Social Media as a Tool for Promoting Tourist Destinations in the Municipality of San Rafael, Bulacan, Philippines

Abstract

The study was conducted on the Municipality of San Rafael Bulacan, Philippines It focused on recognizing the impact, determined the relation and identified the effectiveness of Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok as advertisements towards tourist destinations in the Municipality of San Rafael Bulacan, Philippines. San Rafael is a first-class municipality in the Philippine province of Bulacan. It has a population of 103,097 people according to the 2020 census. With Metro Manila's ongoing expansion, San Rafael is now part of the Greater Manila built-up suburb area, which extends all the way to San Ildefonso, Bulacan in the North. San Rafael is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Manila, the country's capital. A descriptive correlational design is used in the research study. The respondents were 50 working employees and 50 tourists from San Rafael River Adventure, The Spot, The Viewpoint Grape & Dragon Fruit Farm + Bambu Cafe, Hey Brew Cafe and Bypass Grill & Restaurant. Facebook is the most effective platform for looking for and promoting tourist destinations on social media. Twice a week is how often the respondents post and see the promotion of tourist destinations, and between 12:01 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. is the time when respondents usually see and post the promotion of tourist destinations on social media. The image-based, audio-based and textbased content sometimes attracts the interest of the respondents. While, video-based always attract their interest when looking for a tourist destination.Owned is the most seen and used nature of post according to the findings of the study. Natural paid promotion is the most seen than paid promotion. In addition, the actual tourist is the one who endorses the tourist destinations and Facebook is the most effective platform for looking for and promoting tourist destinations on social media in boost according to the findings of the study.