How Facebook Can Promote Tourism. The Example of Beni Mellal Khenifra

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, Sultan Moulay Sliman University (Faculty of Arts and Humanities Beni Mellal), course: English literary and cultural studies, language: English, abstract: This study aimed at studying the use of Facebook in the promotion of tourism in Beni Mellal Khenifra region. Nowadays, Social media is increasingly being adopted by destination marketing organizations. Hence, this study was guided by two research questions: first, does Facebook influence travelers decisions while considering a destination? Second, to what extent are Beni Mellal Khenifras tourism organizations present on Facebook? Accordingly, in order to attain the objectives of the study, the researcher used a descriptive analytical research design. In this regard, in order to collect quantitative data, a questionnaire was administered to 250 travelers who have visited the region of Beni Mellal Khenifra. However, the sample size was comprised of only 60 respondents because many travelers refused to fill it in, while others didnt see the messages at all for it was administered online through Facebook and Instagram. The findings pointed out that Facebook significantly impacts travelers decisions while considering a destination as 71% of the respondents use this social networking platform for travel related purposes. Moreover, concerning the second research question, the results of the study revealed that Beni Mellal Khenifras tourism organizations are not sufficiently present. This was rationalized by the fact that 72% of the respondents stated that they have never been exposed to travel related content on Facebook generated by these organizations. Ultimately, the study recommended that tourism authorities must raise awareness towards the important role of new technologies especially social media in the promotion of tourism. Moreover, the researcher suggested that the government should pr