Impacts of social media on travelers’ decision-making process

Abstract

Social media has drastically transformed the way people communicate, particularly the manner of sharing ideas, experiences, and reviews about products and services. In fact, tourists and tourism and hospitality organizations’ use of social media to communicate has significantly increased. Literature abounds on the usage and role of social media in tourism, particularly on travelers’ decision-making process. It suggests that social media plays a crucial role in travelers’ planning, data search, and decision making. Therefore, this chapter expands the impacts of social media on travelers’ decision-making process. It briefly defines and identifies the various social media platforms and further broadens the knowledge on the generally negative and positive effects of social media on travelers’ decision-making process. Data on the impact of user-generated content on social media platforms are gathered; such content influences travelers’ decision making and either entices or discourages them from visiting the Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in Africa. © Dogan Gursoy and Rahul Pratap Singh Kaurav 2022.