Inbound tourism influenced by social media: An Indian case study

Year 2019, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 1 - 16, 01.01.2019

Parikshat S Manhas Jeet Dogra

https://doi.org/10.24288/jttr.466938

Cited By: 4

Abstract

In 2014, the Union Government of India has set a target to achieve 1%
share in global tourism arrivals in India, as expressed by the then Union
Minister State for Tourism. In this regard, the role played by Social Media to
influence the foreign tourist was significant. To analyze the causality between
India, as a tourist destination and its presence on social media platform, a
research study has been done which was fully funded by Ministry of Tourism,
Government of India. The main objective was to study all the foreign tourists
visiting India duly influenced by the social media. Due to the nature of the
study, the technique of the focus - group interview has applied and then
structured questionnaire has prepared to achieve the six objectives of the
study. With a total sample size of 2,351 inbound tourists, collected in four
phases during peak inbound tourist seasons from 2015 to 2016. The sample had
consisted of the respondents from 93 nationalities and influenced by social
media to visit India. The major outcomes were that majority of the inbound
tourists came to know about India as a tourist destination through social media
and then they explored more information specifically tourists attractions, to
plan their trips to India. The majority of the tourists got influenced by
Tripadvisor and Facebook platforms and reasonably satisfied with the
information generated by the other social media sources. The results and conclusions
have accepted by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and utilized
appropriately to gain the competitive advantage.

Keywords

Social Media;, Inbound tourists, Indian inbound tourism, Social media influence the inbound tourist, Social media and Inbound tourism, Social Media channels

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