| Pub. Date | : | Mar, 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Product Name | : | The IUP Journal of Brand Management |
| Product Type | : | Article |
| Product Code | : | IJBRM30321 |
| Author Name | : | Sabari Shankar R |
| Availability | : | YES |
| Subject/Domain | : | Marketing |
| Download Format | : | PDF Format |
| No. of Pages | : | 15 |
The study examines the tourists' perception about the credible information available on social media about the destinations and whether respondents' sociodemographic profile impacts their perception. Literature review found the supporting facts from research on the information aspects available on social media about the tourist spots. With convenient sampling technique, this empirical research was conducted. A structured questionnaire containing the necessary study factors was distributed to 226 tourists through Google form. The acquired data was analyzed through MANOVA technique of SPSS. MS Excel was also used for preparing charts to classify the respondents' demographics. It has been found that, age, occupation and income of tourists did not have any impact on the perception whether the information available on social media was authentic. Suggestions were provided for the marketers and limitations were also indicated.
Social media, perhaps the most powerful communication tool in this era, has significantly changed the businesses' marketing approach to the target market. Either, the online social media platforms have undoubtedly revamped, more sophisticatedly, the ways of how the consumers engage with their brands (Hudson and Thal, 2013). This inference has been evidenced in tourism and hospitality arena too (Ayeh et al., 2013). Social media has intruded the behavior of tourists in distinct ways from the base of choosing the destinations to tour to the post-touring behavior or sharing the experience even (Wu and Pearce, 2017; and Lee et al., 2014). Tourists' motives are emerging with new paradigm and the destination marketers are at the outset to understand those and design their offerings accordingly (Shankar, 2020a). Social media has an essential platform for facilitating this market vibrancy. Modern tourists perceive the social media platforms as the source for searching information in terms of destination attractions, tourist spots, accessibility, accommodation, guidance and even the real reviews, suggestions and professional advice. Many other associative services have emerged such as online travel blogs, online review forums, online travel community groups and review sites that support tourist planning and decision-making processes (Gelb and Sundaram, 2002; Belanche et al., 2010; and Pan et al., 2007). These online sources of information facilitate the tourists before their travel, during their travel and even after their tour. Information available in the online social