Factors Affecting Use of Social Media among Tourists with Special Reference to Himachal Pradesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53573/rhimrj.2025.v12n11.006Keywords:
Social media, travelling, Himachal Pradesh, Shimla, travel information, reviewsAbstract
The present study aims to examine the factors affecting the use of social media among tourists. Moreover, the study also intends to assess social media consumption among tourists visiting a hill state of India i.e. Himachal Pradesh (HP). The study would be throwing light on how the tourists visiting HP use social media before travelling, during travel and after travelling that would also include content creation by tourists after spending their leisure time in HP. For this, the study developed a structured questionnaire that was got filled up from the tourists visiting the state capital of HP i.e. Shimla; the largest city of the state. Finally, 100 questionnaires were found to be complete and useful for final data analysis. The above table revealed that 35% tourists used Instagram; followed by 28% used Youtube; 15% used and 14% used Snapchat. Findings suggested that 44% expressed that they read reviews of other travelers from social media and 34 % agreed that they obtain travel information from social media. It was surprising to note that 52% agreed that they post their experience on travelling on social media.
References
Alizadeh, A., & Isa, R. M. (2015). The use of social media in destination marketing: An exploratory study. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 63(2), 175-192.
Amaro, S., Duarte, P., & Henriques, C. (2016). Travelers’ use of social media: A clustering approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 59, 1-15.
Boyd, D. (2010). Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In A networked self (pp. 47-66). Routledge.
Chung, N., & Koo, C. (2015). The use of social media in travel information search. Telematics and Informatics, 32(2), 215-229.
Ho, C. I., & Lee, P. C. (2015). Are blogs still effective to maintain customer relationships? An empirical study on the travel industry. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology.
Javed, M., Tučková, Z., & Jibril, A. B. (2020). The role of social media on tourists’ behavior: An empirical analysis of millennials from the Czech Republic. Sustainability, 12(18), 7735.
Kayumovich, K. O. (2020). Particular qualities use of social media in digital tourism. Gwalior Management Academy, 28(1), 21-28.
Law, R., Qi, S., & Buhalis, D. (2010). Progress in tourism management: A review of website evaluation in tourism research. Tourism management, 31(3), 297-313.
Leung, D., Law, R., Van Hoof, H., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Social media in tourism and hospitality: A literature review. Journal of travel & tourism marketing, 30(1-2), 3-22.
Leung, D., Law, R., Van Hoof, H., & Buhalis, D. (2013). Social media in tourism and hospitality: A literature review. Journal of travel & tourism marketing, 30(1-2), 3-22.
Wang, C. Y., & Hsu, M. K. (2010). The relationships of destination image, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions: An integrated model. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 27(8), 829-843.
Xiang, Z., & Gretzel, U. (2010). Role of social media in online travel information search. Tourism management, 31(2), 179-188.
Zeng, B., & Gerritsen, R. (2014). What do we know about social media in tourism? A review. Tourism management perspectives, 10, 27-36.
