Investigating Different Social Media Platforms Used by Tourists to Book a Hotel in Greece

Abstract

The tourism industry has been recognized as one of the largest economic sector in Greece. The expansion of social media has contributed to introducing new digital marketing tools and changed the way tourist acquire and digest information in the decision-making process to book a hotel. The aim of this quantitative research is to investigate the different types of social media platforms used by tourists to book a hotel in Greece. Descriptive analysis was employed to analyze the data (N= 171) from tourists in Greece. The findings revealed that the majority of participants used TripAdvisor, Instagram and Nikana.gr to book a hotel in Greece, followed by grecia.directbooking.ro and Booking.com receiving lower percentages. Moreover, the guests’ reviews of the hotel, the photos and shots of the hotel on the social media platforms and special offers and discounts on hotels’ social media were the three main participants’ criteria for choosing social media to book a hotel. This study provides an insight for all the relevant stakeholders involved with social media in the travel and hospitality sector more specifically in the hotel field in Greece.