IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i16p6661-d400379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Social Media in Health Safety Evaluation of a Tourism Destination throughout the Travel Planning Process

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia-Elena Țuclea

    (Department of Tourism and Geography, Faculty of Business and Tourism, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010404 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Diana-Maria Vrânceanu

    (Department of Marketing, Faculty of Marketing, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010404 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Carmen-Eugenia Năstase

    (Department of Economics, Business Administration and Informatic Economics, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration, Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava; 720229 Suceava, Romania)

Abstract

This research aims at identifying the role of social media in evaluating the attractiveness of a tourism destination, with special emphasis on the health safety of the destination. Consistent with this objective, a survey has been carried out on a sample of 675 Romanian social media users. The research results led to the development of a model based on structural equation modeling. The model includes nine latent variables that were structured taking into account different behavioral aspects related to the role social media has in travel planning, as well as for evaluating the health safety of a tourism destination. The main findings suggest that the trust in social media for tourism information made people become more interested in communicating through this means and to consider it more useful throughout the travel planning process. When choosing a travel destination, the more involved a tourist is in the decision making process, the greater the attention they pay to social media. The perceived usefulness of social media in travel planning has a significant influence on intentions to choose a tourism destination. As the importance assigned to the health safety of tourism destination increases, social media plays a more active role in travel by creating trust in this means in order to obtain sanitary safety information. People that intend to use social media for finding information on the health safety of a tourism destination are more likely to choose that destination for their vacation. The managerial implications of this paper regard the communication strategies adopted by tourism services suppliers or by some public authorities aimed at stimulating an efficient usage of social media so as to increase the buying intentions for tourism destinations.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia-Elena Țuclea & Diana-Maria Vrânceanu & Carmen-Eugenia Năstase, 2020. "The Role of Social Media in Health Safety Evaluation of a Tourism Destination throughout the Travel Planning Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6661-:d:400379
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6661/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6661/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harrigan, Paul & Evers, Uwana & Miles, Morgan & Daly, Timothy, 2017. "Customer engagement with tourism social media brands," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 597-609.
    2. Berthon, Pierre R. & Pitt, Leyland F. & Plangger, Kirk & Shapiro, Daniel, 2012. "Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 261-271.
    3. Okuyama, Tadahiro, 2018. "Analysis of optimal timing of tourism demand recovery policies from natural disaster using the contingent behavior method," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 37-54.
    4. Campos-Soria, Juan A. & Inchausti-Sintes, Federico & Eugenio-Martin, Juan L., 2015. "Understanding tourists' economizing strategies during the global economic crisis," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 164-173.
    5. Luo, Qiuju & Zhong, Dixi, 2015. "Using social network analysis to explain communication characteristics of travel-related electronic word-of-mouth on social networking sites," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 274-282.
    6. Lo, Ada S. & Lee, Candy Y.S., 2011. "Motivations and perceived value of volunteer tourists from Hong Kong," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 326-334.
    7. Suhartanto, Dwi & Dean, David & Nansuri, Ruhadi & Triyuni, N.N., 2018. "The link between tourism involvement and service performance: Evidence from frontline retail employees," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 130-137.
    8. Yeajin Joo & Hwayoon Seok & Yoonjae Nam, 2020. "The Moderating Effect of Social Media Use on Sustainable Rural Tourism: A Theory of Planned Behavior Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-14, May.
    9. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    10. Christina Katsikari & Leonidas Hatzithomas & Thomas Fotiadis & Dimitrios Folinas, 2020. "Push and Pull Travel Motivation: Segmentation of the Greek Market for Social Media Marketing in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    11. McClure, Clair & Seock, Yoo-Kyoung, 2020. "The role of involvement: Investigating the effect of brand's social media pages on consumer purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    12. Xiang, Zheng & Gretzel, Ulrike, 2010. "Role of social media in online travel information search," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 179-188.
    13. Munar, Ana María & Jacobsen, Jens Kr. Steen, 2014. "Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 46-54.
    14. Xiang, Zheng & Magnini, Vincent P. & Fesenmaier, Daniel R., 2015. "Information technology and consumer behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 244-249.
    15. Sharma, Varinder M. & Klein, Andreas, 2020. "Consumer perceived value, involvement, trust, susceptibility to interpersonal influence, and intention to participate in online group buying," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Theodore Metaxas & Laura Juárez & Meletios Andrinos, 2022. "Measuring the Impact of Greece as a Safe Branding Tourist Destination: Evidence from Spain and Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Baclig, Alexis C. & Castres, Danielle Ruth M. & Florendo, Mikee Angelique C. & Malcino, Lei-ann J. & Padilla, Jan Marini P. & Covita, Mayvelyn S., 2024. "Social Media’s Influence on Tourists’ Choice of Destination," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(8), pages 1507-1546, August.
    3. Pricopoaia Oana & Busila Andreea & Cristache Nicoleta & Andrei Valentin Florin, 2021. "Domestic Tourism in Brasov - The Effect of Manifesting the Interest of Being a Tourist in Your Own City," Risk in Contemporary Economy, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, pages 136-146.
    4. Cambra-Fierro, Jesús & Fuentes-Blasco, María & Gao, Lily Xuehui & Melero-Polo, Iguácel & Trifu, Andreea, 2022. "The influence of communication in destination imagery during COVID-19," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Xi Wang & Yun Yu & Zhe Zhu & Jie Zheng, 2022. "Visiting Intentions toward Theme Parks: Do Short Video Content and Tourists’ Perceived Playfulness on TikTok Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Maria Darabant & Vlad Diaconescu, 2020. "Tourist In My Town: How Attractive Is The City For Its Inhabitants?," Cactus - The tourism journal for research, education, culture and soul, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 2(2), pages 6-13.
    7. Nistor Andreea & Coca Dan, 2021. "Media entrepreneurship – a bibliometric analysis," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 591-600, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christina Katsikari & Leonidas Hatzithomas & Thomas Fotiadis & Dimitrios Folinas, 2020. "Push and Pull Travel Motivation: Segmentation of the Greek Market for Social Media Marketing in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Mohammad Tipu Sultan & Farzana Sharmin & Alina Badulescu & Darie Gavrilut & Ke Xue, 2021. "Social Media-Based Content towards Image Formation: A New Approach to the Selection of Sustainable Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    3. Mohammed Jabreel & Assumpció Huertas & Antonio Moreno, 2018. "Semantic analysis and the evolution towards participative branding: Do locals communicate the same destination brand values as DMOs?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-29, November.
    4. Mariani, Marcello M. & Di Felice, Marco & Mura, Matteo, 2016. "Facebook as a destination marketing tool: Evidence from Italian regional Destination Management Organizations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 321-343.
    5. Pawłowska-Legwand Aneta, 2019. "Use of Information and Communication Technology to Access Tourist Information and Services: The Results of Research Conducted Among Polish Tourists in Małopolska Voivodeship," Turyzm / Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 29(2), pages 105-112, December.
    6. Jahyun Goo & C. Derrick Huang & Chul Woo Yoo & Chulmo Koo, 2022. "Smart Tourism Technologies’ Ambidexterity: Balancing Tourist’s Worries and Novelty Seeking for Travel Satisfaction," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 2139-2158, December.
    7. Molinillo, Sebastian & Liébana-Cabanillas, Francisco & Anaya-Sánchez, Rafael & Buhalis, Dimitrios, 2018. "DMO online platforms: Image and intention to visit," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 116-130.
    8. Minkwitz Aleksandra, 2018. "Tripadvisor as a Source of Data in the Planning Process of Tourism Development on a Local Scale," Turyzm / Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 28(2), pages 49-55, December.
    9. Cherniece J. Plume & Emma L. Slade, 2018. "Sharing of Sponsored Advertisements on Social Media: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 471-483, June.
    10. Mahan, Joseph E. & Seo, Won Jae & Jordan, Jeremy S. & Funk, Daniel, 2015. "Exploring the impact of social networking sites on running involvement, running behavior, and social life satisfaction," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 182-192.
    11. Shiwei Shen & Marios Sotiriadis & Qing Zhou, 2020. "Could Smart Tourists Be Sustainable and Responsible as Well? The Contribution of Social Networking Sites to Improving Their Sustainable and Responsible Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, February.
    12. Tribe, John & Mkono, Muchazondida, 2017. "Not such smart tourism? The concept of e-lienation," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 105-115.
    13. Yoo, Chul Woo & Goo, Jahyun & Huang, C. Derrick & Nam, Kichan & Woo, Mina, 2017. "Improving travel decision support satisfaction with smart tourism technologies: A framework of tourist elaboration likelihood and self-efficacy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 330-341.
    14. Ana Reyes-Menendez & Marisol B. Correia & Nelson Matos & Charlene Adap, 2020. "Understanding Online Consumer Behavior and eWOM Strategies for Sustainable Business Management in the Tourism Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-14, October.
    15. Angel Stoykov, 2023. "The Influence Of Social Media On Advertising Tourism Services (In The Example Of Bulgaria)," Business Management, D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Svishtov, Bulgaria, issue 1 Year 20, pages 64-80.
    16. Thomas Wozniak & Brigitte Stangl & Roland Schegg & Andreas Liebrich, 2017. "The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 75-100, March.
    17. Mylona Ifigeneia & Amanatidis Dimitrios & Stavrianea Aikaterini & Kamenidou Irene (Eirini) & Mamalis Spyridon, 2021. "Promoting Tourists’ Destinations in Greece with Social Media: The Case of Kimolos Island," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 347-361.
    18. Soyoung An & Weolho Kim & Bongkoo Lee & Jungho Suh, 2022. "A Study on the Tourism-Related Information Consumption Process of Tourists on Social Networking Sites," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, March.
    19. Pásková Martina & Hruška Jan & Zelenka Josef, 2018. "YouTube as an Airlines Marketing Tool," Czech Journal of Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 45-69, June.
    20. Suzanne Amaro & Paulo Duarte, 2017. "Social media use for travel purposes: a cross cultural comparison between Portugal and the UK," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 161-181, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6661-:d:400379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.