engleski

The Role of Social Media in Tourism

The social media represents the relatively new phenomena in tourism, which role has continuously increasing in recent years. In a very short time the impact becomes so great that has fundamentally changed the functioning of tourism market. It has deeply changed consumer behaviour, as well as the marketing approach on the Web. Due to the social media, travel agencies and tour operators have lost a significant part of their power because advices and security that they have provided for fee, now provide other tourists for free. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, but also those specialized as TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Airbnb becoming the main source of information confirming the decisions of consumers. For the first time consumers participate actively, not only as tourists using tourism product but also as a persons who have an opportunity to post their opinions and express their needs and desires. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the role and importance of social media in tourism through literature review of 60 papers published from 2007 till 2016 in the world's most famous tourism and marketing journals. The analysis shows that social media created cultural revolution in tourism, changing the way tourists plan their trips since they have an easy access to huge amount of information and easily share their experiences, comments and suggestions in an informal and collaborative way increasing the value and influence as determinants of choice for other tourists.

social media ; tourism ; changes in tourism market ; changes in tourist behaviour

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