Students\u27 use of social media during the travel process

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to explore how students as an important travel segment are involved in social media during the travel process and explore the underlying dimensions of social media use by students during the travel process. Design/methodology/approach – The quantitative research focuses on the students’ use of social media in the three phrases of the travel process – before travel, during travel and after travel separately. Survey instrument was a structured questionnaire. Data were collected through online survey using Google Drive. Descriptive statistics and principal component analysis are performed in the study to comprehend the students’ use of social media during the travel process. Findings – The findings of the study give an insight into the use of social media among students. They use mostly Facebook during the travel process, but traditional sources of information remain still relevant. Study findings reveal that social media are mostly used before travel begins and less during and after travel. There are identified two dimensions – “search for opinions” and “information and comparison” – that drive students to use social media before travel and two dimensions – “sociability” and “information” – that drive students to use social media during travel. Just one dimension labelled “sociability” emerged in relation to the use of social media after travel. Originality of the paper – The paper enhances the slim body of research on the use of social media among students during the travel process and raises awareness on social media use during the three phases of the travel process

An investigation on the Acceptance of Facebook by Travellers for Travel Planning

Due to the emergence of social media and web 2.0 applications within the last few years, tourists' travel behaviour and decision-making changed. This study investigates tourists' behavioural intentions to use Facebook for travel planning purposes. To address this objective, a combination of survey and 19 interviews provided qualitative and quantitative data. Results indicated that Information search, Sharing travel experiences and Trust were the main determinants of intention to use Facebook. In particular, travellers view Facebook as a tourism information source, they are more willing to share their experiences on their own profile rather than a providers page and that they trust other tourism related sites more than Facebook. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed

Digital Marketing – Its Impact on Travel & Tourism Industry in India

Growth in number of internet users and use of internet, along with advancement in information technology is offering abundant information in the virtual space. With the increase in number of jobs and income levels, people are showing inclination towards travel and tourism. As travellers and tourists seek instant information, gathering information online visiting websites, search engines, mobile app, e-commerce aggregators and social media has made information search easy. Voluminous information is available online which has also lead to problem of information overload. Travel & tourism service providers, in order to capture larger business and to build their brand, are doing marketing by providing travel deals online & through other digital medium which has affected business & industry. This research focuses on assessing the impact of digital marketing on travel & tourism industry. It helps in gaining an understanding on the level of impact created by digital marketing, its pros & cons, and provide suggestions for travel & tourism service providers to address relevant issues and challenges. The outcomes of the research can be used by E-Commerce aggregators, digital marketers, Mobile App service providers, social media marketers’ and implementers of IT for tourism as a reference for digital marketing decisions. Keywords: Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, IT for Tourism, Online Bookings, Social Media Marketing, Travel & Tourism, Travel Deals Online

Social media influence on the holiday decision making process in the UK (Generation Y)

This study investigated the influence of social media on Generation Y travellers throughout the holiday decision-making process. The researchers examined the use of social media websites before, during and after holiday, evaluated the level of trust in user-generated content and identified how Generation Y shared their holiday experiences on social media. This study adopted the quantitative/deductive methodology using online questionnaire. The findings suggested that social media platforms were mostly used prior to the holiday as a source of gathering information such as destination, accommodation. However, findings showed although people used social media to search for information, it was less trusted compared to official state tourism websites and word-of-mouth. But the findings showed that social media was also considerably used during the holiday only as medium for posting photos and searching for local entertainment. On the other hand, the results showed that there is a trend of changes toward social media as a source of travel information which indicated respondents’ illingness to use social media for their travel in near future

Young media-induced travelers: online representations of media-induced travel conversations

In recent years, destination marketers have experienced increasing pressure to compete in niche marketing, where critical analysis of each unique target market’s consumer needs is essential for marketing success. Destination marketers spend considerable time and financial resources identifying, characterizing and accommodating consumer needs in niche markets. Meanwhile, consumers are utilizing all aspects of information technology to plan, book, and better inform their travels. Youths’ growing participation and influence in the travel and tourism industry has received moderate attention both conceptually and empirically. Furthermore, despite the increasing availability of travel information online, youths’ predisposition toward media usage and their growing propensity toward travel and tourism, there has been relatively little to no attention paid towards young travelers’ use of the Internet as a multifaceted travel information source. This thesis focused on broadening our knowledge of young travelers online travel information search behavior within the context of media-induced tourism. Taking a netnographic approach, this study explored how electronic word-of-mouth regarding travel destinations, products and services is mediated through Internet technology, specifically how online communities and online discussion forums are utilized as important venues, which support conversations among travelers (Wang, Yu & Fesenmaier, 2002; Wang & Fesenmaier, 2004). Study results supported previous arguments that online communities and social networking play an important role in mediating travel information search and decision-making, especially for youth, fan culture and media-induced tourism. The overall findings, limitations to this study, suggestions for future research, and practical and theoretical implications are discussed

The influence of online travel agent performance on customer satisfaction levels at a selected hotel

Tourism is an international industry; constant evolution is taking place in the marketing of tourism products and the expectation levels of hotel guests. Online Travel Agents have become more dominant in recent years. This dominance has been assisted by travellers’ more frequent use of the internet to search for information, by the bundling of heterogeneous products and by these agents’ use of the social media. Guest satisfaction levels and expectations are impacted by changes in lifestyle, reasons for travel and the information accessed prior to making their reservations. The basis of this study was establishing the impact of the information supplied by Online Travel Agents on guest satisfaction levels at The Monarch Hotel. The evolution and function of the tourism distribution channel and the factors affecting guest satisfaction and its measurement were explored

The influence of online travel agent performance on customer satisfaction levels at a selected hotel

Tourism is an international industry; constant evolution is taking place in the marketing of tourism products and the expectation levels of hotel guests. Online Travel Agents have become more dominant in recent years. This dominance has been assisted by travellers’ more frequent use of the internet to search for information, by the bundling of heterogeneous products and by these agents’ use of the social media. Guest satisfaction levels and expectations are impacted by changes in lifestyle, reasons for travel and the information accessed prior to making their reservations. The basis of this study was establishing the impact of the information supplied by Online Travel Agents on guest satisfaction levels at The Monarch Hotel. The evolution and function of the tourism distribution channel and the factors affecting guest satisfaction and its measurement were explored

Influence of social media on tourism: especially among students of the University of Debrecen

Derive from the characteristic, decisions connected with travelling have high risk for the travellers therefore they try to collect more detailed information and thoroughly map decision alternatives in order to decrease uncertainty. Wide spread of the Internet and rapid technological evolution have revolutionized all industries in the World especially tourism. Platform of tourism increasingly get to the Internet nowadays which is vitally important because tourism is an informationbased and information-intensive industry. Thanks to development of the internet tourists have an opportunity to access such information and purchasing opportunities which were available with the help of intermediaries earlier. Providing wide range of possibilities, Web 2.0 fundamentally changed the way of tourists’ information search behaviour and travelling decision making. This article collects some of the most significant new applications (social networking sites, blogs) in tourism – examine them from the two sides of tourism (demand, supply) – which principally based on active participation of users. Furthermore an offline questionnaire was made in order to survey the social media usage of the student (University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Sciences) during their leisure travel planning process. Although findings of the study reveal that vast majority of students use social networking sites every day, they don’t really use these platforms during their trip planning process. Among students, friends and relatives are the most important and the most trustworthy source of information due to characteristics of sample

Sosiaalinen media Kehittämiskeskus Oy Hämeen Matkailumarkkinoinnissa

Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme on Hämeenlinnassa toimiva elinkeinoyhtiö. Se palvelee Hämeenlinnan kaupungin ja Hattulan yrittäjiä, edistää seudun elinkeinopolitiikkaa ja matkailua. Organisaatiossa seurataan trendejä ja uusia toimintatapoja haetaan jatkuvasti. Sosiaalinen media on suhteellisen uusi ilmiö, joka on viime vuosien aikana kerännyt paljon suosiota ja herättänyt kiinnostusta myös yrityksissä. Kuten monissa organisaatioissa, Kehittämiskeskus Oy Hämeessä ollaan kiinnostuneita sosiaalisesen median markkinoinnille tarjoamista uusista tavoista ja ympäristöistä. Tämä opinnäytetyö on tehty Kehittämiskeskus Oy Hämeen toimeksiannosta ja sen tarkoitus on kartoittaa sosiaalisen median tarjoamia hyötyjä ja mahdollisuuksia Hämeenlinnan seudun matkailumarkkinointiin. Kartoituksen lisäksi työssä pohditaan ratkaisuja markkinoinnin kehittämiseen, ja esitetään konkreettisia ideoita hyödyntää sosiaalista mediaa ja tehostaa internetmarkkinointia. Opinnäytetyössä myös arviodaan sosiaalisen median mahdollisuuksia, sen vaatimia resursseja sekä riskejä, joita siihen kuuluu. Tutkimus on toteutettu service design -prosessin mukaisesti, ja työn teoreettinen viitekehys muodostuu non profit -organisaation markkinoinnin, matkailumarkkinoinnin ja sosiaalisen median teemoista. Opinnäytetyössä käytetyt menetelmät ovat asiakkaan näkökulmaa korostava persona-menetelmä, määrällistä tietoa tarjoava kysely internetin käytöstä, asiakkaan tiedonhakuprosessia, käyttäytymistä ja tarpeita kuvaavat menetelmät contextual interview ja asiakasmatka, internetissä käytävää keskustelua ja valmiita sisältöjä paljastava varjostaminen sekä hyviä toimintatapoja osoittava benchmarking. Menetelmien avulla pyritään mahdollisimman aitoihin tuloksiin ja käyttäjälähtöisiin ratkaisuihin. Tämän työn teoreettisen viitekehyksen ja käytettyjen menetelmien tuottaman tiedon perusteella voidaan todeta sosiaalisen median olevan toissijainen kehittämiskohde yleishyödyllisen organisaation matkailumarkkinoinnissa. Ensisijaiset kehittämistoimet tulisi kohdistaa internetmarkkinoinnin monipuolisuuden, löydettävyyden ja käyttäjän ohjailun tehostamiseen. Markkinointia voidaan toteuttaa sosiaalisten medioiden kautta palvelemalla asiakkaita ja tarjoamalla uuden yhteydenottomuodon, mutta matkailumarkkinoinnin kannalta vahvasti ensisijaiset väylät ovat hakukoneet ja matkailusivustot. Markkinointia ei siis tässä tapauksessa kannata viedä sosiaaliseen mediaan, vaan pikemminkin haluttavia sosiaalisen median ominaisuuksia, kuten yhteisöllisyyttä tulisi tuoda osaksi markkinointia. Sosiaalinen media tarjoaa paljon ominaisuuksia, joita matkailumarkkinoinnissa kannattaa hyödyntää esimerkiksi organisaation omilla internetsivuilla.Social media and travel marketing. Case Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme is a non-profit organization that serves entrepreneurs and develops business and travel in the city of Hämeenlinna and in the municipality of Hattula. The organization orientates on following trends and new procedures are constantly considered. Social media is a relatively new phenomenon that attracts plenty of interest in general, but also in business. Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme, likewise many other organizations, is also interested in new marketing means and channels that social media can offer. The subject of this thesis was commissioned by Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme. The purpose of the thesis is to define benefits and the potential of social media as a marketing channel in the Hämeenlinna region’s travel marketing. The thesis also ponders the concept of developing Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme’s travel marketing and presents concrete ideas on how to use social media in internet marketing. Finally, the benefits, potential, ideas and possible risks of social media marketing are evaluated. This thesis is carried out according to the service design process. The theoretical framework of the thesis includes non-profit organization marketing, travel marketing and social media. Service design methods bring new perspectives on the thesis: the personas method emphasizes customer’s point of view and the survey investigates how customers search for information. The contextual interview and customer journey mapping explain customer behavior and needs in the process of planning a journey and choosing travel destination. The tracking method reveals existing social interaction and contents on the internet and benchmarking shows examples of how successful internet marketing can be realized. The service design methods used in this thesis were chosen in order to receive liable results and customer -orientated solutions. The theoretical framework and information produced through service design methods suggest that social media is a secondary area of development in Kehittämiskeskus Oy Häme’s travel marketing. Primary areas of development should be based on versatility, attractiveness and how the customer can be oriented. Moderate marketing can be realized through social media by serving customers and providing a new way to contact a travel advisor. However, in travel marketing primary channels appear to be search engines, such as Google and travel related web sites. Therefore marketing should not be taken into social media but instead desirable attributes of social media, such as the sense of community, should be taken aboard in internet marketing. Social media offers various characteristics that could be worth using, for instance on the organization’s own websites, in addition to other marketing