Storytelling on Social Media: The Motives for Telling the Tourist Experience to the Connected Others

The development of the Internet and improvements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) allow consumers to share their opinions and experiences of products and services with other consumers through electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM, word-of-mouse) communication. The main aim of this study is to explore the motives underlying travellers’ sharing their holiday experiences with their connected others. In this study, following a theoretical discussion based on a review of the relevant literature, the role and importance of sharing the tourist experience with connected others in social media is demonstrated based on the results of structured interviews (online and offline) with 38 people who were chosen based on their holiday experience sharing habits. The qualitative research in the form of interviews conducted with 38 people who were accustomed to widely sharing their travel experiences revealed that storytelling played a serious role in addition to the holiday experience itself, and sharing experiences with connected others was seen as a vital tool for a fulfilling holiday experience. Exploring reasons behind tourists’ storytelling provide a better understanding of the tourist behaviour in social media, and the impact of eWOM on the tourist experience. The results demonstrate the contribution of storytelling to the tourist experience, and provide a basis for further research on scale development for assessing the impact of storytelling on the tourist experience