Abstract
The role that the media are playing in the various phases of life is becoming progressively greater day by day, especially in spheres like social interaction, and cultural and educational aspects of our life. Social media are playing an increasingly important role as information sources for travelers. The goal of this study is to investigate the extent to which social media appear in search engine results in the context of travel-related searches. “Rural tourism is to showcase rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations and in villages, which have core competence in art & craft, handloom, and textiles as also an asset base in the natural environment. The intention is to benefit the local community economically and socially as well as enable interaction between tourists and local population for a mutually enriching experience.”( Dept. of Tourism, 1994) The media can in its turn clarify today’s values and civilizations of the different countries and hence attempt to correct any widespread erroneous information. Both the media and rural tourism have messages and missions with various dimensions.The media contribute greatly in activating tourist attractions. Media are playing an important role in the growth, development and promotion by creating a better awareness and understanding to cater to the needs and requirements of domestic and international tourist as one knows is every traveller is a ‘potential’ tourist, The analysis of the search results showed that social media constitute a substantial part of the search results, indicating that search engines likely direct travelers to social media sites. This study confirms the growing importance of social media in the online tourism domain. It also provides evidence for challenges faced by traditional providers of travel-related information. Implications for tourism marketers in terms of online marketing strategies are discussed.Thus this paper focuses on the Role of Social media in the promotion of Rural Tourism Development in Karnataka
Keywords: Rural tourism, Social media, Search engine, Travel information search, online tourism domain.
[1] Research Scholar, Department of PG Studies and Research in Tourism Administration, Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta-577451
[2] Assistant Professor and Coordinator, Department of PG Studies and Research in Tourism Administration, Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta-577451