American International Journal of Business Management (AIJBM)

ISSN- 2379-106X, www.aijbm.com Volume 3, Issue 11 (November 2020), PP 26-33

Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

Amina Merabet1
1
(Business faculty/ Tlemcen university, Algeria)
*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet1
ABSTRACT: Tourism sector is considered one of the basic driver of countries ’economies. In light of
globalization and the tremendous technological development in the world, the tourism field has become highly
dependent on social media. They have changed the behavior of the tourist during all stages of trips from seeking
information to sharing experience.
Thus, this study aims to evaluate the impact of social media on the consumers’ destination choice.
After a short literature review, we develop a conceptuel model based on TAM model.
An empirical study was conducted among 245 participants from Algeria. Results indicate that the usefulness and
trust have a positive impact on attitude towards social media unlike Ease of use. They also highlight the role of
attitude in determining the choice of destinations by tourisms

KEYWORDS - Tourist Destination – Social Media– Tam model- Destination choice- Trust)

I. INTRODUCTION
Tourism is recognized worldwide as an industry that generates considerable profits and gains and contributes
to nations growth.
The development of Internet and Web 2 in particular has favoured the developement of this sector and has
opened up new perspectives thanks to low cost, the global dimension and the dynamic image that it offer.
When one considers that almost 90% of travelers plan their vacations or business trips on the basies of
consumer’s reviews sites and 44 % have chosen their hotel based on the opinions of other consumers published
on Internet (StrategyOne, 2017), we cannot fail to be impressed by the tremendous impact that Internet
represents today in tourism sector. Indeed, it has profoundly changed the way that travelers access to
information, how they plan and book trips, and how they share their travel experiences (Buhalis & Law, 2008,
Senecal & Nantel, 2004, Xiang &Gretzel, 2010, Mariani et al, 2016).
Today the customer can communicate directly and virtually with the various actors in the tourism profession
(Lehu, 2000). Social media (one of the applications of web 2) are in fact a perfect tool adapted to the
development of tourism sector, especially since tourists are now demanding and looking for new destinations
that offer unique and innovative tourism.
The social media allow tourists to interact and collaborate with each other. Hence, they share their brand
experience with a wide audience (Kuksov et al., 2013), provide opinions and advices, communicate and publish
original content such as blogs, videos, wikis, reviews or photos (Boyd and Ellison, 2008). All of that influence
the perceptions of brand destination's image which is considered a key element in attracting tourists and
therefore impact the choice of destination decision (Echtner & Ritchie, 1993).
Social media defies all traditional tourism marketing and promotional tools (Sigal et al. , 2012). It is indeed an
effective marketing channel that can be used widely in tourism marketing (Sotiriadis & Vanzyl, 2013).
So, Our research aims to:
- Examine the impact of social media on destination choice.
- Develop a conceptual model and test it in algerian context
After a short review of literature, we will present the conceptual model and the research hypotheses, than we
will present the research methodology and finally the results of the empirical study.

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 26 | Page

 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

I. LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Definition of tourist destinations

Traditionally, defined as regions or geographic areas such as an island country or city with a polical and
legislative framework for tourism marketing and planning (Davidson and Matland, 2000). It refer to the places
where people travel and choose to stay a period of time Leiper (1995).
Cooper et al. (2005) defines it as a geographical area considered by visitors as a unique entity where facilities
and services are designed to meet visitors' needs.
According to Middleton (1998), the tourist destination consists of five elements: The natural areas of the
attraction site, facilities and services, ease of access to the site, image designed to attract tourists to the site, the
total cost of the vacation.
Tourist destinations offer an integrated visitor experience, as the purchase of a tourism product is
accompanied by increasing levels of emotional and illogical factors. So visitors trust the opinions of family and
friends more than ads.

2. Social media
Social media is one of modern concepts that have emerged with the evolution of the Web 2 in 2005.
Therefore, there are few studies that clarify this concept and define it precisely.
Some definitions could be mentioned:
-Channels of communication and cooperation on Internet (Schalagwein et hu, 2016).
-According Graham (2005), anything that users can create and share content.
-And Boyd & ellision (2008), a free web-based services that allow individuals to communicate with their
families and friends by scharing photos, videos, personal stories etc.
- For Wakefield & Wakefield (2016), they are specific types of social media platforms and websites that have
common characteristics such as : user identification, user access to digital content, user list of relational ties,
user ability to view upper relationships.
Through these definitions, we can say that social media are a group of websites and platforms based on web
They allow to forming virtual groups who create content (personal or professional) as an image, video, software,
stories, text, etc. in an interactive and cooperative environment between the various members of the groups. It is
an effective means of communication.
A range of characteristics make social media unique : they are easy to use, universal, interactive, participatory,
and a space for the expression of opinions and views on various questions.
Due to the remarkable and popular development of social media ; It is imperative that companies intergrate
them into their strategies.
Social media has changed the way to communicate and build relationships with customers( Airline Business,
2009). It creating trust and confidence between companies and their customers (Qualman, 2009). Many
researchers also demonstrated its ability to create value for all stakeholders (Barrett et al. , 2016) . Without
forgetting their obvious role in promoting and advertising (Lee et al., 2016 ; Chang et al., 2015) .

3. The role of social media in promotion of tourist destinations

In the era of globalization and high competitiveness in tourism market, destination must be distinctive from
competition (Porter, 1996). Destinations can highlight its characteristics and maintain its competitive advantage
through a sophisticated communication strategy based on social media (Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2015).
In fact social media have completely revolutionized tourism sector. Now, visitors no trust on ads that focus
on the special features of destinations but they need personal, smart, interactive and creative messages.
Consequently, social media has become an integral part of marketing campaigns. It’s a tourism marketing tool
that can greatly enhance the destination's reputation and popularity (Milano et al., 2011; Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka,
2015).
In one hand, it contributes to creating a positive image of the destination and all the actors the sector
(Gretzel, 2010) and provides a new online marketing strategy that does not aim to support sales only, but also
build a strong relationship with customers (Mastorakis et al., 2015; Ang, 2011). It has created a great
opportunities to maintain relationships with busy clients (Yadav et Aora, 2012).
Also it contribute to getting more interaction with its target audience (Leeflang et al., 2014) and enhancing
their loyalty (Senders et al., 2013), which contributes to raising sales number (Kiráľová & Pavlíeka, 2015).
On the other hand, social media appears to be a new and less expensive tool of communication compared to
traditional communication tools (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Because it simplifies the value chain. This, in turn,
helps companies to doing their marketing activities more efficiently and successfully (Alalwan et al., 2016).
It has also demonstrated its role in resolving crises (Sigala, 2011; Pennington-Gray et al., 2011). It can
change behaviors and perceptions about brand destination (Kiráľová & Pavlíčeka, 2015).
*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 27 | Page
 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

In addition to several other benefits for destinations: return on investment, increase (visitor’s number,
destination awareness, preference for the destination, website visitor’s, the number of referrals to the web site,
the number of Facebook fans), create content by the user, public relations, search engines optimisation, etc.
Social media provide a variety of tools that help tourist destinations to achieve their goals. For example:
UGC, E-wom, Visual content, Photopoints, games and contests, etc.

4. Conceptual model
Actually, tourism marketing have changed due to the flourishing of information technologies, and ICTs have
been the new tools for tourism marketing and management (Buhalis & Law, 2008), from seeking information to
online reservation systems.
Under these circumstances, users’ acceptance of new technology has drawn much attention from both
academicians and practitioners in the tourism domain.
Our conceptual model is based on TAM model developed by Davis et al., 1989. It’s the most widely used
model to preddict user’s adoption and acceptance of a new technology in various areas (mobile ads, shopping,
social media, online review, tourism and hospitality). In the tourism context researchs ? we find sevarl
application of this model : (health tourism, W Phatthana & NKN Mat, 2010 ; the choice of tourist destination
(Di Pietro et al., 2012, Tham et al., 2013 ; intention to travel Kaplanidou and Vogt, 2006 and hotel reservations
(; Morosan and Jeong, 2008), etc.
Inspired from theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), Davis et al., 1989 have illustrate that
computer usage behavior depend on cognitive beliefs ( perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use) which
infulence attitude towards technology (affective dimension)and intention to use (conative dimension) and
effective use (behavior) (Al-Somali et al., 2009).
Perceived ease of use represents the degree to ‘’which a user believes that using that technology would not
require effort’’ (Chung and Tan, 2004).
Perceived usefulness represents ‘’the degree to which a user believes that using that technology will enhance
his/her job performance’’ (Davis, 1989).
While attitude consist of ‘’user assessment toward the technology and behavioural intention represents the
degree to which a person is prompt to accomplish a certain behaviour’’ (Davis, 1989).

In fact, Prior studies has include different external variables that influence attitude based on different
circumstances.
In our model, we add trust on social media.
In view of the above, we can propose the following hypotheses:
H1. Perceived usefulness of social media (UTI) has a positive effect on tourist attitude towards the use of
the social networks for the choice of tourism destinations (ATT).
H2. Perceived ease of use (FAC) has a direct influence on the tourist’s attitude towards the use of the
social media for the choice of tourism destination (ATT).
H3. Trust on social media (CONF) has a positive effect on tourist attitude towards the use of the social
networks for the choice of tourism destinations (ATT).
H4. Tourist’s attitude towards the use of the social networks (ATT) has a direct influence on his/her
subsequent behavioural intention in using this technology for the choice of tourism destination (UTS).

The conceptual model is illustrated in figure 1.

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 28 | Page

 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

Figure 1: The conceptual model

Usefulness
(UTI)

behavioural
Ease of use attitud intention
(FAC) e(ATT) (UTS).

Trust
(CONF)

II. METHODOLOGY
In our research we used the Structural equation modeling by PLS (Partial Least Squares) approach
developed by Wold (1982). Like the other structural equation methods, it allows us to test the causal links
between latent variables simultaneously (Bagozzi, 1980).It’s relies on least squares regression techniques to
estimate the models. This method is widely used in marketing (Hair, 2013).
Smartpls version 3 software was used.

1. Measurement scale
All the scales used in our study have been validated in literature and have shown a good reliability: Ease of use
scale (3 items), attitude scale (4 items), trust scale (3 items), usefulness scale (5 items), use of Social media scale
(3 items) The items for each variable were based on five-points Likerts’ scale (1– strongly disagree; 5 – strongly
agree).
Online questionnaires were used for data collection with a random sample of 245 algerian person, aged over 18
years.

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

1. Sample
Our study was conducted with a sample of 245 people from Algeria, It’s is composed of % 35.6% men and
64.4% women. The most respondants are students aged under 35 years with university degree qualification (See
table 1).

Table 1: Characteristics of the Sample

Item %
Sex Male 25.6
Female 74.4
Age 18-24 1..5
25-35 3...
35-50 25.2
> 50 3...
Function Students ...1
Employee 53..

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 29 | Page

 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

Retried 5.
Unemployed 9
Qualification Primary school .
School .
Secondary school 5..3
University degree ...8

2. Reliability and validity

Convergent validity can be confirmed with AVE (Average Variance Extracted). Fornell and Larcker (1981)
recommend a minimum value of 0.5. The results in the table 2 confirm the convergent validity of all scales.
Concerning reability The value of all the indices (Composite reliability, Rho-a, Cronbach’s alpha) are very
satisfactory.
Discriminant validity : We can evaluate it using Fornell-Larcker criterion. All values are consistent (See table
3).

Table 2: Reliability and validity of the construct

Average Composite Rho-a Cronbach’s

variance reliability alpha
ATT 0.617 0.865 0.802 0.792
CONF 0.661 0.854 0.753 0.745
FAC 0.571 0.797 0.785 0.656
UTI 0.514 0.807 0.697 0.684
UTS 0.712 0.881 0.824 0.800

Table 3: Discriminant validity (Fornell-Larcker criterion)

ATT CONF FAC UTI UTS

ATT 0.785
CONF 0.708 0.813
FAC 0.421 0.402 0.755
UTI 0.591 0.541 0.470 0.717
UTS 0.743 0.575 0.511 0.532 0.844
In the PLS approach, the predictive power of the model can be assessed using R2 (Hair, 2013). All R²
values meet the minimum limit of 0.10 as recommended by (Hair, 2013)(See table 4).

Table 4 : R Square

R.square adjusted
ATT 0.567
UTS 0.552

The results shown in the figure 3 below confirm that usefulness (β=0.264, p=0.008)and trust β=0.264,
p=0.000)have a positif impact on attitude toward social media unlike the ease of use which not impact it
(β=0.083, p=0.271).
The results indicate also that the link between attitude toward social media and the use of social media for the
choice of tourism destination is strong and positif (β=0.743, p=0.000).
So we can conclud that H1, H3 and H4 are confirmed but H2 is rejected (See table 5).

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 30 | Page

 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

Table 5 : hypotheses results

Results
H1. Perceived usefulness of social media (UTI) has a positive effect on tourist Rejected
attitude towards the use of the social networks for the choice of tourism destinations
(ATT).
H2. Perceived ease of use (FAC) has a direct influence on the tourist’s attitude Confirmed
towards the use of the social media for the choice of tourism destination (ATT).
H3. Trust on social media (CONF) has a positive effect on tourist attitude towards the Confirmed
use of the social networks for the choice of tourism destinations (ATT).
H4. Tourist’s attitude towards the use of the social networks (ATT) has a direct Confirmed
influence on his/her subsequent behavioural intention in using this technology for the
choice of tourism destination (UTS).
Figure 3 : Structural model results

IV. CONCLUSION

While social media are heavily utilized by both marketers and tourists, few studies investigated this area of
research in Algeria. Thus the main objectif of this study was to know if algerian tourists use social media for
the choice of destination.
The TAM model was employed with adding trust on social media variable and have been tested by the
structural equation model (SEM-PLS).
The results shown that trust and usefulness have positif impact on attitude towards social media which has a
positif impact on the use of social media for destination choice. In addition, trust was more influential than
perceived usefulness. Therefore, the link between ease of use and attitude is not significant.
So we can conclude that social media play an important role for tourists’ destination choice. They are a real
opportunity to personally engage a community and therefore create a close relationship that reinforced
exchanges between destination and tourists.
Mangerial implication
Now tourists trust on E-WOM than Ads. So, social media should be an integral part of the communication
strategy of destination. Neverthless, the instant reaction of Internet users can be an advantage as it can be a
disadvantage. Tourists share online their favorites as well as their disappointments, so destinations who have
adopted these essential tools must take into account and manage negative comments and complaints by adopting
a continuous consumers’ evaluation mechanism.
Destination managers should also facilate through social media decision choice by proposing a visit

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 31 | Page

 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

planning, improve content quality and users’ online experience.

Future researches may:
- Use extended technology acceptance model (TAM2, TAM 3) or UTAUT model
- Include some mediating variables such as: social media engagement, E-wom, etc.

REFERENCES
[1]. Alalwan, A., Rana, N., Algharabat, R. and Tarhini, A. (2016). A SystematicReview of ExtantLiterature
in Social Media in the Marketing Perspective. The 15th IFIP Conference on e-Business, e-Services and
e-Society on Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Swansea, UK.
[2]. Ang, L. (2011). Community relationship management and social media. Journal of Database Marketing
and Customer Strategy Management, 18(1), 31-38.
[3]. Barrett, M., Oborn, E.,and Orlikowski,W. (2016). Creating value in online communities: The
sociomaterialconfiguring of strategy, platform, andstakeholder engagement. Information
SystemsResearch, 27(4), 704–723.
[4]. Buhalis, D., and Law, R. (2008). Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20
years on and 10 years after the internet: The state of eTourism research. Tourism Management, 29(4),
609–623.
[5]. Chang, W. L., Diaz, A. N., and Hung, P. C. (2015). Estimating trust value: A social network
perspective. Information SystemsFrontiers, 17(6), 1381–1400.
[6]. Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D., and Wanhill, S. (2005). Tourism principles and practices
(3rd ed.). Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education.
[7]. Di Pietro, L., Di Virgilio, F., and Pantanim, E. (2012). Social network for the choice of tourist
destination: Attitude and behavioural intention. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 3(1),
60–76
[8]. Echtner Charlotte M., J Ritchie.R. Brent 1993 The Measurement of Destination Image: An Empirical
Assessment Research https://doi.o
[9]. Kaplan, A.M., Haenlein, M., 2010. Users of the world, unite! the challenges and opportunities of Social
Media. Bus. Horiz. 53 (1), 59–68.
[10]. Kuksov, D., Shachar, R., and Wang, K. (2013). Advertising and Consumers'
Communications. Marketing Science, 32(2), 294-309. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24544946
[11]. Lehu, J-M., (2000). Internet comme outil de yield management dans le tourisme Décisions marketing
19:07-19 DOI: 10.7193/DM.019.07.19
[12]. Marcello Mariani, Marco Di Felice, Matteo Mura, 2016 Facebook as a destination marketing tool:
Evidence from Italian regional Destination Management Organizations Tourism Management 54:321-
343. DOI: 10.1016 /j.tourman.2015.12.008 23.
[13]. Mastorakis, G., Trihas, N., Perakakis, E., and Kopanakis, I. (2015). E-CRM in tourism exploiting
emerging information and communication technologies. Anatolia, 26(1), 32–44.
doi:10.1080/13032917.2014.902767
[14]. Milano, R., Baggio, R., and Piattelli, R. (2011). The effects of online social media on tourism websites.
Paper presented at the international conference on information and communication technologies in
tourism, Jan 26–28, 2011, Innsbruck, Austria.
[15]. Navío-Marco J, Ruiz-Gómez LM, Sevilla-Sevilla C (2018). Progress in information technology and
tourism management: 30 years on and 20 years after the internet—revisiting Buhalis and Law’s
landmark study about eTourism. Tour Manag 69:460–470.
[16]. Netimperative, 2018. Trust in social media falls sharply worldwide. [online] Available at: [Accessed 02
february 2019].
[17]. Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? Harvard Business Review, 74, 61}78.
[18]. Senders, A., Govers, R. and Neuts, B. (2013), Social media affecting tour operators’ customer loyalty,
Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Vol. 30 Nos 1/2, 41-57.
[19]. Senecal, S. and Nantel, J. (2004). The Influence of Online Product Recommendations on Consumers’
Online Choices. Journal of Retailing, 80, 159-169.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2004.04.001.
[20]. Sigala, M. (2011). Social media and crisis management intourism: Applications and implications for
research. Information Technology&Tourism, 13(4), 269–283.
[21]. Sotiriadis, M. and Van Zyl, C. (2013), Electronic world-of-mouth and online reviews in tourism
services: the use of twitter by tourists, Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 13 No. 1, 103-124.

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 32 | Page

 Tourist Destination Choice And Social Media

[22]. Tham, A.G.J. (2013), Social media in destination choice: distinctive electronic word-of-mouth
dimensions, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 30 Nos 1/2, 144-155.
[23]. Xiang Z., Gretzel U. (2010), Tourism Management, 31-179–188. rg/10.1177/004728759303100402
- https://fredcavazza.net/2019/05/12/panorama-des-medias-sociaux-2019/

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet1

1
(Business faculty/ Tlemcen university, Algeria)

*Corresponding Author: Amina Merabet 1 www.aijbm.com 33 | Page