Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This paper examines the behaviour of tourists and their interaction with user-generated content on social media platforms in the context of Sarawak's ecotourism attractions, particularly its national parks and nature reserves. As the tourism industry shifts towards a more sustainable approach, understanding how tourists engage with digital technologies and social media can provide valuable insights for destination management organisations and tourism operators to market and promote ecotourism offerings effectively. Through a quantitative approach, 657 sets of questionnaires were collected from the national parks and nature reserves in Sarawak, as listed by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation. The SPSS v27.0 and WarpPLS 8.0 software were used for descriptive analysis and hypothesis testing, respectively. It was revealed that weak ties and tourism ties in user-generated content have a positive and significant impact on the destination image. In contrast, the destination image was found to have a positive and considerable influence on revisit intention. The findings offer practical implications for destination management and marketing strategies to leverage user-generated content and social media to enhance the overall ecotourism experience.
Source: Tourism
DOI: 10.37741/t.73.4.9
Authors: Sandra Ying Ying Khoo, May Chiun Lo, Abang Azlan Mohamad
Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415784302
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