv. direct reward. Given that participation in the social media is not compensated, the first
three reasons appear to have particular relevance to why people participate in social
media.

Travel blogs and social media sites have long recognized that there are far more people
consuming information than generating. On YouTube, for example, though subscribers have
uploaded over 2 billion videos and audio tracks to the social media site since its founding in
2005, the same site is accessed by more than 10 million unique daily visitors indicating there are
far more viewers than contributors. The Global Web Index (2009) (TrendsStream Limited 2010;
Li 2010), which tracks these phenomena, suggests that users of social media can be segmented
into four main groups. They are:

i. watchers (79.8% of the US social media users), who consume content only to help with
their decision making;
ii. sharers (61.2%), who upload and forward information to others in order to help others
and demonstrate knowledge;
iii. commenters (36.2%), who both review and rate products and comment on those who do
in an effort to participate and contribute; and
iv. producers (24.2%), who create their own content in an effort to express their identity and
recognition.

Framed in a social exchange theory, watchers take but do not reciprocate from the exchange
suggesting they consider the cost of posting or commenting too high, or fear of offering their
opinion or raising their profile. Though obviously far more research is needed to test the validity
of such groupings, segmenting users as to their exchange behaviors has a certain level of face
validity. Given such a hierarchy of users based on their active exchanges, firms attempting to
leverage social media to their advantage should attempt to engage consumers of all four
segmentation levels. For watchers, the task is to first identify the specific social media they use,
what information they seek, and what makes it engaging, in an effort to develop and position
content that is relevant. The same strategy and content should be useful as well for sharers.
However, the tendency of sharers should be facilitated by marketers by simplifying the process
of forwarding content (e.g., Retweet and Facebook forward links) as well as recognizing and
rewarding the desired behavior.

Facebook's OpenGraph has allowed a user to "like" or "comment" on any content on the web
(Zukerberg 2010). Firms may find advantages in getting ahead of this trend by proactively
adding a commenting feature to each of their webpages. By doing so, they can directly manage
the content of such comments which in effect will discourage spammers and trolls. Lastly, in
regards to producers, attempts by firms to engage with their customers who create unique
platforms for their customers may produce dividends at the brand or chain level. Publically
recognizing such sites that are helpful to the firm and increasing their visibility through search
engine marketing are options.

Social penetration theory

Similar to social exchange theory, social penetration theory explains how human exchange forms
relationships (Altman & Taylor 1973). However, the latter focuses more on the individual and
dyadic levels while the former could explain behavior at aggregated and organizational levels.
Social exchange theory states that human beings form close relationships through self-disclosure.
Using an analogy of peeling of the layers in an onion, one must disclose him or herself through
the continuing process of expose one's inner self and identity. It starts with public, visible, and
superficial information, such as gender, clothing preferences, and ethnicity; slowly, as the
relationship progresses, one starts to share his or her feelings; in the deepest level, one will
expose his or her goals, ambition, and beliefs (Altman et al. 1981).

In the social world online, we may be able to design social networks in a way to separate these
different layers of information. By default, certain information will be disclosed to the public,
while private and semi-private information could be confidential; There might be ways to
determine the levels of relationships from the mode and frequencies of communication, which
could be all tracked online easily through online social media sites. A recent privacy lawsuit
against Facebook highlighted the importance following the layered rules of social penetration in
order (Gaudin 2010).

Macro-Theories
Social Network Analysis

Social network theory views the community of individuals as connected actors, and uses
mathematical models to study its structure, development, and evolution (Wasserman & Faust
1994). Social network analysis treats individual actors in a community as nodes; the
communications between those actors are deemed as ties, edges, links, or connections. Social
networks can form in many levels, from individual people, to families, communities, and nations.
Those ties could be communication frequency, friendship, kinship, financial exchange, sexual
relationships, or common interests or beliefs. Together they form a complex graph structure.
Mathematical calculation on many indices could be performed on this complex
graph, including the following:

Betweenness: the extent of a node lying between other nodes;

Centrality: how connected is a node to the network;
Closeness: how one node is near all other nodes in the network;
Density: all the ties in a network in proportion to all the possible ties;
Structural hole: the node which connects other nodes. Those nodes are disconnected without the
first node.

These measurements determine the importance and structural positions of individual actors, and
the characteristics of the partial or whole networks. The measurements could be used to study the
social network, improve the network structure, and help increase the efficiency of information
flows in the network. Network analysis software such as UCINET could be used to measure
those indices (Borgatti et al., 1992). Traditional social network analysis views individuals or
organizations as nodes in the network, and the communication between them as edges. However,
social media content is exactly the materialization and solidification of the chatter, comments, or
reviews. The recent emergence of multi-dimensional social network framework is crucial in
studying the interaction between social actors and information artifacts (Contractor 2009).
By treating social media content as nodes, one can perform mathematical calculation on those
information artifacts, such as what are the important pieces shared by many people, how one can
connect users through artifacts, where are the structure holes of social media by connecting
which, the network could be more tightly integrated. Buckner’s (1965) theory on rumor
transmission indicates the accuracy and speed of rumor passing were affected by the structure of
the network and the mental sets of individual actors in the network. Connecting this line of
research with social network analysis of those online social network sites could inform
businesses of the methods on promoting themselves through organic word-of-mouth. Recent
applications of multidimensional social network analysis to Web 2.0 have generated some
fruitful results (Kajdanowicz et al. In Press; Kazienko et al. 2010).

McLuhan’s Media Theory

McLuhan is a Canadian philosopher and educator, the author of the famous quote "the media is
the message" (McLuhan 1995). He argued that the media itself, rather the actual content of the
media, will transform people and society. The actual messages people are communicating won't
be any different on the new media; the interactivity and frequency of new communication pattern
will change our behavior forever. Thus, the media's effects on society are much greater than the
content of the media. He separates media into "cool" media and "hot" media. The former one
requires a viewer to exert much effort and participation in understanding the content, such as
television, seminars, or cartoons; the latter refers to those media that enhance one sense, so the
viewers do not need to exert much effort, such as films, radio, and photography (McLuhan
1995).
If we use McLuhan's arguments, social media will transform the users not due to the content it
contains, but due to the mode of communication it entails. For example, Twitter is only a micro-
blogging service with a limitation of 140 characters. Theoretically one can perform all the
functions of Twitter through a blog service. However, it is exactly its limiting factor which made
Twitter nimbler and more real-time. Many breaking news stories were spread out on Twitter,
such as China's Sichuan earthquake and Mumbai's terrorist attack in 2008 (Parr 2009). As
business managers and consumers, one needs to realize the changing behavior due to the usage
of new social media services and adopt an attitude of acceptance toward those technologies and
behavior.

III. Pseudo-theories

Social media landscape is fast changing due to the low cost of innovation in the era of open-
source movement. The disconnect of academia from the industry and the slow process of formal
publishing cycle poses a challenge for researchers in academic institutions. Many social media
and online marketing agencies actually are more innovative and ahead of the curve of social
media for marketing purposes. This section views two frameworks trying to make sense of social
media landscape. Carlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter Group are the major
contributors to the socialgraphics framework (JOwyang 2010). They argued that instead of
studying the demographic, geographic, or psychographic profiles of your customers, businesses
also need to develop social strategy termed socialgraphics.

Marketers and managers need to ask the following questions: which websites are my customers
on? What are my customers' social behaviors online? What social information or people do my
customers rely on? What are my customers' social influence? The answers to these questions
could separate your customers into layers of engagements: from curating, producing,
commenting, sharing, to watching. The businesses then need to separate their customers into
these layers and provide tools and platforms to facilitate their social interaction. Another line of
framework, Social Feedback Loop, links consumer purchase funnel with social media. Dave
Evans (2008) has argued that traditional purchase funnel has three stages (awareness,
consideration, and purchases) during which a marketer could influence a consumer's decision
making. However, the purchase funnel concept treats customers like living in a vacuum. A
customer, after purchase, will use the product, form opinions, and talk about it later in the stage.
Some of the experience after purchase will be materialized and posted online, which will loop
back to other customers' purchase decision making process. This social feedback cycle is driven
mostly by word-of-mouth; the word-of-mouth is further driven by actual use, trial, or sampling
experience.

Harnessing this feedback loop might be even more important than marketing on the mass media
through the first three stages of consumer decision making. These two frameworks make
intuitive sense: marketers should switch focus from effects of mass media on pre-purchase
decision making to post-purchase word-of-mouth; one needs to study the different levels of
engagement your customers have in order to adopt different strategies for encouraging the spread
of social media and influence the direction of consumer conversation. However, the frameworks
don’t specify the exact methods in segmenting engagement groups and the ways to adopt in order
to differentiate stages of pre-purchase decision making and post-consumption and the ways to
influence them.
An Integrated Meta-Framework

The aforementioned theories look at social media and social actors through either individual,
global, or marketing and business perspectives. An integrated framework needs to be
reductionistic, quantifiable, and applicable to business and marketing settings Social network
analysis, especially the multi-dimensional social network analysis, with rigorous methodology
and measurements, seems to be an overall framework for studying the interaction between
information artifacts, human actors, and the interaction and evolution of the two. Thus,
multidimensional network is at the center of the framework.

On one hand, the macro and micro theories, such as McLuhan's media theory, social exchange
and social penetration theory, could inform the analysis and modeling of social network analysis.
On the other hand, social network analysis can actually quantify socialgraphics and link social
media content with purchase funnels through quantitative analysis. Social network analysis could
be adopted to explore various aspects of those behavioral theories online. For example, on one
hand, one needs to look at social penetration theory and start linking different layers of private
information with different levels of relationships; on the other hand, the frequencies of posting
and commenting and number of friends on social networks, could be the basis to differentiate
levels of participation in socialgraphic profile of a business' customer base. Figure 3.1 displays a
meta-framework which connects the theories and frameworks discussed in this section, with the
questions they could address in the social media world.
Figure 3.1: The connections between Theoretical Models and Applicable Questions

Source: @: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254862367

A few major theoretical and behavioral frameworks are reviewed in this chapter, including word-
of-mouth research, social exchange theory, social network analysis, McLuhan's media theory,
socialgraphics, and purchase funnel and social media. Social network analysis, especially the
multi-dimensional social network analysis, could be the McLuhan's Media Theory
Multidimensional

How social media change the structure of the social network and media network? general
framework to investigate social network, information artifact networks, and the dynamic
evolution between the two. On one hand, the behavioral frameworks could inform the
development and directions of multidimensional networks; on the other hand, the methodologies
of multidimensional social network could be used to inform and validate other general theories
and frameworks; more importantly, the quantifiable nature of the methodology and the ease of
capturing behavioral data online could finally validate the socialgraphic framework and quantify
different stages of the decision-making process and inform the marketers of the ways to
influence their customers from social feedback loop.

For future research efforts, more specifically, we need more studies combining data mining and
data modeling on the web with behavioral frameworks. For example, we need to capture the
social generated media and metadata existing on current social media websites, such as
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Adopting multidimensional social network analysis in studying
online social networks and knowledge networks could result in more in-depth understanding of
the phenomena and inform social media marketing practices for hospitality and tourism
businesses (Contractor 2009).

2.4 LITERATURE REVIEW

The development and adoption of information communication technologies (ICTs) in the tourism
industry has dramatically transformed the way that tourism enterprises undertake their operations
(Poon:1993, Buhalis and Soo:2009; Starkov and Safer;2011). The use of the internet by both the
consumers and tourism organizations has had profound impact on the distribution channels of the
product (Reino & Baggio :2013). The number of travellers using the internet to search for
holiday information has been increasing in recent years. For example, in 2010 the number was
estimated at 2 billion (Poon: 2011) whilst estimates are that by 2016 the number will reach 3
billion (Buhalis: 2013).

When reviewing the literature on the adoption and use of Internet based marketing information
systems in tourism Al-allack (2010) highlights a wide range of research findings that have shown
how adoption of ICTs has helped to improve business decision making and business
performance. Information Communication Technologies are widely being used for the on-line
distribution of brochures, emailing messages to potential customers, sending out advertising
messages, confirmation of bookings, distribution of product videos, distribution of newsletters
and launching of new products (Karanasios:2007, Buhalis: 2013).

The growth of the use of the Internet in tourism marketing has further witnessed the use of the
social media as a key communication tool with customers. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010:61)cited
by Fotis, Buhalis and Rossides (2012) define social media as “a group of internet based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of the World Wide Web
(www) and that allow the creation and exchanges of user generated content” At present the major
groups of social media are comprised of social networking websites Facebook, Linkedin,
MySpace, blogs, YouTube, Scrib, Flickr, micro blogs, Twitter, collaborative projects Wikipedia,
Wikitravel and consumer review and rating sites such as TripAdvisor (Fotis et al).
Social media has become a major source of information for consumers globally with Facebook
claiming a total of 750 million active users in 2011 and Twitter claiming a total of 175 million
users in the same year (Fotis et al, 2012). In tourism, TripAdvisor indicates that it serves 50
million users per month who will be searching for travel information as well as writing reviews
about their holiday experiences (ibid). Social media have become a major source of information
for consumers when planning holidays. Comments and reviews on the quality of services
provided by different enterprises therefore influence the decisions of the potential tourists as to
which destinations to travel to and which operators to use when purchasing holiday activities.
For example, in their study of Russian travellers Fotis et al (2012) found that 97% of the
respondents had visited at least one social network site during the past twelve months and that
36% of the respondents had visited a social network site every day. The study concluded that
social media are used throughout the holiday experience from the planning stage to the post-
holiday period (ibid).

User generated content provides creditable recommendations for enterprises. The consumers are
therefore more empowered now than in the past in terms of how they receive marketing
communication from enterprises. They need to feel that they have some control of the marketing
messages they are receiving. They are therefore constantly searching for a balance between what
the organizations are saying about themselves with regards to their products and services and
what other consumers who have sampled those products and services are saying (Starkov and
Safer: 2011). The use of social medial is a key tool to ensure that customers receive a balanced
view of the quality and value for money for services and products offered by organizations in the
tourism industry.

Small and medium sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) make up a high proportion of tourism
operators globally (Scott et al: 2010). In both the developed and developing countries SMTEs
have experienced a number challenges in adopting the internet and social media networks as
tools for marketing their services and products (Reino & Baggio: 2013, Duff: 2010, Shanker:
2008, Wanjau: 2012, Scott et al., 2010). For SMTEs in the developed countries the key barriers
to the use of the internet and social media include the following: lack of training in ICT, lack of
management awareness of the usefulness of social media as a marketing tool, peripheral location
of products and hence inability to access the internet, (Duff:2010). In the case of SMETs in the
developing countries barriers to adoption of the internet and social media as marketing tools
include the following: fear of technology, inadequate and unreliable telecommunication
infrastructure, high costs if ICT hardware and software, limited ICT knowledge and skills
(Karansios:2007, Al-allack:2010 Wanjau et al: 2012).

Within Africa very limited research has been undertaken to assess the level of adoption of the
internet and social media as tools for marketing tourism products and services (Boateng &
Hinson: 2007, Wiig: 2002, Potgieter, de Jager & van Heerden: 2010 and Maswera, Edwards &
Dowson: 2009). Besides experiencing the challenges that other developing country SMTEs are
facing the majority of African SMTEs have to deal with issues of inconsistent power supply, high
costs of internet services and lack of appropriate government policies.
 CHAPTER THREE

Methodology

In this part of the project, the method used during the research process is discussed. This project
aims to understand some of the different roles that social media play in tourism, identifying
several changes that occurred in tourism due to social media and how it has been handled. To do
that, the following methods were used to extract data and knowledge from different sources, such
as interviews and literature. In more detail, this chapter outlines the research strategy based on
grounded theory to collect qualitative data in the form of interviews, observation and secondary
data drawn from relevant literature. This chapter also consists of the ethical considerations and
the research limitations of the project.

3.1 Research Strategy

The research was based on grounded theory, where data collection was cyclic and reflective.
Grounded theory proposes that careful observation of the social world can lead to the
construction of a theory (Rice & Ezzy, 1999). This process is iterative and evolving, aiming to
construct a new theory from collected data that accounts for those data. Grounded theory is an
analytic method for constructing theories from inductive qualitative data (Charmaz & Bryant,
2010).

3.2 Research Method

The researcher was make used of combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods
researchers administered a questionnaire with ten questions and conducted interviews with
selected respondents. Registered small and medium scale tourism and hospitality organizations’
names were placed in a hat and a sample of respondents was drawn at random. A total of 104
questionnaires out of the 107 that were returned were selected for consideration after 3 were
rejected due to either incompleteness or inappropriate completion. A further sample of 40
respondents was drawn from the 110 for the purposes of gathering qualitative data through the
interviews. Researchers approached respondents at their premises and asked them to complete
the questionnaire and in the case of selected respondents an interview was also conducted.

3.3 Research Approach

The research approach that was followed for the research done in this project was the inductive
approach. According to this approach, researchers begin with specific observations used to
produce generalized theories and conclusions drawn from the research. The reason for acquiring
the inductive approach was that it considers the context where the research effort is active. At the
same time, it is also most appropriate for small samples that produce qualitative data. Moreover,
the inductive approach to the research facilitates identifying themes and patterns in the data to
analyze them further. In this project, data has been analyzed using themes and patterns, which
will be presented in detail in the latter part of this section. However, there are weaknesses to any
approach, and one of the main weaknesses of the inductive approach is that it produces
generalized theories and conclusions which are dependent on a small number of observations,
resulting in the reliability of research being questioned (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). The number of
observations made in this project is very few, which can reflect on the analysis of the research
question.

3.4 Data Collection Methods

To conduct qualitative research, primary and secondary data were used for the project. The
empirical data gathered through interviews and observation were primary. Whereas the results
and knowledge from different bodies of literature are used as secondary data in this project.

3.4.1 Interviews

The interviews conducted for this project were ‘semi-structured’ interviews. ‘Semi-structured’
interviews are a kind of interviews that take place with a few structured interview questions.
There were a few predetermined questions which were followed in the manner of normal
conversation concerning the research topic under review. It is the combination of structured and
unstructured styles of interview. This style provides the advantage of both kinds of interviews,
with some structured questions to dive deep into the research topic and some unstructured ones
to establish rapport and comfort with the participant as the conversation advances.

3.4.2 Participant Observation

This method of data collection involves observing people’s behaviour in the environment in
which it typically occurs. As an intern who worked in a Tourism Counselling Company, named
Travindy as ‘Content Manager’, I was able to observe and gather how social media was integral
to the tourism company during 3 months (September-December 2021). It should be noted that
the nature of the internship was remote, and the work meetings were conducted through Skype
and Slack. The data that is collected in this method can include notes based on their observations
and interactions, documents, photographs, and other artefacts. However, for this project,
‘internship notes’ based on observation and interaction are used as the primary data, which are
attached separately as additional documents. The principle behind participant observation is the
possibility of important information being accessible to someone who is actively participating in
the group or situation, or with the ability to interpret it.

3.4.3 Secondary data

The secondary data were used in the writing process of this project in the form of travel journals,
news articles supporting the data and different bodies of literature. Here, the secondary data were
important in establishing the existing culture of social media use in tourism. These data were
further curated and analysed in the upcoming chapters.

3.5 Data Analysis

In this project, thematic analysis was used to dissect the data which was gathered from
interviews conducted online. The ability of this analysis to be adapted for using visual and
written text, which can provide clear comprehension to the reader, like reading a magazine
(Ahuvia, 2001). There are numerous approaches to conducting thematic analysis, but the most
common form follows a six-step process: familiarization, coding, generating themes, reviewing
themes, defining and naming themes, and writing up. In this form, the transcription of interview
recordings is required, followed by coding stages. At first, the author read and re-read transcripts
to identify potential themes. The themes were reviewed keeping in mind the research question,
which talks about social media reconfiguring the tourism industry. After that, the themes were
defined and named. In this thematic analysis, I have transcribed the interview in

(Appendix 1). The following themes were generated after re-reading those interview excerpts,
being familiar with the concepts generating codes. Codes were generated by associating words
which has similar meanings together, like promoting, marketing, and selling. These codes were
later generated into four themes as follows:
 Chapter Four

Data Analysis

Data presentation and analysis

The quantitative and qualitative findings of the research are concurrently presented in this paper.
The concurrent analysis of the qualitative and quantitative findings enabled the researchers to
obtain more information on the logic of responses to the questionnaire.

4.1. Reliability analysis

The questionnaire used to collect primary data was subjected to the Cronbach’s Alpha reliability
analysis and the score of 0.759 was obtained as indicated in Table 1. Such a score is quite
positive with regards to the reliability of information obtained.

Cronbach's Alpha No of Items

.759 12
Table 4.1 Author’s computation

4.2. Demographic Data

The distribution of respondents according to gender is presented in Table 2 below. From the full
set of respondents 61% were male while 39% were female.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid Male 63 60.6 60.6 60.6
Female 41 39.4 39.4 100
Total 104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025
The age group 31-40 years formed the majority of respondents. Those aged 20 years and below
were the least as indicated Table 3

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid 20 Years & above 4 3.8 3.8 3.8
21 - 30 Years 29 27.9 27.9 31.7
31 - 40 Years 48 46.2 46.2 77.9
41 - 50 Years 17 16.3 16.3 94.2
51 - 60 Years &
above 6 5.8 5.8 100
104 100 100
. Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The classification of respondents according to their positions in their respective companies is

presented in Table 4. The objective of gathering this information was to ensure that data were
obtained from either the entrepreneurs themselves or those that have decision making powers
within the organizations surveyed.

Frequenc Valid Cumulative

y Percent Percent Percent

Valid Non-Managerial 54 51.9 51.9 51.9

Junior Manager 30 28.8 28.8 80.8

Senior Manager 20 19.2 19.2 100

104 100 100

Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025
The range and nature of businesses are presented in Table 5. From the findings 63% were from
the hospitality sector, 32% from the tourism sector and 5% from the recreation and leisure sector.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Hospitality 66 63.5 63.5 63.5
Travel/Tourism 33 31.7 31.7 95.2
Recreation 5 4.8 4.8 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The number of employees per organization is presented in Table 6

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
Less than 5
valid Employees 10 9.6 9.6 9.6
5 - 10 Employees 31 29.8 29.8 39.4
11 - 15 Employees 42 40.4 40.4 79.8
16 - 20 Employees 13 12.5 12.5 92.3
21 Employees &
Above 8 7.7 7.7 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025
The years that the organizations had been operating are presented below in table 7.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid 1 - 2 Years 17 16.3 16.3 16.3
3 - 5 Years 34 32.7 32.7 49.0
6 - 10 Years 41 39.4 39.4 88.5
11 - 15 Years 10 9.6 9.6 98.1
More than 15
Years 2 1.9 1.9 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

Fig 1 below presents the response rates for the selected social media platforms. From the set used
Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube were the most commonly used, while the
least used were flickr and others. This is an indication that SMEs appreciate the effectiveness of
these platforms in showcasing what they have on offer. In the interviews entrepreneurs expressed
that lack of resources and efficient connectivity hindered them from fully exploiting other
platforms. Some indicated that they only worked with those platforms they believed where
accessed by their potential customers.

Chart Title
Others

Twitter

Flickr

Linkedin

YouTube

WhatsApp

Instagram

Facebook
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

Table 8. Tourism industries officially use social media platforms to market its products and
services

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 9 8.7 8.7 8.7
Disagree 11 10.6 10.6 19.2
Neutral 8 7.7 7.7 26.9
Agree 34 32.7 32.7 59.6
Strongly Agree 42 40.4 40.4 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The response rate showed that more than 70% of respondents were from organizations that had
embraced the use of the social media in their marketing efforts.

The data presented in Table 9 are based on the research questions in the questionnaire.

Table 9. The using of social media platforms is helping tourism industries connect with its

clients and stakeholders.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 7 6.7 6.7 6.7
Disagree 12 11.5 11.5 18.3
Neutral 21 20.2 20.2 38.5
Agree 29 27.9 27.9 66.3
Strongly Agree 35 33.7 33.7 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

More than 60% of respondents saw social media platforms helping their organizations connect
with their clients. Those in the negative could be those businesses that target walk-in clients and
that do not seek to establish relationships with their customers. From the information gathered in
the interviews, such businesses tended not to have fixed premises nor specific line of business
they specialised in. They were opportunistic in nature dealing in anything that was popular with
people at the time.

Table 10. Social media platforms help enhance a company’s marketing communication
strategies.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 4 3.8 3.8 3.8
Disagree 11 10.6 10.6 14.4
Neutral 16 15.4 15.4 29.8
Agree 33 31.7 31.7 61.5
Strongly Agree 40 38.5 38.5 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The majority of respondents agreed with the statement and this is not surprising given that in the
interviews respondents expressed that social media platforms had transformed their marketing
communication strategies significantly and for the better.

Table 11. Marketing communications through social networks are faster and more efficient than
traditional means.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 2 1.9 1.9 1.9
Disagree 15 14.4 14.4 16.3
Neutral 18 17.3 17.3 33.7
Agree 25 24 24 57.7
Strongly Agree 44 42.3 42.3 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025
This is a known fact for those organizations that have effectively embraced this form of business
communication and networking. It is however necessary to explain the 16.3% that was in the
negative and the 17.3% that was neutral. Organizations that do not use social media platforms
would naturally be in this category while those that view social media as informal and not
serious enough for business also find it ineffective. In the interviews some respondents were of
the opinion that lack of capacity to operate technological gadgets and lack of resources to acquire
them made some entrepreneurs reluctant to entertain the use of social media platforms.

Table 12. "My clients appreciate my organization’s use of social networks in marketing

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 4 3.8 3.8 3.8
Disagree 12 11.5 11.5 15.4
Neutral 23 22.1 22.1 37.5
Agree 38 36.5 36.5 74.5
Strongly Agree 27 26.0 26.0 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The outcome here is consistent with the general trend of responses showing that those that use
social media are reaping benefits and their clients like it.

Table 13. "The use of social networks by our organization has positive effects on its image

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 3 2.9 2.9 2.9
Disagree 11 10.6 10.6 13.5
Neutral 29 27.9 27.9 41.3
Agree 47 42.5 42.5 86.5
Strongly Agree 14 13.5 13.5 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025
The response rate here is quite interesting given the general belief that social media platforms are
associated with jokes, lack of seriousness and informal activities. The outcome shows that SMEs
surveyed had accepted social media platforms as a way of communicating with their clients and
doing business.

Table 14. Social media platforms should remain social; they have no place in business marketing.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 39 37.5 37.5 37.5
Disagree 27 26.0 26.0 83.5
Neutral 25 24.0 24.0 87.5
Agree 9 8.7 8.7 96.2
Strongly Agree 4 3.8 3.8 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The response rate here emphasizes the fact that hospitality industry has indeed accepted social
media platforms as a vehicle for the enhancement of their marketing communications strategies.

Table 15. The ICT Network infrastructure in hospitality industry supports the use of social
networks in businesses

Frequenc Valid Cumulative

y Percent Percent Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 2 1.9 1.9 1.9
Disagree 5 4.8 4.8 6.7
Neutral 10 9.6 9.6 16.3
Agree 31 29.8 29.8 46.2
Strongly Agree 56 53.8 53.8 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025
Table 16. Investors and their staff need training for them to make full use of social media
platforms

Frequenc Valid Cumulative

y Percent Percent Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 17 16.3 16.3 16.3
Disagree 23 22.1 22.1 38.5
Neutral 30 28.8 28.8 67.3
Agree 20 19.2 19.2 86.5
Strongly Agree 14 13.5 13.5 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

The almost balanced nature of the response rate in this statement means that although some
training is going on there is still need for training of entrepreneurs for them to take full advantage
of social media platforms. In light of the nature of technology one can never say that training is
no longer necessary if we consider the rate at which new technologies are developed.

Though respondents feel organizations are taking full advantage of social media platforms
interviews with experts in social media communications revealed otherwise. According to them
small businesses were only benefiting marginally if one considered the number of opportunities
that exist in the use of social media platforms. Experts recommended the establishment of IT
empowerment programmes for SMEs during which training on the application of IT resources
would be done. In their view this would ensure the meaningful and profitable application of
wide-ranging ICT resources in SMEs.
Table 17. Entrepreneurs in hospitality industry do not take full advantage of social networks to
market their businesses.

Frequenc Valid
y Percent Percent Cumulative Percent
valid Strongly Disagree 7 6.7 6.7 6.7
Disagree 14 13.5 13.5 20.2
Neutral 15 14.4 14.4 34.6
Agree 39 37.5 37.5 72.1
Strongly Agree 29 27.9 27.9 100
104 100 100
Source: Author’s Fieldwork 2025

Discussion and implication

This study provides a number of theoretical and practical implications. The theoretical
implications indicate that this study provides further analysis of the determining factors of user
satisfaction which are the reasons for visiting hotels’ Social media pages and thus the intention to
visit the hotel. The application of the Mehrabian–Russell environmental psychology model and
U&G theory helps to explain why consumers use social media as a tool for exchange with hotels.
It also serves as a stimulus to explain the reasons for accessing this virtual platform. The factors
obtained from the results contribute to the theory in explaining how gratification of the use of
social media is generated in the hotel sector. Specifically, this study explains the positive impact
that the integration of information, convenience, and social interaction have when visiting hotels’
social media pages and on fostering the intention to stay in hotels. This finding indicates that
only some of these factors are key drivers in creating user satisfaction and improving customer
intentions to visit. In addition, unequal roles in contributing to dimensions of customer
satisfaction are demonstrated in this study. Specifically, the results show agreement with prior
research which has suggested that, in context of the internet and social networking, information
plays the most vital role (Liang & Chen, 2009). In fact, today more and more people tend to
access hotels’ social media pages to receive information rather than searching on other websites.
This can be explained by the fact that on social media such as Social media, besides official
information from hotels, they also collect information from feedback or comments. Furthermore,
seeking information plays a vital role in the process of deciding on a product because of reducing
risk – especially in the hospitality industry, where products are intangible. Therefore, providing
sufficient information about a hotel and its elements on the hotel’s social media page acts as a
useful way to improve the satisfaction of online users. In additional, hoteliers should pay
attention to addressing the questions that users leave ¬¬on their social media page, as well as
keeping information up-to-date in order to support customers in selecting their desired services.

A substantial effect of the convenience factor on social media users’ satisfaction with hotel social
media pages was also demonstrated in the present study. This finding is in parallel with those of
Srinivasan et al. (2002), Kim et al. (2006), and Choi et al. (2016). Convenience-satisfied people.

Applying social media in the hotel sector: satisfaction with the social media pages of hotels and
intention of future visit182 are more likely to stay longer on a website as well as engage in
human-human interaction (Ko et al., 2005). When a Social media page offers a convenient
feeling to users, they extend their stay on social media to search for information and interact,
which can in turn meet their needs and shape their satisfaction regarding a hotel’s social media
page. Hotel managers can design a social media page that customers can get information from,
use, and navigate easily, which in turn can help customers to reduce time consumption and can
lead to their satisfaction. In terms of social interaction, this is also identified as an antecedent of
user satisfaction for a hotel’s social media page. Via a Social media page, customers can interact
with other users, hence they can search for common and useful reviews when selecting
accommodation that would satisfy their need for love and belonging according to Maslow’s
demand pyramid (1943).

Although existing research has shown the significant roles of 2 dimensions in improving users’
satisfaction – entertainment and self-expression (Basak et al., 2015; Li et al., 2017; Choi et al.,
2016) – in this study both factors did not influence customer satisfaction with a hotel’s social
media page. The development of the internet led to huge entertainment tools, so perhaps social
media users consider a hotel social media page as a tool for the purposes of relaxation. In the
other words, customers access the social media page of a hotel to search for information on
products, services, and prices, and to interact with others. Self-expression is the highest need of a
human, according to Maslow (1943), in which people wish to express themselves and be
recognized. Because of security and privacy aspects of a hotel’s social media page, which could
include unknown users or fake accounts, people may tend to ignore this as a suitable place to
express themselves.

The favorable relationship between social networking satisfaction and purchase intention has
been proved in many prior studies. This study is no exception. These findings indicate that when
customers are satisfied with a hotel’s social media page, they are more likely to stay in the hotel
in future. By fulfilling the user’s needs of information, convenience, and social interaction with
their hotel’s social media page, hoteliers can enhance the potential number of customers that
could make use of their services.

The practical implications present a new perspective on how hotels can communicate more
effectively with their customers, explaining how they can obtain greater effectiveness and
responsiveness from customers through social media given the factors that affect customer
satisfaction when visiting the hotel’s social media page. Furthermore, this study helps hotels to
better analyze the new, changed communication environment: more creativity is required to
capture the attention of social media users who may be potential customers. Hotels should
incorporate social media into their virtual marketing strategies as it proves to be an excellent
platform to attract the attention and interaction of potential customers; thus, it stimulates the
intention to visit the hotel.

4.2. Limitations and future research

The limitations of this study include data collection: clients of the hotel industry are often both
national and international tourists. Therefore, the sample does not entirely accurately represent
all customers on social media. The survey was also conducted online, so it was difficult to
respond to the respondents’ doubts when answering the questionnaire, leading to some invalid
responses due to missing data.

Finally, and as a future line of research, the respondent information shows that the surveyed ages
of 18–25 and 26–40 represented 94% of the total, so future studies could focus on analyzing
these generations through multi-group analysis. In addition, it is possible to apply research on
other social networks sites that are also very popular, such as YouTube, Instagram, etc. and not
limited to the one discussed in this research work
 CHAPTER FIVE:

Conclusion

The main objective of this project was to identify the several roles of social media in tourism and
how it has reconfigured the tourism industry. Through the entire process of writing, reviewing
literature, finding data to analyse, and discussing the topics, this project can successfully portray
how social media is of huge importance to both suppliers and consumers of tourism. Tourism has
constantly been changing, and social media has played an integral part on how a tourist behaves
and travel. Social media has not only influenced motivations to travel to a certain destination for
a traveller, but it also influences one’s behaviour at that destination.

Tourism-related businesses have been using social media as a marketing and communication
tool. However, this project has highlighted some of the other ways that social media is being
used, such as in the hiring, recruiting, and communicating processes. Social media has been part
of everybody’s lives, and particularly tourism, as it is a visual medium. Because of its features of
being able to portray and present the destination in a visually attractive manner, social media has
been more than efficient way to market and promote the destination.

As discussed in the above chapters, the use of social media not only facilitates users but
sometimes creates challenges for them. Suppliers are increasingly losing control on their tourism
brands and how it is portrayed online because of the information asymmetries and the persuasive
power of these media. In one hand, it has become a platform to learn and discover destination
and tourism product through reviews and posts that other share (UGC) in these social media
platforms, it is equally unreliable to trust them. The reviews are based on the current sentiments
and perspective of a traveller or a consumer which can differ for another consumer. The
experiences shared through these social media are purely based on their point of view which is
subjective and not reliable at times. They are also portrayed in a way which encourages the other
travellers and tourist to visit that place which leads to mass tourism.

Whereas, apart from the human emotions clouding the judgement of a destination, the social
media algorithms also play an important role. The way the search engines and these platforms
works are completely based on the programs that is designed to influence and direct consumers
to use the application and stay using it. This unsystematic system of promoting whatever that
keeps the users engaged, have prevented tourists and travellers from experiencing new and
unexplored places. In the bright side the tourism agents are adopting to these changes by using
social media influencers to organize campaigns and promote destinations.