Tourists Awareness, Expectations, and Challenges Encountered in the use of Social Media Promotion of Tourist Attractions

Abstract

Social media marketing has increased in popularity in the tourist sector because it allows businesses to communicate directly with customers through various Internet platforms, as well as monitor and respond to client comments and assessments of services. This paper focused on the awareness of tourists about the use of social media promotions of tourist attractions. Also, this paper described the expectations of tourists in using social media promotions of tourist attractions. Furthermore, challenges encountered by tourists in using social media promotions of tourist attractions were determined. This study used a descriptive-quantitative method. A total of 89 users of social media promotions of tourist attractions in Nueva Ecija were involved in this study. Tourist respondents are aware that this is a new approach for marketing tool where tourism establishments provide not only basic information of the attractions but even reviews, answers to queries, and the management profile giving them a complete assessment of tourism establishments’ performance and how satisfied are the customers. Furthermore, they expected that social media promotions could provide good customer relations and services. However, there were still challenges encountered when using this marketing strategy such as there are hidden charges, display photo advertisements are different from the actual, and some information are inaccurate as they transact to the tourism establishments. The researcher recommends that in using social media promotions, tourists should be assertive to know all the details of the tourism establishments and attractions before confirming their bookings or reservations.