The role of Egyptian social media influencers in shaping the media image of countries as tourist destinations

The study aimed to analyze the relationship between following the touristic posts of the Egyptian Instagram influencers as one of the most prominent social networking sites in shaping the media image of different countries (which includes both the cognitive image and the affective image) as touristic destinations. The study adopted the source credibility model as a theoretical framework and apply it to Egyptian Instagram influencers who are interested in travel and tourism. The study relied on two data collection tools, the first one is a content analysis form to analyze tourism posts presented by a sample of (10) Instagram influencers who are interested in travel and tourism within six months. The second tool is the electronic questionnaire form, which was applied to a sample of 407 individuals who follow the Egyptian tourism influencers. The study concluded that there is a prominent role for the Egyptian Instagram influencers who are interested in tourism and travel in forming a positive media image of the different countries as touristic destinations for their followers.
The study also found an increase in the source credibility elements of the travel Instagram influencers represented in (trust - experience - credibility).