Pengaruh Blog Pelancongan Terhadap Keinginan Melancong

The tourism industry has contributed 56.5 billion to the national income, thus becoming the second most prominent industry in Malaysia. Therefore, the country needs higher expenses to promote Malaysia through printed media and mass media advertising. However, the emergence of social media such as travel blogs has especially gained global attention. It could serve as a platform to promote Malaysian tourism destinations and reduce the cost of advertising. A travel blog with a range of travel information sources along with a discussion space serves as reference material for potential tourists to gain exposure to an authentic holiday experience. Travel blogs can be used as an effective and efficient medium to promote tourism destinations if the blog writer studied and understands their reader’s desire for traveling. This study aims to identify the extent of a travel blog (affective, cognitive, and interpersonal interaction in the blog) that could potentially affect the reader’s desire to travel to a particular destination. The data was collected from a total of 185 respondents using an online survey. The results showed that the affective, cognitive, and interpersonal interactions significantly correlate with the desire to travel. However, the interpersonal interaction factor was the most significant predictor for the travel blog reader’s desire and tendency to travel.