Is the Tourism Industry Using YouTube to Reduce Travel Risks and Inform Visitors How to Stay Safe?

The primary goal of this study is to explore the use of social media, specifically YouTube, which is created by DMOs to inform the tourist about their safety and security while in the destination. Risk research in the health behavior literature suggests that informing people about risks and providing ways to reduce their risks may result in higher self-efficacy beliefs and thus a greater engagement in behaviors that will increase their safety. Based on the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), this study proposed model incorporates the traditional risk communication models with messaging on social media as a new media channel. A sample of 164 countries serves as the basis for searching for safety and security videos by DMOs. A content analysis approach will be performed to describe and understand the videos contents, to evaluate its effectiveness and to examine the intention to engage in the recommended behavior