Social media effects on diaspora tourism: A case study on second generation of Iranian immigrants in Stockholm By: Paria Izadi Supervisor: Saeid Abbasian Master’s Thesis in Tourism Studies, 15 Credits Södertörn University, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies August 2020 Abstract The impact of social media in tourism industry is significant. This study examines the role, impact, and relationship of social media platforms among second generation Iranian Swedish in Stockholm as a segment of tourism market when travelling to Iran. In addition, the purpose of this study is to explore if social media has a motivational role for diaspora tourism on second generation of immigrants’ trip to their origin country. The study uses content analysis and online questionnaire to collect data of 22 second generation Iranian diaspora who have traveled to Iran at least once during their lifetime. Three themes were identified from the collected qualitative answers based on the objectives of the research: Iranian diaspora motivations to visit homeland, feelings, and traveler experience by social media. Findings demonstrate the social media platforms are working as a motivation-pull factor influencing second generation immigrants to visit Iran, in much the same as other pull factors do. Also, the results show the User Generated Contents (UGC) such as travelers generated reliable travel information and introduction of new destinations can persuade second generation of diaspora immigrants to go back to their origin country for another visit. Finally, the findings of this research have revealed that two outcomes of trip to Iran by second generation of Iranian immigrants are Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) and visiting tourism attractions. Such outcomes can highly affect the diaspora members’ decisions in planning their travel to their origin country. Keywords: Diaspora Tourism, Stockholm, Second Generation, Social Media, Iran i Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Saeid Abbasian for his support, guidance, helpful comments and insights. I also would like to thank Christian Widholm for his guidance on the literature review. I would like to thank pilot test group and the anonymous participants who kindly distributed my questionnaire and took their time to answer it. I am also grateful to my friend Farnaz Saberi for her support and guidance. I would like to express special thanks to my husband, Arsham Mazaheri, for his expert advice in the field of research study, encouragement, support and bearing me during the whole of this project. And finally, I would like to thank my family and friends who supported and believed in me throughout this project. ii Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................................... ii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ v List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................. v Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................ vi Definitions ..................................................................................................................................................... vi 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Study ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Social Media in Tourism ....................................................................................................... 3 1.1.2 Diaspora Tourism .................................................................................................................. 4 1.1.2.1 Iranian Diaspora and Second Generation Living in Stockholm ........................................ 4 1.1.2.2 Migration and Iran ............................................................................................................. 5 1.1.2.3 Tourism in Iran .................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Problem Statement and Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................... 9 1.2.1 Dissertation Aim .................................................................................................................. 10 1.2.2 Research Question ............................................................................................................... 10 1.3 Delimitation ...................................................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Dissertation Outline .......................................................................................................................... 10 2. Method................................................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 The Research Approach .................................................................................................................... 12 2.1.1 Deductive vs. Inductive ....................................................................................................... 12 2.1.2 Exploratory vs. Explanatory vs. Descriptive ....................................................................... 12 2.1.3 Qualitative vs. Quantitative ................................................................................................. 13 2.2 Data Collection Method .................................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1 Participants in the Research Study ...................................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Procedure of Choosing the Participants............................................................................... 17 2.2.3 Data Collection Tools .......................................................................................................... 17 2.2.4 Data Collection Procedure ................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Data Analysis Method ....................................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Validity and Reliability of the Research ........................................................................................... 19 2.5 Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................................................... 20 iii 3. Literature Review ................................................................................................................................ 21 3.1 Social Media in Tourism ................................................................................................................... 21 3.1.1 Social Media and its Types .................................................................................................. 21 3.1.2 Social Media and Tourism ................................................................................................... 22 3.2 Diaspora Tourism .............................................................................................................................. 24 3.2.1 Second Generation Diaspora ............................................................................................... 26 3.3 Social Media, Diaspora Tourism and Motivations ............................................................................ 28 4. Empirical Results ................................................................................................................................ 30 4.1 Characteristics of the Participants ..................................................................................................... 30 4.1.1 Demographic Status............................................................................................................. 30 4.1.2 Social Media Usage ............................................................................................................. 31 4.2 Qualitative Results ............................................................................................................................ 32 4.2.1 Trip to Iran ........................................................................................................................... 32 4.2.2 Motivations and Social Media Impact ................................................................................. 33 4.2.3 Travel Experience while Visiting Iran................................................................................. 37 4.3 Content Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 40 5. Discussions .........................................................................................................................................