The role of social media user generated content ( UGC) on entertainment tourism decision making in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Social media plays a fundamental role in people's lives. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, more than 79% of the population uses social media and Saudi Arabia is one of the top ten countries in the world in terms of digital literacy. In 2020, the number of social media users in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in an abundance of user-generated content on social media. Recent media studies indicate that the content created by users is one of the most influential factors when making purchasing decisions, specifically tourism decisions. Therefore, the current study gauges the impact of content that created by social media on tourism decision-making in Saudi Arabia, paying leisure tourism. This is especially interesting because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is witnessing a major transformation in its tourism sector. One of the most prominent of these transformations is leisure tourism which is sponsored by the General Authority for Entertainment, a government-funded and owned entity. A quantitative method was employed to collect the necessary study data. The data were collected from different regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using an electronic questionnaire, and the SPSS software program was used to analyse the data obtained. The finding shows that UGC has a great influence on entertainment tourism decision. Precisely, comprehensive visual content which include all visual content photos and videos. Also, both factual and emotional elements UGC are effective but, people prefer emotional content which is spontaneous and express personal impression. Finally, people trust UGC when it's from people they know personally. This research is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia. There has not previously been a study about the role of user generated content in entertainment tourism decision making.