BEING IN THE SOCIAL: A CROSS-GENERATIONAL STUDY ON IDENTITY PROCESSES RELATED TO ROMANIAN TOURISTS

Abstract

The present paper analyzes the impact of social media platforms on international tourism, focusing on the Romanian tourists. This research is conducted taking into consideration the different generations, especially the  Generation X (born 1965-1980), Millennials (born 1981-1995) and Generation Z (born 1996-2012), as well as the three key temporal moments in the travel planning and related decision-making process: before the trip, during the trip, and after the trip. Besides, as the COVID-19 medical crisis has redefined the global tourism industry and tourists’ behavior, an analysis of its impact on the Romanian market and tourists was also included.. In order to obtain a certain result, were used different methods that includes both qualitative and quantitative instruments. The research is undertaken in two stages, before COVID-19 outbreak (2018-2020), and during COVID-19, (2020-2021). The results of the research indicate a clear tendency to use social media before the trip, in the information-research stage. Besides, a series of differences, as well as some similarities are identified across generations in terms of social media usage for travel purposes and social media impact on the tourists’ travel choices, when comparing Romanian travelers with travelers from other countries of the world.