TRAVEL INFLUENCERS AND INFLUENCER MARKETING IN TOURISM: THE CASE OF LIBYA

Abstract

Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular tool for promoting tourism, but the use of this strategy in Libya is not well understood and it is not widely implemented. The current study is meant to investigate the existing situation of influencer marketing in the tourism industry in Libya, a country that is currently facing political and economic challenges after the Arabic spring. A qualitative research design was used, with the utilization of online interviews as the primary source of data collection. The participants in the study were selected through a random sampling technique and included two travel influencers, two tourism professionals, and four travel agency managers. The interviews were conducted in the form of online video meetings which they were held through the google meet application and the data collected was scrutinized and then grouped accordingly using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the current use of influencer marketing in promoting tourism in Libya is limited. Some participants reported that they have not yet implemented influencer marketing in their tourism promotions, while others have recently begun working with a few travel influencers on Instagram. The study also found that the main challenges faced by participants in implementing influencer marketing in their tourism promotions are identifying the right influencers and measuring the success of influencer marketing campaigns. Participants reported difficulties in finding influencers with a large following who are also knowledgeable about and passionate about Libyan tourism. This aligns with the literature which indicates that recognizing suitable influencers is one of the main challenges of influencer marketing.