An Exploratory Study of International Students’ Perceptions of Social Media Marketing and Impacts on Purchasing Intention of Adventure Tourism in New Zealand After COVID-19

In the world of e-commerce, the role and application of social media has been shown to have significant impacts on tourists’ decision-making and tourism management and operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to investigate international students’ online searching behaviours and the impacts of social media content on their purchase intentions towards adventure tourism products in New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 international students in Auckland, New Zealand. Results showed that both types of social media content (i.e. firm-generated content and user generated content) have significant impacts on purchase intention. Specifically, informative firm generated content and persuasive user generated content were found to be influential in travellers’ trip-planning processes. This research finding contributes to the academic literature and practice by demonstrating customer behaviour changes and the strategic importance of social media marketing for tourism competitiveness.