INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON TRAVEL DECISION-MAKING ON GHANA BY INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS

ABSTRACT Over the last ten years, social media has become pervasive in tourists’ decision-making to travel to any destination. The main aim of the study was to assess the role of social media in travel decision-making on Ghana by international tourists. The study adopted the cross-sectional research design and was underpinned by the quantitative research methodology. Questionnaires were used to collect data from international tourists visiting Ghana. The study revealed that most of the tourists who visited the Cape Coast-Elmina-Abrafo area were young female students within the age of 21-30 years, originating from Europe. Social media platform frequently used by the tourists was Facebook with some also using Content Aggregators (e.g. Google map). However, TripAdvisor and blogs were identified by tourists as the most influential social media types. Also, there was a significant relationship between social media usage and background characteristics (age, income and generating continent). The study also revealed that tourists consider social media platforms as useful and trustworthy for travel planning. On the whole, tourists agreed that they use social media at all the stages of the decisionmaking process. Nonetheless, the use of social media at the evaluation and purchase stages influenced its use for the decision to travel to Ghana. In conclusion, social media is influential in tourists’ decision to travel to Ghana. It is recommended that GTA and tourism business should have their businesses visible on these social media platforms to quickly reach tourists who use them.