INFLUENCE OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH ON DESTINATION CHOICE

Author Name: Mr. Mateen Yousuf

Volume: 01 &  Issue:

Country: India

DOI NO.: 08.2020-25662434 DOI Link: http://www.doi-ds.org/doilink/12.2020-13893984/

Affiliation:

1. Shri Vankateswra University, Amroha, UP, India

ABSTRACT

Social Media is an online platform for sharing knowledge and experiences with peers and friends. It acts as a reviewing tool wherein people rate their experiences about places and destinations thus impacting word of mouth marketing. It is as very important for marketing as a review from friends and peers can act as single most effective influencer in one’s decision making when it comes to choosing a destination. People share experiences, photos, and other content and it acts as indirect marketing for destinations. This research was intended to discover and measure the influence of social media on an intending tourist choosing and selecting a destination over other choices. The sampling technique which was used in collecting the data was non-probability judgmental technique. Cochran’s Sampling was used to determine the sample size. Total sample size was 215 respondents who underwent travel to Srinagar from Feb 2019-August 2019. Various variables were analyzed using SPSS and it was found that the social media had a significant relationship with the destination selection. This research would be very valuable to all the stakeholders in hospitality and tourism sector to use social media to reach out to potential tourists and treat it as a platform to measure new trends and review existing customers.

Key words: Social media, influencers, tourism marketing, tourist destination.