Social Media in Tourism and Hospitality: A Literature Review
Abstract
Being one of the “mega trends” that has significantly impacted the tourism system, the role and use of social media in travelers' decision making and in tourism operations and management have been widely discussed in tourism and hospitality research. This study reviews and analyzes all extant social media-related research articles published in academic journals during 2007 to 2011, mainly in tourism and hospitality fields. Based on a content analysis on the analyzed articles from both the consumers' and the suppliers' perspectives, this article found that consumer-centric studies generally focused on the use and impact of social media in the research phase of the travelers' travel planning process. Supplier-related studies have concentrated closely on promotion, management, and research functions, but few discussed product distribution. Research findings thoroughly demonstrate the strategic importance of social media for tourism competitiveness. This study also contributes to the academia and industry by identifying some research voids in extant research and providing an agenda for future research.
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Cites
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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Online social media play a significant role in creating electronic word-of-mouth.
“In addition to professional systems, online social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, FourSquare, Sina Weibo, and GooglePlus, play a significant role in creating electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) (Confente, 2015;Garcia-Pablos et al., 2016;Leung et al., 2013;Phillips et al., 2017).”
From Sentiment Analysis in Tourism: Capitalizing on Big Data (2019) · cites this paper as Leung et al., 2013
Cites
Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010) · Business Horizons · doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003 · Cited by 17,875 · see citing works
Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011) · Business Horizons · doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005 · Cited by 4,970 · see citing works
Buhalis, D., & Law, R. (2008) · Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2008.01.005 · Cited by 3,823 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Alike other review studies in different research areas (e.g., Buhalis & Law, 2008; Jang & Park, 2011), this study only analyzed full-length articles published in refereed academic journals, mainly in the tourism and hospitality fields.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationThe impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust
Sparks, B. A., & Browning, V. (2011) · Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2010.12.011 · Cited by 1,688 · see citing works
Defensive Marketing Strategy by Customer Complaint Management: A Theoretical Analysis
Fornell, C., & Wernerfelt, B. (1987) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/002224378702400401 · Cited by 1,395 · see citing works
User generated content: the use of blogs for tourism organisations and tourism consumers
Akehurst, G. (2009) · Service Business · doi:10.1007/s11628-008-0054-2 · Cited by 422 · see citing works
Understanding the intention to follow the advice obtained in an online travel community
Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Guinalíu, M. (2011) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.013 · Cited by 318 · see citing works
Social Media and Crisis Management in Tourism: Applications and Implications for Research
Sigala, M. (2011) · Information Technology & Tourism · doi:10.3727/109830512x13364362859812 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
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Sentiment Analysis in Tourism: Capitalizing on Big Data
Alaei, A. R., Becken, S., & Stantic, B. (2019) · Journal of Travel Research · doi:10.1177/0047287517747753 · Cited by 622 · see citing works
Tourism analytics with massive user-generated content: a case study of Barcelona
Marine-Roig, E., & Anton Clavé, S. (2015) · Journal of Destination Marketing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.jdmm.2015.06.004 · Cited by 356 · see citing works
Kim, W. G., & Park, S. A. (2017) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-11-2015-0627 · Cited by 162 · see citing works
Twenty‐Five Years of Word‐of‐Mouth Studies: A Critical Review of Tourism Research
Confente, I. (2015) · International Journal of Tourism Research · doi:10.1002/jtr.2029 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Social media in operations and supply chain management: State-of-the-Art and research directions
Huang, S., Potter, A., & Eyers, D. (2020) · International Journal of Production Research · doi:10.1080/00207543.2019.1702228 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Saini, H., Kumar, P., & Oberoi, S. (2023) · Cogent Social Sciences · doi:10.1080/23311886.2023.2240055 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Twitter usage in Tourism: Literature Review
Ćurlin, T., Jaković, B., & Miloloža, I. (2019) · Business Systems Research Journal · doi:10.2478/bsrj-2019-0008 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Bui, H. T., & Filimonau, V. (2021) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-03-2021-0330 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Mao, R., Gu, X., & Gu, Y. (2026) · Current Issues in Tourism · doi:10.1080/13683500.2026.2722194 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Leung, D., Law, R., van Hoof, H., & Buhalis, D.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Bournemouth University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Leung, Daniel
- Venue
- Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 3-22
- ISSN
- 1054-8408 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-7306
- OpenAlex
- W2124228948
- Cited by
- 1,557
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 97 · 2025: 98 · 2024: 121 · 2023: 163 · 2022: 166 · 2021: 157 · 2020: 179 · 2019: 162 · 2018: 116 · 2017: 104 · 2016: 80 · 2015: 66 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 197.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing (publishedVersion)
- PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion)
- Memoria digital de Canarias (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- social media, tourism, hospitality, tourist decision-making, tourism planning, tourism marketing, tourism competitiveness, social media marketing, product distribution, research agenda
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