The Social Media Effect on Travel and Tourism

A recent study from Booking.com found that social media has an impact on the choice users make when planning to book a holiday. It showed that 51% of respondents of the survey would rather choose somewhere that none of their friends or family had visited.

This is down to the factor of visiting a location that is original and unspoiled before it becomes a mainstream holiday destination. Another factor is that it is becoming increasingly important to do something for ‘Instagram’, a survey from Travolution found that 40% of people under 33 years old choose their holiday destination on the destinations ‘Instagramability’.

Phil Schofield, Head of Inbound Marketing at Schofield’s, said: “I have to admit to being a little astonished by these results. We have recently seen a lot of news coverage around how millennials are making more and more decisions guided by how their life would appear online and so we thought we would see how much they let their portrayed social media presence affect their real life.”

The airline EasyJet has taken advantage of this new trend by buying out a new in-app feature which allows the user to take a screenshot of an image from Instagram and upload it into the app. The app then finds the location of the image and gives a range of possible flight options to the nearest airport.

Social media has allowed there to be far more reviews than ever before, which is having a greater influence on where holidaymakers decide where to go. Figures show that 89% of millennials plan travel activities based on content posted by their peers online.

The reviews range from social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter to the review sites such as TripAdvisor or Yelp, where people come together to report on their experiences based on a destination, accommodation, or an activity. Hotels and resorts have started running social contests to reach out to more people and have greater publication, the sort of contests that are being used include hashtag competitions, like-to-win campaigns and selfie station contests. These are the three main ways to gain exposure on social media whilst having a bit of fun at the same time as creating a free marketing opportunity.

Contestants in the competitions get to be creative to win something that the hotel is giving away and it can even mean a bit of nostalgia that goes along with it, especially in the hashtag competition.

Stir Tourism specialises in social media marketing which helps hospitality and tourism businesses which the business in return pays for, after Stir Tourism helps you become fully engaged across social media.

The British Columbia Guest Ranchers Association (BCGRA) used the Stir Tourism project to use in a six-month programme to promote its member ranches across North America. The competition gave ranch enthusiasts why they deserved a holiday with BCGRA. The result of this contest saw their Facebook followers had risen by 1200% as well as rewarding six lucky contests with incredible holidays.

Another impact that social media has had on the shape of tourism is on travel agencies. Since there is a lot more information available online and on social media there is less work for agencies to sell the holidays to the public. People are becoming more happier to book holidays in the comfort of their home, knowing that there are plenty of comparison websites that show that they are getting a good deal.