The last Eglantine holidays started on Tiktok. The 25 -year -old fell on “A traditional Georgian dance video” And sent her to friends. The discussions and power of the Chinese social network algorithm, which flooded it with Georgia, have done the rest. “We watched lots of videos and we thought it looked beautiful and not so touristy, so we went there”explains this employee in a travel agency, whose knowledge of the Caucasus country has so far been limited to experience in a Georgian restaurant and waves of history lessons.
The arrival in the capital Tbilissi, the choice of route, restaurants, activities: all of Eglantine’s trip and her gang was meticulously prepared on the social network. “”Tiktok is a bit of my google. I take it as a search engine. I type keywords and look at the most relevant results. This allows me to identify places, routes “details the tourist from Val-de-Marne.
In an increasingly digital world, tourism is no exception to the ever -increasing influence of social networks, with its codes, instantaneity and popularity. Tourist contents thus increased by 410% between 2021 and 2025 on Tiktok, while more than two million posts linked to tourism were identified last year on Instagram, according to The world. “The various studies on the subject have shown that social networks have an impact in the choice of destinations, and in particular with the famous generation Z (Those who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s)“”explains Bertrand Réau, professor of sociology at CNAM and tourism specialist.
For tourists interviewed by franceinfo, Tiktok and Instagram have completely replaced traditional travel guides Like the backpacker, losing speed in recent years. According to Philippe Orain, editorial director of Michelin Voyage & Cultures guides cited by The worldThe sale of guides fell 6% between 2023 and 2024. “I am 25 years old and I am one of the people born with the internet. I used to look for everything on my phone, and I don’t feel like I need a paper guide”testifies Eglantine, who also evokes the argument of the price and the practicality in its use of social networks. “Three tips for traveling at a low price”, “Five things to do in Colombia”, “The best restaurants in Seville” … A few minutes are enough on Tiktok, where the videos are shorter and more dynamic than on Instagram.
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“Countries like Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, I barely knew that it existed a few years ago. Social networks allow you to visibility certain places, and even to offer a different look from traditional media”also judge Eglantine, conscious despite everything that “Everything is not true” On Gear.
“You can find everything and anyway, especially nonsense on trips that go wrong or tourist catch”Laughs Julien, 30 years old. This framework at EDF travels regularly, between short weekends and long holidays, and its trips always start with meticulous research on his phone. “As soon as I see a place that interests me, I pin it on my Google Maps card where you can record places, restaurants, beaches. I use Instagram to do the big work, because users That I am are my age and do the same type of trip as me, and then, I refine with Tiktok: by dint of watching videos, the algorithm knows where I am going. “
The 30 -year -old, who also uses certain guides and blogs to deepen his research and find it “Explanations on the scene”Use the networks in all the steps preceding their journey. “When I start looking for plane tickets, my algorithm offers me even more content”notes the one who is preparing a trip of a few months to Southeast Asia.
But social networks are not only tools that are used before a trip. They are also a way to find a last -minute concert, restaurant or advice, once there, as Simon confides. “This is my boost to find nuggets. In the morning on vacation, I use Tiktok to take care of or if I dry a place: when I was in Montreal, I typed ‘Contemporary Art + Montreal’ and I found an exhibition for the day”Details the 20 -year -old student, the choices of which are, like all, influenced by the many creators of content specialized in travel and tourism.
The most popular like Fitclaire, Noholita or Bruno Maltor are followed by a million followers or almost, depending on the platforms. We see them filming themselves, Namibia to Malaysia, via Crete, but also France. They show their good plans, their favorite restaurants or the activities that have wrapped them, never forgetting to mention the many partners and brands that support them and sometimes invite them. A Greenpeace studywho brought to a year of content, had pointed that Almost in two content (46%) published by the 20 “travel” influencers most followed in France was sponsored. Influencers had also been pinned for the over -representation of plane trips in their content, while aviation represents 2 to 6% of global CO2 emissions responsible for climate change.
Even if some influencers promote another tourism – train or cycling trips, local tourism – the weight of social networks is not without consequences for fashionable destinations, populations and ecosystems. The Indonesian island of Bali has become a high place of surcourism, where onlookers sometimes wait a long time for a photo in front of a mirror or a beach, just like Santorini in Greece or the Calanques de Marseille in France. “Social networks produce a homogenization of the routes, which we had already noted with guides and tour operators, and a new form of standardization with its fashion effects, its quest for social validation and the massive influxes that the idealized images of the place can generate”Note researcher Bertrand Reau.
Eglantine refuses to travel in “places that are more museums than places of life”While Julien does everything to avoid crowded places during his travels. With more or less success. “When one talks about surcourism, I think of an anecdote: in April, I went to a well -known beach of social networks in Cyprus. There was a point of view and a lot of people, I had the impression of being fooled”Explains the 30 -year -old, who found a few other superb beach a few days later thanks to a tourist guide.
Now I tell myself that the under-de-exposed places may be better.
Julien, executive at EDFin franceinfo
Instead of Bali, Julien will go to Lombok, a neighboring island, during his future road trip in Southeast Asia. In addition to Tiktok, the frame at EDF uses a chatgpt to plan everything. Artificial intelligence Generative serves him to organize his journeys between the islands of Indonesia. “It’s good for the main lines, but when you dig and you want details, Chatgpt is next to the plate. He offered us an air link that no longer exists and he was also mistaken on volcanoes”, Smiles Julien.
Simon, whose mother sometimes uses artificial intelligence to simplify her holidays, still resists, “Even if simplicity (there) caught “. “Now, we can book a holiday in four hours, without making a phone call, it’s practical and comfortable”Notes the latter, who would like to set a challenge: to do without social networks for his next vacation.
