Fotis Buhalis Rossides 2011 - Social media impact on holiday travel planning more

International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 1 Social Media Impact on Holiday Travel Planning: The Case of the Russian and the FSU Markets John Fotis, Bournemouth University, UK Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University, UK Nicos Rossides, MASMI Research Group, Cyprus ABSTRACT The impact of social media on the travel industry is predicted to be tremendous, especially on its holiday travel segment. Although there is a plethora of studies concentrating on the role and impact of social media in travel related decisions, most of them are medium and community specific, or focus on a specific stage of the decision making or the travel planning process. This paper presents a comprehensive view of the role and impact of social media on the travel planning process: before, during and after the trip, providing insights on usage levels, scope of use, level of influence, and trust. The study was conducted through an online structured questionnaire on a sample of 346 members of an online panel of internet users from Russia and the other Former Soviet Union (FSU) Republics who had been on holidays in the previous 12 months. Findings reveal that social media are predominantly used after holidays for experience sharing. It is also shown that there is a strong correlation between level of influence from social media and changes made to holiday plans. Moreover, it is revealed that user-generated content is more trusted than official tourism websites, travel agents, and mass media advertising. Keywords: Social Media, Tourism, Tourism Websites, Travel Industry, Travel Planning INTRODUCTION During the last years social media have been enjoying a phenomenal success: Facebook, a social networking website, claims that its active users reached more than 500 million worldwide, 50% of which log in every day (Facebook, DOI: 10.4018/ijom.2011100101 2010); Twitter, a micro-blogging website hosts 175 million users who post 95 million tweets per day (Twitter, 2010); YouTube exceeds 200 million views on a daily basis from mobile devices only (YouTube, 2011); and at the same time it is estimated that there are over 150 million blogs worldwide (BlogPulse, http://www. blogpulse.com). With a participation of such a volume, social media constitute significant networks of consumer knowledge that influence Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 2 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 consumer behaviour (De Valck, Van Bruggen, & Wierenga, 2009), and “further complicate the time-honoured textbook buying behaviour process described in the Inputs-ProcessingResponse model” (Constantinides & Fountain, 2008, p. 239). Moreover, social media start replacing commercial sources of information and evidence limited replacement of reference groups (Jepsen, 2006). As it is the case with the majority of the key economic sectors and industries, tourism is also affected by the existence and increasing use of social media as they “are taking an important role in travellers’ information search and decision-making behaviours” (Yoo, Gretzel, & Zach 2011, p. 526). The importance of the tourism industry, and in particular its holiday segment is well documented: With export earnings in the area of US$ 852 billion in 2009, tourism is among the world’s fastest growing economic sectors, with a volume that can easily be compared with that of oil, food products, or automobiles (UNWTO, 2011a). Among the three purpose of travel segments (as defined by UNWTO: “Leisure, recreation and holidays”, “Visiting friends & relatives, health, religion & other”, and “Business”), leisure, recreation and holidays is not only the dominant one, accounting for 51% of all international tourist arrivals in 2009 (UNWTO, 2010), but also it is the one less affected by the recent financial and economic crisis. Although the overall number of holiday trips taken in Europe in 2009 declined by 5% compared to that of 2008, this decrease was less significant to those of the other segments: Trips for visiting friends & relatives declined by 10%, and business trips declined by 8% (IPK, 2010). Consumer behaviour in tourism has always been influenced by advancements in Information Communication Technologies (Buhalis, 1998; Poon, 1993). As in other industries, also in tourism, Web 2.0 has changed significantly the way individuals plan and consume travel (Buhalis & Law, 2008). As per the case of social media, their impacts on the travel industry are predicted to be tremendous (Gretzel, Kang, & Lee, 2008). In support of such arguments: (a) The European Travel Monitor suggests that six out of ten Europeans who went on a holiday trip during 2009 used the internet: 48% as bookers (+11% compared to 2008) and 12% as “lookers” seeking travel options online but not booking (IPK, 2010); (b) TripAdvisor, a travel review website, serves more than 40 million users per month who seek advice about their travel plans and hosts more than 40 million travel reviews and opinions (TripAdvisor, 2010); and (c) eMarketer (2008) found that 82% of US online consumers have checked online reviews, blogs and other online feedback for their travel related purchasing decisions. As per the context of this research, the case of the Russian Federation and its surrounding Former Soviet Union (FSU) Republics, present an interesting challenge both to academia and tourism marketers: Although in 2009 international tourism suffered from the recent financial and economic crisis, evidencing a 4.2% decrease in international tourist arrivals, and a 5.7% decrease in tourism expenditures compared to 2008 (UNWTO, 2010b), the emerging economies such as Brazil (2009-2010 change in tourism expenditure: +52%), Russian Federation (+26%), and China (+17%) are the ones that lead the 2010 upturn, contributing to early signs of recovery (UNWTO, 2011b). Particularly the Russian Federation is the ninth biggest outbound travel market in the world, and fifth biggest in Europe, generating in 2009 US$ 20.8 billion in spending abroad (UNWTO, 2010). At the same time there are evidences that Russia is different to many countries in terms of not only of number of internet users, but also of their online behaviour: It ranks seventh largest worldwide in terms of internet users, but more than that, it has the most engaged social networking audience worldwide in terms of time spent per user: During August 2010, 75% of Russia’s online population visited at least one social networking site, spending an average of 9.8 hours per visitor (world average: 4.5 hours) ranking it first worldwide in social networking engagement (comScore, 2010). In addition, Russian internet users seem to differentiate from the rest of the world in their preferences for social Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 3 networking websites: Although Facebook has globally a leading market share; this is not the case with Russia. In August 2010, Facebook ranked fifth (4.5 million visitors), well below local sites such as Vkontakte.ru, ranked first (27.8 million visitors), and Odnoklassniki, ranked second with 16.7 million visitors (comScore, 2010). This study attempts to describe the role and impact of social media on how holidaymakers plan and consume holidays. Given that there are evidences of differences among national markets on social media adoption and use (Gretzel et al., 2008), and that the impact of national culture on social media adoption and use still remains an unexplored area (Cardon et al., 2009; Ribière, Haddad, & Vande Wiele, 2010), the authors decided to focus the research on a specific geographical region. The choice of Russia and the other FSU Republics is due to (a) Russia’s significance as a tourism source market; and (b) the indications, as presented above, that it possesses differentiating characteristics in terms of online user behaviour. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES This study pursues the following objectives: 1. 2. 3. 4. To measure the exposure and role of social media before, during and after the holiday trip. To measure the social media level of influence on holiday plans. To measure the level of trust towards social media in relation to traditional sources of holiday related information. To identify differences between holidaymakers from Russia and those from the other FSU Republics in terms of social media usage levels, influence and trust. LITERATURE REVIEW The academic literature evidences that there is not yet an agreed term to describe social media. Some of the terms used to refer to social media are: social software (Coates, 2005; Richter & Koch, 2009), social web sites (Akehurst, 2009; Kim, Jeong, & Lee, 2010), consumer-generated media (Gretzel et al., 2008; Jeong & Jeon, 2008), user-generated media (McConnel & Huba, 2007; Shao, 2009), user-generated content websites (Cox, Burgess, Sellitto, & Buultjens, 2009; Dotan & Zaphiris, 2010), or even Web 2.0 (Constantinides & Fountain, 2008; Constantinides, 2009). However, the term social media seems that is gaining the wider acceptance (Asur & Huberman, 2010; Cha, Haddadi, Benevenuto, & Gummadi, 2010; Hanna, Rohm, & Crittenden, 2011; Jin, Gallagher, Cao, Luo, & Han, 2010; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Parra-López, Bulchand-Gidumal, Gutiérrez-Taño, & Díaz-Armas, 2010; Safko, 2010; Smith, 2009; Thevenot, 2007; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). Social media have been defined as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 61). In their definition, Safko and Brake (2009) give a broader role to social media by including not only the media but also the “activities, practises and behaviours among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media” (p. 6). Social media as a term should not be associated exclusively with social networking sites. The latter describes only a subset of social media and refers to online systems enabling users to become members, create a profile, build a personal network connecting them to other users with whom they exchange on a frequent basis skills, talents, knowledge, preferences and other information (Boyd & Ellison, 2007; McKinsey, 2007; Lenhart & Madden, 2007). In addition to the terminological issues, the academic literature also evidences a disagreement on the taxonomy of social media: Constantinides (2009) proposes five social media types (social networks, blogs, content communities, forums / bulletin boards, and content aggregators); Fischer and Reuber (2011) propose eight Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 4 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 types (social networking, professional networking, blogs, microblogging, picture sharing, video sharing, social bookmarking, and user forums); Mangold and Faulds (2009) propose more than ten types; and to the other end Kim et al. (2010) propose only two types: Social networking sites and social media sites. On the contrary Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) approach the taxonomical issue based on social media related theoretical frameworks, namely media research and social process. They propose a 3 x 2 scheme that classifies each medium type according to its level of social presence / media richness (low, medium, or high) and its self presentation / self disclosure level (high, low) resulting in six types of social media: Social networking websites, blogs, content communities, collaborative projects, virtual social worlds, and virtual game worlds. However, even this attempt neglects newer types of social media such as microblogging and location based services primarily due to the still fluid status of the social media landscape. Given such an absence of an agreed taxonomy of social media, and the fact that a further discussion on the taxonomical issues is beyond the scope of this paper, this study approaches social media as a whole, as a group of online software platforms that enable and facilitate sharing of user generated content. Social media influence several components of consumer behaviour such as awareness, information acquisition, opinions, attitudes, but also purchase behaviour and post-purchase communications and evaluation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). It is claimed for example that virtual communities, a term used to describe a subset of social media, serve as reference groups with their power derived from the heterogeneity of its members, while their influence differs across the various phases of the consumer decision process (De Valck et al., 2009). However in a similar study, Jepsen (2006) found somewhat contradictory results: Virtual communities dramatically increase consumer access to non-commercial individualized information and replace to some extent commercial sources of information, but replace primary reference groups to a very lim- ited extent. The academic literature evidences a plethora of studies that attempt to explore or describe the role and impact of social media in consumer behaviour and more specifically on the decision making process: Dhar and Chang (2009) evidenced a relationship between sales of music albums and online chatter in the form of volume of blog posts. Similarly, Onishi and Manchanda (2010) showed that cumulative blogs are predictive of market outcomes. Asur and Huberman (2010) supported that the rate that tweets are created at Twitter after cinema movies are released can forecast box-office revenues. Dholakia and Durham (2010) measured consumers’ influence from a Facebook page evidencing that those who became fans of this page increased store visits and generated more positive WOM than non-fans. In terms of product review websites, Senecal and Nantel (2004) showed that online recommendations influences consumers’ product choices more than sources of conventional recommendation, and in a similar vein Chevalier and Mayzlin (2006) evidenced that eWOM has a causal impact (positive influence) on consumer purchasing behaviour at two leading online book sellers. Benefits from information acquisition are perceived to be the most important influential elements that drive participation to online travel communities (a subset of social media), however, there are also other factors such as social-psychological and hedonic (Chung & Buhalis, 2009), as well as innovation, aesthetic and sign needs (Vogt & Fesenmaier, 1998). Nonetheless, as in the case of adoption and use of IT systems, national culture seems to have an impact on social media adoption, an area that still remains unexplored (Cardon et al., 2009; Ribière et al., 2010). Toward this end Gretzel et al. (2008) analyzed secondary data on adoption speed and usage patterns of social media in four origin markets (United States, United Kingdom, Germany and China) to suggest that national culture is among the factors influencing social media adoption and use: In collectivist cultures the opinion of others and the group values are important, therefore social media that enable social interaction and Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 5 the creation of communities are more likely to be used, whereas in individualistic cultures social media users are driven by self-portrayal and self-presentation. High power distance and masculine cultures favour interactive websites such as those including consumer reviews and interactivity features as in the case of most social networking websites. On the other hand, cultures with high levels of uncertainty avoidance seem to prefer comprehensive information with high credibility and experiential basis as complimentary sources to company provided information, although privacy concerns seem to prevent those cultures from substantial engagement with creation of user generated content (Gretzel et al., 2008). As a result, they suggest that US users seek predominantly consumer reviews and user generated video, UK users focus on social networking platforms, Germans are less engaged with social media use, while Chinese are described as “avid CGM adopters and users” (Gretzel et al., 2008, p. 114). Within the context of tourism, decision making related to holiday travel purchases is a complex information intensive exercise involving not only one, but a series of purchases that are due to the composite and experiential nature of the tourism product: “Travel-related decisions involve high risks due to the nature of tourism services and thus require risk reduction strategies such as extensive information search strategies” (Sirakaya & Woodside, 2005, p. 823). As a result, social media are becoming increasingly important in tourism. Potential tourists rely on others’ experiences for their decision making in an effort to decrease uncertainty and increase the exchange utility (Kotler, Bowen, & Maken, 2010; Litvin, Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008; Yoo, Lee, & Gretzel, 2007). Moreover, social media enable storytelling, a usual post-travel engagement in our travel culture, on a ‘24/7’ basis, not only to a larger audience, but also provide a sense of belonging into virtual travel communities (Gretzel, Fesenmaier, & O’Leary, 2006). In some instances, the content of such online or virtual communities (a subset of social media) is perceived as similar to recommendations provided by friends, family members, or even “like-minded souls” (Fernback & Thompson, 1995; Wang, Yu, & Fesenmaier, 2002), thus becoming a vital information source to potential tourists (Chung & Buhalis, 2008). A relatively considerable number of studies appear in the literature focusing on the role and impact of social media in travel related decisions: Mack, Blose, and Pan (2008) supported that travel blogs are significantly less trustworthy than traditional word of mouth (WOM), since receiving WOM from strangers is less trusted than WOM coming from sources with whom viewers have strong social ties. However, they identified that those who actively post in blogs perceive authoritativeness (a dimension of credibility) of blogs as similar as to that of traditional WOM. Such a claim leaves space for future improvement of blogs’ credibility as the number of those who post to blogs increases over time (Technorati, 2010). On the contrary, Del Chiappa (2011) found that the trustworthiness of tourism-related blogs was rated second only after consumers’ reviews and ratings usually found in online travel agents’ websites. In terms of social networking sites, White (2010) explored the role of Facebook photos in the travel plans of the users who view them suggesting that they generate interest and that they can very easily become part of the viewer’s travel plans. Gretzel, Yoo, and Purifoy (2007) studied reviews in TripAdvisor and found that online reviews increase potential travellers’ confidence about decisions making, reduces risk, facilitates them to reach a decision and assists them in planning their trip, especially in selecting accommodation. Investigating accommodation choice further, Vermeulen and Seegers (2009) employed an experimental design to study consumer reviews’ impact on consumer choice evidencing that hotel consideration is enhanced by exposure to both positive and negative consumer reviews. Cox et al. (2009) attempted to provide a comprehensive view of the role of social media in the travel planning Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 6 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 process. They found that social media are mainly used after travellers have chosen their holiday destination rather than when trying to narrow down their choices of destinations or when deciding on the destination. During and after the trip social media usage was found very limited. Moreover, traditional sources of information were found more trustworthy than travel related social media. However their study has two major limitations: First, their sample consisted of prospective travellers who visited and registered (as e-mail subscribers) in an official tourism website, namely the Tourism New South Wales in Australia. As a result it may be argued that the sample had already a positive predisposition, or even a preference towards official sources of information, a claim that is strengthened by the fact that among the seven sources of travel related information examined, it was the “state tourism websites” that was found to be the most trusted source. Second, the fact that the sample consisted of prospective and not of actual travellers can also be considered as a limitation, given that “significant differences have been reported between the factors considered in making an actual decision and those involved in a hypothetical decision” (Beaulieu & Schreyer, 1985, as cited in Um & Crompton, 1990, p. 433). From the above discussion and particularly from the studies that attempted to describe the impact of social media on the decision making process it is evident that most studies are medium and community specific, or focus in a specific stage of the decision making or the travel planning process, thus there is no adequate academic research about the role and impact of social media as a whole (Parra- López et al., 2011). Similarly, as it is the case in the generic consumer behaviour literature, also in tourism, there is a knowledge gap concerning the role and impact of social media as a whole throughout the decision making process and throughout the travel planning process, so that to provide a comprehensive picture on the impact of social media. This study is an attempt to address this gap. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Hypotheses Given the objectives of this study (as presented in the introduction) the following hypotheses, per each objective, have been developed in order to describe the role and impact of social media on how holidaymakers plan and consume holidays: Objective 1: To measure exposure and role of social media before, during and after the holiday trip. H1: Among the three stages of the holiday planning process, social media websites are predominantly used before the trip for information search purposes. Objective 2: To measure social media level of influence on holiday plans. H2: The higher the level of social media influence on the holiday destination or accommodation choice, the more likely is that changes would be made to holiday plans. Objective 3: To measure level of trust towards social media in relation to traditional sources of holiday related information. H3: Holiday related information provided by other travellers in various websites is more trusted than mass media advertising, travel agents and official tourism websites. Objective 4: To identify differences between holidaymakers from Russia and holidaymakers from the other FSU Republics in terms of social media usage levels, influence and trust. H4: Social media usage levels during the holiday planning process are different between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics. H5: Level of influence from social media on the choice of holiday destination Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 7 is different between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics. H6: Level of influence from social media on the choice of holiday accommodation is different between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics. H7: Level of trust to holiday related information sources is different between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics. Approaches and Methods The population of the study consists of individuals residing in Russia and the other FSU Republics who have taken at least one holiday trip during the last 12 months and who are Internet users. The time frame of 12 months has been extensively used in similar surveys (Chamberlin, 2010; Kamarulzaman, 2010; Parra-López et al., 2010). In order to describe the role and impact of social media on how holidaymakers plan and consume holidays, a quantitative study was employed using an online survey. The survey was administered via a structured online questionnaire addressed to a random subset of MASMI’s (a full market research agency with presence in 11 countries) online panel in Russia and the rest of the FSU Republics. Online panels are increasingly being employed in a variety of surveys in the areas of market, social, psychological and medical research (Callegaro & DiSogra, 2008). The questionnaire was designed exclusively for this study, however some statements and scales were borrowed from the reviewed literature, especially from Cox et al. (2009) to enable comparison of findings. A pilot study consisting of 24 survey participants enabled fine-tuning of the survey instrument. Actual data were collected in October 2010. An e-mail containing a link to the online questionnaire was sent to 900 panel members, of whom 368 completed the questionnaire within the deadlines provided, achieving a response rate of 40.8% without the use of any reminder. The response rate achieved is considered within the average rates in surveys employing online panels (Baruch, 1999; Göritz, 2007; Maronick, 2009). Not all respondents answered every question, as they had the option of doing so if they wish. As a result, 22 questionnaires were incomplete and therefore removed from further analysis, thus the total number of responses used was 346. The questionnaire provided a brief introduction with examples on what websites are considered as social media within six broad categories: Blogs, photo & video sharing, microblogs, wikis, social networking websites and travel review websites. A screening question was used to assure that participants have travelled for holidays within the last 12 months. Data were analyzed using the PASW Statistics 18 software package. The structure of the sample in relation to its demographic characteristics was as follows: In terms of gender, 65.6% were females and 34.4% males. The over representation of female respondents has also been observed in Cox et al. (2009), as well as in Gretzel et al. (2007), and to an extent it may be attributed to gender differences in the distribution of holiday-related roles (Decrop, 2006; Mottiar & Quinn, 2004). In terms of age, 18.2% were less than 25 years, 38.4% from 25 to 39, 30.9% from 40 to 54, and 12.4% 55 or older. In terms of education, 30.3% have completed secondary school, and 69.7% were university graduates. As far as the country of residence is concerned, 64.2% were residents of Russia, and 35.8% residents of the other FSU Republics. This proportion reflects approximately the actual distribution of internet users between the two regions: Russia: 60%, other Former Soviet Union Republics: 40% (InternetWorldStats, 2010). In terms of the sample’s frequency of travel, 36.4% travel less than once per year, 30.1% once per year, 19.1% twice per year, 8.1% three times per year or more and 8% did not answer this question. Research Limitations The limitations of this study are associated with the self-response nature of the sample: (a) There is no treatment for non-responses, and (b) although the sample’s distribution in terms of region of residence (Russia – other Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 8 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 FSU Republics) reflects the actual distribution of internet users between the two regions, this is not the case within the other FSU Republics subsample: Although all other FSU Republics are represented, Belarus accounts for 8% of the sample, while it represents 4% of the Russia & FSU’s actual population of internet users; similarly Ukraine accounts for 24% of the sample, while it represents 15% of the Russia & FSU’s actual population of internet users. RESULTS Use of Social Media The vast majority of respondents (97%) answered that during the last 12 months they have visited a social media website, with no significant differences in gender, age, level of education, region of residence (Russia vs. FSU Republics) and frequency of travel. In terms of level of use, almost half (49%) of all respondents visited social media websites several times a day, 36% almost every day, 9% only sometimes per week, and 3% very rarely. Level of use was found to be differentiated by age, χ2(15, Ν = 346) = 34.99, p = .01, and level of education, χ2(5, Ν = 346) = 11.92, p = .04. More specifically, 94% of respondents below 25 visit social media websites “several times a day” or “almost every day”, whereas among 55 and over the same usage level decreases to 72%. In terms of level of education, 88% of university graduates visit social media websites “several times a day” or “almost every day”, whereas among those who completed secondary school the same usage level decreases to 79%. On the contrary, level of use was not found to be differentiated in terms of gender, region of residence (Russia vs. FSU Republics) and frequency of travel. Exposure to and Role of Social Media During the Holiday Planning Process To describe exposure to and role of social media during the holiday planning process, respon- dents were requested to think back (a) before their departure to their last holiday, (b) during their last holiday, and (c) after their last holiday. For each of these three holiday planning stages, respondents were asked (with multiple response questions) in which instances they visited or used any social media websites. Table 1 reveals that there are different levels of social media use during each of the three stages. Moreover, within each stage there are different reasons that made them use social media websites. During the “before holidays” stage, searching for ideas on where to go for holidays, and seeking ideas and information on excursions and other leisure activities, were the two most popular instances chosen by 45% and 42% of all respondents respectively. The least popular instance was when trying to narrow down their choices of destinations, chosen by 24% of all respondents. The study did not reveal any significant differences among age groups, level of education, and region of residence (Russia vs. FSU Republics) as per the use of social media websites during the “before holidays” stage. The only two significant differences were observed when using social media after the final choice of destination when looking to confirm that a good destination choice was made and are related to gender, χ2(1, Ν = 346) = 4.64, p = .03, and travel frequency patterns, χ2(3, Ν = 324) = 9.35, p = .03. More specifically, 35% of females used social media for that purpose as opposed to 24% of men; and 44% of those who travel “twice a year” used social media as opposed to 23% of those who travel “less often than once per year”. During their holidays, respondents primarily used social media to stay connected with friends (50%), and to a lesser extent to find out information about specific attractions and leisure activities (30%). Providing comments and reviews about the holiday experience, during the trip, was an activity that engaged only 16.5% of respondents, although there seems to be significant differences among age groups, χ2(3, Ν = 346) =10.62, p = .01. More specifically, 25% of respondents below 25 years engaged in such activity during their holidays, Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 9 Table 1. Use of social media during the holiday planning process Holiday Planning Stage Before Holidays All Respondents (N=346) Russians (n=222) Other FSU (n=124) Statement χ2 Value (p Value) .402 (.526) .108 (.742) .324 (.569) % of Respondents When beginning to search for ideas on where to go for holidays When trying to narrow down my choices of destinations After I finally chosen my destination and I was looking to confirm that I made a good destination choice When I had already chosen my destination, but was seeking ideas and information on accommodation options When I had already chosen my destination, but was seeking ideas and information on excursions and other leisure activities 44.5 24.0 43.2 23.4 46.8 25.0 30.9 32.0 29.0 34.4 32.0 38.7 1.596 (.206) 41.6 40.5 43.5 .296 (.586) .718 (.397) .030 (.863) .058 (.809) .183 (.669) .333 (.564) 1.015 (.314) 4.713 (.030)* During Holidays When trying to find out information about specific attractions and leisure activities When I wanted to provide comments and reviews about my holiday experience To stay connected with friends I visited / used social media websites, but were not directly related to information I was looking for my holidays 29.5 27.9 32.3 16.5 49.1 16.2 48.6 16.9 50.0 15.0 14.4 16.1 Post Holidays To share my experiences and photos with my friends and / or other travellers To provide evaluation and reviews about my accommodation and /or my holiday destination I am a regular visitor of travel related social media, so to have ideas as an inspiration for my next holidays 78.3 79.3 76.6 26.6 28.4 23.4 29.2 25.2 36.3 (*) p < .05 20% of those between 25 and 39, but only 9% of those between 40 and 54 and equally among those above 55. After their holidays, respondents primarily used social media to share their experiences and photos with their friends and / or other travellers (78%) and to a much lesser extent (29%) Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 10 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 to provide them with ideas as inspirations to their next holidays. Use of social media as an inspiration for the next holidays seems to be an activity that enjoys different popularity between Russians and users from the other FSU Republics, χ2(1, Ν = 346) = 4.71, p = .03. More specifically, 36% of respondents from the other FSU Republics engaged in such activity, as opposed to 25% of Russians. Lastly, 27% of all respondents used social media after their holidays to provide evaluation and reviews about their accommodation and /or their holiday destination, an activity that differentiates only among age groups, χ2(3, Ν = 346) = 12.28, p = .01. More than a third (36%) of respondents between 25 and 39 engaged in such activity, as opposed to 22% of those aged 40 and 54, and only 12% of those aged over 55. As it can be seen in Table 1, among the three stages of the holiday planning process, social media websites are predominantly used (by 78% of all respondents) after the trip for the purpose of sharing experiences and photos with friends and / or other travellers. As a result hypothesis H1 (Among the three stages of the holiday planning process, social media websites are predominantly used before the trip for information search purposes) is rejected. Such a finding is in contrast with Cox et al. (2009) who using similar statements found that social media sites are predominantly used during the information search stage of the travel planning process (as indicated by 28% of their respondents), whereas only 5% used social media websites after their trip to share experiences with other travellers. To test hypothesis H4 (Social media usage levels during the holiday planning process are different between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics) a series of chi-square tests were performed to assess significant differences in social media use between the two groups: Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics. As it can also be seen in Table 1, among the 12 statements examined, Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics seem to differentiate only in “I am a regular visitor of travel related social media, so to have ideas as an inspiration for my next holidays”, χ2(1, Ν = 346) = 4.71, p = .03, and as a result hypothesis H4 is rejected. Level of Influence on Holiday Plans Level of social media influence on holiday planning was assessed in terms of (a) choice of destination; (b) choice of accommodation; and (c) changes made to holiday plans before the final decision. More specifically, respondents were asked “Think again back, when you were planning your last holiday trip. Please indicate on a scale of 1 to 7, how much you were influenced on your choice of destination by the information you found in social media websites provided by other users / consumers / holiday makers. Please select 1 if the information was not influential at all and 7 if the information was very influential”. A similar question was used for choice of accommodation. Moreover, respondents were asked whether before their final holiday decisions they made any changes to their original plans because of other travellers’ opinions, reviews, photos, videos, or other information that they found in social media websites. Table 2 presents the mean scores expressing level of social media influence on destination choice and on accommodation choice. Independent samples t-tests and oneway analysis of variance were conducted to test whether differences in gender, education level, age, or frequency of travel can infer differences in the level of social media influence on the choice of destination and accommodation, but the findings did not reveal differences of statistical significance. To test hypothesis H5 (Level of influence from social media on the choice of holiday destination is different between Russians and the residents of the other FSU Republics), and H6 (Level of influence from social media on the choice of holiday accommodation is different between Russians and the residents of the other FSU Republics) the independent samples t-test was employed. As shown in Table 2, in relation to social media influence on destination Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 11 Table 2. Social media level of influence on destination and accommodation choice Influence on Destination Choice Influence on Accommodation Choice n All Respondents who Visited Social Media Sites before Departure Russians Residents of other FSU Republics Mean Scores* (SD) 270 168 102 4.84 (1.63) 4.88 (1.64) 4.77 (1.62) t(268) = .49, p = .63 4.61 (1.81) 4.64 (1.75) 4.57 (1.91) t(266) = .29, p = .77 (*) Mean scores are based on 7-point Likert scales where: 1 = Not influential at all, and 7 = Very influential choice, the differences observed between the mean values of Russians and the residents of the other FSU Republics are not significant, t(268) = .49, p = .63, therefore H5 is rejected. In a similar manner, in relation to social media influence on accommodation choice, the differences observed between the mean values of Russians and the residents of the other FSU Republics are not significant, t(266) = .29, p = .77, and therefore H6 is also rejected. To assess change in holiday plans, respondents who visited social media websites while they were still planning their holiday trip (n=273 or 80% of all survey participants) were asked: “Before your final decisions about your last holiday, did you make any changes to your original holiday plans because of other travellers’ opinions, reviews, photos, videos, or other information that you found in social media websites?” More than six out of ten (65%) answered that they made some sort of changes to their original holiday plans: 50% described them as “few changes” and 15% as “significant changes”, while 34% answered that they did not make any changes. Level of education seems to be the only variable, among those examined, to be related to changes in holiday plans, χ2(3, Ν = 273) = 12.32, p = .01, as 69% of university graduates made either significant or few changes, as opposed to 53% of secondary school graduates. To test hypothesis H2 (the higher the level of social media influence on the holiday destina- tion or accommodation choice, the more likely is that changes would be made to holiday plans), the Pearson correlation test was employed. As presented in Table 3, the Pearson correlation test evidences that (a) as influence from social media on destination choice increases the more likely is that there are changes in the holiday plans, r(268) = .34, p <.001; and (b) as influence from social media on accommodation choice increases the more likely is that there are changes in the holiday plans, r(268) = .27, p <.001. As a result hypothesis H2 is accepted. Trust Towards Social Media and Traditional Sources of Information Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with seven statements in the form of “I trust information about holidays provided by...” followed by the information source. Level of agreement to each statement was measured with a 7-point Likert scale where 1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree. As it can be seen in Table 4, friends and relatives are the most trustworthy source of information, followed by information provided by other travellers in various websites, whereas advertisements in mass media are the least trustworthy among the information sources examined. The findings of this study are not in agreement with those of Cox et al. (2009) who using the same scale found that official tourism websites (MCox et al.= 5.65, SD = N/A) and travel agents (MCox et al.= 4.82, SD = Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 12 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 Table 3. Social media level of influence and change in original holiday plans Before your final decision about your last holiday, did you make any changes to your holiday plans because of other traveller’s opinions, reviews, photos, videos, or other information that you found in social media websites? I am not sure / cannot remember if I made any changes I did not make any changes I did make few changes to my original holiday plans I did make significant changes to my original holiday plans Pearson Correlation test: % of Respondents (n=273) 2.2% 33.7% 49.5% 14.7% Influence on Destination Choice Influence on Accommodation Choice Mean Scores* (SD) 2.75 (1.50) 4.10 (1.80) 5.25 (1.37) 5.35 (1.21) r(268) = .34, p <.001 2.75 (2.36) 3.93 (1.91) 5.02 (1.58) 5.00 (1.73) r(268) = .27, p <.001 (*) Measured on a 7-point Likert scale, where: 1 = Not influential at all, 7 = Very influential Table 4. Level of trust in holiday-related information sources All Respondents (N=346) I trust information about holidays provided by… Friends and relatives Information provided by other travellers in various websites Social media Official tourism websites (state / government owned) Shows or documentaries in TV, in radio, or articles in newspapers and magazines Travel agents Advertisements in TV, radio, newspapers and magazines 6.36 (1.14) 5.15 (1.41) 4.61 (1.37) 4.36 (1.57) 3.97 (1.45) 3.83 (1.36) 3.56 (1.35) Russians (n=222) Mean* (SD) 6.32 (1.15) 5.00** (1.45) 4.52 (1.40) 4.36 (1.67) 3.94 (1.50) 3.86 (1.42) 3.54 (1.40) 6.43 (1.13) 5.41** (1.29) 4.77 (1.30) 4.34 (1.37) 4.02 (1.36) 3.79 (1.26) 3.60 (1.26) Other FSU (n=124) t Value (p Value) -.805 (.421) -2.691 (.008) -1.644 (.101) .157 (.875) -.509 (.611) .429 (.668) -.454 (.650) (*) Measured on a 7-point Likert scale where 1=Strongly Disagree, 7 = Strongly Agree (**) p < .05 N/A) are more trusted in comparison to “comments made by travellers on third party sites e.g., TripAdvisor” (MCox et al.= 4.56, SD = N/A). One potential reason to explain the increased level of trust in official tourism websites observed in Cox et al. (2009) may be the fact that their sample was taken from the database of e-mail subscribers of a destination’s official tourism website, namely the Tourism New South Wales in Australia. As a result, it may be argued that the sample had Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 13 Table 5. Comparing level of trust between official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising, with information provided by other travellers in various websites Test Value = 5.15* I trust information about holidays provided by… Official tourism websites (state / government owned) Travel agents Advertisements in TV, radio, newspapers and magazines Mean** for All Respondents N=346 (SD) 4.36 (1.57) 3.83 (1.36) 3.56 (1.35) t Value d.f. p Value -9.442 -18.019 -21.890 345 345 345 .000*** .000*** .000*** (*) 5.15 is the mean value of the level of trust with information provided by other travellers in various websites (**) Measured on a 7-point Likert scale where 1=Strongly Disagree, 7 = Strongly Agree (***) p < .05 a positive predisposition or even a preference towards official sources of information. To test hypothesis H7 (Level of trust to holiday related information sources is different between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics) independent samples t-tests were performed. As presented in Table 4, among the seven information sources examined “Information provided by other travellers in various websites” is the only source for which significant differences on the level of trust were observed between Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics, t(281) = -2.69, p < .01, therefore hypothesis H7 is rejected. To test hypothesis H3 (Holiday related information provided by other travellers in various websites are more trusted than mass media advertising, travel agents and official tourism websites) one-sample t-tests were performed in order to examine if the value of 5.15 (observed as a mean level of trust of information provided by other travellers in various websites) is significantly different to the means observed for official tourism websites, travel agents and mass media advertising. As presented in Table 5, in all three cases p < .001, therefore hypothesis H3 is accepted. CONCLUSION This paper contributes to the current literature on the impact of social media on travel planning. Contrary to the majority of existing studies that are medium or community specific, or focus in a specific stage of the decision making or the travel planning process, this study attempts to provide a comprehensive picture on the impact of social media as a whole, throughout the decision making process and throughout the travel planning process: before, during and after the holiday trip. Social media are used during all stages of the holiday planning process (before, during and after holidays), however, to a different extent and for a different purpose. In contrast to the findings of Cox et al. (2009) who found that social media are predominantly used during the information search stage of the travel planning process, this study evidences that Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics use social media predominantly during the post-trip stage for sharing experiences and photos with friends and / or other travellers. It may be argued that such a finding is associated with Russian’s high level of engagement with Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 14 International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 social networking websites (comScore, 2010), although residents of the other FSU Republics do not seem to differentiate. The second most popular use of social media was observed during holidays, as means that enable travellers to stay connected with friends. Both the first and the second most popular uses of social media observed in this study may be attributed to the very low individualist, very high collectivist nature of the Russian culture, scoring only 39 on Hofstede’s individualism index (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). During the “before the holidays” stage, travellers used social media primarily as a source of ideas on destination selection, information on excursions and other leisure activities and information on accommodation options. Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics were not found to be different in terms of social media usage levels and scope during the travel planning process apart from one instance: During the post-holidays stage, and in particular during the so called “dreaming stage” for the purpose of gathering ideas as inspirations for their next holidays. Such an activity was favoured more by residents of the other FSU Republics rather than Russians. In terms of influence, social media were rated as “somehow influential” on both destination and accommodation choice. However, more than six out of ten (65%) respondents stated that they indeed made some sort of changes to their original plans because of exposure to usergenerated content in social media websites, with 50% describing them as “few changes” and 15% as “significant changes”. Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics were not found to be different in terms of social media influence on their destination or accommodation choice. Moreover, the present study reveals a strong correlation between social media level of influence on destination and accommodation choice, and the changes made in holiday plans before final decisions were taken. More specifically, as the perceived level of influence from social media on destination choice increases, the more likely is that there were changes to holiday plans in terms of destination selection. Similarly, as perceived influence from social media on accommodation choice increases the more likely is that there were changes in the holiday plans in terms of accommodation selection. This study also examined the perceived level of trust of seven holiday related information sources: Official tourism websites, publicity and advertorials in mass media (i.e., TV or radio shows and documentaries, newspapers and magazines’ articles), advertisements in mass media, travel agents, social media, friends and relatives, and information from other travellers in various websites. Among those, friends and relatives were rated as the most trusted source, followed by information from other travellers in various websites. In contrast to the findings of Cox et al. (2009) who found that state tourism websites and travel agents outscored, in terms of trust, comments by other travellers found in third party sites (i.e., TripAdvisor), blogs and social network sites, this study found that information from other travellers in various websites is trusted more than official tourism websites, and travel agents. Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics were not found to be different in the perceived level of trust of the sources examined apart from the “information provided by other travellers in various websites” that seem to enjoy a higher level of trust among residents of the other FSU Republics rather than among Russians. Finally, it should be stated that a comparison of the findings of this study to that of Cox et al. (2009), at least for the constructs that are identically operationalized in both studies, contributes to the empirical confirmation of the claim made by Gretzel et al. (2008) that there are differences in terms of social media adoption and use among national markets. More than that, such a comparison suggests that among national markets, apart from differences in social media adoption and use, there are also indications for differences in the level of trust towards social media. Such differences may not be present in closely related national cultures (as this study evidences by examining Russians and residents of the other FSU Republics), however, there are indications that differences are present Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 15 between distant national cultures as per the case of Australians and Russians. Those two cultures differ significantly as per Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: In power distance index Russia scores 93 while Australia 36; in individualism index Australia 90 and Russia 39; in uncertainty avoidance index Russia 95 and Australia 51; and finally in masculinity index Australia 61 and Russia 36 (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). Managerial Implications This study provides insights and guidelines to industry practitioners to enable them fine tune their social media campaigns. First, this study evidences that social media are being used during all stages of the travel planning process, however to a different extent and for a different scope. Second, in combination with the work of Cox et al. (2009) this study provides preliminary indications that national source tourism markets behave differently not only in terms of social media adoption and usage levels, but also in terms of scope of use, as well as in perceived levels of trust among travel related information sources. Such a finding clearly suggests that national source markets should be studied individually prior to the design and implementation of social media campaigns. Third, the “during the holidays” stage remains a challenging domain, as social media seem to be used primarily for maintaining contact with friends, while providing comments and reviews on the spot is a least preferred activity. Fourth, in terms of the context of this research, there are only minor differences between Russia and the other FSU Republics source markets in terms of the impact of social media on the holiday planning process, therefore, there is no need for major differentiation in social media campaigns aiming at travellers in those two regions. process. Moreover, taking into account (a) the findings of Cox et al. (2009) among Australian internet users, despite its limitation related to the nature of the participants (sample drawn from a mailing list of an official tourism website); and (b) the findings of the present study, it can be claimed that the impact of social media on holiday related travel planning differs among tourism source markets, with cultural differences being a factor that potentially contributes to such a difference, however, an adequate number of cross-cultural studies are needed to substantiate such a claim. REFERENCES Akehurst, G. (2009). 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Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4), 1-19, October-December 2011 19 John Fotis is a tourism and hospitality marketing consultant, currently on a fulltime PhD scholarship at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University, researching the impact of social media on consumer behaviour with focus on leisure travel planning. He also serves as a part-time lecturer teaching tourism & hospitality marketing, as well as supervising postgraduate students. Before moving to Bournemouth University, during his 17 years of industry experience, John served in various tourism and hospitality marketing executive positions working, or consulting for hotel groups, destination management companies, tourism promotion organizations, and tourism associations. He has been involved in a number of EU funded tourism related projects and he is regularly invited as a speaker in international conferences. John holds an MSc (Distinction) in Tourism Marketing from the University of Surrey, and a BSc (Distinction) in Business Administration from the American College of Greece. Dimitrios Buhalis is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Technology and Tourism. He is currently Established Chair in Tourism and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research (ICTHR) and Director of the John Kent Institute in Tourism at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University and Professorial Observer at the Bournemouth University Senate. He is also the President of the International Federation of Information Technology for Travel and Tourism (IFITT). He is regarded as an expert in the impacts of ICTs in the tourism industry, the management of tourism distribution channels as well as in strategic tourism marketing and management. He has recently included accessible tourism in his research portfolio. Dimitrios has been involved with a number of European Commission FP5 and FP6 projects and regularly advises the World Tourism Organisation, the World Tourism and Travel Council and the European Commission on eTourism. Nicos Rossides is Partner and Group CEO of MASMI, a leading independent market research agency with a network of offices across Europe and the Middle East. Prior to joining MASMI in 2007, he was CEO for Synovate’s CEEME region and its Global Head of Solutions. Previously, he was Group MD of MEMRB International, the custom research arm of which was acquired by the Aegis Group (Synovate) in 2001. Nicos has spent more than 25 years in market research and consulting, with particular experience in developing research infrastructures in Central/Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Before becoming a market researcher, Nicos was Senior Research Fellow at Kyoto University, where he received a Doctor of Engineering degree in Urban Planning. A Fulbright and Mombusho scholar, he also received senior management training at MIT’s Sloan School. Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.