IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1216-d486256.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Social Media in the Luxury Tourism Business: A Research Review and Trajectory Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • K Thirumaran

    (JCU Singapore Business School, James Cook University, Singapore 387380, Singapore)

  • Haejin Jang

    (JCU Singapore Business School, James Cook University, Singapore 387380, Singapore)

  • Zahra Pourabedin

    (JCU Singapore Business School, James Cook University, Singapore 387380, Singapore)

  • Jacob Wood

    (JCU Singapore Business School, James Cook University, Singapore 387380, Singapore)

Abstract

The luxury tourism industry immediately conjures up thoughts of exclusivity, with access to it confined to a small and elite group of travelers often located within their own social bubble. Our systematic literature review seeks to understand how tourism scholarship has addressed the issue of luxury travel based on social media pronouncements and the areas of concentration in which earlier studies have been conducted. Literature was sourced using the following key terms “luxury tourism”, “elite travel”, “social media”, and “sustainability” in various combinations using the OneSearch online platform, the Proquest Database, and Google Scholar. Only peer-reviewed journals were used for the critical analysis. Three main thematic areas were identified and reviewed: (1) the role of social media in luxury tourism; (2) the behavioral attributes of luxury travelers’ when using social media; and (3) the methodologies employed in the extant literature, given the limitations of accessing specific data for the luxury tourism market. The selected period for the journals and articles reviewed was the last ten years, from March 2010 to March 2020. NVivo version 12 was used to decipher the themes and focus areas as well as quantify the significance of social media to luxury tourism. Drawing from these literature review outcomes, the study explores future research areas and issues that require new theoretical and methodological frameworks to further our understanding of the intersection between social media and the luxury tourism business.

Suggested Citation

  • K Thirumaran & Haejin Jang & Zahra Pourabedin & Jacob Wood, 2021. "The Role of Social Media in the Luxury Tourism Business: A Research Review and Trajectory Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-13, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1216-:d:486256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1216/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1216/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heesup Han & Taeyeon Eom & Hyunah Chung & Soyeun Lee & Hyungseo Bobby Ryu & Wansoo Kim, 2019. "Passenger Repurchase Behaviours in the Green Cruise Line Context: Exploring the Role of Quality, Image, and Physical Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Xiang, Zheng & Du, Qianzhou & Ma, Yufeng & Fan, Weiguo, 2017. "A comparative analysis of major online review platforms: Implications for social media analytics in hospitality and tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 51-65.
    3. Roberta Minazzi, 2015. "Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-319-05182-6, March.
    4. Kim, Juran & Lee, Ki Hoon, 2019. "Influence of integration on interactivity in social media luxury brand communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 422-429.
    5. Giglio, Simona & Pantano, Eleonora & Bilotta, Eleonora & Melewar, T.C., 2020. "Branding luxury hotels: Evidence from the analysis of consumers’ “big” visual data on TripAdvisor," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 495-501.
    6. Tom Kuhlman & John Farrington, 2010. "What is Sustainability?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(11), pages 1-13, November.
    7. Alan S. Abrahams & Weiguo Fan & G. Alan Wang & Zhongju (John) Zhang & Jian Jiao, 2015. "An Integrated Text Analytic Framework for Product Defect Discovery," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(6), pages 975-990, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elisabete Nogueira & Sofia Gomes & João M. Lopes, 2023. "Triple Bottom Line, Sustainability, and Economic Development: What Binds Them Together? A Bibliometric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu, Xun & Lee, Chieh, 2020. "Utilizing the platform economy effect through EWOM: Does the platform matter?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    2. Liu, Zhenyuan & Geng, Ruoqi & Tse, Ying Kei (Mike) & Han, Shuihua, 2023. "Mapping the relationship between social media usage and organizational performance: A meta-analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    3. Zheng Xiang & Qianzhou Du & Yufeng Ma & Weiguo Fan, 2018. "Assessing reliability of social media data: lessons from mining TripAdvisor hotel reviews," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 43-59, April.
    4. Karin Högberg & Anna Karin Olsson, 2019. "Framing organizational social media: a longitudinal study of a hotel chain," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 209-236, June.
    5. Xue Liu & Ning Zhang & Xiaoling Hao, 2025. "A Strategic model for service-oriented enterprises based on online reviews: the research of budget hotel chains in China," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 361-378, September.
    6. Un-Kon Lee, 2021. "The Effect of Confirmation of Nation Brand Image in International Tourism Advertisement on Travel Intention of Foreign Tourists: The Case of Korean ITA for Chinese Tourists," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    7. Lea Primožič & Andreja Kutnar, 2022. "Sustainability Communication in Global Consumer Brands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Carmela Iorio & Giuseppe Pandolfo & Antonio D’Ambrosio & Roberta Siciliano, 2020. "Mining big data in tourism," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(5), pages 1655-1669, December.
    9. Oana Țugulea, 2017. "City Brand Personality—Relations with Dimensions and Dimensions Inter-Relations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Maria Iglesias-Mendoza & Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo & Sara Hadleigh-Dunn & Ashraf Labib, 2021. "Learning How to Learn from Disasters through a Comparative Dichotomy Analysis: Grenfell Tower and Hurricane Katrina Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    11. Wenyu Zeng & Shiyong Wu & Wei Chen, 2023. "Studying at a New Remote University Campus: Challenges and Strategies in Students’ Sustainable Self-Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    12. Per Engelseth & Remiguisz Kozlowski & Karolina Kamecka & Lukasz Gawinski & Richard Glavee-Geo, 2021. "Framing Sustainable Healthcare Services," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    13. Ignacio Llanez-Caballero & Luis Ibarra & Angel Peña-Quintal & Glendy Catzín-Contreras & Pedro Ponce & Arturo Molina & Ricardo Ramirez-Mendoza, 2023. "The “Smart” Concept from an Electrical Sustainability Viewpoint," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-22, March.
    14. Svatava Janoušková & Tomáš Hák & Bedřich Moldan, 2018. "Global SDGs Assessments: Helping or Confusing Indicators?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, May.
    15. Samar Ben Romdhane & Sang Lee & Salem Al-Shaebi, 2023. "Enhancing Sustainability Communication among UAE’s Higher Education Students: The Relationship between Sustainable Living Knowledge and Intention to Live Sustainably," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-14, August.
    16. Dias Satria & Joshi Maharani Wibowo, 2021. "Big Data Analysis of Sustainable Tourism Competitiveness in East Java Province," Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, University of Primorska Press, vol. 14(2), pages 189-203.
    17. Fares Georges Khalil, 2025. "Beyond incrementalism: A regenerative learning model for sustainable marketing and service ecosystems," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 15(1), pages 74-94, June.
    18. Pattarin Sanguankaew & Vichita Vathanophas Ractham, 2019. "Bibliometric Review of Research on Knowledge Management and Sustainability, 1994–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-20, August.
    19. Wai Ming To & Billy T. W. Yu, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence Research in Tourism and Hospitality Journals: Trends, Emerging Themes, and the Rise of Generative AI," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-20, April.
    20. Elizabeth C. Teixeira & Victor E. L. Silva & Nidia N. Fabré & Vandick S. Batista, 2020. "Marine shrimp fisheries research—a mismatch on spatial and thematic needs," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(1), pages 591-606, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1216-:d:486256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.