Iis Tussyadiah University of Surrey, UK

Getting Smarter with Social Media in Tourism

Today, virtually every destination and tourism business has a presence in social media. Yet, figuring out what best to do with social media and user-generated content (UGC) remains challenging for many. This panel will explore new challenges and opportunities from the dynamic, ever evolving social media. First, it addresses how to transform massive (big) data from UGC into actionable business insights through social analytics. Second, the panel discusses opportunities of deploying applications of artificial intelligence to manage customer relationship through social media, creating the next generation social CRM.   Iis Tussyadiah is a Reader in Hospitality and Digital Experience with the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at University of Surrey (United Kingdom), where she leads the Digital Visitor Economy research group and the Digital Lab. Her research interests lie in the intersection of digital technology and tourism experiences, which include a broad topic within travel and tourism, human-computer interaction, consumer behavior, and mobility. She investigates the roles of information and communication technology (ICT) and digital media in shaping and transforming the behaviors of travelers, digging deeper into the processes of perception and emotional responses that lead to decisions and experience.