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

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Purpose This 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/approach An 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. Findings PLS-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 implications This 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/value To 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.