Factors Affecting Behavioural Intention to Visit Tourist Attractions in Pakistan: Evidence from Social Media Users in Pakistan

Abstract

Social media is rapidly evolving across every field worldwide, with tourism being no exception. Pakistan has enormous potential in its tourism industry, which can be augmented through promotion on social media. This research aims to determine the role of social media in affecting the behavioural intent to visit tourist attractions in Pakistan. The data for this study were collected from 225 participants, all active social media users living in major cities across Pakistan. Data acquisition for this study employed convenience and snowball sampling methodologies, and SPSS software was utilised for multiple regression and reliability analysis. Our results of the hypothesis test showed that the positive experiences of travellers, information search regarding travel and tourism promotion play a significant and positive role in building their behavioural intention to travel to the tourism venues or sites in Pakistan. Despite recent negative influences from social media, we aim to promote Pakistani tourist sites through social media by actively requesting visitors to share positive and uplifting reviews. In parallel, we seek to empower the public with greater knowledge about the worth and basic structure of the tourism industry, to achieve a renewed and enduring growth in tourism.