krsna(term paper)

8/11/2019 Krsna(Term Paper)

1/60

A

TERM PAPER

ON

Scope and Effectiveness of Social Media in Tourism Marketing

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) to Amity University Haryana

Submitted By: - Submitted To: -

Mr. KRISHNA MURARI Mr.SATYAM AGGARWAL

A50006412046 FACULTY

BBA(3rdsem) ABS, AUH

Batch 2012-2015

Amity Business School

Amity University Haryana


2/60

DECLARATION

The term paper on the topic Scope and Effectiveness of Social Media in Tourism Marketing

is

my original work. This term paper has not been submitted to any other institution or university

for the award of any degree. This is submitted in pursuing of the requirements for the award ofthe degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) to Amity University Haryana, (Gurgaon).

Whatever contributions of others are involved, every effort is made to indicate that

clearly, with due reference to the literature, of collaborative research and discussions.

----------------- ------------------

Mr. KRISHNA MURARI Mr. SATYAM AGGARWAL

E.NO.A50006412046 FACULTY

BBA (2012-15) ABS, AUH


3/60

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my guide Mr. Yogesh sir and my mentor Mr.

Satyam Aggarwal, Amity Business School, for his unvarying guidance, valuable support and

direction throughout the duration of the Term paper. The constant and regular encouragement

and motivation at various stages of the Term paper enabled me to accomplish the work to the

satisfactory level.

I also extend my appreciation towards the institute, Amity Business School, AUH, which

provided me with an extremely valuable platform in order to carry out project work of this

nature and equipped me with various requisite resources.

Krishna Murari

A50006412046

BBA (2012-15)


4/60

PREFACE

I am extremely happy to place before the esteemed Teachers/Management the Report of the

Term paper entitled "Scope and Effectiveness of Social Media in Tourism Marketing". Partial

knowledge is an impotent suffix to theoretical knowledge; one cannot merely rely upon the

theoretical knowledge. Classroom make the fundamental concept clear, but practical survey in a

firm has significant role to play in a subject of Business Management to develop managerial

skills, it is necessary that they combine their classroom's learning with the knowledge of real

business environment.

It has not only helped me to enhance my knowledge about various fields of Human Resources &

Company responsibilities towards their welfare but also gave new dimension to my knowledge

about psychology & attitude of the Employees towards the work & their duties.


5/60

Executive Summary

Travel research and studies have consistently shown the high influence and role of word-of-

mouth (WOM) in travelers decision-making process. In recent studies its electronic version, the

eWOM presented on social media and internet sites is gaining importance and has become the

focus of these discussions. This study took one step further, by examining travelers social

media usage and how it can be leveraged for travel purposes, with the aim to suggest creative

and new ways for destination marketers or DMOs to exploit the lucrative features of social

media in their promotional activities and marketing campaigns. The study examined the usage

of social media in a specific context, regarding Young Indians social media usage and

presence. A quantitative (n=62) survey was conducted in order to obtain a thorough picture of

the social media usage. Indians social media usage was identified through a five steps travel

planning framework, while analyzing possible variables that influence its usage. Moreover, it

was assumed that younger Indians would use social media differently, thus requiring a different

approach from travel marketers when applying social media in their promotion. The results

indicated, in consistence with previous studies, that social media is considered as a really

important information source during travel planning due to it particular qualities such as

informativity and credibility, however, it is mainly used in the information search phase. Though

it was pre-assumed, the results showed no correlation between age, and the extent of social

media usage in travel and holiday planning. The main influencing factor was found to be the

purpose of the trip. However, age plays a role in the way of social media considered to be

important and used, where the personal recommendations and the audio-visual features like

travel related photos and videos were favoured. The study represents a new perspective on

comprehensive studies of social media usage in tourism context and hopefully contributes to a

greater understanding of the possibilities of using social media in tourism destination

promotion.


6/60

TABLE OF CONTENT AS PER TERM PAPER

S.NO TOPICS

1 Introduction

2 Indian Tourism and Hospitality Industry

2.1Advantage India

2.2Evolution of Indian Tourism Industry

2.3Segmants of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry

2.4Growth Drivers of the Tourism market

2.5Opportunities

3 Literature Review

3.1Base Paper Review

3.2Tourism Behaviour

3.3Demographic characteristics in travel behavior

3.4Tourists travel planning behavior

3.5Tourist information Search

3.5.1Modelling Information Search

3.5.2Factors Influencing the Tourist information search

3.6A shift from WOM to Ewom

3.6.1One of the most influencing information Source WOM

3.6.2Electronic WOM

3.7Social Media in Tourism

3.7.1What is Social Network?

3.7.2Social Media features

3.7.3Usages of Social Media

3.7.4Why people use Social Media

3.7.5Challenges of Social media

3.7.6Possibilities of Social Media

4 Research Methodology

4.1Quantitative Empirical Data and Sampling


7/60

4.2Research Questions Instrumentation

4.3Variability,reliability and generalization

4.4Limitations

5 Data Analysis and Findings

5.1Profile of the Respondents

5.2Role of Social Media in the Travel Planning Process

6 Conclusion and Recommendation

Bibliography

Appendix

Survey Questionnarie


8/60


9/60

World in 2009. They have posted an enticing job offer, where during a 6 months period the

best candidate, the Island Caretaker would discover, explore and report on his travel; therefore,

would help to promote the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef to the world through social media.

The promotional tasks were blogging of his adventures, uploading pictures and posting video

diaries on the website of www.islandreefjob.com. The blog also enables to follow the

experiences of the Island Caretaker on other social media applications such as YouTube,

Flicker, Twitter or Facebook. For this job more than 34000 people applied and more than 8.6

million people visited the website. This social media marketing effort led to an enormous

increase in the tourist footfall in Queensland Australia.

However, despite of the social medias actuality and clear importance, except some notable

studies, there is not much academic research conducted on the strategic usage of social media

yet. We know little about how young people use the different types of social media or how the

social media can influence them in their travel planning or travel decision making. Moreover,

discussions concerning the potentials or possibilities of the social media usage for destination

marketers, how its advantages could be used in their destination marketing promotion is

sparse. Academic research regarding the subject concerns so far the young travelersbehavior

in tourism context or the social media usage among consumers; however, the correlation

between these two areas of concern, therefore, how young travelers use social media remains

under researched.

Questions concerning the young travellers acceptance of social media or its usefulness and

reliability in tourism context can be raised, and therefore, its suitability for possible official

destination promotion campaigns can be discussed. Furthermore, it can be analyzed which role

social media plays for the young travellers in their travel planning process; whether social

media is merely raising the attention in regards to a certain destination or inducing desire to

visit the destination, or due to the reviewed information even provoke an action to start

planning the visit. By knowing the role of the social media in their destination choice process,

travel marketers could adjust their promotional activities.

This dissertation will focus on one specific segment of the heterogeneous market, the young

travellers segment and takes as point of departure their preferences and behavior in terms of

choice of communication channels, media and content of message when they are about to plan

a holiday. It will be explored whether the usage of the popular social media can play an

important role in destination marketing communication when conveying meaningful messages

towards young travellers. The focus of this project was chosen to be the segment of young

travellers as the usage of social media is more widely known and used among the young people

than among other segments and therefore, can be used as a new way of communication

towards them.


10/60

2. Indian Tourism and Hospitality Industry

2.1 Advantage India

Its a boom time for Indias tourism and hospitality sector. A 5000 year history, culture,

religion, and alternative medicine fascinate and attract both the luxury and budget travellers

alike towards India. The focus of tourism industry is towards Athiti Devo Bhavah campaign,

targeted at the inbound tourists from foreign countries, which means Guest is God. The

Department of Tourisms resolve in promoting Indian tourism has strengthened as it recognizes

its potential. Tourism in India is the third largest foreign exchange earner accounting for 2.5

percent of the GDP. It also makes a direct contribution to economy with significant linkages

with agriculture, horticulture, handicrafts etc. Currently the Indian tourism and hospitality

Industry is growing at a compounded annual rate of 13%.

The major factors that which are responsible for a booming India Tourism and Hospitality

industry are as follows:

The demand for Indian tourism and destinations is rising heavily around

the world more number of inbound foreign tourists are visiting India each year and the

numbers are ever increasing.

o Foreign tourists arrivals have increased by about 40% during the period 2006-2010.

o Domestic spending on tourism and travel is also growing due to rising income levels in India.

opportunities India has lot to offer because of its rich culture and history. People

come to India from abroad to relive that old world charm and experience royal Indian heritage.

o India presents diverse offerings such as adventure, heritage, rural and wildlife tourism

opportunities.

o Medical tourism is also expected to grow to a staggering $3.2 billion market by the end of

2012.

-

o India has got 28 world heritage sites and 25 bio-geographic zones which fetch a majority of

the tourists to India.

o When the Taj Mahal is considered, it attracts over 0.9 million foreign visitors annually.

o The countrys big coastline also provides excellent tourism options like Goa, Pondicherry,

Cochin, Puri etc.


11/60

The government of India has also made its policies attractive enough to

support tourism in a good way.

o Various marketing campaigns are being designed by centre and state governments. E.g.

Incredible India campaign, Hindustan ka dil dekho by Madhya Pradesh govt. etc

o The government is also increasing the allotment for tourism in the annual budget.

2.2 Evolution of Indian Tourism Industry

.National Tourism Policy announced in 1982

The government formulated a comprehensive plan to promotetourism in 1988

Various states in India declare tourism as an industry

Government stresses on private-public partnership in the sector

Government policies give fillip to the hotel industry

A national policy on tourism is announced in 2002 with focus on developing robust

infrastructure

Online travel portals and low-cost carrier airlines boost domestic tourism

The government undertakes various marketing initiatives to attract tourists

Domestic markets provide over 75 per cent of the total tourism revenues

The foreign tourists visiting India per year stands at 5.4 million in 2010 against 3.9 in 2005

2.3 Segments of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry

The Indian tourism and hospitality industry is divided in to the following five segments:

1. Accommodation and Catering

2. Transportation

3. Attractions

4. Travel Agents

5. Tour Operators


12/60


13/60

2.5 Opportunities

Apart from the conventional tourism and travel options that India provides there lies huge

growth opportunities in other not so conventional areas of tourism. These areas are meant for

special segments of tourists and are very niche in nature. Some of the areas which Indian

tourism industry can adapt to are as follows:

o The presence of world-class hospitals and skilled medical professionals make India a

preferred destination for medical tourism

o Medical tourism could earn India USD2.2 billion per year by 2012

o Tour operators are teaming up with hospitals to tap this market

o Cruise shipping is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing components of the global

leisure industry

o India with a vast and beautiful coastline, virgin forests, and undisturbed idyllic islands can be

a fabulous tourist destination for cruise tourists

o India has potential to develop the rural tourism industry as most of its population resides in

rural areas

o This can benefit the local community economically and socially, and enable interaction

between tourists and locals for a mutually enriching experience

India has been recently emerging as a preferred destination for adventure tourism as well. Every

year large number of bikers comes to India to tame the highest Himalayan roads of Ladakh.

Skiing teams from many countries like Switzerland, US etc come to the snow slopes of Himachal

and Uttarakhand in the winter months. Thus the scope for adventure a tourism option in India

is huge.


14/60

3. Literature Review

3.1 Base Papers Review

Before working on this project I consulted a few research papers and literature available so that

I could lay a foundation of my project and have a better understanding of Social Media usage in

the travel and tourism industry. The intention was also to look at the various travel initiatives

that are being carried on social media. I carefully examined the following papers and literature

from the books available.

1. Intention to use online social networks for travel purposes: A case study at three Bangkok

based Universities (Jiaming Ling)

Extract from the paper This paper aims to identify how differences in terms of college students

who are basically young or we may call them Gen Xers or Gen Yers, who are exposed to a lot on

online media sources. The paper studies how their characteristics affect these students

perception of the use of Online Social Networks (OSNs) and intention to use OSNs for travel and

holiday purposes. A research survey was conducted on a sample of 383 students at three

Bangkok-based universities, who are members of Online and Social Media Sites and have taken

a trip to a destination in the previous 12 months. The findings reveal that females perceived

higher benefits (functional, emotional and social) using OSNs for travel purposes than their

male counterparts. And differences in the respondents nationalities, gender and disposable

money result in perceived differences with regard to trust incentives to use OSNs for travel

purposes. Moreover, the intention to use OSNs for travel purposes are directly influenced by the

perceived benefits of that use (functional, social and hedonic); it was also determined that

incentives such as trust, altruism and the socio-technical environment facilitate and promote

the use of OSNs when organizing and taking vacation trips.

2. The Effectiveness of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication: A Literature Analysis (Christy

M.K. Cheung, Dimple R. Thadani)

Extract from the paper Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication has been one of the

most exciting research areas of inquiry. There is an emerging attention on the effectiveness of

eWOM communication. The scope of published studies on the impact of eWOM communication

is rather broad and the studies appear relatively fragmented and inconclusive. In this study, I

focused on the individual-level eWOM research. I conducted a systematic review of eWOM

research and identified key factors that are specific to the context of eWOM communication. I

believe that this literature analysis not only provides us with an overview of the current status

of knowledge within the domain of eWOM communication, but also serves as a salient guideline

for future research directions.

3.2 Tourism Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is a difficult and challenging area to research, even more in the field of

tourism where the purchase decisions are more of emotional. Planning and Purchasing a holiday

generally involves a larger spend, but also provides the consumer with the possibility to escape

from the everyday life. The intangible nature of service products coupled with the high spend

aspect of tourism will have significant affect on the consumer behaviour causing high level of

insecurity during the purchase process. Thus the consumer will be highly interested and


15/60


16/60

determinants are factors such as views of friends, marketing activity of the tourism industry,

the media or political, economic, social and technological factors.

It can be argued that as these motivators and determinants influence the tourist behaviour as

such, therefore, those can have a great impact on tourists information search during travel

planning, thus, on the usage of social media as well. Great importance will be given to the

demographic background and personality trait in this project. Moreover, among the

determinants, the views of friends will play a significant role in this project as word of mouth is

claimed to be clearly influential during travel purchase and also because social media is seen as

a new form of WOM and may regarded as eWOM.

3.3 Demographic characteristics in travel behaviour

It is necessary to look into the generational characteristics as the project is aiming to

understand the young Indians information search behaviour and identify whether social media

plays a different role in their travel planning. However, the project is not strictly considering the

age as a variable regarding the use of social media during travel planning.

Generational cohorts share a common and distinguishing social character due the shared

experiences and conditions through the time, where their unique values, attitudes and

behaviours have a significant impact of how a generation will react to different public and social

circumstances. However, there is no absolute harmony of how to classify the different

generational cohorts regarding the birth dates; but many generational theorists define the

generation born between 1943-1960 as Baby Boomers, between 1961-1981 as Gen Xers and

the generation born during 1982-2002 as Gen Yers. Thus, according to these generation

segments the projects respondents can be mainly grouped into the Gen Xers and Gen Yers.

The Generation Xers are often characterized as pessimistic and depressed, while the

Generation Yers frequently portrayed as conventional, confident, expert novices and Interactive.

The below table illustrate the differences of the generations incorporating the diverse attributes

of generational types.


17/60

The above figure shows clear differences between Generation X and Generation Y, of which

several factors can play an important role in their tourism behaviour as well. The different

motivations, either individuality (Gen X) or relational (Gen Y) can also be related to the type of

the trip they would take; as in case of the Gen Yers it can be argued that socializing e.g. making

new friends could be of their motivator, then in the case of Gen Xers who tend to be more

individually focused. Knowing the different generational cohorts decision-making is of great

importance. Whether friends and relatives (Gen Y) are considered as the most influential during

decision making, or the individual prefers to rely on experts (Gen X) such as travel agents or

guide books, arguably will have significant impact on the social media (as a new type of WOM)

usage as well. Furthermore, the different generational approaches towards marketing and

communication, whether they prefer direct marketing such as catalogues, promotional letters

(Gen X) or are fond of participative, communication and marketing styles such as travel forums

or blogs (Gen Y) would clearly influence whether social media can play a role as a marketing or

a communication channel towards them. Gen Yers can also be regarded the hero generation

with focus on friends, fun and digital culture and where the members of the generation are

relaxed, conservative, educated, impatient, multi-taskers and team-members. They claim that

this generation is the first generation born in the Information Age which results in a native

comfort level with information and communication technologies; hence, Generation Yers are

often called digital natives.

Seven core traits that represent the unique character of this generation: special, sheltered,

confident, team oriented, conventional, pressured and achieving. By special he refers to their


18/60

digital capabilities, they are sheltered by their parents and community and confident in that

sense that they accept uncertainty and so far they have experienced a good economic base.

Furthermore, they are conventional in certain areas of life, such as regarding work-life balance

or carrier. They are pressured in time-wise as they are always busy and achievement is of great

importance for them, which also shows that they are the most education minded among all

generations. It has to be argued that all these generational traits have an important impact in

shaping their behaviour, thus their travel behaviour as well, which is detailed in the below

figure.

As the above figure shows several features characterize the travel behaviour of Gen Yers, such

as they travel more often, spend more money during travelling, they often use the internet for

booking their travel, keen on new experiences, are brave travellers and they consult a wide

range of travel information sources, which features can also be linked to the claimed

generational traits. However, the question can be raised whether these generational traits and

features might only just describe this demographic segment of Generation Yers, or whetherthese stereotypes can also portray certain behavioural types, where the individuals do not

necessarily belong to or are not defined by any age groups.

Thus, the younger Indians social media usage in travel planning will be analyzed on the one

hand by assuming that certain above claimed generational features can play an influential role

such as being digital experts, consulting a wide range of information sources or relying


19/60

more on friends and relatives, and on the other hand also keeping in mind that these features

may also shape the behaviour of those travellers who actually do not belong to the Generation

Y.

3 4 Tourists travel planning behaviour

As it was already mentioned tourism decisions involve the consumer in a high-risk decision

making process due to the tourism products intangible nature and social implications of its

purchase, therefore, the consumer will be highly interested and involved in the entire decision

making process. Travel decision-making is often presented as a long planning process

involving extended problem-solving. Many attempts were made to model the tourist behaviour

during the purchase process, where those models can be rooted back to the general consumer

behaviour models.

However, experts argue that many consumer behaviour models adapted to tourism appear to

be linear and rather simplistic, compared to the general consumer behaviour models as they

tend to view tourists as a homogenous group, they presume a high level of rationality and fail

to recognize the impact of motivators and determinants on the purchase decision.

However, despite of the claimed weaknesses existing studies on the process of travel planning

and destination choice tended to rely on the general consumer decision-making model, which

suggests five key stages. These five stages when adapted to a tourism context would follow

three trip phases, the pre-trip, during the trip and the post trip phase in a linear way. This is

represented in the figure below.

According to the proposed model, travellers during the pre-trip phase would go through on

three phases by recognizing the need or the desire for vacation, then starting to search for

information and followed by evaluating the different alternatives. During trip phase, the

purchase decision would take place, therefore, choosing between the alternatives, which would


20/60


21/60

making models. Some of the experts argue that the information searches happen in various

stages of the decision-making process where the reviewed information contributes to take

specific decisions and to develop destination images. In order to reduce the risk of making a

poor destination decision, travellers usually search and review several forms of information

early in the travel decision making. Some authors add that information search in the pre-

purchase phase strongly influences the overall decision, as it has a great impact on consumers

images and expectations. Moreover, travellers would use different types of information sources

depending on which phase of the travel planning process they are in. They point out in their

study that travellers mental model is constantly changing during the trip planning. The process

would keep on going until all aspects of the trip planning are satisfied or the traveller comes

across with obstacles as e.g. exhaustion or lack of relevant information.

As the above discussion shows, due to the complexity of the decisions involved in travel

planning, which can be related to the nature of tourism product and the social implications

involved to its purchase; information search during travel planning is an important,

determinative part of the travel planning process. Therefore, and due to the projects aim to

understand the Indians information search and the possible role social media can play in that,

it is necessary to further discuss the information search process during travel planning.

3.5 Tourist Information Search

Understanding how tourists seek and acquire information in todays dynamic consumption

environment is really important for marketers to design effective communication strategies and

service delivery. Experts argue that it is during the information search process when marketers

can influence travellers purchase decisions.

Moreover, from the travellers perspective information search is a really important part of their

travel planning process as well. Due to the service nature of the tourism product, as it cannot

be tested or tried beforehand the importance of searching information about the product in

order to be able to make purchase decisions is even greater than in other industry sectors.

It is commonly acknowledged in the academia that the decision-making and the information

search start with need recognition, such as recognizing various functional and hedonic needs,

however, several models were proposed with different stages of which this project will make

use of the proposed five-stage travel planning process. It has to be noted here that the

information search process obviously is an active, incorporated part of the travel planning

process. Given the vast amount of information available by multiple sources to aid trip

planning, consumers can often be overloaded and feel overwhelmed before finding the

information they have searched for. As marketers argue consumers will filter out using their

cognitive system the irrelevant or untargeted information and those will have only little impact

on them. Therefore, it has to be argued that for marketers or other information providers it is

extremely important to provide relevant information in order to reach the travellers and satisfy

their information need. But what information is relevant is a matter of discussion here.


22/60

3.5.1 Modelling Information Search

According to a research conducted by Fondness and Murray in 1999, there are three kinds of

information search strategies that a traveller may follow; they are spatial, temporal and

operational. It also reveals three forces that drive individuals to develop their unique

information search strategies, such as search contingences, individual (tourist) characteristics

and behavioural search outcomes.

Contingencies

Situational Influences Nature of decision making, composition of travelling party

Product CharacteristicsPurpose of the trip, Mode of travel

Information Search Strategies

1. Spatial Internal & External

2. Temporal Ongoing & Pre-purchase

3. Operational Contributory & Decisive

Tourist Characteristics

Individual DifferencesFamily Life Cycle, Socio-Economic Status

Search Outcomes

Behavioural Length of stay, Number of destinations visited, Number of attractions visited,

travel related expenditures

information is originating from ones memory or experience, while the external refers to

information acquire from external sources. The internal information search can also refer to the

individuals accumulated knowledge that was previously acquired from external sources.

temporal dimension can be understood in two ways, as ongoing, where the individual is

building up knowledge for an undetermined future purchase decision, or as pre-purchase,

when the information search is taking place as a response to an actual purchase decision. Pre-

purchase type of information search is when the individual come across accidentally with

certain information that raises his interest highly and proceeds forward to purchasing.

operational dimension reveals the way of search and focuses on the particular sources

used and their usefulness for problem solving and decision making.


23/60

3.5.2 Factors Influencing the Tourist Information search

The major forces that drive the tourist information search method are follows:

1. Contingencies

situational influences are arising from factors that are relatively independent of consumer

and product characteristics, such as physical surroundings, social settings or time. The

travelling party, whether it is e.g. a family holiday or couples travelling without children

obviously influences the information search strategy.

Product characteristics can be understood as the purpose of the trip (such as leisure,

business or visiting friends and relatives) or the mode of the travel.

2. Tourist Characteristics - They suggest that family lifecycle and the socioeconomic status has

an influence on the choice of information strategy. Age as a demographic factor can play a

significant role in travel planning and information processing as well

3. Search Outcomes - more precisely the behavioural factors regarding the length of the stay,

the number of destinations or attractions visited and the travel related expenditures.

3.6 A shift from WOM to eWOM

3.6.1 One of the most influential Information Source: WOM

The importance and the high influence of interpersonal communications have long been

recognized in the tourism industry. Many researchers concluded that WOM, which can be

defined as informal communications between private parties regarding evaluation of goods and

services is one of the most influential sources of information during tourists travel planning

process. Moreover they argue that the influence of WOM is different in each step of the

consumer decision making process.

Travellers often rely on advice from friends and family, especially when the product is an

intangible travel experience to a destination; as it is difficult to evaluate prior to its

consumption. Some Authors discuss that due to the intangible and experiential nature of

service products, such as tourism products, WOM, as an information source tend to be used to

lower perceived risk and uncertainty due to its perceived higher credibility.

Though WOM recommendations lack commercial interests, as the information provider is not

interested in getting financial gain by sharing information or experience, consumers tend to

trust more on and influenced by this type of information than by more commercial sources.

WOM plays a pivotal role in overcoming the challenges of nowadays overwhelming information

which can lead to confusion, sub-optimum decisions or dissatisfaction of choices. Experts

argues that WOM can help sceptic consumers to find credible, trustworthy information among


24/60

the increased quantity of information available, of which much is generated by marketers, who

obviously stress the benefits of their products. The basic model of WOM is presented below.

The model suggests that the process of WOM starts with the key WOM player as the opinion

player, who is motivated to contribute, by interpreting the meaning of mass media or passing

on his consumption experience to the listener or by other words, to the information seeker.

Experts argue that many studies that research on WOM tended to focus on the WOM originated

from friends and relatives, while ignoring the influence of other travellers. According to a study

conducted in North Queensland, Australia, it was concluded that WOM is not homogenous and

there are clear differences between the suggested four groups of travellers (those who used

friends and relatives WOM, other travellers WOM, both WOM or no WOM) with respect to

demographic characteristics, other information sources used, accommodation and

transportation used, and the travel activities at the destination. Those respondents who used

friends and relatives WOM generally seemed to be representing travellers visiting friends and

relatives with higher income, and with repeating visits; thus, other travellers WOM was not

identified as information source. Those travellers who relied on WOM from other travellers

appeared to show similarities to backpackers, younger travellers with lower income preferring

backpacker accommodation and taking longer trips. Therefore, they argue that the different

WOM used in the pre-travel stage and during the travel is linked with the travel choices and the

tourist behavior at the destination.

Turning back to the suggested conceptual model of WOM, favourable WOM can result in

increasing e.g. the probability of purchase, product acceptance or loyalty towards the certain 27

product, while negative WOM has the contrary effect. To summing up, it is really important for

marketers to understand the role of WOM and acknowledge its importance and high influential

value as tourist information source. It is essential to realize that the WOM originator, gains the

WOM information from various sources, such as through the former experience with the

destination or with the certain product or even through the media, therefore, during this WOM

acquisition stage can the marketers or other tourism product or service providers influence his


25/60

interpretation and understanding of the experience or the information or with by other words,

influence the influencer, in order to nourish positive WOM.

3.6.2 Electronic WOM

With the improvement of internet technologies, more and more of travellers use the internet to

search for travel related information and to actually plan their trip online. Several researchers

pointed out the importance of web pages in all stages of the travel planning process,

particularly during the information research phase. According to the study of a travel industry

market research company, Plog Research approximately 95 % of internet browsers use the

internet to seek information online during their travel planning process. Furthermore, the

advancing internet features have enabled new forms of communication platforms to further

empower both providers and consumers to share information and opinion among each other.

Thus, due to these internet-based features the word-of-mouth as an informational source

could be facilitated in an electronic digitalized version, know as electronic WOM or eWOM.

Many researchers refer to social media as a new type of WOM or the eWOM. Consumer

generated media can be understood as a new form of WOM that happens beyond the traditional

social circles of consumers. Generally the social media information is produced by other

travellers and not especially by the friends and relatives of the travellers. The question here

remains whether, the other travellers personality plays a role in the WOM influence, as while

the consumer knows his friends and their preferences, therefore, he can judge whether their

WOM applies to him or not, which in the case of other travellers WOM is more it complicated.

WOM gathered from other travellers, influences the travellers behaviour in a different way than

the friends and relatives WOM. 28

eWOM has several different forms ranging from virtual opinion platforms to consumer portals,

which might influence the consumer in his purchase decision in different ways. A typology of

eWOM regarding the communication scope among the users and the level of interactivity is

presented below.


26/60

3.7 Social Media in Tourism

Due to the development of internet technology and to cater the changing needs of todays

consumer the online information search process is facilitated by several search engines. The

consumers instead of entering through a sites homepage and browsing it, use particular search

sites to have them transported directly to the required information. Furthermore, several

technological improvements, known as Web 2.0 applications further develop this changing

process of information search, by altering the origin of the information. The terms of Web 2.0

applications, UGC (user-generated content), CGM (consumer generated media) or social media

refer to the same new media, where the individual consumers are given the possibility to

submit, review and to respond an online content. However, marketers face challenges to

effectively measure the impact of social media on their marketing programs; evaluating its

impact on individual buying decision can be a first step towards understanding its influence on

the consumers. The research conducted by Compete (2006), a web analytics company, pointed

out that 50% of online travel purchasers visit a forum, a message board or an online community

in the process of buying a travel related product and moreover, one of three of these buyers

stated that social media helped in their decision. Indifferent from the statistics, it has to be

acknowledged that the popularity of social media sites are increasing, therefore, the way of

searching for travel related information and evaluating those is likely to be changing.

3.7.1 What is a Social Network?

The very concept of social networking as a tool or platform for engaging people and

communities over the internet is clearly not very new. People have been social networking since

the Stone Age through word of mouth and community gatherings. It was only after the rise of

internet during the 1990s and 2000s, people have got a chance to interact and share

emotions, feelings etc to their friends and family around the world. The only new thing about

the social networks is how the technology has influenced and facilitated the development of

virtual social platforms that increase the reach, potential and power of the community. The

social networks today focus on building online communities of people from across the globe

who share common interests and activities and also the ones who are interested in knowing

about the interest and activities that other people pursue. The social networks exploit the

human tendency or desire to look into and know the lives of other people. Most of the social

networks today are web based and they offer a variety of interesting ways for

subscribers/members to interact, like writing messages, emails, instant messaging services,

sharing videos, pictures etc.

The present day social networks harness the potential of the internet and web 2.0

-to-peer and collaborative fashion

participate in many activities


27/60

consume, choose and look out for relevant content

The information and IT revolution around the world has given rise to new economies built

around flows of data, knowledge and information. On the other hand, social networking

industry has grown stronger as a means of organization of human activity. Social networks can

be considered as the nodes of individuals, groups, organizations and related human systems

that bind together in one or more types of interdependencies. The interdependencies include

vision, shared beliefs and values, social contacts, mutual conflicts, exchanges- financial or

otherwise, trade etc; these are some of the many forms of human relationships that form the

basis of the social networking industry. Sometimes it is indeed apparent that networked

organizations out compete all other forms of organizations. When such firms succeed, the

social networks influence larger processes by connecting human, social, physical and financial

capital, as well as the knowledge and information resources backing these.

3.7.2 Social Media features

Web 2.0 sites can be described as applications that share common features such as

Furthermore, these sites influence how users create, share and use information. Moreover, due

to the search-engine friendliness, increased credibility, experiential properties and having no

commercial interest in promoting the product, consumer generated media is believed to have

great influence in tourism. It has to be mentioned that social media adds on the positive

features on the traditional WOM, by adding search engine friendliness and experiential feature.

The main difference between social media and other traditional forms of media lies in the

direction of communication, as the content is generated by the consumer rather than by the

marketer. Furthermore, not just the direction of communication changes but it becomes a two-


28/60

way communication as well as it allows interactivity, a peer-to-peer communication, rather than

only providing a uni-directional communication. Social media can take on several forms, such

as wikis, blogs, photo sharing sites, reviews and rating, blogs or broadcasts.

Categorization of the different social media sites according to its nature:

YouTube

al networks as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter

Usage of Social Media

What Influences the use of Social Media

Tourist characteristics influence the use of social media, of which a couple would be discussed

here in more details, such as age, gender, nationality. It was argued previously that the

Generation Y due to its unique characteristics behaves differently in a tourism context. As they

were born in The Information Age, they are technology confidents and information hungry;

moreover, they are strongly influenced by friends, adapt really quickly to the new travel

technologies, such as booking online, and they consult a wide range of information sources

during their travel planning process. Therefore, one can argue here that due to these

characteristics their behaviour towards the social media would be different and they would

consult Web 2.0 applications more often and in a different way during their travel planning

process then other generations.

When it comes to India, the internet and social media statistics are presented below:


29/60


30/60

-Commerce in India is estimated to be of USD $10 billion which is around USD $ 100 per

Internet User. 67% of the e-commerce comes from Mobile users in India

the total population of Brazil

Social Media Scenario in India

cial network with 38 million people followed by Orkut (28 million),

Twitter (13 million) & LinkedIn (13 million)

any social network in India

s the most popular activity in India especially on Facebook & Orkut

Facebook Users (38,045,000) in the world

This projects aim is to research among the younger generation of Indians, as it was suggested

that probably among the Gen Yers and even Xers there can be seen a more intense use towards

social media.

Why People use Social Media

According to a study conducted there are four fundamental benefits that drive the extent to

which consumers engage themselves in online travel communities:


31/60

Despite the fact that they suggest these benefits for online travel communities, one can argue

that these motivations partly or even all can drive the travellers to use social media in general

as well. Functional benefits are e.g. support for information search, ease of decision-making

process or exchange information from similar travellers, which can be argued also for reasons

for using social media. The social aspect and the hedonic aspect of social media was already

discussed, however, one can argue that while using the social media in certain phases of travel

planning e.g. information search the hedonic and the social benefits might can be secondary,

complementary drives after the functional benefits. The psychological benefits, described as a

sense of belonging, identity expression, would clearly have major role in online communities

than in other type of social media.

Challenges of social media

Despite of the clear importance of social media it has its challenges as well. Credibility and

reliability is among the most argued challenges of social media. Authors also argue that as the

contextual clues that help the interpretation of the information such as facial expressions are

missing from the social media, therefore, its interpretation is more difficult which might lead to

credibility issues. According to Compete (2006) more than half of their surveyed respondents

find the information generated by consumers credible, which is arguably not that high

percentage. In contrary with many researches, that social media sites are not viewed as credible

and trustworthy as more traditional information sources, such as official tourism websites or

airline sites. Moreover, there are different trust levels between different types of social media.

Furthermore, the clearly user generated content sites such as TripAdvisor is perceived more

credible than reviews posted on online travel agencies sites such as Expedia, due to the

perceived commercial interest of the latter sites, therefore, being perceived less objective.

Additionally, the possible fake content generated by travel operators as independent

travellers, might be a driving factor why consumers trust certain sites more than others. The

possible commercial interest relates to the credibility issue, as the majority of their respondents

claimed that it is better to use user-generated content during accommodation search then the

hotels description.

Possibilities of social media

The user-generated content can raise possibilities for marketers as well in an informational and

revenue generating perspective, where these possibilities can be linked to the post-trip and the

pre-trip phase of the travel planning. By the informational perspective they mean that

hospitality and destination marketers can use up the content created online (post-trip) to

improve visitor satisfaction through product development, increase the competitiveness of the

product/destination or to monitor the reputation or image. DMOs or travel marketers by


32/60

engaging travellers post-trip in posting their experiences or photos on the official website can

reconfirm tourists destination choice and can also build traveller loyalty.

Moreover, revenue generation strategies can be designed to spread positive WOM about the

destination, thus, helping potential visitors information search (pre-trip) by providing

supportive opinions. However, it can be argued here that the stimulated eWOM, enhancing

positive WOM might raise credibility concerns from the travellers side.

To sum up, according to the reviewed researches social media can play an important role in

several phases of the travel planning but is mainly used during the information search phase of

the travel planning process. Social media is one type of information source which is a

supplement to the existing types of travel info and a source which supports the consumer

decision making process.


33/60

4. Research Methodology

This project applies an explorative approach, which is incorporated in the theoretical

considerations presented in the above chapters. Understanding the role of social media during

the travel planning process clearly requires an explorative approach. Moreover, the relationship

between travellers social media usage and its possibilities for official tourism promotion will be

identified through an exploratory approach as well. Therefore, in this project an exploratory

survey was used to understand how and which type of the social media is used in travel

planning, the use of it in the different planning phases and about its impact on the purchase

decision.

By choosing the sequential model of travel planning process as discussed in the earlier chapters

as the projects main theoretical framework, the researcher has adapted the ontological stand-

point which is the base of behaviourism (cognitive psychology) regarding peoples travel

planning as a rational act which follows five consecutive steps. However, it has to be criticized

that travel planning can happen randomly and also the purchase itself can be an impulsive

process.

Regarding the above discussion this project applied the proposed rigid framework of travel

planning by designing the quantitative questionnaires about social media usage according to

the sequential phases of the travel planning process.

4.1 Quantitative Empirical Data and Sampling

The projects quantitative data collection took place through online surveys conducted during

the months of Jan - Apr 2012. The aim to select young people/travellers aged between 18 to

40 and gain insights as to how they use internet and Social Media while planning their holidays

and travel.

Numerous probability indicators can have influence on how the survey questionnaires are

sampled. The questionnaires of this project were sampled based on some predetermined types

of probabilities that gave way to approach the aimed group of audience, which in this case were

mainly the younger age groups of Indians (18-40 years) who travel frequently. Though, it can

be argued the age of the respondents should not be seen as a strict requirement when selecting

the sample, as the behaviour patterns using social media will give the base for the analysis.

The targeted respondents were selected in no particular numerical order. In order to stick to the

projects research focus mainly younger travellers were approached in a random selection, and

some filter questions were fist asked like do you even use Internet and Social media at all. If the

respondents did not use social media then, they were asked to leave the survey. In all, 62

respondents filled the questionnaire over the online form. Respondents were from diverse

background like students, software engineers, businessmen etc.

4.2 Research Questions Instrumentation

Based on the research papers and theory studied the following research questions can be

formulated:


34/60


35/60

and moreover, by providing a quite transparent method description of this research one should

obtain similar results thus, an assessment of reliability.

4.4 Limitations

As above pointed out, the project is set in a specific context, concerning the Young Indians

social media usage in travel planning, thus, is only valid within this context. The sample size of

62 respondents can be claimed as a limitation towards the study as well. Conducting the survey

in January-March when not much people travel, the time limit to fill out the survey, and the

willingness of respondents can be linked to the obtained sample size causing limitations for the

project.


36/60

5. Data Analysis and Findings

5.1 Profile of the Respondents

For this project a total of 62 respondents responded to the online survey which was conducted

during the months of Jan-Apr 2012. The composition and classification of the respondents is

illustrated below.

Age Structure: The target audience of this survey were mostly young people, Gen X and Gen Y

people as discussed in the previous chapters of this report. The main motive of choosing the

younger section of the society is because these are the people who use Online and Social media

platforms to discuss, review and use travel related matter. The respondents were divided into

various cohorts or groups for easier analysis and segregating them as working class or studying

class. Out of the total of 62 respondents 15 respondents (24%) were in the age range of 18-23

yrs. 42 of them (68%) were in the age range of 23-28 yrs, thus showing that people who

currently working or are shifting from their graduation to work are the people who are more

frequent travellers. Thus they are definitely the target group for this dissertation. Only 3 (5%)

and 2 (3%) respondents were in the age range of 28-33 yrs and more than 33 yrs respectively.

The age composition of all the respondents is depicted with the help of a pie chart below

22%

61%

10%7%

Age Composition(Yrs)

18-23 23-28 28-33 >33


37/60

Gender Profile: Out of the 62 respondents to the online questionnaire 43 were Male and 19

were Females. In terms of percentage males respondents were 69 % and females comprised

only 39% of the total respondents. Gender plays a very important role here; many experts have

found that men use Social media more as compared to women in India. Thus in this response

majority are males.

Work/Occupation Profile:

The survey was distributed among students as well as working professionals on a random

basis. The students were undergraduates and post graduate level only. As far as the working

respondents are considered, they were from a very diverse working environment IT

professionals, Bankers, Businessmen etc. These respondents actually showcase the target group

of this project because these people use Social Media the most and they are also frequent

travellers. Students were approximately 71% and working professionals were around 29% in the

survey conducted.

69%

31%

Gender Composition

MALE FEMALE


38/60

The first three questions of the survey aimed at gaining these above demographic information

so as to understand who actually our target audience is.

5.2 Role of Social Media in the Travel Planning Process

To understand the scope and effectiveness of Online Media particularly Social Media in the

travel planning process of young individuals (Gen X and Gen Y), certain questions were

developed which gauged the usage, awareness level and affinity of the respondents towards

Social Media and particular use of social media in their travel planning process.

First of all a couple of filter questions were asked to all the 62 respondents. The first of the

filter questions asking the respondents that how many hours they spend online on the internet

per day. As the survey was an online one, all the respondents were completely aware and

educated about the use of internet and computers.

It was found as results of this question, that majority of the respondents were heavy internet

users and spent a lot of time surfing and working online. The responses to this question were

divided into cohorts/ranges so that the respondent can fill in his/her duration of internet usage

per day. The following statistics were obtained as a result.

hrs a day

Thus the opportunity for a travel marketer is huge as the Gen Xers and Gen Yers are spending a

lot of time online search for information and interacting with their peers.

71%

29%

Work Profile

Stedents Working Professionals


39/60

Time Spend/Day (Hrs) Number of Respondents

>1 1 2%

1-3 20 32%

3-6 19 31%

>6 22 35%

The second filter question was designed to basically know whether the target group actuallyuses social media or not. The response that was received was staggering, all the 62

respondents were very aware of the social media and were active users of one or more of the

social media platforms available.

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

6 hrs

Time spent online per day (hrs)


40/60


41/60


42/60

Word of Mouth from friends and relatives A large number of respondents, nearly 77%,

believed that the most trusted source for travel information is the WOM from friends andrelatives. They can easily trust the experiences that their friends have had in the past and they

can follow that. There is an emotional aspect related to this thought. Most people believe that if

their friends are satisfied with the use of a product or service then they also cant go wrong.

Official Tourism Websites a whopping 85% of the respondents believed that visiting the

official pages and websites of the tourism departments, tour operators, hotels etc is essential

because of the credible information is available on these sites.

Moreover there are other facilities like bookings, virtual tour etc which further prompt the

respondents to trust these official websites.

Social Media - The response towards social media was not that bad as it was expected. India is

still in the phase of adopting social media. (48%) said they would visit and explore a social

media page to get information about a travel plan or a hotel.

Print Media this information source also emerged as a good option for some of the

respondents. Nearly 1 out of 6 respondents said they prefer to look at travel and holiday ads in

a print media platform like newspaper, magazine etc.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Others

Print Media

Social media

Official Tourism Websites

Friends and Relatives

Preference of Information Source forTravel

Series 1


43/60

The response can be seen in the above pie chart. A majority 44% of the people said they

sometimes refer to social media for future travel planning. This shows people do refer to user

generated content on social media sites when it comes to travelling.

People generally believe that UGC user generated content is credible because there is no

monetary motive associated with it.

10%

20%

31%

24%

15%

Social Media to Get Inspiration for Next

Travel Option

Always Often Sometimes Seldom Never


44/60

Next people were asked whether they use social media for destination or accommodation

reviews. The results can be seen in the following chart.

A majority 35% of the people said they often use social media for reading reviews and travellers

experiences. 31 % said they always look for destination reviews and ask friends on social media

before planning a trip. Only 5% said they never search for travel information on a social media

website.

13%

15%

33%

21%

18%

Social Media For Destination Reviews

Always often Sometimes Seldom Never


45/60


46/60

When asked whether you participate in travel related contest and quizzes on official social

media pages of travel operators or DMOs, the responses were of the following nature.

Respondents usually do not find it enticing to participate in such stuff on social media

platforms.

10%

16%

39%

15%

20%

Travel Contests and Quizzes on Social Media

Pages



47/60

.Respondents reported the following responses when they were inquired about the use of social

media for online travel itinerary planning services.

Here the responses were of a mixed nature, almost equally divided among the options. Majority

(33%) said they sometimes use social media for travel itinerary planning.

13%

15%

33%

17%

22%

Social Media for Intinerary Planning



48/60

As far as the unbiased nature of travel and holiday information available on the social media

sites is concerned, what respondents felt about it is depicted in the chart below. The travel

information which is referred here is the information which is available on the official social

media pages of the DMOs, on the travel blogs like BCMTouring.com, IndiaMike.com etc.

Again the level of disagreement is not much. Just 18% people disagreed to the statement about

the unbiased information on social media. The reason what led people to believe that the

information id unbiased is the non monetary motive behind the user generated content. People

just want to share their experiences and help out people in planning their itineraries.

42%

38%

12%

7%

2%

Travel info on social media is UnbiasedStrongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree


49/60

When the respondents were asked whether they could get quick and easy replies to their

fundamental travel queries on social media sites, they responded in a fashion which is depicted

by the following pie chart.

40% of the people agreed, 13% strongly agreed, 29% were neutral, 15% disagreed and 3%

strongly disagreed to the fact that ones travel related queries can be solved and heard on a

social media platform.

40%

36%

13%

9%

2%

Are Your Queries heard on Social Media

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree


50/60

ravel related experiences

on their pages, on communities and on the official pages on travel sites like MakeMyTrip, Yatra

etc. These sharing of experiences lead to generation of credibility in the content available and

makes it very easy for the new user to look at the videos and photos, then decide whether to

head towards a particular destination or not.

Thus when the respondents were asked whether this UGC help them to plan and decide a good

travel or holiday, here is what they have to say.

o 44% agreed

o 30% strongly agreed

o 13% were neutral

o 11% disagreed

o 2% strongly disagreed

The respondents were also asked whether the user generated reviews and experiences

regarding a particular destination or a accommodation option like a resort, hotel, camp etc. the

responses to this statement can be seen below.

44%

30%

13%

11%

2%

Audio Vedio impressions on travel

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree


51/60

Majority 42% of the people strongly agreed that these reviews help a lot in planning the travel

activities. 39% agreed, 11% were neutral to the statement and only 8% disagreed. Thus

respondents firmly trust the opinions of the fellow travellers on the social media platform,

where they can freely express their voice.

Finally, analysis the last question of the survey which aims to find out what is there in store for

the future travel marketers. This question basically asked the respondents what should they

want to see in a travel related social media interface be it a Facebook page, A youtube Video or

a mobile application. What is that the travel marketers should focus on while designing their

future social media strategies? This is where the travel industry can leverage the two way

interaction on the social media platforms between the traveller and the travel service provider

or a DMO. Thus through the activities and interactive services on Social Media the travel

marketers can always be in touch with the target audience and get feedbacks and responses

from them.

The options which were available for the respondents are:

o Ability to share your customized travel plans and Itinerary with your friends on Facebook,

twitter etc

o Loyalty programs and Promotional campaigns on official social media pages of travel services

providers

o Contests, games and quizzes to get discounts on travel packages, win trips etc

o Travel Blogs and Forums where people can share experiences, give/take travel advice etc

o Mobile apps for travel bookings, destination search, hotel reviews etc

o Other

The responses that were generated are shown below the table.

Statement

No. of

Respondents

of

total

Ability to share your customized travel plans and Itinerary with

your friends on Facebook, twitter etc

38 61%

Loyalty programs and Promotional campaigns on official social

media pages of travel services providers

37 60%

Contests, games and quizzes to get discounts on travel

packages, win trips etc.

23 37%


52/60

Travel Blogs and Forums where people can share experiences,

give/take travel advice etc

39 63%

Mobile apps for travel bookings, destination search, hotel

reviews

21 50%

Other

3 5%


53/60

6. Conclusion and Recommendations

Pre Trip Phase

In the pre trip phase, social media sites, mainly the travel reviews clearly play an important role

during the phases of information search and evaluation of alternatives. The consumer-

generated content due to its informativity and credibility is of great importance, as it supports

the information search e.g. for crosschecking the information, can help to narrow down the

choices and can even induce purchase decisions. Therefore, it can be pointed out that social

media is used to reduce the risk involved with the tourism product purchase and to obtain value

for money.

During the Trip

Social media do not have much of a role while a person is on the trip. Most of the times people

just want to enjoy their trip and not to get into all the complexities and information overload.

Moreover, travellers on the trips usually dont like to access Internet or Social Media.

Post trip Phase

In the post trip phase; social media is used among a minority of travellers during the post-trip

phase to share experiences, comments or photos, where mainly the extreme experiences

motivate the traveller to spread the WOM on social media sites. Sharing the experiences on

social media sites normally encompasses hotel ratings and other travel related information such

as route maps etc (TripAdvisor, hotels.com, BCMTouring.com, IndiaMike.com etc) however;

certain highly involved travellers motivated by hedonic benefits might engage themselves in a

more extended evaluation process, by not just rating but posting reviews, blogs and photos.

Summing up the role of social media in the travel planning process

In the previous sections it was pointed out that WOM recommendations play the greatest role as

an information source during the Danes travel planning, followed with the independent travel

reviews. The reviews are used in every phase of the travel planning process, due to their

credibility and informativity for a certain extent and with different purposes. The social 53

networking sites are not really taken into account during travel. The independent travel reviews

were found really useful in the information search phase, also for evaluating the alternatives,

therefore, to narrow down the choices, which could even result in purchase decision.

Social media is used for idea generation, by gathering inspiration in the pre-trip phase as well,

which is argued also mainly takes place on those social media sites that incorporates other

travellers reviews. However, pictures of friends posted on the social networking sites might

influence and induce further information searches. Social media is significantly less used onsite

and also in the post-trip phase to share the travel experiences either through pictures or

reviews and blogs. Social medias post-trip usage is not just influenced by the different

behavioural characteristics but also by the intensity of experience while being onsite, either

positive or negative.

It can be pointed out in consistence that generally social media is not used as a sole, decisive

source during the different phases of travel planning, but is used more in combination with

other sources; therefore, it can be seen more as a contributory source.


54/60

However, again its role as an information source whether it is seen as contributory or decisive

can depend on the individual behaviour characteristic. In addition, the extent of its contribution

can depend on the travel planning phase, as clearly in the information search stage of the travel

planning, by e.g. using it for cross-checking, its contribution to the information derived from

other sources is even greater.

Among the different variables the purpose of the trip clearly influence the reviews usage where

the leisure travellers reported a greater use of it, then the travellers who visit friends and

relatives, and with reported no importance for the business travellers.

Word-of-mouth recommendations play a high influential role in travellers decision-making

process, which undoubtedly gives a significant potential to its electronic version, to the

eWOM as well. The social media sites allowing eWOM are considered as really important

information sources during the travel planning process, owing to particular qualities such as

informativity and credibility. The findings open up new opportunities for destination marketers,

indicating to further exploit social media in their promotional activities. However, 54

in order to take advantage of beneficial features of social media, it is crucial to acknowledge its

role in travellers decision making process and the characteristics influencing its usage.

This projects case study focused on the young Indian travellers information search process in

general as, in order to draw conclusions about the role of social media in their travel planning

and thus, suggest potential ways of using social media in the Indian Travel services providers

or DMOs marketing and promotional activities. It has been pointed out that social media is

used among a large number of travellers (48%) and is even consulted in the first places among

all information sources. Still, clear differences were seen among the different types of social

media sites, where the independent travel reviews are considered of much greater importance

as information sources than the social networking sites, which can be linked to the perception

of the latter.

Regarding the influencing factors towards social medias usage in travel planning a hierarchical

structure of the influencing variables was observed. Survey findings indicate that the act and

extent of social media usage during travel planning depends on the purpose of the trip alone

and not on any demographic variables, such as the age as pre-assumed. Leisure tourists

reported the greatest use of it, following with the VFR tourists while for business tourists it

does not play any role as an information source.

However, there was found to be some variation in the way various age groups used social media

during travel planning. The younger age group reported greater benefits from the personal

recommendations of others and from its audio-visual features than elder group. While in

general, travellers use social media for its fast communication abilities, thus, for its low entry

barriers and for reviewing others experiences. Therefore, reaching other travellers

recommendations and comments in a cost effective way are clearly considered important for all

travellers, where those informativity and credibility aspect can be claimed.

Moreover, social media is mainly used in the pre-trip phase for information search and to

narrow down the choices, though it might serve as an inspirational source as well. While during

the trip social media is not considered as an adequate information source and is yet underused

due to its computer and internet based features. However, its adequacy might be changing with


55/60

the increasing popularity of mobile devices, e.g. Smartphone applications. In the Post-trip

phase Indians share their experiences online (i.e. beyond their traditional social 55

circle) only if the experience was extraordinary, either in a positive or negative way. The young

travellers are not adverse to the official promotions placed in social media; they even perceive it

as modern and proactive approach, though the content of the promotion still plays a significant

role. Moreover, allowing features, both on social media and DMO sites that supplements the

information conveyed by the official body with subjective travel reviews is seen favourable

among the travellers.

All these above stated give an indication to the DMOs and travel marketers to around which

type of social media they should mainly centre their promotional or revenue generating

strategies which target group of tourists they should consider and at which travel planning

phase they should focus on when exploiting social media. Either using the travel reviews sites

as promotional channel or allowing traveller reviews on their official homepage, which increase

the informativity of the site are possible ways to benefiting from social media. However, other

types of social media sites, networking sites or photo/video sharing sites should not be

underestimated either as those can be of inspiration for possible future travels.

Concerning the target group, clearly the leisure tourists and their needs and motivations should

be in focus when designing the destination promotion to be presented in social media or the

social media features on the official page. To reach all segments of tourists others personal

experiences should be emphasized, while designing certain tools that facilitate to reach this

information in a time and cost effective way. Audio-visual features can even further enhance

the information search of the younger segment of travellers.


56/60

Bibliography

Beckendorff, P., Moscardo, G. & Pendergast, D. (2010) Tourism and generation Y. Oxfordshire:

Cabi.

Compete (2006) Embracing consumer buzz creates measurement challenges for marketers.

http://media.competeinc.com/med/uploads/files/Compete_Spark_12_06_Embracing_Consume

r_Buzz_Creates_Measurement_Challenges.pdf

Tourism Queensland (2010)

http://www.tq.com.au/news-room/best-job-in-the-world-media-centre/best-job-in-the-

worldmedia-centre_home.cfm

Christy M.K. Cheung, D. R. (2010). The Effectiveness of Electronic Word-of-Mouth. 23rd Bled

eConference: Implications for the Individual, Enterprises and Society. Bled, Slovania.

Rohan Gawande and Sudhir Dethe, Branding Indian Tourism: Entering Second Phase

Social Media use in Tourism and Hospitality,

http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/38047-Social-Media-implementation-in-

tourism-and-hospitality

Social Media and travel Industry: A general Perspective

http://www.digitalvisitor.com/latestnewsandresources/social-media-blog/social-media-and-

travel-industry.html

How travel brands are using Social Media, http://socialmediatoday.com/achintya-

gupta/334171/how-are-travel-brands-using-social-media-marketing

IBEF Report and Presentation on Indian Tourism and Hospitality Industry,

http://www.ibef.org/industry/tourismhospitality.aspx


57/60

Appendix

A. Survey Questionnaire

Q1. Age?

Q2. Gender?

Q3. Occupation?

Q4. How much time do you spend on the internet per day?

a.


58/60

destination

2. To look for

reviews of

destinations,

hotels etc

3. To share

myexperiences,

photos,

videos,

comments

with others

4. To look for

holiday/travel

packages,

deals,

discounts etc


59/60

5. To search

for contest

and quizzes

on Internet

or Social

Media pages

of travel

service

providers

like

MakeMyTrip,

Yatra.com

etc

6. To look

for online

Itinerary

Planning

services

Q.9 while planning for a holiday or travel I use Internet or social media because?

Please rate the following 6 statements on a 5 point Likert scale given below

Statement Strongly

Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree Strongly

disagee

1. It is

reliable

2. it is

unbiased


60/60

3. I can get

quick

replies on

my

requests

4. it

provides

comments,

audio-

visual

impressions

(Photos,

videos) of

other

travellers

5. I can

read about

the

experiences

and reviews

of other

travellers

Q10. Please tick one or more of the options, if you would be interested in following

activities/services on Social Media platforms by travel service providers.

a. Ability to share your customized travel plans and Itinerary with your friends on Facebook,

Twitter etc

b. Loyalty programs and Promotional campaigns on official social media pages of travel services

providers

c. Contests, games and quizzes to get discounts on travel packages, win trips etc

d. Travel Blogs and Forums where people can share experiences, give/take travel advice etc

e. Mobile apps for travel bookings, destination search, hotel reviews etc

f. Others

krsna(term paper)

Documents