How Social Media Shapes Tourist Preferences

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the influence of contextual factors that predicts the social media usage in travel planning process in the Indian context. Various factors encourage different individuals to travel, and have been noticed for decades .The emergence of social media is a considerable factor affecting travel related decision-making , and therefore, it seems necessary to further investigate this domain.

Social media

In the last decade of 20th century, noteworthy growth in the development of internet technologies and the use of social media has been observed throughout the globe, which has transformed businesses and the methods used to operate them . The use of social media is going beyond from personal use to other sectors (e.g. education, hospitality & tourism, banking, fashion, and retail, etc.) for a wide range of purposes. These comprise information and knowledge exchange, customer services and relationship, sales, brand awareness and loyalty, collaborations, and demand andsupply management