Analysis of Social Media Content used by Travel Portals in India

Theres no better way to explore a new location or rediscover a familiar one than by going about armed with recommendations from people who have already travelled to those destinations. Earlier travel agents used this idea to educate potential travellers of what they are to expect when they travel to a particular destination. Today with the advent of Web 2.0 and social media networking, travel portals have proved to the fastest way of connecting like-minded travellers and thereby enabling recommendations from around the world. Traveling enthusiasts arent shy about sharing any part of their adventures. Travellers are keen to know the cheapest form of travelling and holidaying and the most favourable form of entertainment available at the best rates. Additionally travellers who have already visited the destinations are proud to share their experiences and also warn fellow travellers from potential perils. Travel portals have used this trend in their favour and boomed their existence from being mere travel agents in significant locations to making their presence felt to all over the country. They have created specifically designed websites and applications to assist travellers and their needs. This study has tried to understand the social media content used by the major travel portals in India and identify best practices that will enable the travel industry to grow and thrive. Content analysis has been used to study the social media content used by five major travel portals on their Facebook page. The study has identified a trend in the degree of usage of social media and best practices which will definitely help upcoming travel agents to identify and serve potential travellers. The main limitation of this study is that only five portals have been studied for a period of two months and as a result this study might have missed out on fine strategies used by other portals as well. However, further research done on a greater number of travel portals for a longer time will overcome this limitation. Repeating the same study in a years time will most likely yield significantly different results, due to the constantly evolving nature of techno-logy and social media.