The Influence of Instagram Travel Content on Intention to Visit Tourist Destinations

Abstract

Given the intangible characteristic of travel products and services, it is not unusual for prospective tourists to embrace information provided by various sources to help them in making travel decisions. User-generated content and social networking sites on the Internet have become powerful and common information-seeking and sharing platforms among tourists. The study investigates the influence of Instagram travel content (ITC), emphasizing four key attributes: novelty, reliability, understandability, and interestingness on perceived enjoyment and tourists’ intention to visit tourist destinations. An online survey involving 208 Malaysian Instagram users was executed. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship among the variables. Findings show that ITC that is reliable, understandable and interesting could provide enjoyment to Instagram users seeking travel information, either intentionally or unintentionally. The enjoyment of consuming ITC may evoke users' interest to travel to the destination. The novelty of ITC is not a significant factor for perceived enjoyment.