Case Studies of Selected Influencers in Sustainable Tourism: A Focused Content Analysis of TikTok Narratives

This thesis examines how Filipino and international TikTok influencers construct and communicate sustainable tourism narratives through short-form video content, with a specific focus on Philippine destinations. Guided by Framing Theory (Entman, 1993) and Cultural Adaptation Theory (Berry, 1997; Gudykunst & Kim, 2003), the study investigates how sustainability messages are framed, culturally adapted, and embedded within influencer storytelling practices. Using a qualitative case study design, the research analysed sixteen TikTok videos created by eight influencers having four Filipinos and four International were analysed through focused content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Bengtsson, 2016), supported by NVivo 15. Findings show that Filipino influencers frame sustainability implicitly embedding it within cultural stewardship, community identity and collectivist values, whereas international influencers foreground sustainability more explicitly, through directive ethical messaging grounded in individual responsibility. Cultural adaptation operates through four consistent mechanisms such as localisation, audience connection, identity positioning and global-local bridging with the clearest divergence occurring in localisation where Filipino influencers draw far more heavily on language, insider knowledge and place-specific meaning. The thesis argues that TikTok influencers function as digital cultural mediators, translating global sustainability ideals into locally resonant narratives and contributes a jointly applied Framing-Cultural Adaptation framework for short-form video research. The thesis concludes with recommendations for destination marketing organisations, tourism businesses and influencers and identifies directions for future research.