How social media is changing travel planning

More than half of Gen Z travellers prefer social media to search engines, citing authenticity as a factor

- Sarah Stanley

When fitness instructor Sheena Ang, 29, plans her holidays, Google used to be her first stop. She would use the search engine to narrow down her travel options and read Google Maps reviews for credibility.

But she increasingly finds herself turning to social media for pre-trip research, including what she describes as bite-size, unvarnished recommendations from travel content creators.

"Watching short videos of places I'd like to visit helps me make the final decision of whether to go to these spots or save time and do something else," says Ms Ang, who uses primarily Instagram and TikTok for this purpose.

In the past year, she has visited trendy bakery Soha Salt Pond and Michelin Bib Gourmand dumpling restaurant Myeongdong Kyoja in Seoul, and Bondi Beach-inspired cafe The Loft Bali in Canggu - all discovered through social media.

Ms Ang says social media's visual depictions of what destinations have to offer, such as food, activities and scenery, make travel more exciting and inspire her own itineraries.

She is not alone. More young travellers aged 18 to 32 are using social media as the first step in their planning process, with many turning to content creators for honest perspectives, travel tips and under-the-radar haunts.

Released in August 2023, Klook's Travel Pulse Survey found that more than half of Gen Z travellers prefer social media to search engines and travel guides.

On social media, platforms such as TikTok and Lemon8 use machine learning algorithms to push relevant content to users based on their interests and previous searches.

Lifestyle social media platform Lemon8 launched in Singapore in 2022 and has been described as a hybrid of Instagram and Pinterest. It is owned by TikTok's parent company ByteDance.