In China, the tourism industry is one of the country’s most important sectors. With an annual growth of 7%, the sector has been estimated to generate USD 6.4 trillion in revenues by 2025.
The social media impact on the tourism industry in China has been significant. It has influenced the way in which tourists search for destinations, the clothes they wear, and other aspects of their travel experience. It has also led to an increase in tourism-related scams barder.
Increasingly, tourist destinations are integrating their social media presence to attract more visitors to their sites. This has helped them to gain a larger number of followers and build a brand image amongst Chinese travelers jigaboo.
The popularity of social media is growing rapidly in China, and it is becoming increasingly common for people to share their experiences through these platforms. As a result, more and more companies are exploiting this medium to attract Chinese visitors and boost their revenues.
A study conducted by Burson-Marsteller found that more than half of Chinese travelers use social media while on their trip. This is up from 36% a decade ago distresses.
It also shows that more and more Chinese people are taking the initiative to book their own travel arrangements, instead of relying on travel agents to make the bookings for them. This has been a positive change in the way Chinese tourists view the travel industry, and it is something that businesses should consider when trying to reach out to this demographic.
User-generated content is a popular way to promote products and services online (Daughert, Eastin, & Bright, 2008). It is also a useful tool for businesses to gather feedback from customers and improve their products or services.
Research shows that Chinese users are increasingly using different types of social media to plan and share their trips with friends. However, the role that social media plays in shaping the tourism industry is not well understood precipitous.
The aim of this paper is to identify the influence of various types of social media on travel planning decisions of Chinese tourists. To this end, a survey of Chinese outbound tourists was conducted in Shenzhen, Mainland China and Macau, the Special Administrative Region of China. In addition, semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out with a sample of 15 participants to explore their perceptions, rationale and experiences of using various types of social media while travelling abroad.
Results showed that Chinese outbound tourists used social media extensively to make their travel plans in the past year and a half. The top three social media used were WeChat (67.7%), Sino Weibo (52.5%) and Ctrip (48.0%) mypba.
They used these platforms to plan their trips, search for information about their destination, and post pictures and videos. They also used these platforms to post reviews about their trips and recommend places they visited.
In order to conduct the study, a questionnaire was distributed to all Chinese social media platforms. In addition, follow-up semi-structured in-depth interviews were held with seven Chinese outbound tourists.
