Influence of social media in vacation travels

This article examines the advent of Social media and the influence of social media in vacation travels. Web 2.0 was the most profound technological development earlier in the 21st century that led to phenomenal growth of social media applications, enabled by the ever-growing smartphone user base across the world. The article reviews the definitions of social media and its growth in the last decade and outlines how vacation travels are influenced by social media in this era of connected society. While travel products and services are intangible, the criticality of information for travel planning is very vital and thus eWOM enabled by the user generated content is playing an influential role in the travel decision making process. The article further outlines few key research findings from the extant literature which supports the influential role played by social media in the travel decision making process.