Social
media play a significant role in the development of the
tourism industry;
especially in shaping traveller’s behaviour during the stages of travel. This
study aims to explore the motivators for using social media at pre-, in- and
post-travel stages from the uses and gratifications perspective. In this
qualitative study, 12 international students were interviewed who were both
social media users and travellers. The results show that technology
gratification, content gratification, and social gratification are solid
motivators for travellers to use social media. Further, the motivators vary at
different stages of travel. The findings of this research generate additional
insights into individuals’ social media use following different stages and
provide a deeper understanding of travellers’ social media use according to
their travel stages. This study also offers some practical advice for tourism
operators on how to promote social media use in travel.