Objective - Purpose of this study is to compile a literature review on the issues and challenges of social media adoption by tourism SMEs. The empirical part of this study consists of review from existing literature related to social media adoption by SMEs.

Methodology/Technique - A literature review was conducted on related to social media adoption by SMEs published between 2010 to 2015, via Google Scholar and linked to various databases, including Science Direct, Elsevier, Emerald and Research Gate. Snowballing was done on the available references from related articles in the attempt to search for more related materials after which a literature matrix was compiled before the final write up of this article.

Findings - Issues and challenges faced by tourism SMEs can be divided to two (2) main categories, which include internal and external challenges. Literature suggests that manpower compatibility issue is the most crucial factor in the adoption of social media by SMEs. This is followed by lack of resources; infrastructures, financial as well as lack of commitment from management.

Novelty - This paper contributes to research in the issues and challenges of social media adoption by tourism SMEs. It also provides a source for researchers in discovering research trends in social media adoption literature and will help to stimulate further interest in this area.

Type of Paper - Empirical

Keywords: SMEs; Social media; Social media adoption; Facebook; Issues and challenges