Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality | 2021
The Effect of Viral Marketing on the Purchase Decision of Tourism and Hotel Services
Abstract
The current study aims to identify the effect of viral marketing on the purchase decision of tourism and hotel services.\xa0 Viral marketing includes marketing tools represented in viral advertising campaigns, opinion leaders, influencers , incentives, and electronic publishing media.\xa0 To achieve this goal, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to a random sample of customers in some five-star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh. The total number of forms distributed was (900) with (30) forms inside each hotel, of which (688) were\xa0 (76.4%) is valid for statistical analysis.\xa0 The results of the field study concluded that most of the peoples opinions of the study sample agreed upon three elements of the viral marketing tools that affect them with regard to the decision to purchase the hotel tourism product represented in “incentives, electronic publishing means, and viral advertising campaigns”.\xa0 The results also revealed the positive impact of viral advertising in terms of message content, mental image, an advertising medium, and stimuli combined in influencing the purchase decision.\xa0 The study recommended the adoption of viral marketing tools in tourism and hotel companies that may affect people s purchase decisions and employment by broadcasting the viral advertising campaign as being less costly and more successful.