This weekend kicks off the busy summer travel season, and social media sites like Instagram are inspiring people to chase new experiences.
“Younger generations that will literally book a destination based on how Instagrammable it is; how many likes they plan to get,” says Victoria Cagliero with Travelocity.
Hotels and resorts are designing features specifically for social media sharing and sometimes paying influencers to visit and share posts online.
“It really lures people in to go to their destinations, post photos on Instagram, and then repeat that cycle,” says Sharon Profis with CNET.
All of those posts are pressuring some to pay for Photoshopped travel pictures of a fake vacation, or spend more than they can afford for a real one.
According to Schwab, about a third of Americans say social media influences their financial habits, which causes them to overspend.
Additionally, Instagram is bringing attention to smaller destinations that can cause overcrowding from a big influx of visitors to places that aren’t prepared for it. That happened recently with the super bloom in California and in Iceland where tourists now outnumber locals seven to one.
