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Travel Bloggers as Influencers: What Compels Them to Blog

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Tourist Destination Management

Part of the book series: Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management ((THEM))

Abstract

Travel blogs have become an influential source of travelling information. Bloggers share their travel experiences and are generally considered as a trusted source of knowledge. They influence readers’ opinions and perceptions of places, affecting travel decisions. Despite the importance of bloggers as influencers, there is limited research on the factors affecting these individuals to blog about travel destinations. This is the topic of our study, which is based on data collected through interviews to Turkish travel bloggers. The interviews covered issues concerning motivations of bloggers, existence of collaboration and bloggers’ perceptions concerning their role as influencers. The research has important implications for theory and practice, since an improved understanding of these factors can help destinations market themselves better through blogs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Esra Ay, Kübra İpek, Nazım Bircan Özdağ, Ecem Özekici & Maria Dolores Alvarez

Authors
  1. Esra Ay
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  2. Kübra İpek
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  3. Nazım Bircan Özdağ
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  4. Ecem Özekici
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  5. Maria Dolores Alvarez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Dolores Alvarez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Tourism, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey

    Nazmi Kozak

  2. School of Tourism, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey

    Metin Kozak

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Ay, E., İpek, K., Özdağ, N.B., Özekici, E., Alvarez, M.D. (2019). Travel Bloggers as Influencers: What Compels Them to Blog. In: Kozak, N., Kozak, M. (eds) Tourist Destination Management. Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16981-7_9

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