The impact of social media on generation z's decisions in choosing travel destinations

Today in the ever-expanding digitalised world, social media plays an important role in Generation Z’s routines. Assumed to be low spenders, the Generation Z cohorts of global travellers are often overlooked by the tourism business. Nevertheless, Generation Z with their ever-emerging power as a consumer segment occupies a major role in the tourism business. Because consumer behaviour and decision-making play a crucial role for any business, it is important to understand solicitously the impact of social media on Generation Z decision in choosing travel destinations. This study defines Generation Z’s consumer behaviour as the objective. Through their social media activities, the study aims to research how Generation Z make decisions for travel destinations. Specially, the sample for this research is conducted from participants who were born between 1995 and 2004 and reside in Finland. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed for this research, while the data analysis technique uses the triangulation method, including synchronising many data sources such as in-depth interviews, literature reviews, and conducting an online survey. The primary data was collected from 14 respondents. The secondary data was collected from different sources, including research papers, books, and public information from consultant companies. This research concluded that Generation Z's consumer decision-making journey was affected by social media. Generation Z acknowledges that they even utilise social media as a search engine tool. Besides, the behaviour of utilising social media affects consumer behaviour as well as their decision-making journey. In order to develop the tourism business, they need to do branding on social media through the constant online presence to attract Generation Z’s purchase decisions