Unveiling the tourist's social media cycle: use of social media during travel decision-making

PurposeThis study aims to explore when and for what purpose is social media used by tourists in their decision-making; and to further interpret the nature of such usage.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire was administered to 530 Indians who qualified as recent tourists and social media users. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyse hypothesised relationships; the results helped us to unveil the tourist social media cycle which is a conceptual model of the results obtained.FindingsPLS-SEM results indicate that social media is predominantly used in the pre-travel stage for evaluation purposes, during travel stage for purchase purposes and post-travel stage for post-purchase behaviour. Also, it is noted that social media use by a tourist is an ongoing process, and thus, a conceptual model in the form of tourist social media cycle is unveiled.Practical implicationsThis study reveals the unique behaviour of Indian tourists with respect to using social media for travel decision-making, which establishes a different perspective of understanding and further strategizing social media's use in tourism for a developing nation. Also, the tourist social media cycle stresses on the importance of social media as a digital repository where continuously the user-generated content is used by self (existing) or "others" (potential tourists).Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study that addresses the population and knowledge gap of understanding social media-based tourist behaviour providing a perspective of a developing nation, specifically India. Further, it unveils the nature of social media use by tourist in the form of a first ever tourist social media cycle.