Social Media and Development of Tourism in Manipur

This article explores the potential role of social media in the development of tourism in Manipur, which is a landlocked state in the far north-eastern corner of India.The advent of smartphones, the internet, and social media applications in the 2000s has brought about unprecedented changes in the way people communicate, work, and entertain.By 2025, the number of social media user identities in the world is estimated to be 5.24 billion people, which equates to 63.9 percent of all the people on Earth.Such an explosive growth of social media provides a huge opportunity for a remote place like Manipur, and perhaps the whole northeast India, to capitalise by exploiting this emerging global trend.Social media is today used not only for communication between persons, businesses, and corporate houses but also serves as a major source of information on almost everything and anything that is happening around us.It has become a significant source of information on tourism, travel planning, vacations, travel experiences, video blogs, and related matters.Drawing from various published works, this paper examines the endless possibilities as well as certain drawbacks of using social media in promoting tourism.The paper also highlights challenges specific to the state while using modern social media technology in tourism promotion.If harnessed properly, it could ensure equitable and sustainable tourism development in Manipur.