Beyond travel! What’s TRENDing in sustainable tourism? An investigation through the lens of travel influencers’

Abstract

This study aims to identify factors that social media travel influencers (SMTIs) perceive to contribute to the long-term success of tourist destinations. This qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with 22 SMTIs who have a significant presence on different social media platforms. The study identifies five major factors contributing to sustainable tourism which are timings of content sharing, responsible behavior, engagement with followers, promoting natural attractions, and destination image (TREND). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies reporting the perspective of SMTIs on sustainable tourism.

Keywords

Social media travel influencers engagement destination image sustainable tourism

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