Influence of interactivity on social media in travel consumption

Abstract

This article seeks to understand how interactivity between social media users influences travel consumption habits. To this end, aspects of influence on travel consumption were identified and classified using online media Instagram. From the perspective of methodological procedures, nine interviews were conducted with Instagram users. The first individuals interviewed were chosen because the researchers had prior knowledge that they were Instagram users and follow other users who publish content of travel images they carry out. From then on, the snowball technique was used to identify other subjects for the investigation. The methodology adopted includes qualitative procedures using the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011), including the analysis and categorization procedures. The results identified that the habit of interacting in social networks makes the users of Instagram, while sharing images of their trips, become active promoters of tourism. The intangibility of the tourist destination benefits from this visual exposure via social networks, making it a tangible image and allowing a virtual experience through Instagram. The formation and perception of the image of a tourist destination through this social network bring the individuals close to their peers, exhibiting trips and experiences of friends and the like.