Authors: Athina Nella
Title: Family travel behavior through the lens of highly influential bloggers: a qualitative approach based on content from the UK market
Abstract
Social media (SM) and User Generated Content (UGC) have become not only important parts of our everyday lives but also a highly competitive field for destination marketers using their power to influence visitors. Research in social media marketing has grown significantly during the past 20 years thus urging tourism and hospitality scholars to fill the gap of theory building, by providing a number of literature reviews (e.g. Leung, Law, Van Hoof & Buhalis, 2013; Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014; Sotiriadis, 2017; Lu, Chen & Law 2018; Chu, Deng & Cheng, 2020).
Creating and sharing brand destination stories through social media is crucial for visitor’s decision-making (Rather, 2020). Gómez, Lopez & Molina (2019) showed that UGC shared through social media has a stronger impact on brand engagement compared to firm-created social media communication. Organic information sources (solicited or not) generated by tourists appear as more influential for destination image creation than information created by DMOs (Huerta-Álvarez, Cambra-Fierro & Fuentes-Blasco, 2020). Within this context, influencers and their impact on travelers’ decision making are drawing research attention (Femenia-Serra, Gretzel & Alzua-Sorzabal, 2022).
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the influencer marketing literature by exploring tourism behavior as depicted through the lens and content of family travel influencers. With the use of a qualitative approach based on content analysis, it seeks to identify critical aspects of the family travel experience. Family travel experiences as described in blog posts of specialized travel influencers are analyzed with the use of Leximancer and NVIVO, software packages each offering different advantages (Sotiriadou, Brouwers & Le, 2014).
Ten British family travel influencers and bloggers with significant numbers of followers were selected for the study. The average number of their Instagram followers was 9.800. The content of 40 destination-focused blog posts was used for textual analysis (4 posts per influencer). The content was carefully chosen in order to be representative of major outbound destinations of the UK market.
Results showed that the main topics of the family travel posts evolved, as expected, around children, their needs and family-related activities. More specifically, family activities (walks, visits, holidays, tours, exploration), information about specific sights and tourism allures (city, lakes, views, parks, beaches, museums) and the dimension of time (days, time-zones, minutes to travel to a place or to dedicate for an activity) were among the most common thematic pillars (Images 1, 2). Content analysis also showed that fun, easiness, cost, enjoyable activities, and exploration were emphasized while water activities and educational/historical sites such as museums and castles were among the most popular themes.
In terms of practical implications, rhis study confirms the importance of tailor-made tourism experiences and communication for the purposes of targeted destination marketing. Based on the aspects mostly highlighted in the relative content, tourism stakeholders can design the basic components of the tourism experience, redesign processes in service delivery and improve overall the appeal of their offering to the active family travel segment. Moreover, influencers’ profiles, in terms of projected life style, perceived expertise, credibility and engagement creation, should be considered from DMOs, who could use customized familiarization trips to increase their appeal to segments who match their strategic priorities.
