INFLUENCE OF THE TRAVEL BLOGS IN THE DECISION TO BUY THE DESTINATION OF CHRISTMAS: an exploratory study on the perception of tourists and bloggers
Consumer Behavior. Decision Making. Tourist Destination. Travel.
Tourism has been gaining in size in recent years due to globalization, new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and social media. In this context, travel blogs act as a tool to generate changes in the behavior and decision making of tourists, who increasingly seek to acquire quality tourist products and services in a way that can meet their needs and expectations. Blogs act as opinion makers about tourism products and services, that is, they influence the choice of the tourist destination and consequently, it assists in the success of the locality. The general objective of the study was to understand the perception of tourists and bloggers in relation to the influence of travel blogs in the choice and decision to purchase Natal destination, in Rio Grande do Norte, thus allowing a discussion and reflection on the importance and functionality of blogs for the development of tourism from the model of Consumer Behavior for Purchases (Blackwell et al, 2009). The methodology used in the study was exploratory with a qualitative approach, supported by the interpretative stance; the technique used to analyze the data was the content analysis, triangulation of the answers of the interviewed sources (tourists and bloggers) and the qualitative software Nvivo 12 to represent the results. The results showed that in fact travel blogs are used to help the choice and decision of the tourists, these are influenced and are based especially on the content exposed by the blogger about the destination, such as: images, tips, reports, etc., and the comments of other users who have already made the trip, thus, the experience of these serve as a north for the planning and decision of other people who still do not know the destination. It was found that the influence of travel blogs is directly linked to the reports of tourists who have already experienced the trip and the tips of bloggers, which are the main and strongest aspects for decision making. Finally, it is concluded that travel blogs influence the choice of tourists and act as marketing for the destination, and it is necessary to make better use of public and private institutions.