Welcome to the destination! Social media influencers as cogent determinant of travel decision: A systematic literature review and conceptual framework

Abstract

Sharing online content on social media platforms has opened the door to a new era of marketing communication in many fields, including tourism. This paper concentrates on the role of social media influencers’ (SMI’s) content, their follower ratio and regular engagement in travel decision-making keeping trust as a mediating factor. Emerald, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Scopus are used to conduct a comprehensive literature search. To do so, this study conducts a comprehensive systematic review of 36 publications on social media, influencers and travel decision-making using the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews protocol. The proposed conceptual model offers insights into how travellers embrace the attributes of social media influencers while making travel decisions. Building on the framework and the respective constructs proposed in the present study contributes to augmenting social engagement characteristics of SMIs to strengthen the tourism business ecosystem for the future. There is a need for a partnership between SMIs and destination marketing organisations (DMOs), which would tap into their vast potential. DMOs can leverage the power of SMIs to connect with potential travellers and cultivate dependable relationships with their followers by understanding the relationship between the elements that affect travellers’ decision-making during the trip planning process.

Keywords

• destination marketing
• travel decision
• social media influencers
• content generation and trust building