SOCIAL MEDIA in the TOURISM INDUSTRY

The advances in Information and Communication technologies (ICT) and the phenomenal success in terms of adoption and usage levels of social media by the global society in the last decades, have caused paradigm shifts in how people connect and communicate with each other, how they express and share ideas, and even how they engage with products, brands, and organizations. In travel and tourism, the impact of social media has been even more extraordinary, bringing unprecedented opportunities and challenges, primarily due to the experiential nature of tourism products. The combined sector of travel and accommodation is heavily ICT dependent (Buhalis and Licata, 2002). Tourists are connected at each stage of travel and seek real time interaction with tourism suppliers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A strong social media presence is, therefore, increasingly critical for tourism suppliers. This is true for both business to consumer companies such as hospitality firms, which need to directly and instantly interface with their customers, and also business to business companies, such as tour operators, since the disintermediation of the tourism supply chain has shortened the distance between the travel suppliers and tourists and the need to be connected is on the rise. Moreover, customer pressure has a strong influence on e-communication practices through travel agencies. The aim of this thesis is to observe the state-of-play of social media usage and knowledge by two opposite sides of the tourism supply chain. A predominantly BtoB industry (tour operators) and a BtoC industry (hospitality). A literature review research and an empirical research for each of the industries have been conducted. The results of the systematic reviews assess the need for further and deeper research on social media issues in the Hospitality business and, even more, in the Tour Operator Industry. The findings of the empirical researches indicates? tourism suppliers, both TO and hospitality firms are generally lagging behind in social media integration and their perception of the positive impacts of its usage is still low. Managerial implications and recomendations for future research are provided.