This study examined the influence of social media platforms on consumer travel preferences and destination choices, using Fort Portal City, Uganda, as a case study. Social media has emerged as a dominant source of travel inspiration and information globally, yet its specific influence within Uganda's rapidly growing domestic and regional tourism market remains under-researched. The study was guided by three specific objectives: to examine the extent of social media usage for travel-related information among consumers, to assess consumer travel preferences and destination choice patterns, and to establish the relationship between social media platform usage and destination choice for Fort Portal City. A descriptive correlational research design was employed, targeting a population of approximately 260 tourists and visitors accessing selected tourism sites and facilities within Fort Portal City. A sample size of 155 respondents was determined using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table and convenience sampling. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using SPSS version 26 through descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and simple linear regression. The findings revealed that Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok were the most widely used platforms for travel-related content among respondents, with a mean overall social media influence score of 3.62 (high). A strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship was found between social media platform usage and destination choice (r = 0.588, p < 0.01), with social media usage explaining 34.6% of the variance in destination choice (R² = 0.346, F(1,153) = 80.94, p < 0.001). The study concludes that social media platforms significantly shape consumer destination choices in favour of Fort Portal City and recommends that tourism stakeholders intensify strategic, visually engaging social media marketing campaigns, including influencer partnerships and user-generated content promotion.