Influence of Social Media to the Travelers Choice of Tourist Destination

Abstract

Digital marketing thru the use of social media has been proven to be an effective tool to reach out to a wider audience. This study was conducted to determine the same effectiveness of social media as a medium for marketing a multi-faceted and highly diverse line of products in the tourism industry by identifying the power of social media usage over the travelers’ choice of tourist destinations. With the descriptive correlational research design applied in the study, the profile of the 397 local and foreign travelers and their social media usage were identified thru a survey questionnaire distributed and retrieved from Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) and surrounding areas in Clark. Data gathered was processed using SPSS and was able to determine the association among variables using the Chi-square test; that social media usage indeed influence the traveler’s choice of tourist destinations and that their prior thoughts change as they read comments and review post. It has been identified that the monthly income and occupation of respondents have an association with their social media usage concerning travel and that the social media platform they utilize has an association with their social media usage about traveling.