The Role of Travel Bloggers in The Evaluation of Alternative Tourism in The Covid- 19 Process: Sample of Province of İstanbul

Abstract

Research of travel bloggers using Instagram application before covid 19 and to evaluate the posts they made during the covid 19 process and it is aimed to reveal the effect of İstanbul posts on followers and destinations. Although there are many studies on social media, travel blogs, bloggers and youtubers in the literature, there isn’t long-term study in which the accounts of travel bloggers are examined and Istanbul is discussed. Therefore, it is thought that this study will contribute to the literature. Content analysis was used as the method of the research. Two men bloggers, two women bloggers and two blogger couples with 100 thousand or more followers were chosen as the sample of the study. Accordingly, the number of the posts of photos, videos, reels, likes and comments made by selected bloggers before covid 19 (01.03.2019-29.02.2020) were analyzed. During the covid 19 period (01.03.2020-13.09.2021), the number of photo and video shares, likes and comments were analyzed again. In line with these data, it was concluded that the number of photo sharing decreased during the covid-19 period, and in fact, old photos were shared and the number of videos increased during this period. Due to these results, it was concluded that travel bloggers' curfews and the prohibition of domesticabroad trips during the covid-19 period are caused. As the other purpose of the research, the shares of travel bloggers about Istanbul were examined. It was seen that mostly natural areas, historical streets and buildings, historical places are shared in Istanbul shares. It was seen that these posts received great appreciation and from the comments made by the followers, these places recommended during İstanbul visits were noted and added to the places to go. In line with these findings, it was concluded that the Instagram posts of travel bloggers are effective on their followers and have an effect on alternative tourism.