Abstract:
The internet applications of viral marketing (Word-Of-Mouth marketing) is becoming increasingly
popular among online community. In tourism industry, the owners of the tourist destinations, travel
agents, rating organizations, and travel sites…etc. are extremely concern of the “reviews” that they
are getting from the travellers. Conversely the travellers also pay much attention than ever in writing
and viewing the reviews beforehand they plan their travel. Hence, the effect of viral marketing
places a significant role in the selection of tourist destination by contemporary travellers. Hence, the
main focus of this study is to assess the effect of online viral marketing on the travellers’ decision to
select a tourist destination from travellers’ perspective. The study utilizes a quantitative approach.
An online survey was conducted among the group of travellers from different countries. The
respondents were selected based on convenient sampling method. A self-administrated instrument of
35 items was used with 0.806 reliability score. The results of correlation analysis indicated a strong
positive relationship between travellers’ decision and the viral marketing attributes of usefulness of
the content, brand recalling ability, and questioning/answering option. The relationship proven to be
positive yet moderate for the attributes such as information credibility, brand recognition ability,
frequency, relevance of information and rewards associated with viral marketing efforts. A model for
viral marketing is proposed with the aim of aiding the predictive ability of viral marketing attempts.
Implications suggest developing viral marketing campaigns giving high priority for commanding
attributes to best reap the investments over such campaigns.
