Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction
Since the widespread introduction of technology and website especially in 2010’s, many people
use technology for communication, business purposes and for leisure time. Since the Covid-19
virus spread throughout the whole world, many of us use our gadget to watch through different
social media platform and especially YouTube. Many vlogs has been circulating through this
platform and the travel vlogs is the most popular and most watched videos for the reason that it
is enjoying and many of us want to see different cultures, food and people inside and outside
our country. Living in the Digital Era has dramatically transformed the traveler's experience, as
travel guidebooks and maps have become obsolete and are no longer in use due to tourists'
perceptions that they are unreliable (Brown, 2019). As life becomes more digitalized, so does
the way people plan their vacations, resulting in a better travel experience for everyone. When
one desires to travel, navigating and performing research is nothing because there are
numerous resources available, including YouTube Travel Vlogs, Facebook Blogs, TripAdvisor,
and even Instagram postings. Planning for the next travel destination is smoother and more
accessible thru the availability of information online or friend/influencer referrals and reviews of
various places. According to Morrison (2015), 52 percent of Facebook users, particularly
Millennials, navigate online because of their fear of missing out (FOMO). As a result, both travel
blogs and vlogs have become popular and functioned as a reliable source of information when
traveling not only for being trendy but also for enhancing travel experience by guiding the
viewers on effective travel planning.
The effect of travel vlogs depends on the nature of the video and the influence it has on
audiences. There is an increase in people viewing travel vlogs from smartphones, and it has
also been found that travel videos are viewed during the day if the user sticks to their laptop, but
are generally less noticeable on smartphones and tablets when people only view them
throughout the evening (Crowel, Gribben &Loo, 2014).
Through the evolution of the internet, tourists are now looking at social media to find their dream
destinations. When a survey was conducted by the Travel Industry Association of America, it
was found that 67% of people on the Internet were looking for tourist destinations, checking
ratings, discovering prices, led by 41% of people booking via the Internet (Al, 2012).
The aim of this study is to know the relationship of travel vloggers’ influence and the decision-
making of Filipino tourists through social media platforms. The Gen-Z, which is made up of
those born in the late 1990s, has had a major impact on the travel industry, and by 2020 the
Gen-Z will be the largest buyer of tourism.
According to Stefan Zak (2020) Influencers gives a huge impact on the audience when it comes
to decision making. They stated that using influencers is one of the popular marketing strategies
right now they used influencers to gain more audience because many people are using social
media and a lot of them are addicted to several influencers. Based on their survey many people
are buying and trying different services that are suggested by the influencers. This article will
help us to easily determine the relationship between vlogger’s influence on decisions making of
Filipino tourists. It helps us to know how other people react when vlogger’s introduced different
products and how subscribers responded to their suggestions.
According to research, viewers are most interested in the travel content which displays tips and
personal events of experienced explorers that travel regularly. Content creating on YouTube
and Instagram has given viewers the opportunity to have a better understanding and look at
what the travel lifestyle is about. Travel content gives the opportunity for explorers to virtually
travel and dives into their interests without needing to travel themselves. Additionally, the effect
on the follower’s desire to go to cities of content they view is most towards the affirmative side.
This is not just to say that the followers have mostly positive outcomes and cravings to travel to
those destinations, but general influences on the viewer’s wishes of wanting to go or not. When
travelers are taken through a virtual experience of another traveler, they formulate their own
opinion on what activities and content at that location they are interested in. The viewer can
either take the content as the inspiration of destinations to go and activities to do or as
discouragement and lack of interest in the location. The results show that influencers at least
have an effect, whether negative or positive, on the followers’ desires to visit destinations. The
concept of travel content on social media influencing people’s lives, opinions, and companies
would not have been thought of ten years ago. Communication and social networking on digital
platforms are developing rapidly. Globalization throughout the past 20 years has grown
substantially and has surpassed the idea of face-to-face consultations (Lalangan, 2020).
The article of Lalangan placed emphasis on how all variables of travel content connected
through the social feedback cycle, rendering the sequence from the influencer and possible
marketing partnership to creating content and travel marketing to the viewer, to the viewer
possibly contacting the travel businesses for their own travels.
Synthesis
As the development of technology is changing from time to time, people have become more
engaged in using social media platforms. One of the social media applications that people
spend more time on is “YouTube”, where many vloggers or also called influencers, uploaded
their contents on the said application. It was mentioned that travel vlogging has a lot of
advantages to its viewers, such as the vloggers give information and tend to make their viewers
feel like they are also in that place just by watching the travel vlog.
The themes mentioned above provide background data for the researchers’ study. It gives a
clear depiction of how travel vloggers affect decision-making of tourists. Based on the gathered
data, most people consider the recommendations of the travel vloggers. Interesting information
provided by travel vloggers pave the way of earning the trust of tourists. Advantages of travel
vlogs were also discussed to further explore how tourism industry benefits from the guides
provided by travel vlogs in various social media platforms.
After completing a thorough review of the literature, the researchers will use the information
gained as groundwork for understanding how travel vlogs can change the viewpoint of travelers
in decision making.
Research Objectives:
To determine the audiences' perceived homophily when watching the travel vlogs.
To determine which social media platform that students generally prefer on watching
travel vlogs.
People can share and learn about their travel experiences on a variety of travel vlogs. However,
evidence suggests that not every vlog has the same level of impact on travelers. As a result, it is
imperative to address the issue on identifying the qualities of travel vlogs that draw travelers’
attention that further affect their choices.
In this study, the researchers will try to know the Effects of Perceived Influence of Travel Vlogs
Content on the Travel Intention to Visit a Tourist Destination. This study was unique, mainly
because the subject of the research is the Filipino college students, more specifically the
students from the country's university (University of Perpetual Help System Dalta-Molino). With
the use of indicators, ads' creativity and informativeness, the study will be conducted to further
understand the effects of perceived influence of travel vlogs content on the travel intention to
visit a tourist destination among University of Perpetual Help System students.
Theoretical Frameworks
Problem Recognition
Information search
Evaluation of alternatives
Figure 1. Five-Stage Model of Consuming Buying Process (Keller & Kotler, 2012)
According to Keller and Kotler (2012), once an individual decides to purchase either a good or
service, it passes through a 5-Stage Model before he continues with the purchase:
Problem Recognition, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase Decision,
and Post-Purchase Behavior. Problem Recognition Travelling is already considered a luxury
these days but before one can enjoy his vacation recognizing problems is the first step. The
problem starts once the problem is triggered by either internal stimuli which is the thirst or
hunger to go to places or triggered by the external stimuli which is the appreciation for other’s
travel experience. According to (Keller & Kotler, 2012), there are 3 reference groups in which a
consumer or groups of consumers are part of or wanted to be a part of. First, is Cultural
reference. This pertains to the formation of the behavior of wants and desires through family,
friends, environment, and others where a person is exposed to growing up, may it be values of
either 21 success or material comfort. Second, is Social. This involves the influence of certain
reference groups such as: family, social roles, status, income, job position, and others to the
consumers’ buying behavior. Lastly, Personal. It encompasses the formation of an individual’s
values and principles based on cultural and social factors that will determine his sense of
belongingness to the culture or society he lives with. The aforementioned factors are relevant in
developing a wise consumer that can recognize and face problems that may arise during the
travel. Some travelers may not consider some of these factors for they have the ability to adapt
on the financial constraints of travelling while others may find it challenging and need to resort to
the consideration of the cultural, social, and personal factors.
Information search
Searching information on traditional media is now uncommon, people search information online
may it be on Facebook, Google, YouTube, etc. as there is an increase of consumers
switching to Social Media Channels in search for information during the decision-making
process. Travel bloggers and vloggers have a significant impact on consumer behavior as they
have a virtual travel experience without even having to go out of the comfort of their
own homes, (Nielsen, 2012). In addition, according to the research conducted by (Nielsen
2012) consumers tend to search for information through Social Media posted by influencers to
influence the purchase decision.
Evaluation of alternatives
The Social Media Platform is a huge platform with thousands of travel bloggers and
vloggers who utilize the platform to share their travel experiences and earn a living. In addition,
these travel bloggers and vloggers are also in partnership with several airlines, hotels,
in 22 destination services, etc. in which they offer discount codes for travelers to take
advantage of and this can influence the process of evaluating alternatives. Consumers also
consider depending on budget, experiential benefits, health benefits, relaxation benefits, value
relevance, social influence, and travel behavior. This is where travelers take into consideration
the over-all travel experience that they want to encounter when they travel as they are
comparing alternatives based on their own financial capacity, places they want to visit,
restaurants they want to try, and activities they want to do and the value associated with it with
the huge influence of travel bloggers and vloggers in evaluating alternatives.
Purchasing decision
The purchase of goods and services online are risky by consumers but despite of that if it
comes from a travel influencer, the trust increases as people consider these sources of
information reliable. There is an increase in efforts towards the fundamental factor of trust when
it comes to consumer behavior as these travel influencers increase the reliability which makes
it easier for travelers to trust. There is an increase in efforts towards the fundamental factor of
trust when it comes to consumer behavior which are supported by the travel blog and vlog
content because they boost the social presence, influences the purchase decision, and
enhances the travel experience
In this stage, there are certain things that either exceed or failed to meet his expectations and
this is where customer satisfaction comes in. If satisfied, there is a higher chance that the
customer will follow the same pattern of the decision making process but if the customer
is dissatisfied, there will be an iteration of the decision making process or will have trust issues
in the future which is a hindrance in trusting travel blogs and vlogs as it has already
affected the travel experience. It is because a satisfied customer is more likely to repeat the
purchase again and he will share his positive experience online which others consider to share
online which also leads to another positive view or can turn out to be another travel blog or vlog
in which other people who are planning their travels can use the information as these blogs and
vlogs are considered as 23 the modern word-of-mouth. However, if dissatisfied, it will be a
viral negative online post to help other travelers be aware.
Conceptual Framework
This study will be significant and help the decision-making of Filipino tourists in terms of
determining a place to visit. The findings of this study will be beneficial to the Filipino tourists,
travel vloggers, and travel agencies.
Future and Current Vloggers. The results of the study will allow Vloggers to improve
the quality of their vlogs that would meet the needs of their viewers.
Airline companies. This study will provide information to the Airline companies on the
trend in visiting tourist destinations thus enabling them to implement strategies that
would market more tourists.
Government. The results in the study will help them improve the current state of tourist
destinations in the country that will address the tourists’ satisfaction.
Advertisers. This study will give sufficient idea that will be beneficial in improving their
marketing strategies on attracting tourists.
Future Researchers. This study will help them to expand their understanding of the said
topic and to acquire more knowledge. Also, to gather new ideas for the improvement of
their research.
Definition of Terms
Vlog - Vlog stands for a video blog or video log, and refers to a type of blog where most or all
the content is in a video format.
Vlogs content - It consists of creating a video of yourself where you talk on a particular subject
such as reporting or reviewing a product or an event.
Travel vlogs - are personal, realistic videos that feature the vlogger exploring new areas or
locations.
Travel Destination - A place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited
natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and
amusement.
Social Media - a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and
information through virtual networks and communities.
Influencers - is someone in your niche or industry with sway over your target audience.
CHAPTER 2
Methodology
Research Design
This study employs a quantitative research method to evaluate the association between
travel influencers and University of Perpetual Help System Molino students' decision-
making. The study is a correlational research design, which means that the researchers
determine whether there is a relationship between the two variables without having to
control the target respondents. The researchers selected this strategy because we, the
researchers, wanted to see if travel influencers had an impact on the students at
UPSHD-Molino’s decision-making.
Participants Characteristics
Eligibility and Exclusion Criteria. Travel Vlog videos have become a significant
source of tourism information for travellers, influencing their behavior intentions.
This research outlines the video qualities of travel Vlog videos and investigates
how these characteristics affect users' behavioural desire to travel through
empirical analysis. The findings suggest that the attractiveness, engagement,
perceived entertainment, and perceived utility of travel Vlog videos have a strong
beneficial impact on behavioural intention to travel. On the basis of this, several
recommendations are made for vloggers to improve their own attractiveness,
video interaction, entertainment experience, and video connotation. The findings
of this paper's research have significant implications for tourism destination
marketing and management.
Major demographic characteristics.
Age range
Gender
Monthly Household Income
Sampling procedures
Procedure for selecting participants
Selecting participants
Questions to consider:
Are the participants appropriate for the research questions?
Are the participant’s representatives of the population interest?
How many participants should be used?
Population
CITHM students of UPHSD Molino that have travelled for five years
Sample
1st – 4th year Tourism Students
Data analysis
Validity refers to the extent to which measurement tools or means can accurately
measure the item. We will use factor analysis method to test the scale validity.
These variables could be used for factor analysis and validity analysis. Therefore,
our scale data could prove that our scale will be effective.