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The Influence of Social Media on Traveler Decisions About Barbados: Research Report Survey Results Analysis Key Points

Based on a survey conducted among 28 participants consisting of university students, and tertiary industry workers who use social media and reside in the US, Canada, and The Bahamas. Social media plays a strong role in the influencing travelers decision-making cycle about Barbados. The frequency tables below show the results of some of the key questions asked in the survey.

 Table 1: Question 5- I enjoy viewing status updates, pictures and videos on social networks about trips made by my friends and family.  

The results indicate that 46% of respondents strongly agreed, whereas 50% agreed with this statement. Evidently, social media users enjoy viewing content from their peers, and can get inspired to visit a destination based on the enjoyable experiences they encounter from viewing shared content from their friends and family about a destination.  

Table 2: Question 6- What are the chances of you trusting peer recommendations about Barbados Tourism? 

It comes to no surprise that 70% of the respondents indicated there is a very good chance of them trusting peer recommendations about Barbados, whereas 25% mentioned only some chance. 

Table 3:  Question 7- How likely are you to trust general marketing advertisements about Barbados? 

Out of the 28 participants, 64% were moderately likely, 25% were very likely and 7% were slightly likely to trust general promotions about Barbados. 

 According to these results, it is evident that travelers care more about how their social groups rate and promote tourism in Barbados as opposed to general advertisements from destination organisations.  As social media has a strong influence on traveler decisions about Barbados, tourism stakeholders in the country should develop effective social media strategies, as there are groups of travelers who will be more responsive to marketing engagement activities on social media platforms.