Abstract

MARTINEZ-SALA, Alba-María; ALBEZA, Rocío Cifuentes  and  MARTINEZ-CANO, Francisco-Julián. Social networks of tourist destination marketing organizations as potential sources of eWOM. OBS* [online]. 2018, vol.12, n.3, pp.246-271. ISSN 1646-5954.

Tourism is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world; Sun and beach tourism is the main tourist industry in Spain. Social networks play a key role in the development of tourism destinations as one of the main channels for its dissemination and marketing, and a space for actual and potential tourists to share their experiences, influencing the decisions of other tourists. The present research analyses the presence and management of the main sun and beach destinations of Spain on Facebook, together with user interaction as possible sources of eWOM. To this purpose, a quantitative methodology is used, based on the monitoring and analysis of the content posted by the managers and the users on the official tourism profiles. The results show a clear implementation of this social network in marketing and communication strategies of tourist destinations, but with different approaches and results. Hence, they do not allow to establish a direct relationship between the variables analysed and their impact on user interaction. In this sense, the pertinence of global metrics is concluded, although complemented with individualized studies of users and their interests.

Keywords : Tourism; social media; Facebook; eWOM; travel 2.0; interactivity.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )