What is Booking Channel

Today, tourism firms use social media to communicate and inform their clients about tourism destination offerings. Trip planners are utilizing social media to make informed decision making about tourists' destinations. With information technology and social media, travelers can get updates on their booked flights and hotels at a tourist destination. The growth of social media usage in tourism industry influences most of the firms to start adopting using social media. This chapter, therefore, focuses on the role of social media in travel planning and tourism destination decision making. It evaluates five cases whereby clients' use travel planning decisions but also changes or curtail plans as a result of social media communication. The survey study uses a simple random sampling procedure and interviewed 792 travelers using a structured questionnaire in ten tourist destinations covering developed and developing countries. The key results revealed that 92% of travelers make a booking but also change or curtail travel planning decisions for holidays through social media alerts.