USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PROCESS-EXAMINING A RURAL MOUNTAIN REGION

This research demonstrated a significant method for measuring tourist behavior in terms of social media use for rural mountain region tourism. The study was qualitative, and enabled the discovery of the main thematic issues related to the travel process of tourists when using social media for rural mountain region tourism. The study found four types of themes: (1) social media use in the planning stage of the trip, (2) social media use before the trip, (3) social media use during the trip, and (4) social media use after the trip. The results show that tourists use social media at all stages of travel for rural mountain region tourism. At the first stage (planning), tourists mainly use social media to search for information. It is recommended that tourism-related agencies, whether they are government or private, should focus on the planning stage of tourism to influence tourist behavior toward sustainable rural mountain region tourism.