The Influence Of Social Media In Tourism Decision-Making: Case Of The Moroccan As A Tourist

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of social media in destination decisionmaking form the point of view of a Moroccan traveller.The choice of a topic addressing the correlation between social media and destination decision-making was first made during the daily use of social networks by noting that brands and destinations increasingly invested these platforms by adapting their mode of communication.The Moroccan tourist is a connected tourist,who uses social media and internet for various reasons,and choosing a tourist destination is one of them.Influence of social media in destination decision-making,some people think there is a significant influence,some people think there is no significant influence.In the destination decision we find a variation due to other contextual attributes such as travel purposes,composition of travel party and budget considerations.However little is known as to what attributes account for social media influence in destination choice.Such a knowledge gap has provided a justification for the conducting of this research.To answer the main question of our research “What are the circumstantial aspects identifying the levels of social media influence in destination decision-making?”,the thesis used a qualitative approach with an exploratory nature,by studying a sample of Moroccan travel decision makers.In fact,a total of 19 interviews were conducted in a phone call through Whats App.The theoretical frameworks utilized focuses on destination choice,and particularly defined to the stages of evaluation of alternatives and the decision stage.The findings implied that social media was used to support the pre selection of destination for most of the participants,they also implied that social media use and influence depend on the level of social media involvement,while taking in consideration the the degree of familiarity of destination and the complexity of planning.It was also identified that,social media shows varying degrees of influence due to perceived credibility levels.The study highlighted four criteria to assess this credibility: visual evidence,perceived similarity,quantity of comments and detailed comments.This thesis illustrated that social media influence need to be implied in the traveler attributes,purpose of travel and destination type.