Travel inspiration : conceptualization, process and influencing factors on social media

Abstract

Travel inspiration plays an important role at the beginning of the travel process. Industry players employ diverse strategies to inspire potential tourists and plant the seeds of travel dreams in their hearts. Despite the importance of inspiration in activating travelers’ consumption journeys, theoretical development has lagged behind practical applications. The ontological and epistemological understanding of this concept remains unclear in the tourism domain. Besides, the digital era has revolutionized the tourism landscape, with social media becoming a major source of travel inspiration. However, research on the drivers of travel inspiration in the social media context is inadequate. This thesis aims to address these gaps by answering three key questions: 1) what is travel inspiration; 2) how is travel inspiration embodied in people’s lived experiences; and 3) how to get potential tourists inspired on social media? This study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods. Taking into account the uniqueness of the tourism consumption context, the thesis first conceptualizes travel inspiration and situates it at the dreaming stage of the travel process. Then, qualitative inquiry and in-depth interviews capture real-world scenarios of individuals acquiring travel inspiration and provide a deeper understanding of the sources, process, and outcomes of travel inspiration. The findings reveal that getting travel inspiration is like planting seeds of dreams in people’s minds that can blossom into the fruit of action in the future and can lead to many valuable outcomes. Furthermore, this thesis investigates the specific factors that influence travel inspiration and their interactions in the social media environment. Novelty travel content shared on social media can trigger travel inspiration, which in turn positively impacts travel intention. However, individuals’ social comparison orientation negatively moderates this positive effect of travel inspiration on travel intention, highlighting the complex dynamics at play. The present study contributes significantly to the literature on travel inspiration by extending the concept of inspiration from psychology to the field of tourism and providing a holistic view of its role in the travel consumption journey. Through the lens of travel inspiration, this study sheds light on how people get travel inspiration and start dreaming about future trips, thus adding to the literature on the dreaming stage. By adding new informational and personal factors, this study enriches the existing framework of antecedents of inspiration on social media. Practically, the results can help tourism and hospitality businesses harness the power of travel inspiration to increase demands, inspire future tourists, especially through content marketing on social media, and effectively transform travel inspiration into valuable outcomes.