Social Media's Role in Travel Decisions

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

Travellers trust and use social media content creation at both the pre-visits and post-visits stages of travel. Instagram is among the leading biggest social media platforms used to promote events and programs for travellers to experience (Jamaludin et al., 2017). These sites and platforms represent consumer-generated content and therefore are important for enabling consumers to post and share their travel-related content, experiences, and opinions (Hudson and Thal, 2013). Such postings then serve as sources of information for the consumers. Therefore, it is possible to say that the consumer-generated content makes the customers substantially more powerful with regard to the production and distribution of information. Travellers use social media to relive, reconstruct and portray their travelling experiences, therefore, influencing planning decisions for the future traveller (Bednall et al, 2012). While there are hundreds of published advertisements containing information that travellers may find useful when deciding where they will travel, people have displayed high levels of scepticism with television advertisements, considering it to be highly orchestrated and may not match the reality of a product or a service(Quintal et al., 2016). Another reason for customers’ scepticism is that advertising companies and brand owners force consumers to make personal conclusions about the claims made by the ad. However, with the internet, consumers are enabled to conduct their research about a product. Social media, on the other hand, has the advantage over the ads because of the emotional aspects facilitated by the fact that people sharing experiences do so from a personal point of view (Rageh and Melewar, 2013). Therefore, marketing on social media does not feel like advertising to the consumer because it captures their imaginations and feelings (Piltonen, 2016).

1.2 Statement of the problem

Saud Arabia is currently the second biggest tourist destination in the Middle East. In 2017, it recorded about 16 million tourist visitors. It is important to note, however, that while tourism in Saud Arabia relies heavily on Hajj and Umrah, the holly pilgrimage for the Muslim population (Griffin and Raj,2017). Leisure tourism is still unrecognised, but in recent years, gradual growth in this sector has been reported. The industry has recently received government attention as a means to diversify its economy following the depression in oil prices, leading to investments in new initiatives to boost domestic and international tourism and is expected to be the new source of revenue for Saudi Arabia in coming years: expected revenue of the sector in 2019 is $25 billion (Nurunnabi, 2017). In the country’s list of items to attract leisure tourism in the future, Saudi Arabia has put a plan to develop the Red Sea starting in 2019, develop hotels and luxury residential units and logistical infrastructure (Nurunnabi, 2017). There are however major hurdles for tourist who wish to visit Saudi Arabia; mainly these hurdles are because of the country's strict rules governing religion and dress and women. The country expects that visitors must respect the local laws, religion, traditions and customs (Griffin and Raj, 2017). There have been gradual changes and these are expected to encourage leisure tourists. For example, the change of law to legalise women to drive and the proposal to develop exquisite luxury resort destinations on natural islands. Here, laws will be on par with international standards, therefore, allowing women to wear bikinis and men to wear shorts (Henderson, 2011). Additionally, visa restrictions and a general lack of commercial interest among tour operators and travel agents, are a huge barrier to leisure tourism in Saudi Arabia (Kovjanić, 2014). Amid these observations, as Saudi Arabia moves to expand the tourism sectors, this research will provide crucial oversights to travel agents and operators on how to attract more tourists into Saudi Arabia.

1.3 Research rationale

The rationale behind the study is to increase awareness about the importance of creating Instagram worthy experiences in destinations, which contributes to creating better communication strategies for destinations that utilises the power of Instagram. The study focuses on a gap in the Saudi market where there is a lack of destination marketing organization who follow a clear strategy for attracting tourists, especially with the country's intention to start granting visitor's visa in the next couple of years in its aims to increase the number of tourists.

1.4 Research question

Based on the scope of the study established above, the research question sought to be answered is;

Which content on social media has the best levels of engagement?

Is social media a reliable platform for destination marking?

1.5 Research objectives

To evaluate the reliance on Instagram as a source of travel information by consumers

To determine the content on Instagram the has the best levels of engagement

to make recommendations on the effectiveness of Instagram as a platform for destination marketing.

Chapter Two: Literature Review

2.1 Social media use to promote destinations

According to Crane (2012), travel is among the topics that are most shared on the "Big 3" social media networks (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook). Xanthakou (2018) claims that people will always share new and interesting experiences, and travel provides most of such experiences. Shuqair and Cragg, (2017) claimed that Instagram posts are significantly effective in changing the perceptions of the viewers and as such can be effectively used in influencing the behavioral intentions of travellers at the pre-visitation period. Terttunen, (2017) observed that a picture is worth a thousand words as it conveys feelings, thoughts, emotions, and reality. These are things that cannot be described in words but rather can only be incorporated in social media platforms and specifically the Instagram. Instagram is thus one of the most active platforms of social media that are concentrated with the visual communication strategy. Accordingly, Terttunen, (2017) found out that the visual aspect is significantly valuable in travel planning and resultantly, people use Instagram as a source for travel information and inspiration. Social media has been considered as an effective marketing tool to promote tourist destinations and services. As reported by the Ministry of Tourism in Oman, (2013a), tourists were found to be promoting destinations in Oman by posting photos and videos using Instagram and Facebook. Social media influences the decision-making process in the tourism sector in that the travellers' intention and motivation to visit a destination is affected by the images and content they access from the social media about that destination. Al-Badi, Tarhini, and Al-Sawaei, (2017) found out that, a large number of people use social media to obtain information about attractive places while they plan their visit to a place. For instance, People’s travel decisions are significantly influenced by negative experiences posted on social media regarding particular destinations, and many people believe that tourism companies should utilise more social media platforms such as the Instagram to encourage tourism. Content created and posted on the social media shape the perceived experiences of travellers who access such content in their travel planning process. Positive content definitely will make them perceive a happy experience and enjoyment during a visit.

Social media, in general, affects the way travellers experience their travelling during and after a trip (Kim and Fesenmaier, 2017). Research has suggested that there is a relationship between social media and tourism experience (Wang, Kirillova and Lehto, 2017; Choe, Kim and Fesenmaier, 2017). Park and Santos (2017) claim that social media has an impact on travellers experience in that it facilitates the sharing of perceptions and emotions about a trip. Therefore, as Öz, (2015) claims, sharing positive experiences after a trip will increase the travellers' positive feeling and will likely result in a more positive overall rating and evaluations of the trip. Likewise, sharing negative and unsatisfactory trip experiences via social media will result in more negative perceptions about the trip which has an impact on the post-trip evaluations. Sharma, (2017) claims that while it is likely that people will overlook an ad from the various platforms, a recommendation by a peer of a social media post, or a review on social media has the power to make them desire to consume what their friends’ advocates with the thought that they will achieve similar exciting experience shared. Chatzigeorgiou, (2017) observed that people, particularly the millennials, accept meaning from social media influencers. This tendency is more likely if the millennial admire the influencers, or if they, the millennial, consider that they share a resemblance with the influencers. Millennials tend to trust the reviews of friends and families regarding a destination and they consider such reviews as realistic and the truth. Notably, however, this research insisted that millennials are more likely to trust an influencer who is of their age, than any other famous influencer marketer. This literature emphasises on the increased use of social media to create and influence travel experiences through content generated about a destination. It also introduces other factors that contribute to social media influence by expressing how age and relations affect the impact of influencer marketing with social media.

2.2 The reliability of Social Media to Inspire Travel

The reliability of social media as a source for travel information is subject to many variables. As new forms of social media platforms come into use, it is obvious to say that, each serves different purposes and therefore is reliable for different uses. The different sources of social media networks, for instance, have been included by companies as marketing platforms targeting different types of niche, depending on who are the users (Barreda et al, 2015). However, it is important to highlight that the consumer-generated content used for marketing is not necessarily composed of facts but rather is eminently a mixture of opinions, sentiments, experiences, and facts. More precisely, the use of social media is affected by the fact that these social networking sites are platforms for self-expression, forum positing, comments and life documentation (Ting, Ting, and Hsiao, 2014). As such, companies targeting consumers on these social platforms must take into consideration the impact of opinions and sentiments besides the facts intended. Additionally, as stated by Duan, et al., (2016), social media is a service that allows the users to create a public or a semi-public profile which is limited to the system. Also, a user is allowed to articulate a group of other users with whom to connect. Further, the user is allowed to traverse and view other users’ connections with the system. Importantly, the users' profiles in social media networking is a combination of their images. It means that the users' profiles reveal their preferences in terms of interests, work, consumers’ products and hobbies. The user is allowed to search for a new friend, preferably based on their preferences on their profiles, and, share information. In this sense of social media, the motivation to user and post on social media include information seeking, self-expression and group forum participation. Notably, motivation is the antecedents that show the users' actual behaviour. Based on this note, Zhang, Abound and Cobanoglu, (2017) attributes the motivations to use social media to, express opinions by providing commentaries, expression deep emotions, document life experiences, create and maintain forums of shared interests and, articulate ideas by writing. Concerning these motivations, it is candid to say that social media sites are a useful platform for gathering information.

Based on this observation, Kim, Lee, and Bonn (2017) reported that the motivations for life documenting and self-expression are crucial factors affecting the search behavior for travel information. Djafarova and Trofimenko, (2019) supported this observation through their conclusion that, through commentaries on posts about life documenting and shared travel experiences, travellers gather the information that is useful in solidifying their grounds on travel plans and decisions. Furthermore, Gascón et al., (2016) noted that experience is considered an important factor for predicting a social media user's information search behaviour and their choice of the information channel. For instance, (Hays, Page and Buhalis, 2013) reported that distance shoppers adjust their reaction and behaviour towards actions of destination marketing due to the increased experience of a destination; experience acquired from information on social media about that destination. Research has supported this observation by establishing a significant relationship between the said experience and the social media user's behaviour. Uzunoğlu and Kip (2014) investigated social media as motivating factor travel after noting that since the advent of social media, travellers no longer on out of date information accumulated in guidebooks and paper maps to decide on a travel destination. At the convenience of social media, travellers enjoy the privilege of accessing information about a hotel of a destination instantaneously. Among the sites that were found to be constantly useful include TripAdvisor, Buzzfeed guides and travellers’ photos on Instagram about the latest visits. Instagram was found to provide real-time relevant tips and therefore has a significant influence on the travellers’ trip planning approach. Ruiz-Molina et al., (2010) stated that travellers no longer have to purchase tickets before visiting a place but instead, experience and purchase of tickets are nonlinear. This nonlinearity is as a result of the fact that travellers utilise what their friends and family members have shared on the social media to support their travel inspiration to new destinations. In their investigation on the influence of social media on people’s destination to visit a destination, (Banyai and Glover, 2012) looked into the impact of the fear of missing out (FOMO) on decisions to plan visits. According to this research, at least 52% of social media users reported that they dreamt of a vacation even though they were not planning a specific visit. This research also reported that about 60% of the millennials reported regret for not taking a last-minute-trip and noted that the Millennials are at the most affected by FOMO. Based on this evidence, the study concluded that user-generated content is currently a major source of inspiration for travellers. Similarly, Tatar and Eren-Erdoğmuş (2016) stated that user-generated content has a significant influence on the initial travelling decisions especially for a market niche of younger people. A major transformation has been found in the travellers; buying process and their post-travel experiences following the growing popularity of user-generated content on social media. Such transformation is evident in the way users discover new destinations for future trips and hotels through Instagram. Accordingly, travel marketers must, therefore, leverage the use of travel content on social media. Disztinger, Schlögl, and Groth, (2017) reported that over 80% of social media users use the platform for travel inspiration after established that while “travel inspiration” on social media is not destination specific but rather it employs imagery to show a possibility of trip success.

In Hudson, Wang, and Gil, (2011), it was reported that at least 50% of vacationers hear of a new travel destination on Instagram. Interestingly, this study discovered that social media users may not be specifically searching for information about travel destinations. Instead, they are constantly exposed to such information through their new-feed. As such, travel companies should capitalise on the popularity of social media to inspire travel. Luo and Zhong, (2015) noted that experiences were rated higher in terms of prestige than real items. Particularly, this research reported that over 70% of the social media users preferred a desirable experience to a desirable item. Harrigan et al., (2017) encouraged the use branded hashtag following the success case of Texas Tourism in which, after promoting their brand as #TexasToDo to residents and new visitors, a 30% rise in return visits was reported in TravelTexas.com. People do not necessarily travel a lot, however, they think and plan for future trips. Therefore, the inspiration to travel s acquired months before when they start to plan. Following the inspiration, travellers connect with past travels, therefore, inspiring them to share images on their social media, therefore, proving the effectiveness and reliability of social media in inspiring travel.

2.4 Using Instagram as a destination marketing channel

Instagram is a social media network application mainly used as a photo-sharing application. According to Bergström and Bäckman, (2013), Instagram has excelled in its use as a marketing tool providing visual descriptions of a product. Instagram has mainly been adopted by the younger generation and is more prevailing than most of the other social networks. The main reason for this trend is that younger mobile users are highly motivated to take photos and share them instantly. Bakhshi, Shamma and Gilbert, (2014) stated that the capacity by Instagram to share images besides words alone has significantly influenced communication among people sharing similar interests, by making communication fascinating and convenient. In an exploratory study to determine the effectiveness of Instagram created content to promote the destination, Fatanti, and Suyadnya, (2015) observed that Instagram users try to promote their destinations using photographs and personal opinions. This research concluded that Instagram provides communication platforms that allow user-generated content such as photographs and videos in destination promotion. Hanan and Putit, (2013) observed the current trends of using Instagram created content to promote tourism destinations. Based on the famous saying that “ a picture is worth a thousand words”, the study looked at the effectiveness of these trends and concluded that Instagram is efficient in raising awareness of places of interest through its vast facilitation of photo sharing. Viewers of these shared photos are allowed to comment and continue to share thus increasing the number of people and accordingly interest or disinterest. Everyone is made a “tourism expert” on Instagram as they express their likes and dislikes towards a destination under promotion (Hanan and Putit, 2013). Nixon, (2018) stated that today, travellers are more likely to check or learn about potentially interesting destinations through photos and videos shared on Instagram than to read destination marketing organisation text on blogs and websites. Ting et al., (2015) identified behavioural beliefs why people use Instagram and these comprised of personal gratification, socialising, entertainment, information sharing, and features usefulness. At the same time, the study considered the normative beliefs of Instagram to evaluate its effectiveness as a communication network. The normative beliefs identified included close friends, relatives, and friends in general such as those on other social networks like Facebook and siblings. Ting et al., (2015) concluded that based on these observations, Instagram influences how people communicate about adopting information posted.

2.5 Destination marketing using Instagram influencers

The increased use of social media platforms such as Instagram has resulted in the emergence of social media influencers and micro-influencer. The influencers are the opinion leaders who are looked up to create and promote content while the micro-influencers are the social media personalities who assist in making opinions more believable by commenting and liking posts. The influencers comprise of the internet influencers who attract online fans by sharing and creating content on the social media platforms and in so doing; they shape the attitudes of millions of people. These internet influencers become independent third-party endorsers and opinion leaders (Xu and Pratt, 2018). Influencer marketing allows DMOs to reach their target audience more personally and intimately through social media platforms such as Instagram by supposedly recommending the destinations (Ewers, 2017). De Veirman, Cauberghe, and Hudders, (2017) looked into the impact and growth potential of using Instagram influencers. The research considers this type of marketing as a type of word of mouth marketing that is more viral and therefore more effective. The effectiveness of influencer marketing on Instagram is significantly influenced by the number of followers that the influencer has online. A high number of followers is an indication that more people are interested in the content of the account and therefore will be subscribed to the account’s updates. Accordingly, the influencer is perceived as an opinion leader who is more attractive, approachable and trustworthy. As such, they have a bigger following which accelerates the diffusion of the information (Jin and Phua, 2014). According to Woods, (2016), 74% of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by social media content. However, this research further explored the effectiveness of influencer marketing by considering what would be accepted as genuine endorsements. The study compared influence, by sponsored posts and by friends; 92% of consumers believe in content from their friends over sponsored content. This observation made the popularity of an influencer important especially because popular influencers have a relationship with their followers as though they are a friend; their social contents are thus considered more credible.

It is clear that influencer marketing on social media has a significant impact on the decision making of a traveller and likewise, so is the usefulness of a social media platform. Einarsdóttir, (2017) observed the growth of influencer marketing due to the usefulness of Instagram. He stated that influencers endorse products through sponsorship and with the availability of a platform to influence, everyone who accesses and comments of the influencers’ opinion becomes a micro-influencer. Therefore, constant connectedness on Instagram facilitates the emergence of influencers without a global restriction and this strengthens the impact of influencer marketing. Because of this creation of micro-influencers, it is possible to say that, effective influencer marketing has shifted from known opinion leaders to personalities in social media. The effectiveness of an advertisement is highly impacted by the level of intimacy and trust established between the follower and the influencer. In Veissi, (2017), respondents stated that they were more likely to have their purchasing decisions influenced if a social media personality was making an endorsement rather than if a celebrity was the influencer. Interestingly, it was observed that advertising on Instagram was not viewed as influencer marketing and users claimed that they found advertisements on Instagram annoying.

2.6 Impact of Instagram travel destinations decision making

Professional travel bloggers, tourists, and travellers are co-creators of brands. These social media users post and comment on content and in doing so, they share information that significantly influences the brand value. Travellers are opinion makers and their content should strategically be integrated into the destination branding process (Oliveira and Panyik, 2015). But how often do travellers use Instagram to search for travel information and why is it important to integrate social media created content in destination branding? With the availability of social media technology, travellers constantly use information from different platforms on social media to inform their travel choices. Travellers' perception of the value of social media influences their tendency to use a social media platform such as Instagram to search for information about travel destinations. Information reliability and associated enjoyments are however crucial factors considered by social media users when searching for travel information. Also, the sacrifices perceived by a traveller, say the complexity and perceived effort to accessing information, is a significant confirmation to be made (Chung and Koo, 2015). Varkaris and Neuhofer, (2017) investigated the influence of social media on the consumers' decision to travel. The study concluded that social media has a significant influence on how consumers search and make decisions to bool a hotel. Further, Varkaris and Neuhofer, (2017) evaluated the determinants of consumers’ decision to book a hotel and it identified that the perception of the consumer about the value of social media, the consumers’ information search behaviour, consumers’ trustworthiness on social media and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of social media use for decision making, are some of the most significant factors that influence consumers’ decision to travel to a destination. Parsons (2017) considered a case study for Instagram in a study to determine the influence of social media on a persons’ decision to visit a tourist destination. According to this research, Instagram and its user-generated content are a motivational factor upon tourists’ decision making. Particularly, it was established that Instagram influenced the decision making of the younger generation because they predominantly used it. Also, it was concluded that the pressure surrounding social media is a primary cause for the trend by young people to travel to rural destinations. Ráthonyi, (2013) stated that for the travellers, travel decisions have a high risk which they try to mitigate by gathering more detailed information regarding possible destinations. Notably, however, this study noted that despite the increased amount of information on social media platforms for travel destinations, social media such as the Instagram only form a secondary source of information for the travellers while relatives and friends were identified as the primary sources of information because they were reported to be more trustworthy sources. This research introduces a commonly asked question about the reliability of the information on social media and consequently, how the travellers’ perception of the reliability influences travel decisions.

Cao, Yu, and Tian (2017) observed that the use of social media platforms such as Instagram as a source for tourist destination information is entirely dependent on some factors. Mainly, acceptance of a platform as a source of information is a crucial determinant of its usability and reliability. The usage attitude of a social network is influenced by perceived usefulness and convenience. Also, the external variables affect the perceived convince of the network. Social media acceptance, which is subject to other factors, significantly influences the behavioural intention of the consumers towards a social network which then affects the successful adoption of the network for information search. On the other hand, consumers enjoy the convenience availed by Instagram in gathering satisfactory information.

2.5 Leisure Tourism in Saud Arabia

In the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia, travel has been acquainted for a long period bust mainly in the form of trade and pilgrimages. However, in recent years, in comparison to the rest of the world, new forms of tourism have emerged in Saudi Arabia mainly through a linkage between culture and development. Tourism has in the recent past started to be considered in line with economic and social development and not just on culture. Notably, Saudi Arabia is yet to realise its investment in contemporary and international tourism. The major tourism activities in Saudi Arabia over the years has involved the annual pilgrimage to Makah attracting millions of followers of Islam globally. In the process of modernising tourism in Saudi Arabia, the government has put in place plans to expand the current infrastructure to accommodate more pilgrimages and other types of tourists throughout the year. Besides the outstanding cultural and heritage sites, investment is being expanded in natural sites to offer leisure facilities. An example of these natural sites include the red sea and the Arabian Gulf coasts. In light of the efforts, however, there is evidence showing that numerous factors still hinder tourism development in Saudi Arabia. Some of these factors include visa restrictions and religious laws that make it hard for western visitors. In efforts to encourage international tourism following the current investment focus in the sector, tourism has become a priority industry in Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 of economic diversification. In the second half of 2018, the Saudi Arabian government announced that it would start issuing tourist visas for the nob religious tourists. Likewise, the government stated that it would start issuing E-Visas for foreigners attending sporting events; it targets the Formula-E Race held in December 2018.

In addition to attracting foreign tourist, efforts must be extended to local tourist. According to the United States Department of Commerce’s National Trace and Tourism Office, in 2014, about 300,000 Saudi citizens travelled to the US for their holiday. Reports by Travel and Tourism Office, travellers from Saudi Arabia who visited the US landed at the New York as their first destination. As a result of these efforts, the country has recorded remarkable growth in the sector in both domestic and international tourism. For example, in 2017, international tourism spending was $26 billion while that of domestic tourism was $ 13 billion. These figures are expected to increase to about $110 billion per year to constitute 11.1% of the GDP by 2030. Marketing is as important as in the investment in tourism infrastructure. Digital marketing is currently one of the most effective tools for marketing the tourism industry. In particular, the use of social media to market tourism destination has been investigated and found to be significantly effective (Alghizzawi, Salloum and Habes, 2018; Kuric, 2016). According to the DataReportal by Digital 2019 Saudi Arabia, there is an 89% internet usage penetration (30 million internet users), 68% social media penetration (23 million social media users) and 47% mobile social media penetration (16 million mobile social media users). According to the report, Saudi is the world’s largest monthly active Snapchat audience (about 14 million users). Since 2018, a gradual increase in Instagram user base has been reported (8% growth; 13 million users). Facebook has the highest number of users in Saudi (15 million users). It has been reported that Saudis will on average click on 6 ads on Facebook each month, comments twice and share at least once. Notably, also, Saudis behaviour on Facebook has shifted from content creation to content consumption (Digital in 2019 Saudi Arabia). Therefore having observed that social media, through peers or influencers, has been effectively used to market tourism destination, and since minimal research in this area has been done with regard to Saudi Arabia, a study gap exists and is the focus for this study.

Chapter Three: Research Methodology

3.1 Research Strategy

The proposed study will employ a primary research method. This approach is used to allow the researcher to gather data directly from the research subjects using data collecting strategies that involve research subjects (Creswell and Clark, 2017). The current study will adopt a survey research approach to gather data using questionnaires. A primary data method allows the researcher to zero in on a target population with the specific information required. Therefore, primary research enables the researcher to draw more accurate conclusions and observations and to make precise recommendations for a future study. Furthermore, employing a survey questionnaire enables the researcher to make findings on the personal opinions of the research subjects regarding the research subject. The reason for selecting a primary research method for this study is that since the focus is to evaluate the reliability of Instagram as a source for destination information, it is important for the researcher to acquire opinions of Instagram users. To access such opinions, a primary research, such as the survey question selected for this study, is efficient and effective.

3.2 Sample Selection

The research used the convenient sampling method. However, respondents were required to have met the following criteria; is a frequent social media user (the research is about the use of Instagram and data collection was conducted on the internet), and, the participant is a frequent traveller abroad. Convenient sampling is less expensive and easy, it consumes fewer efforts and is quick. These characteristics made it suitable for this study; it enabled the researcher to recruit the participants and gather data within a short period and quickly, therefore, facilitating quick completion of the research. However, when using convenient sampling, the categories of the target population are broader to be divisible to infinite categories that are contrastingly different and therefore cannot be representative of each other. This is however was important for this study, that is, the large neon representation increased diversity in the data gathered and therefore clearer results. 245 participants took part in the research. This sample was enough to start analysis in this study. Also, this sample was closely equivalent to that of the studies referenced for the questionnaires used in this study: Adi Alic1, Almir Pestek2 and Amila Sadinlija, (2017) - 151 participants; Alizadeh and Isa, (2015)- 193 respondents; Buhalis, Hays and Page, (2012)- 140 subjects. Similarly, the current study targeted a population that uses social media.

3.3 Data collection

The data collection instrument employed in this study is a questionnaire. This instrument was adopted from three studies; Adi Alic1, Almir Pestek2 and Amila Sadinlija, (2017), Alizadeh and Isa, (2015), Buhalis, Hays and Page, (2012). These questionnaires were made through Google form and distributed to the 245 participants through their social media sites. Data collection adopted SurveyMonkey which is an online survey conducted by sending the questionnaires through a SurveyMonkey website. The researcher conducted the online survey so as to capitalise on the many advantages of using SurveyMonkey over the direct involvement of the respondents. The main advantages of using SurveyMonkey include the fact that it is the easiest approach for engaging the respondent. The participants of an online survey are only required to respond to the questions with no other engagements such as an interview. Another advantage is that when using an online survey, the researcher is provided with a platform through which they can provide additional clarification about the questions. This is unlike the cases where the researcher sends questionnaires and receives them after they are field. The third advantage, and which was crucial for this study, is that feedback is instantaneous. The researcher does not wait for the results as they are available immediately the respondent fills the questionnaire. Another reason for using SurveyMonkey is that it is a cheap strategy since the researcher does not need to travel to meet the respondent and does not require any printing since everything is carried out online. The questionnaire was divided into three parts. The first part asked the respondents questions about their demographic social information about their gender, age, education and annual income. The other kind of information asked in this section is the participant's travelling behaviour. The second section of the questionnaire asked questions about the respondent’s social media usage including the social media sites and the time in hours they spent on social media. The third section was constructed around the topic of social media influencers and the impact they have on social media users' travelling behaviours.

The questionnaires were written in the English language with 13 questions and adopted some of the questions from similar studies while the others were developed by the researcher based on the thesis objectives. The major reason for developing these new questions is because limited research has been done on the impact of Instagram on destination marketing. Also, the questionnaire was designed with a short introduction to explain the purpose of the study and what the researcher expects of the respondents. Question 13 was in the form of a Likert scale (five-point scale- Strongly agree, Agree, Undecided, Disagree, Strongly disagree) to measure how much influence social media influencers have on the respondents' travelling interests and habits. A Likert scale is a rating technique that is used in the questionnaire to evaluate the respondents' attitudes and opinions. The respondent is provided with statements which they rate the extent they agree or disagree (Losby and Wetmore, 2012). The use of a Likert scale enhances high validity because of its ability to get precise responses regarding behaviour and opinion.

3.4 Data Analysis

Data gathered in this study was analysed using a quantitative approach. The researchers employed Excel analysis ToolPak to perform data analysis. Descriptive statistics were employed to generate the statistical summaries about the data and to provide graphics analysis so as to understand the data. A univariate analysis involving the examination across cases of the variables and how they relate. The independent variable for this study was identified to be destination promotion. The dependent variable was identified as the reliability in the use of Instagram in destination promotion. Numerous moderating factors were also identified and these include the role of social media influencers, social media usage and the travel behaviour of the respondent. Using both descriptive statistics and a univariate analysis the correlation between the variables of this research was determined and results provided.

3.5 Ethical issues

The proposed study is primary and will use survey questionnaires to gather data. As such a number of ethical issues are expected. First, there is the issue of privacy for the respondents which will be enhanced at all stages of the study. Respondents will not be required to provide any personal identifying details such as their names or contact address. Also, at the stage of data analysis, remarks made regarding the findings revealed by the data will not be linked to respondents using their details. Lastly, the respondents will be allowed to abandon participation at will.

Chapter 4: Results And Finding

4.1Introduction

In this section, the results of the study and the analysis of the primary data are presented. The results are divided into three sections. The first sections include the demographic characteristics and travel behaviour of the sample. The second section comprises of details of the respondent's social media usage and provides information about the type of content that is mostly consumed on Instagram. The last section presents results on the role played by social media influencers in destination promotion. Other results presented in this section is the influence of Instagram content on travel and tourism destination, and, on the travellers’ decision

4.2 Travel Behaviour and Demographic Characteristics of Respondents

Using a monkey survey, 245 participants were involved in the collection of data for this study. All the responses were valid because they were complete and correctly filled. The research sample was composed of 202 female respondents (82%) and 43 male (18%). The respondents’ age varied from 18 years to over 45 years. 107 of the respondents were aged 18-25 years (44%), 104 were aged 26-35 years (42%), 28 were aged 36-45 years (11%) and only 6 respondents were over 45 years (2%). Data about the respondents' education background was important for the study and it was established that 11% have a high school diploma, % have a college diploma, 56% have a Bachelor’s degree, 22% have a Master’s degree and 4% have a Doctorate. The respondents’ annual income is a crucial characteristic in relation to their travel behaviour. 106 (43%) participants reported an annual income below $15,000, 80 (33%) reported an annual income between $15,000 and $50,000, 30 (12%) earn between $50,000 and $99,999 per years, 11 (5%) make between $100,000 and $150,000 and lastly, 18 (7%) earn over $150,000.

Respondents were asked about their travelling information on whether they like to travel and how many times in the year they travel. Results show that 99% of the participants like travelling meaning almost each respondent targeted by this research is a constant consumer of destination marketing information. Result also indicate that 69% of the participants travel at least three times a year, 20% travels between tour and five times, 7% travel as many times as six while the rest 4% travel over 10 times.

4.3 Respondents Social media Usage

This section of data was sought to determine social media usage by the participants. Three questions were asked and for the first question, respondents were asked what social media platforms they often used. Results show that the most used is Instagram; used by 81% of the participants. The second most used is Snapchart by 70% of the respondents. Facebook is the least used among the participants of this study is Facebook reported by only 6%. Twitter and Youtube are also common among the respondents, accounting for 38 % and 42% respectively. It was established that 64% of the respondents preferred consuming social media content in the form of a video, 85% preferred images while only 20% consume from articles. The data showed that a majority of social media users are most active in use between 4 pm and 10 pm, 62% of the respondents. A significant number of users are also active in the night hours, between 10 pm and 5 am; 36%. Respondents reported that they are least active between 5 am and 11 am; approximately 12% of the participants only. Between 11 am and 1 pm, 22% said they are usually active while 20% are active between 1 pm and 4 pm.

4.4 Social Media Influencers and Destination Promotion

This part of the questionnaire used two sections, the first comprising of closed questions and the second section was 5 points Likert Scale. Respondents were asked about social media influencers and in the first question, the results indicate that 90% of the respondents follow social media influencer on their Instagram. This data shows the significance of social media influencers in the consumption of social sites content.

The next question sought to determine why respondents follow social media influencers. Four answer choices were provided for participants to mark all applicable to them. 77% stated that they follow social media influencers because they are interested in the things shared. 47% agreed that they follow influencer because they believe they can get great tips and recommendations for places to visit. 34% stated that because they like seeing how other people are living based on what they post, they follow influencers. Interestingly, 4% of the respondents stated that they followed influencers because other people followed them. Based on these statistics, it is clear that social media users are not concerned about whom other people are following, but rather, they are concerned about the influence they seek from an influencer. This means that Instagram users follow an influencer because of a particular benefit that is related to what is posted and shared. The paper aims to determine the reliability of Instagram to promote destinations. Accordingly, literature revealed that social media influencers are significant in the establishment of this reliability. As such, respondents were asked about their opinion on travel content posted on Instagram by the social media influencers. 83% of the participants claimed that when they see travel content on Instagram posted by the social media influencers, they feel the urge to visit the places posted. 36% claimed that seeing such content on Instagram makes them trust the influencers’ recommendations and experience in travel that they trust the travel agencies advertising these places.

The next eight questions comprised of statements, about the usage of Instagram to promote a destination, in a Likert Scale in which respondents were asked to state their level of agreement or disagreement. For the first statement, I am frequently exposed to shared destination images on Instagram, 39% of the respondents claimed that they agree, 22% claimed they strongly agree, 28% said they neither agree nor disagree, 6% said they disagree and 3% claimed they strongly disagreed. For the second statement, I see a lot of promoted destination imagery on Instagram, 40% claimed they agree and 28% said they strongly agree. 22% claimed they neither agree nor disagree, 5% disagree and 1% strongly disagree. Regarding the third statement, My travel plans are influenced by the destination imagery promotion on Instagram, 22% agree and only 7% claimed they strongly agree. 36% said they neither agree nor disagree, 25% disagree and 10% stated they strongly disagree.

The fourth statement, I use Instagram to choose future travel destinations, 27% claimed to agree and only 6% said they strongly agree. 34% were not sure they agree or disagree, 21% said they disagree and 11% claimed they strongly disagree.

On the fifth statement, I rely on Instagram maps to plan trips, 10% said they agree, only 3% strongly agree, 18% claimed they neither agree nor disagree, 44% disagree and 24% said they strongly disagree. In the sixth statement, I am more likely to select destinations shared and liked on Instagram by family and friends, 32% said they agree, and only 8% claimed they strongly agree. 29% said they neither agree nor disagree, 23% claimed they disagree and 9% said they strongly disagree. 31% said they agree to the statement, I am more likely to select destination imagery shared by social media influencers, 4% claimed they strongly agree, 37% stated they neither agree nor disagree, 20% said they disagree and 8% claimed they strongly disagree. On the last statement, Instagram is a reliable source of destination information, 38% stated they agree, only 2% said they strongly agree. 5% claimed they strongly disagree, 17% said they disagree and 38% reported they neither agree nor disagree.

4.5 Correlation Results

Further analysis of the Likert Scale results is elaborated in Table 1 above. The statements used in the scale were used to measure the respondent’s opinion about, how destination information and imagery posted and shared on the Instagram influence their decision about places to travel and when to travel. The results show that on average, only 10% strongly agree that travel content on Instagram influences their travel decisions(std 0.1), 20% (std 0.1) agree that content on Instagram affects them as travellers to particular destinations. 30% (std 0.07) however were found to be indifference about the influence of Instagram in destination promotion, this means that 30% of the participants are not sure of the impact of Instagram in destination promotion. 20% (std 0.12) disagree that Instagram content influences their travel decision while 9% (std 0.07) expressed a strong opinion (strongly disagree) against any possible impact of Instagram travel content on travellers’ decisions.

Chapter Five Discussion

5.0 Introduction

The main aim of this paper was to respond to the research question on whether Instagram is a reliable platform for destination marketing, a case of Saudi Arabia. To provide response to this question, three research objectives were formed and these comprise of; to evaluate the reliance of Instagram as a source of travel information by consumers, to determine the content on Instagram that has the best level of engagement and to make recommendations on the effectiveness of Instagram as a platform for destination marketing. The study in particular targets the Saudi Arabian tourism industry. The research identified that the Saudi tourism industry is on the rise following the country’s Vision 2030 that aims at expanding the tourism sector and to expand their source of income. The research showed that while tourism is as old at the country itself, for many years it has been limited to the religious pilgrimage, in particular for the Muslim population. Leisure tourism is still unpopular because of different factors such as the strict religious practice that limits what tourists can do. Western tourist thinks the religious regulations limiting to their leisure and accordingly the low tourist attention in Saudi Arabia. Another hurdle is the restricted visa allocation. Currently, however, the country has invested in tourism promotion. Other than providing an appropriate visa, developing tourist attraction sites and deregulating the strict religious practices so as to attract leisure tourism, destination market will be crucial for the country to achieve the vision. For this reason, conducting this research and targeting Saudi Arabia is significant. Results from this study are important in giving insight o the Saudi Arabian tourism agencies about platforms on which to communicate and attract leisure tourist. Instagram is a leading social site currently being used in Saudi Arabia. As such, research on its applicability and reliability in destination marketing is of huge importance to the travel agencies and investors in Saudi Arabia.

5.2 Main Findings and Discussion

Research showed that people use multiple social media platforms. It is important to recognise the demographic characteristics of the research population targeted in this research. Age is a key and important factor with regard to social media use. In the current study, 44% of the participants were aged 18-25 years and 42% were aged 26-35 years. It means that 86% of the target population are young people below age 35 years. Further, only 3% of the respondents were aged 45 years and above. These results show that a segment, of a population, exists, that would be targeted through social media. It means that agencies and travel companies that seek to use social media to promote their tourist destinations will benefit more by focusing on the younger population using social media as a marketing strategy. With regard to this study, statistics about social media use in Saudi Arabia is important in the determination of the effectiveness of marketing tourist destination via social media in the country. According to a report by the Communications and Information Technology Commission in April 2019, social media usage is Saudi is at its peak. CITC identified that the largest block of social media users is in the age group 20-24 years making up about 98.70%. The next block is composed of the age group of 25-19 years comprising of 98.10%. Among the age group 30-34 years, CITC found a usage rate of 97.40%. CITC stated that social media is playing a vital role in the changing economy of Saudi and as of 2018, it had touched 91.7% of the total population. Internet penetration is also on the rise in Saudi reaching as high as 93.40% in Makka and at 97.10% in Tabuk. Accordingly, social media has become an effective tool of interaction between the public and the private and public agencies. CITC reported that Saudi Arabia has the highest annual growth rate of social media users in the world. These findings by the Communications and Information Technology Commission strengths the observations made in the current study. It is clear that the use of social media as a destination promotion strategy in Saudi Arabia will be effective.

Having established of the effectiveness of social media as a promotion strategy for the tourism destination, it is important to show the effectiveness in use of Instagram as the social media platform in focus for this current research. In support of the report by CITC Saudi Arabia that the major social media platforms comprise of Snapchat and YouTube, the current study revealed that 70% of the respondents said they use Snapchat the most among other social media platforms. More importantly, the study established that Instagram is significantly used in Saudi Arabia, 81% of the respondents stated that they use Instagram the most. The research revealed that targeted population travel often and therefore would be an appropriate target for destination promotion using Instagram. At least a third of the respondents said they travel up to five times a year and 11% reported that they travel as many times ten times. Also, over a third of the respondents reported that they earn to make more than $50,000 which is an indication of increased possibility to consume destination promotion information; this demographic characteristic shows the importance of destination marketing to the target population. People are often active on social media at a different time of the day. The results to the question about the time within the day when the target population is most active on Instagram provides crucial information about the most appropriate time that destination promoters would reach social media users. The results show that 63% of the respondents are most active on social media between 4 pm and 10 pm while another 36% are active between 10 pm and 5 am. The hours reported by the majority of the respondents mark a time when people are off their work and are resting. In other words, it is the time of the day when people are socialising and interacting with their friends and family. With the increased use of social media, the capacity to interact, converse and share ideas within groups has increased. More importantly is that social networks have established that, social media users are getting more inclined to conversing within more refined connections. As such, the evidence that most of the users are active on social networks within particular hours when they are free, it shows a possibility that they will share their interests. Touring experiences is an example of a topic that people will engage about when they are relaxing and this shows that destination promotion on social media would be effective.

5.3 Correlation Findings

The role of social media influencers were considered for moderation effect on the reliability of using Instagram in the promotion of tourist destinations. The study established that 90% of the respondents follow a social media influencer. They also stated the different reasons for which they follow these influencers. In particular, the research showed that 77% of Instagram users are particularly interested in what the social media influencers share on their Instagram. Also, 47% said that they follow the influencers because they believe that the tips and recommendations provided by the influencers are great. 34% of Instagram users stated that they follow influencers because they are interested in seeing how people live which is clearly shown by the content they post on social media. Based on these findings, it is clear that Instagram users believe that social media influencers have an impact on the way people live their lives, make everyday decisions and select interests. Also, the findings show that a significant number of Instagram users are interested in the content shared on social media by social media influencers. Clearly, evidence shows that a significant number of Instagram users believe that the influencers they follow provide tips and recommendations that are worthwhile based on their experiences. According to the findings of this study therefore, Instagram users are significantly influenced by the content they see posted and recommended by the influencers. These observations support the findings of this research that show that the content posted on Instagram, by the influencers they follow, promoting destination, influences their decisions to visit the destinations promoted. This research shows that 84% of Instagram users will want to visit destinations posted by their social media influencers of choice. This observation means that up to 84% of Instagram users will most likely visit destinations shared by social media influencers and is an indication that there is a significant positive relationship between Instagram-created content about a destination, and, the propensity of Instagram users to visit these destinations. Significantly also, this results show that 36% of Instagram users trust experiences and recommendations about a destination, made by social media influencers they follow and therefore are likely to select these destinations in their future vacations. Accordingly, therefore, the role played by social media influencers, on the effectiveness of Instagram to promote destinations, is positively significant. Past research has been conducted to evaluate the impact of social media influencers in brands promotion and marketing (Wally and Koshy, 2014). More particularly, attention has been directed to determining why influencer marketing on social media, has gained popularity and whether this form of marketing should be embraced. The positive impact of promoting products through social media influencers is linked to the fact that it is seen as a subconscious form of marketing. The advantage of using influencer marketing is that brands are able to influence and shape the consumer's consumption attitudes, behaviour and thought without them knowing. This particular characteristic of influencer marketing is what is making it more prevalent through online platforms such as social media (Goworek et al., 2016). More particularly, research has shown that the credibility of social influencers in endorsing a product, or a destination in the case of this study, depends on some factors that include attractiveness, similarity, expertise and trustworthiness. For example, an influencer who focuses on promoting a particular subject, in this case, tourist destinations, is perceived to have power and authority over destinations and experiences offered by these destinations. Furthermore, depending on the number of followers, likes and shares provided by the consumers of such content is social proof that people believe that the promotion is true and right. On social media, and in an era of millennial, the relatability brought about by the influencer, particularly on the social platforms such as the Instagram, using the content about their everyday life, interests, experiences, challenges and achievements allow them to directly interact with their follower (Salleh, Hashima and Murphy, 2015; Latorre-Martínez, Iñíguez-Berrozpe and Plumed-Lasarte, 2014). This interaction enhances a social identity that causes similarity, attractiveness and trustworthiness, and, these increases the ability of the social influencers to sway their followers likes and dislikes.

It is therefore clear that there is a connection between the reliability of Instagram created content about a destination, and the Instagram users’ decision to visit that particular destination. More so, there is a moderation effect on the reliability of such content by social media influencers. It means that while it is evident that Instagram users will use information from this social media platform to decide on the best destination to visit, the creation of content enforced by social media influencers have a positive impact on the users' trust in the content and therefore enhance the reliability of such content. The researcher was also concerned about the moderation effect, on the reliability of Instagram content to promote destinations, of the form of content. According to An, (2016) the type of content available on a social network determines who views it. The research showed that the form of content that was most consumed was Videos (55%), followed by social media post (52%), news articles (49%), and followed by others such as Research content (47%), blogs (29%) and Podcasts (23%) among others. Accordingly, Instagram and other social network users go online to consume content that is many forms; there are endless options for the content consumer. As such brand promoters need to make sure that the content they post on the networks is consumable by the targeted group. Brand promoters must ensure that the content they post will generate the most attention. This research showed that 85% of the respondents prefer to consume content in the form of an image. This category includes pictures that are a major form of content posted on Instagram. 64% stated that they prefer to consume content in the form of Video, and this compares to the results reported by An, (2016). Content in video form is most thoroughly consumed, only about 32% of online browsers and social media users will skim it. It is important to note that in the current research, only 20% of the respondents claimed to view content in Articles. Slightly over 37% of social media users were found to skim online content in the form of an article. Based on these findings, this study indicates that there is a significant positive relationship between the imagery and video form of content on Instagram and the reliability of that content in destination promotion. In this research, the demographic characteristics and the respondents, travel behaviour, time in hours spent on social media, a form of content and social media influencers were found to be moderation variables in the determination of the reliability of Instagram to promote destinations. The remaining part of this discussion is to determine the reliability of Instagram in destination promotion. The study found out that 61% of the respondents agreed that when active in Instagram, they are frequently exposed to images of destinations shared by the other users they follow. Also, a significant percentage (29%) of the respondents are not sure that they see destination images on Instagram. It means that only about 10% of the respondents dismissed that Instagram is a source of destination images.

The research also identified that 70% of the respondents agreed to have encountered a lot of destination promotion on Instagram, only 8% of the respondents reported to not have seen promoted destinations. These two sections of the research show that Instagram where people share their destination experiences, mainly using images, and secondly, Instagram is actively used in the promotion of the destination. The next section involved three questions to determine the respondents’ opinion regarding how Instagram-destination promotion influence their travel plans. 29% of the respondents agreed that destination imagery promotion on the Instagram influence they travel plan (35% said they disagree). 33% reported that they agreed that they use Instagram to select future travel destinations while 32% reported they do not agree. Only 13% of the respondents agreed that they rely on Instagram maps to plan their trips while 68% disagreed to have used Instagram maps on their trips. This section shows that the majority of the respondents are indifference about the influence of Instagram on their travel plans. Further, the study identified that 40% of Instagram users agreed that they select destinations shared and liked by friends and family; 32% disagreed while 29% was indifference. This is an indication that Instagram shared content among peers and family influences the travel behaviour of the respondents. Also, the study identified that 35% of the respondents are more likely to select a destination which imagery is shared by social media influencers; 28% of the respondents reported that it is not likely they will visit destinations en by social media influencers. Lastly, the study established that 40% of Instagram users believe that it is a reliable source of destination promotion information; 22% disagreed while 38% stated uncertainty about the reliability of using Instagram to promote the destination. Generally, this research identified that Instagram users use it to access and share information about destinations and their experiences. This study identified that content in video and image form is the most engaging on Instagram. As such, travel agencies and investors in Saudi Arabia, who seek to utilise Instagram to promote their tourist destinations, should maximise the consumers’ attention by created video and imagery content. Lastly, this research established that Instagram is a reliable platform for the promotion of the destination. It is, however, important to enhance the effectiveness of using Instagram in the promotion of destination by expanding internet penetration to reach more people. Also, this research recommends that travel agencies planning to promote tourist destination on Instagram must conduct adequate research to understand their target customers in terms of their travel behaviour and Instagram use tendency. This research established that influencers play a significant role in convincing Instagram users to select destinations they are promoting, as such, it is important for travel agencies to hire influencers to endorse their brands.

CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION

6.1 Conclusion

The purpose of conducting this research was to respond to two research questions. First, the research sought to respond to the question about which content on social media has the best levels of engagement. In particular, the study focused on Instagram alongside other social media platforms. Evidence gathered using a survey questionnaire showed that in social media, content in video and image form is the most engaging. This research identified that social media users prefer content in video and picture form. Secondly, the study sought to respond to the question of whether social media is a reliable platform for destination marketing. It was established that Instagram is reliable in destination marketing because it is a platform that allows peers to share experiences in differed destinations. Also, social media influencers on Instagram were found to significantly influence peoples’ travel decision and behaviour. The findings of this study contribute to the vast of studies that have been conducted in the past to determine the continued use of social media and the impact of social media marketing in today's' businesses. Social media has in this day and era become a vital communication approach. It has shown high success in enhancing connectivity among individuals and businesses. At an individual level, social media use effectively improves engagements with friends and family. Also, social media provides a platform for sharing experiences and for interacting at a mass scale thus making it an appropriate approach in destination promotion. The rapid change in the tourism sectors now requires the agencies to provide travellers with experiences they anticipate. It means that travellers are no longer passive receivers of experiences to active creators of how services are delivered. Social media networks empower customers to brand advocates by sharing thoughts about a destination or accessing other customers’ opinions. Due to the ability of the customers to get in touch with other potential customers through social media, and having established that social media is a reliable platform for destination promotion, it is appropriate to comment about the importance of destination markets to understand the role of travellers in the social media. Social media users pay attention to online content that suits their interest, likes and dislikes, and is in the form that they prefer. In this study, the type of content shared on social media was found to be a significant moderating variable. Consequently, destination marketers ought to understand their targeted customers to develop the most suitable content. Also, destination promoters need to ensure that social media users can access the content created. Research has proved that content used to promote a particular platform need not have been developed by an influencer or a sponsored advertisement. Rather, the experiences of travellers in particular destinations end up on social media as consumers share good or bad experiences. This amplifies the role of travellers to create content for both the company and the influencers. Furthermore, the consumption behaviour in the tourism sectors has changed and is highly affected by social media usage of the travellers and consequently, the success of an agency to profitably use social media to promote their destination, giving the consumers the best possible experience is the first step. This research adds to the other numerous studies that have been conducted in the past seeking to bring in light the effectiveness of social media marketing in the tourism industry. Additionally, this study focused on looking at reliability if a social media network, Instagram, in the promotion of tourism destination in the case of Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study are important particularly because tourism in Saudi Arabia is on the rise; the results will be referenced by tourism agencies on the importance of using Instagram to promote tourist destination. Using social media to promote destinations has numerous advantages and some of these include the ability to reach a wider audience in comparison to conventional advertising. Secondly, interacting with travellers on social media gives the agencies a chance to help travellers plan their trips. Also, companies other tourist services improve customer service by interacting with their customers on social media. In conclusion, this research has proved that the tourism industry has a lot to gain for using Instagram to promote the destination.

6.2 Limitations and Future Research

Because of limited time and resources, while conducting this research, several limitations were experienced. Addressing these limitations is important in that future researchers will be able to identify the research gaps while using the findings in this study. Firstly, the findings discussed and concluded in this study are based on the data gathered from a small research sample, therefore, the external validity is limited. Using a larger sample enhances the accuracy of the results because larger data from a larger sample has a normal distribution and therefore reflects the opinion of a population and not just the sample. Because of this limitation, the researcher recommends that future researchers should use a larger sample size to help collect more accurate data which consequently will allow the generalisation of the findings. Secondly, this research used survey money to gather data. It is an online survey that is used to simplify the survey process. The limitation of using survey monkey is that it is difficult to track the respondents especially of the survey was undertake from a different link other than the survey monkey site. The researcher, therefore, recommends that future studies should ensure that the survey is done on a live sample to ensure that the responses can be traced back to the respondents. Thirdly, the moderating effect of social media influencer marketing was tested alongside the other variables. It is recommended that future study should test the moderating effect of this variable and other moderating variables separately from the dependent variable. For instance, some content shared by the influencers may have moderating factors wholesome content may not. Therefore, testing the impact of some content shared by an influencer would help determine the exact impact of influencers’ content. Finally, the research recommends further development of the questionnaires. The questions and statements used in this research were developed by the researcher and with reference to past research. Using the findings of this study, it is possible to improve future research by first developing the questionnaire to consider research issues that were raised in the research but were not covered in the data collection process. Because of the availability of newer technology and the increasing use of social media marketing, the researcher recommends the future study to consider raw data as evidence from travel agencies using social media platforms to promote their destinations and brand. Such raw data would produce evidence that social media is effective in promoting destinations.

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