New paper: Social media use and impact during the travel planning process

Fotis, J., Buhalis, D. and Rossides, N., 2012. Social media use and impact during the holiday travel planning process. In: Fuchs, M., Ricci, F. and Cantoni, L., eds. Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2012. Vienna, Austria: Springer-Verlag, pp. 13-24.

Abstract:

Through an empirical study among holiday travellers, residing in the Former Soviet Union Republics, this paper presents a comprehensive view of role and impact of social media on the whole holiday travel planning process: Before, during and after the trip, providing insights on usage levels, scope of use, level of influence and trust. Findings suggest that social media are predominantly used after holidays for experience sharing. It is also shown that there is a strong correlation between perceived level of influence from social media and changes made in holiday plans prior to final decisions. Moreover, it is revealed that user-generated content is perceived as more trustworthy when compared to official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising.

Download the accepted version here. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com

Presenting at ENTER 2012 in Helsingborg, Sweden

During the ENTER 2012, held in Helsingborg (Sweden) between January 24 and 27th, I delivered two presentations: The first was a full research paper co-authored together with by D. Buhalis and N. Rossides entitled "Social Media Use and Impact during the Holiday Travel Planning Process". The second was during a "Destination Focus" session and was entitled "Consumer Behaviour and Social media", where I presented some thoughts on how consumers use social media throughout their holiday process and what are the implications for destination marketers