Effectiveness of Social Media in Promoting Tourism in Nepal

Abstract

In recent years, social media has become more advance, as it provides travelers various opportunities to visualize their destination before executing their plan. Social networks on the other hand have also evolved in such a way that they not only became valuable marketing tools for businesses but also proved to be a valuable source of information for consumers as it plays a significant role in decision-making process.

The objectives of this research study were to find out if social media has any impact in Tourism, to determine what tourists’ perceived benefits of using social media when taking trips are, and to ascertain if there were any strategic opportunity for value creation for the tourist. Through a survey answered by 267 respondents, the most influential attributes of the usage of social media in tourism were ascertained, the travelers’ perception of social media is analyzed, the important functionalities were determined.

In hypothesis testing, independent variable social media functionalities found to have a significant influence on tourist destination. Whereas, various perception of social media had no significant influence in tourist destination in terms of reliability, accuracy and value.

After analyzing the study, it is concluded that social media does indeed have an impact in tourism. It can even be used as a source of sustainable competitive advantage if tourism firms develop a positive reputation and focus on the personalization of their services as the key element for their value-creating strategy.