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Management and Administrative Sciences Review

Volume 4, Issue 5 e-ISSN: 2308-1368

Pages: 772-786 p-ISSN: 2310-872X
September 2015

The Effects of Social Media on Tourism Marketing: A Study

among University Students

Asst. Prof. Dr. Gonca Guzel Sahin1*, and Gunce Sengn2

1. Assistant professor, Atilim University, Tourism and Hotel Management Department, Ankara, Turkey.
2. Atilim University, Institute of Social Sciences, Master Program of Tourism Management, Ankara, Turkey.
(guncesengun@gmail.com)

Due to increasing popularity of internet applications, many tourism organizations such as

hotels, airline companies and travel agencies have started using internet as one of their
important marketing and communications strategies. In this way, internet has been one of
the strongest elements of competition in tourism sector. Social media has started being used
as a new marketing approach within the growing internet technologies by tourism sector.
The aim of this study is discussing the importance of social media in tourism marketing. The
study is based on a survey implemented on the students of Atilim University evaluating the
effects of social media among young generation. The data collection technique of this article
is survey analysis. 624 survey forms have been distributed according to the number of
students at 6 faculties, but 550 survey forms have been responded. According to the results
of the survey, social media has influences in tourism sector both in positive and negative
ways, as the tourism decisions of young generation have been strongly affected by comments
and personal experiences of other users on social media.

Keywords: Tourism marketing, internet, social media

INTRODUCTION
According to the 10th Development Plan prepared
by the Ministry of Development, covering the
period of 2014-2018, Turkish Economy will reach to
a proceeds of 1.3 trillion dollars in 2018. Pursuant
to the plan, the same year, volume of the tourism
revenue will be 45 billion dollars. And on the other
hand the tourism expenditures will be around 8
billion dollars. Objectives of the plan indicates
Turkey reaching a total number of 48.3 million
tourists in 2018, 6 million of which will be the citizen
visitors that live abroad and visiting our country
and the rest will be the foreign visitors. According
to the findings of 2014-2018, the forecasts of which
have been announced; the ratio of tourism incomes
to GDP which was 3.7 % in 2012, will be around 3.5
% in 2018.
Turkey will produce 1.3 trillion dollars in 2018 and
the ratio of tourism incomes to export, which was
19.2 % in 2012, will be realized as 16.2 %. Turkey
will reach to an export of 277 billion dollars in 2018.

*Corresponding author: Asst. Prof. Dr. Gonca Guzel Sahin,

Assistant professor, Atilim University, Tourism and Hotel Management Department, Ankara, Turkey.
E-Mail: gonca.guzel@atilim.edu.tr
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There are also important objectives for health and
medical tourism in the plan that covers the period
of 2004-2018. Pursuant to this in 2018, 1.5 million
tourist will be provided with the thermal service
with 100 thousand total bed amount.
Changes happening in the recent years in the
communication technology in development
countries have various direct or indirect influences
on the economic performance. In parallel with that,
it can be observed that many concepts in micro and
macro levels of the economy tend to lose the
meaning due to differentiation gradually. This fact
is mentioned as New Economy in literature (Bayra,
2003, p.42). Today, the notion of new economy can
be defined with notions as information economy,
information, information production, and
information exchange. New economy uses
information and technology; and increases
efficiency in means of economy through
technology.
In parallel to the rearrangement of traditional
economic activities with the technological
developments in the information technology,
economy has been one of the fields that received the
most impact. However, according to the economic
understanding of the time, new economy
represents a world, where people work with their
brain power instead of muscle strength as a result
of the affect created by the information technologies
and internet (Vatansever & Yldz, 2014, p.54).
Marketing studies in electronic environment called
virtual platform start with the changing technology.
Marketing studies in virtual communities do not
have a long history. Starting date can be conceived
as the 90s, when Internet begun to be popular
(Meydan & Bayram, 2013).
New communication and information technology is
also closely related to the tourism sector.
Technologic novelties help tourism establishments
to render new and flexible services with high
competitiveness. For instance, electronic ticketing,
use of internet and websites for promotion and sales
of hotel and destination, sales and promotion of the
travel agencies and tour operators through internet
and web pages and other similar activities lead to
important developments in the field of tourism
marketing and tourism activities.
Influence of Changing Technology to Tourism
Marketing
Tourism marketing has now started to utilize
technology to approach to its target market with the
changing technology. Tourism sector has not only
been doing the marketing on internet but also has
started to transfer it to various applications. The
most important novelty formed by the information
technologies in the tourism sector is the possibility
of a direct communication of the vendors and
purchasers via a channel focused on information
and data. Therefore the importance of customer
focused service sectors, with emphasize on
information and service increases in the new
economy.
Novelty based on technology has become the main
source and a strategic key of the sustainable
competition advantage in tourism sector due to the
important role of the information in identification,
promotion, distribution, bringing together,
arrangement and provision of touristic products to
customer. New technologies bring about a change
in the activities, operation manners,
communication methods of the tourism
establishments and the ways of customers to seek
for information and purchase of services and
touristic products due to the constant change in the
social life (Karata & Babr, 2013).
Distribution channels in the tourism sector make
plenty benefit of communication and information
technologies. Success in marketing can only be
achieved through presentation of the right products
in the right place and with right intermediaries.
Distribution works are facilitated with
communication and information technologies and
therefore a cost benefit is obtained and a mutual
communication can be provided between the
purchasers of touristic products and target markets.
Today in global world level, production and
distribution processes of touristic products and
services are revised and readjusted in order to
increase the effectiveness and efficiency (Buhalis,
1998). New economy includes also the internet
market. Establishments using new technology and
internet are of the quality to reach the demands of
their own market easier and respond to these
demands.
One of the most important phenomenon emerged
along with technologic novelties is the internet.
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Many tourism organizations as hotels, airlines,
travel agencies, have accepted internet as a part of
their marketing and communication strategies for
the popularity of the internet applications. Thus
internet has become an important tool in the
tourism market (zdipiner, 2010). Technology that
is in a constant development speed has leaded
important changes also in the tourism sector. Travel
agencies, tour operators, airline companies, hotels,
motels and all establishments in the small-scaled
tourism sector have started to use the technology,
which is a new marketing tool.
Accommodation facilities take the lead among the
fields using the information technologies the most
in the tourism sector. Computers and information
technologies are intensively used in marketing,
sales, security, catering, accounting and
communication departments of accommodation
establishments (Prnar, 2005, p.45). Consumers in
the past used to ask for the opinions of the people
around on a certain brand, product or
establishment and this used to be known as Word
of Mouth (WOM) in the marketing literature.
Personal comments and opinions have started to be
shared on the internet with the development of
computer based communication (Pollach, 2006 ).
Use of internet bring not only benefits but also
forfeits and the tourism establishments, which
cannot keep up with the changes or make the
adjustments by bringing the necessary flexibility,
stuck up in a difficult situation and even terminate
their activities (Prnar, 2005). Naturally the big
development in the information technologies and
internet in the world undoubtedly push tourism
sector to be developed as well. The number of web
users in the touristic establishments increases and
becomes widespread day by day. Number of
regional and local establishments, which would like
to be ranked among in the world of internet with
their own web sites increase in order to reach a
larger mass and make benefit of the other
advantages of the internet (Karaka & Babr, 2013,
p.15-24).
Possession of information is the primary objective
in the tourism sector. Within this context, efficient
use of the technology is pretty important for
tourism sector. Rapid growth in the information
technology provides new tools for globalising
economy and forms an effective cooperation.
Information technologies in particular in the
tourism sector have turned into irreplaceable tools
for tourism establishments. Briefly, the rapid
development of the tourism demand and supply
has lead the information technologies to be very
important for tourism sector. Therefore,
information technologies have a very important
place in means of tourism marketing distribution,
promotion and coordination (Polatolu,1994, p.67).
Marketing of countries, regions and continents as a
destination has been a developing activity in recent
years. Destinations, which cannot have sustainable
development, diversifying and presenting their
charm, make use of their resources in the best way
possible, realize new and creative marketing
activities, will lose their shares in the international
market in the future (zdemir, 2007: 6). If a
destination cannot take place on the internet, it loses
the connection to millions of people accessing to
internet. Internet with such big potential should be
used and managed in the most efficient way. It is
very important to be able to persuade a potential
tourist making researches in the internet for
destinations with the content and form of
presentation of the information provided. Potential
tourists, who inevitably would compare the
websites of other destinations, may interpret these
comparisons based on the service and product
experience provided by the destinations. Internet is
a very appropriate and effective tool also for the last
minute sales promotions due to easy update
possibility. Besides, indicating the web address on
any kind of marketing and commercial materials
create a catchy affect (Karata & Babr, 2013, p.15-
24 ).
Web based destination marketing strategies are
publicity tools used by many destinations and
provides big opportunities. Web based marketing
strategies are adopted widely and the pressure on
the destinations to make investments on their
websites increases more and more. There are not
generally accepted standards to assess the success
of the web sites in tourism. However it is very
important for the destinations to increase the
efficiency of their web sites and this reveals the
necessity to define assessment criteria of web sites
(Park & Gretzel, 2007, p.4). World Tourism
Organization has stated that the key of success in
internet is the quick identification of consumer
needs, direct communication, comprehensive
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presentation, customization and updating the
information.
Growth in the number of internet users in the world
and thus spread of the trade on the internet (e-
trade) lead consumers, who demand cultural and
touristic values, to purchase products and services
via internet (akr & Yaln, 2012).
Relationship of Tourism Marketing with Social
Media
Concept of social media has been defined in various
ways. Social media is a wide term defining writings
on blogs and forums, photographs, audio records,
videos, links, profile pages on social networking
sites and all different content forming many other
social networks (Eley & Tilley, 2009). Another
definition describes social media as collaborator,
user created online content (Roberts & Kraynak,
2008). Social media has been defined as the group of
applications based on internet, allowing the
creation and change of the content developed by the
user and based on the technological and ideological
foundations of internet (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
National and international tourism sector should be
able to apply the developments in the field of media
to its own marketing activities in order to sustain
the benefit, success and profitability. At this point it
is important to ensure the efficient use of internet
for tourism activities. Tourism sector, which
requires large fixed investments, can only realize
the return of these large investments with steady
sales in the desired amount for the tourists in the
targeted socio-economic level (Yavuz & Haseki,
2012 ).
Consumer domination and fierce competition in the
virtual environment makes it compulsory to take
more strategic decisions on product presentation,
pricing policies, publicity decisions and place
elements (Meydan & Bayram, 2013). Virtual
marketing has different characteristics than
traditional marketing processes in tourism sector.
Main grounds for that are the rapid changes due to
the fact that the external conditions considered in
the formation of marketing activities are more
dynamic in virtual marketing and that activities are
conducted in electronic environment.
Internet makes it possible for the establishment to
have a briefer and direct communication with target
groups through web site, e-mail short message,
forum etc. without calculating the money to be
spent on the advertisement. Therefore,
opportunities provided by the internet help
executing the efforts on marketing communication
and creating a comparative distinction (Babacan,
Kamanlolu & Yenieri, 2008). Social networking
sites have an important efficiency as marketing
tools and assume many functions. Social
networking sites are important tools, where the
consumers can get information regarding the goods
and services, raise the awareness, have
communication of word of mouth online in their
opinions, behaviours, purchasing decisions, after
purchase assessments and for the establishments
they are the tools, where they can market their
productions, strengthen their brands and use in
their customer relations ( Albayrak, 2013).
Establishments gain an important advantage over
their competitors when they use the social
networking sites for marketing purposes. Number
of people taking part in the social networking sites
increase day by day and the fact that the number is
high makes it possible for the entries to be spread
rapidly in a very short time to many people. So it
gives opportunity for the positive news and
hearsays about the establishments in the social
network to be expanded rapidly ( Magnold &
Faulds, 2009 ).
Lim (2010), stated that the tourism consumer
consulted to the family members, friends and
acquaintances on the networking sites when taking
an independent decision on purchasing goods and
services and this process leaded to a unique
promotion for the hotel managements. Taking into
account the purposes of use of internet, in the first
three months of 2014, the individuals using internet,
joined by 78.8 % to the social networking, followed
by 74.2 % with online news, newspapers and
magazines, 67.2 % with searching for information
on goods and services, 58.7 % with downloading or
streaming games, music, film, image, 53.9 % e-mail
sending and receiving. As of 2014, the most known
and used social media sites are sites as Facebook,
Twitter, nstagram, Youtube, Linkdein. The number
of the users of these sites is mentioned with billions
and the ratio of usage of these sites is quite high
every minute through mobile devices. The
countries using the social media sites the most are
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in general the countries, which are developed and
have a high participation to tourism activities.
Online media networking sites are among the sites,
where the people spend tie in virtual environment.
These sites are where the visual and audial bands
are played. These sites make it possible for the
elements as video/music and pictures to be
transmitted to other users. Shared visual elements
can be watched by millions just in hours.
Undoubtedly creating an institutional user name in
means of promotion, presenting the most correct
and reliable information through this source to all
relevant people would both contribute to
promotion and lead to important changes in the
opinions of possible guests by forming a big source
of information. The cost of this promotion tool is
very low. Many sources pent for promotion would
be saved with this source and can be spent on the
other needs (akr & Yaln, 2012, p. 21).
Today, the increase of consciousness level of the
consumers, easiness of share of information and
possibility of examining many comments in virtual
environment in the globalizing world, make it
possible for tourism destinations or establishments
to be assessed by the consumers in a cheaper, faster
and easier. Many potential tourists use internet for
their travel plans. They visit relevant social media
sites before deciding on the travel due to the fact
that they believe the virtual assessment to be useful
for their purchasing decision (Sarsk & zbay, done
2012). As the social media sites include comments
and assessments, they influence the creation of the
trademark of the tourism establishment, provide
efficiency in the process of communication and
marketing of the goods and services, increases the
loyalty to the mark and the perceived (Wang &
Hsieh, 2011).
As the social media use becomes widespread,
number of users also increases day by day. Number
of users of internet and social media all around the
world is as follows; 2.5 billion people on the world
use internet. 1.8 billion out of these users have an
account on the social media networks, in the
intercontinental internet use, North America takes
the lead with a ratio of 81 %. Region with the least
internet use in is South Asia (12%), only in 2013, 135
million people more created accounts in the social
networks, numbers of active users of social media
increases every year, facebook maintains its lead
among other social networks with a number of
1.184 billion current active users ( Global Digital
Statistics, 2014).
Ranking of the most popular first 10 social media
platforms according to the active user statistics is as
follows Facebook (1.184 billion), QQ (Tencent) (816
million), Qzone (632 million), Whatsapp (400
million), Google+ (300 million), Wechat (272
million), LinkedIn (259 million), Twitter (232
million), Tumblr (230 million), Tencent Weibo (220
million).
According to the 2014 results of Consumer
Barometer, which is a research done by google.com
that measures and compares the internet usage
habit in 46 different stations including Turkey and
provides results on the mobile, video and shopping
uses of internet users in 46 countries, Turkey is in
the first rank in the use of social media. Consumer
Barometer reports shows that social media use of
internet users in Turkey is 92 % and it is
approximately 40 per cent in the world. Turkey that
is the leader in the use of social media is followed
by Argentine with 86 per cent and by Brazil with 84
per cent and with 83 per cent by China. Evaluating
the 2023 Tourism Strategy Plan foreseen by the
Ministry of Culture and Tourism, it is mentioned
that the necessary investment will be done to the
technology. In parallel to this, a 15 % grant in the
2012 promotion budget is assigned to activities
through internet and information
technologies.
Obtaining the necessary technical support for the
internet and information technologies including the
new sectors with the developing technology, giving
importance to the promotion tools for branding and
PR studies done on the internet and making use of
the Professional teams for these studies are among
the priorities that should be considered in short
term (akr & Yaln, 2012, p. 30).
Impact of Social Media on Travel
Comments on sites and social media are important
for preferences when the big ratio of internet users
making travel plans are considered. In particular
the users, who want to have information on the
tourism destinations that they will use or
accommodate for the first time are influenced by the
comments on the social media to a great extent. For
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the tourism establishments, the most important assess and comment on the destination (26.6%), To
objective to be achieved with the use of social media have opinions for the next holiday plan (29.2%).
is to ensure target masses to make reservations. The
The most important element to be taken account for
fastest and most reliable way for tourists to reach to
the tourism establishments in the social media is
tourism establishments is through internet. People
that the current costumers and potential customers
use internet to get information easily on tourism
exchange any kind of information. The fact that
establishment and make reservations. This creates a
social media cannot be controlled with regards to
positive affect on satisfaction of the tourist and
tourism is an issue causing quite a lot of troubles in
brand value through media. As the tourist that uses
means of ethic approaches in marketing. Unethical
the internet would also be influenced by the
code of conduct in means of tourism marketing in
comments on the social media at the reservation
social media can indicate in particular misleading
stage, the brand recognition and reliability of the
information and incorrect advertisement content.
tourism establishment depend on these comments.
Especially the comments on the social networking
Therefore, the influence of the social media on the
sites made subjectively by getting money from the
travel is quite high.
establishments and presentations of misleading,
While the positive product comment includes the exaggerated and partial information on the goods
good experiences and recommendation on the and services of the destination and establishment
product, the negative product comments include are among the unethical codes of conduct that can
the disappointments and bad experiences on the be most commonly seen in the use of social media
product. Thus, the affects of the negative product in tourism marketing.
comments should be well analysed. Consumers that
These complaints can also be reduced through
share the opinion-sharing environment rather
social media; since the tourism services are abstract,
prefer to come across with negative product
the comments of the users that really had the
assessments. Because the unsatisfied people tend to
touristic experience can define the real quality of the
share their negative assessments more compared to
service. However from the perspective of business
others. Now the consumers look for negative
ethics, unreal comments can negatively influence
assessments in particular (Sachse & Magnold, 2011).
the users that would like to receive the touristic
One of the most important ways of tourism
service. Therefore it is important for establishments
establishments to get in touch to their guests
to return fast to these negative and positive
through social media is to ensure the users to share
comments also in means of business ethics.
in hashtag campaigns created on Twitter, Instagram
and Facebook. So the shares reach out to millions of So possessing ethical code of conducts on the social
people in a short time and in an efficient way. media used as a communication and distribution
channel is of vital importance for the establishments
Fotis (2012), ranked the social media causes of the
in the sector. Ethical codes that are defined for these
social media users in the travel planning process as
applications should be adopted and brought into
before, during and after the trip. Before; To search
force from the top-level management to the lowest
for alternatives when thinking of a trip (44.5%), To
level employee of the establishments in the sector.
reduce the destination preferences (24%), To
It is above all important for the tourism
confirm that the correct destination choice has been
establishments and stakeholders to internalize
made (30.9%), To look for information on
these ethical codes and to make them a
accommodation alternatives (34.4%), To get
management method. Furthermore consumers
information on the entertainment activities (41.6%).
should also question the accuracy of the
During; To get information on the entertainment
information and its source when using the social
activities (29.5%), To share the comments on
media and direct their behaviours accordingly
experiences during the trip (16.5%), To stay
(Erz & Dodubay, 2012, p. 153).
connected with their friends (49.1%), To visit social
media sites independent of getting information With the new technology especially the young
(15%). After; To share the experiences and population under 35 have started to use internet
photographs with friends after the trip (78.3%), To and technological devices, smart phones and smart
phone applications and social media sites more

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often and along with that the rapid change in
technology and internet have started to influence
the tourism sector on an important level. Within
this context, it can be foreseen that the tourism
sector will enter into a new period related to
technology within the upcoming years. It is
foreseen that the establishments in the tourism
sector are reaching to their own target markets
through internet and the new economy is creating
its own target mass in the changing conditions of
the world. We can assume that with the new
technology the mass under 35 is living their social
lives constantly on the internet in daily life, and the
biggest impacts of that are on the tourism sector. It
can be seen that the share of new technology in the
tourism sector will increase with its positive and
negative impacts.
The number of internet and social media users is as
follows; raito of internet use in Turkey compared to
the whole population is 45 %, there are over 35
million internet users in Turkey and 36 million
active Facebook accounts (including the fake
accounts), users in Turkey spend an average of 4.9
hours daily on personal computers and 1.9 hours on
mobile devices in internet, an average of 2 hours 32
minutes daily is spent on social media in Turkey,
facebook (93%) as the most used social media
platform, is followed by Twitter, Twitter (72%),
Google + (70%) and Linkedin (33%) in Turkey.
RESEARCH METHOD
Today, the notion of social media, which came into
our lives with the fast growing technology, have
gained importance especially for tourism sector.
Most of the internet users in the world and in
Turkey are influenced by the comments on the
social media in the holiday preferences, after the
holidays and in their holiday experiences and also
share their own experiences. The objective of the
research is to reveal the importance of social media
in tourism marketing by analysing the importance
of the impact of the mass using social media on the
tourism establishments with statistical methods.
Research is focused on the university students since
the majority of social media users are the youth.
During the preparation of survey questions, the
article The Effect of Social Media Utilization on
Holiday Decisions of Tourists: A Study on
Academic Staff published on 2013 has been
referred. Research problem is the question: What
is the Influence of Social Media on Tourism
Marketing? Research has been conducted on the
students of Atilim University to define the
perceptions of young mass on social media and
tourism. Survey technic has been used as a method
in the study for the data to be impartial and to get
statistical results. Survey consists of two parts. In
the first part, there are demographical questions
related to the personal characteristics of the
students. In the second part, there are 36 statements
to assess the impact of utilization of Social Media on
tourism marketing. The survey used in the research
consists of 43 questions, 7 of which are divided in
demographic subcategories and 36 are 5-point
Likert scale. The survey was distributed to 550
students in total in Atilim University. Out of 550
distributed surveys, 506 were filled in full and
correctly, and due to the mistakes and
incompleteness in the other 44, a total of 506
surveys could be applied to the research as
impeccably.
Cronbachs Alpha value of the research is 0.908.
Within this framework, considering the scale above,
when the phenomenon that is desired to be
measured by our questions that is whether there is
an influence of the social media on the tourism
marketing is asked, it can be assumed that there was
a success in measurement with stable answers in a
ratio approximately of 90 % with the answers of the
participants.
According to the analysis made in SPSS package
programme, out of 506 people that took part in the
survey, 225 were men and 281 were women. As a
percentage it has been identified that as a result of
the analysis, 55.3 % of the people who took part in
the survey was women and 44.47 % was men. Out
of the sample of 506, 24.9 % is in the age range 16-
20, 56.9% is in the age range 20-24, 17,6 % is in the
age range 24-28. In this situation the majority of the
students taking part in the survey is in the age range
20-24. Out of 506 students taking part in the survey,
127 is in Faculty of Business, 104 is in Faculty of
Science and Letters, 84 is in Faculty of Fine Arts, 82
is in Faculty of Law, 80 is in Faculty of Engineering
and 29 is in Civil Aviation Vocational High School.
When the results of the survey are examined, it has
been concluded that the 25.1 % of the young mass
taking part in the survey consists of the students in
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the Faculty of Business and the least participation
was from the Faculty of Law with 5.7 %.
According to the analysis results, the frequency of
social media utilization is the first rank with 142
people with a frequency of 4-6 years utilization
ratio. In this case, the analysis gives meaningful and
correct results with 95 % importance level.
Following that, the answers 6-8 years, 8 years or
more, 1-3 years and less than 1 year comprises the
survey result. Considering the survey results, out of
506 students, 134 uses the social media 2-6 hours
weekly and this ratio corresponds to 26,5 %.
Following that 127 students stated that they use it
17 hours or more and 106 students between 7-11
hours. In line with these ratios, we can observe that
the duration of social media utilization among the
youth is high and this increases the social media
interactions.
When the Area graphics and Frequency tables are
interpreted, the most commonly used social media
site is Instagram. Following this comes respectively;
Facebook, Twitter, other networks and Linkedin.
Interpretation of Area graphics and Frequency
tables shows that the most frequently used social
media site is Instagram by the subject group. It can
be understood from that, the shares on Instagram in
tourism marketing draw the attention of the young
mass much more and are more important than the
others. Analysis of the surveys has been conducted
with the comparison of the demographic data of the
students as gender, age, faculty and class they study
at, with their statements on the social media
utilization. This study has mainly focused on the
gender since no significant difference was observed
in the other data than the gender.
TABLE 1 HERE
According to the data in Table 1, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I agree and
strongly agree" category. 33.8% of men whereas
46.9% of women agree with the view of I am
influenced by the positive reviews of holiday
destinations in social media in this category.
TABLE 2HERE
According to the data in Table 2, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I disagree and
strongly disagree" category. 44.4% of men whereas
47.7% of women disagree with the view of I share
my positive experiences about holiday destinations
on social media in this category. According to the
data in Table 3, it is observed that the most
significant difference is at "I agree and strongly
agree" category. 46.2% of men whereas 57% of
women agree with the view of I am influenced by
the positive reviews of travel agencies in social
media in this category.
TABLE 3 & 4 HERE
According to the data in Table 4, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I am neutral"
category. 24% of men whereas 24.2% of women are
undecided about the view of I share my positive
experiences about travel agents on social media in
this category.
TABLE 5 HERE
According to the data in Table 5, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I agreeand
strongly agree" category. 38.2% of men whereas
55.9% of women agree with the view of I am
influenced by the positive reviews of hotel
enterprises in social media in this category.
According to the data in Table 6, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I agree and
strongly agree" category. 37.3% of men whereas
36.7% of women agree with the view of I share my
positive experiences about hotel enterprises on
social media in this category.
TABLE 6 & 7 HERE
According to the data in Table 7, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I agree and
strongly agree" category. 42.7% of men whereas
51.9% of women agree with the view of I am
influenced by the positive reviews of
food&beverage enterprises in social media in this
category.
TABLE 8 HERE
According to the data in Table 8, it is observed that
the most significant difference is at "I agree and
strongly agree" category. 35.2% of men whereas
35.9% of women agree with the view of I share my
positive experiences about food&Beverage
enterprises on social media in this category. As a
result of all analyzes performed; social media plays
an important role in tourism marketing and subject
groups are accessible to many audiences using
social media in general terms and categories of
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Likert scale questions should be attempted to be
improved.
RESULTS
This study has been conducted to examine the role
of social media use in tourism marketing. Social
media is increasingly becoming important today,
this effect is also significantly affect the tourism
market. When we examine the survey results, it is
clear that the tourism preferences of young
generation are affected by comments on social
media and social media has positive and a negative
effects on the tourism market. In summary, social
media users who share their experiences have been
largely influenced by comments when they make
tourism preferences.
The distribution of social networking sites have
been used by survey respondants frequently are
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and others
respectively. According to these findings, tourism
enterprises should take place in these social media
sites with advirtisements and other viral media
instruments when they plan marketing activities of
destinations. According to survey results, 171
persons (33.8%) out of 506 people participated in
the survey strongly agreed that they use social
media in order to share photos, videos and
experiences. Thus, yougner people share their
tourism experiences on social media with visual
media instruments such as photos and videos.
Positive and negative comments on social media
widely affect decisions of these people using social
media. 41.1% of all respondants agreed that they
have been influenced by positive comments on
social media about holiday destinations and 47.8%
of all respondants agreed that they have been
influenced by negative comments on social media
about holiday destinations.
According to results of the analysis, survey
respondants have been to a large extent by the
comments on social media about holiday
destinations, hospitality enterprises, travel agents,
entertainment enterprises, food and beverage
enterprises and transportation enterprises.
DISCUSSIONS AND CONLUSION
Extensive use of social media by young people is
even increasing and this situation has positive and
negative effects on every sector, however the
greatest impact is on tourism sector. Hospitality,
travel, transportation enterprises and even tour
operators in tourism sector are getting reviewed
extensively. As the product of tourism sector is
service, marketing this product is very important.
In spite of the high quality of service at some
enterprises, slightest negative comment can affect
business in worst sense. For this reason, tourism
enterprises should use social media in an effective
way creating official accounts and hiring staff to
manage these accounts. As the young generation
might share negative comments using photos and
videos on social media accounts, enterprises should
resolve these dissatisfactions of the guests and find
most efficient solutions to prevent the possibility of
involvement of other people from this review. This
situation is of great importance for businesses when
considering the speed of social media.
Today, most large tourism businesses utilize social
media effectively. Since there are many social media
networks including online booking sites, the guests
can share their comments promptly and enterprises
provide solutions as soon as they enter the process
to prevent their brand image. Social media can be
said to create a nice situation for tourists as returns
are faster in case of a negative experience.
Enterprises can use social media as a good
advertising tool as there is a high potential in this
sense due to positive reviews of the guests. As a
result, the tourism enterprises should be aware of
this new power of advertisement world and use
social media as a new communication and
advertising tool in the most efficient way to provide
best service to the guests. According to survey
results, tourism businesses, agencies, hotels,
transportation enterprises should use social media
effectively. Related staff should be employed and
they should use social media platforms for social
networking as a marketing tool. In addition,
irrelevant comments made through fake accounts
should be dealt in legal ways to prevent brand
image. Use of emerging technologies in tourism
marketing has emerged as one of the most effective
tools in the competition.
Reliability and validity situation of this article is
that Cronbachs Alpha value of the research is 0.908.
Within this framework, considering the scale above,
when the phenomenon that is desired to be
measured by our questions that is whether there is
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an influence of the social media on the tourism
marketing is asked, it can be assumed that there was
a success in measurement with stable answers in a
ratio approximately of 90 % with the answers of the
participants.
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APPENDIX

Table 1: Percentage of Impact on Positive Comments about Holiday Destinations in Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I am Strongly Count % 50 42 92
influenced disagree within gender 22.2% 14.9% 18.2%
from positive Disagree Count % 54 58 112
comments within gender 24.0% 20.6% 22.1%
about holiday Neutral Count % 45 49 94
destination in within gender 20.0% 27.4% 18.6%
social media Agree Count % 53 101 154
within gender 23.6% 35.9% 30.4%
Strongly Count % 23 31 54
Agree within gender 10.2% 11.0% 10.7%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Table 2: Percentage of Sharing Positive Experiences about Holiday Destinations on Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I share my Strongly Count % 55 61 116

positive disagree within gender 24.4% 21.7% 22.9%
experience Disagree Count % 45 73 118
about holiday within gender 20.0% 26.0% 23.3%
destination in Neutral Count % 43 58 101
social media within gender 19.1% 20.6% 20.0%
Agree Count % 50 59 109
within gender 22.2% 21.0% 21.5%
Strongly Count % 32 30 62
Agree within gender 14.2% 10.7% 12.3%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

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Table 3: Percentage of Impact on Positive Comments about Travel Agents in Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I am Strongly Count % 44 36 80
influenced disagree within gender 19.6% 12.8% 15.8%
from positive Disagree Count % 39 45 84
comments within gender 17.3% 16.0% 16.6%
about travel Neutral Count % 38 40 78
agency in within gender 16.9% 14.2% 15.4%
social media Agree Count % 65 116 181
within gender 28.9% 41.3% 35.8%
Strongly Count % 39 44 83
Agree within gender 17.3% 15.7% 16.4%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Table 4: Percentage of Sharing Positive Experiences about Travel Agents on Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I share my Strongly Count % 49 46 95

positive disagree within gender 21.8% 16.4% 18.8%
experience Disagree Count % 53 62 115
about travel within gender 23.6% 22.1% 22.7%
agency in Neutral Count % 54 68 122
social media within gender 24.0% 24.2% 24.1%
Agree Count % 39 75 114
within gender 17.3% 26.7% 22.5%
Strongly Count % 30 30 60
Agree within gender 13.3% 10.7% 11.9%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

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Table 5: Percentage of Impact on Positive Comments about Hotel Enterprises in Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I am Strongly Count % 47 38 85
influenced disagree within gender 20.9% 13.5% 16.8%
from positive Disagree Count % 43 42 85
comments within gender 19.1% 14.9% 16.8%
about hotel Neutral Count % 49 44 93
enterprises in within gender 21.8% 15.7% 18.4%
social media Agree Count % 52 111 163
within gender 23.1% 39.5% 23.3%
Strongly Count % 34 46 80
Agree within gender 15.1% 16.4% 15.8%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Table 6: Percentage of Sharing Positive Experiences about Hotel Enterprises on Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I share my Strongly Count % 46 60 106

positive disagree within gender 20.4% 21.4% 20.9%
experience Disagree Count % 48 56 104
about hotel within gender 21.3% 19.9% 20.6%
enterprises in Neutral Count % 47 63 110
social media within gender 20.9% 22.4% 21.7%
Agree Count % 52 66 118
within gender 23.1% 23.5% 23.3%
Strongly Count % 32 36 68
Agree within gender 14.2% 12.8% 13.4%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

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Table 7: Percentage of Impact on Positive Comments about Food & Beverage Enterprises in Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I am Strongly Count % 53 46 99
influenced disagree within gender 23.6% 16.4% 19.6%
with positive Disagree Count % 39 46 85
comments within gender 17.3% 16.4% 16.8%
about food Neutral Count % 37 43 80
and beverage within gender 16.4% 15.3% 15.8%
enterprises in Agree Count % 54 106 160
social media within gender 24.0% 37.7% 31.6%
Strongly Count % 42 40 82
Agree within gender 18.7% 14.2% 16.2%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

Table 8: Percentage of Sharing Positive Experiences about Food & Beverage Enterprises on Social Media

Gender Total

Male Female

I share the Strongly Count % 48 56 104

positive disagree within gender 21.3% 19.9% 20.6%
comments Disagree Count % 50 64 114
about food within gender 22.2% 22.8% 22.5%
and beverage Neutral Count % 48 60 108
enterprises in within gender 21.3% 21.4% 21.3%
social media Agree Count % 53 70 123
within gender 23.6% 34.9% 24.3%
Strongly Count % 26 31 57
Agree within gender 11.6% 11.0% 11.3%
Total Count % 225 281 506
within gender 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

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