The Impact of Social Media on Tourism

Abstract

The tourism system mainly relies on information and communication technologies for promotional activities, sales and when developing management relationships with customers. When a tourist is making the final decision on destination choice, the most important information comes from online interpersonal influence -online word of mouth (eWOM). Authors dealing with tourism market segmentation recognize the growing number of tourists who use modern digital media. In accordance with their identified needs, advanced technologies provide a new customized tourist offer. Contemporary tourists have been more than active since the emergence of the sophisticated Web 2.0 technology which strongly influenced and transformed the travel decision making process. Many surveys results confirm that -approximately 50% of people are likely to download travel applications while searching for destinations before they actually leave for vacation.