A Quantitative Analysis of Tourists' Preference of Media Platforms and their motivation in Ecotourism Participation: A Case Study of Sikkim

This study was part of a research work with the primary intention to explore the relationship among the demographic profile of tourists, their preference for media platforms to receive ecotourism-related promotion, and their primary motivation to participate in ecotourism. Further, this study attempted to dive deep into the media platforms' choice of tourists to recommend the most preferred medium for ecotourism promotion in the state of Sikkim. The primary data was collected during the field survey through a set of questionnaires and cross-tabulation analysis was performed to analyze the data. The findings of this study suggested that the most preferred medium for getting ecotourism-related promotion about a destination to travel was Facebook, while television ranked last. Further, demographic factors showed a noticeable influence on the choice of the media platform. Lastly, motivation to participate in tourism was significantly different in domestic and foreign tourists" which is another important indication that needs to be considered by those who are responsible to promote ecotourism in Sikkim as it is a major contributing factor in the selection of destination. The findings of this study are expected to provide valuable information to better utilize the media as a marketing tool for ecotourism promotion in the state of Sikkim