Las redes sociales de las organizaciones de marketing de destinos turísticos como posible fuente de eWOM

Abstract

ResumenEl turismo es uno de los sectores económicos de mayor crecimiento a nivel mundial; el de sol y playa, el principal de la industria turística española. Las redes sociales juegan un papel clave en el desarrollo de los destinos turísticos al ser uno de los canales principales para su difusión y comercialización, y un espacio para que los turistas reales y potenciales compartan sus experiencias influyendo en las decisiones de otros turistas. La presente investigación analiza la presencia y gestión de los principales destinos de sol y playa españoles en Facebook, así como la interacción de sus usuarios como posible origen de eWOM. Se utiliza para ello una metodología cuantitativa a partir de la monitorización y análisis de contenido de las publicaciones de los perfiles turísticos oficiales, de los responsables y de los usuarios. Los resultados muestran una clara implantación de esta red social en las estrategias de marketing y comunicación de los destinos turísticos, pero con planteamientos y resultados diferentes que no permiten establecer una relación directa entre las variables analizadas y su incidencia en la interacción de los usuarios. En este sentido, se concluye la pertinencia de métricas globales, aunque complementadas con estudios individualizados de los usuarios y de sus intereses.Palabras clave: Turismo, social media, Facebook, eWOM, travel 2.0, interactividad. AbstractTourism 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.

ICT and the Sustainability of World Heritage Sites. Analysis of Senior Citizens’ Use of Tourism Apps

“…Finally, with regards to the features of tourist apps, the importance of their relational potential has been clearly established [1,2,31,44]. The selected apps do not exploit this capacity and the target public has not shown a particular interest in this possibility, however, we must insist on the desirability of promoting it and encouraging the conversion of this public into adprosumers by incentivizing their participation in virtual communities that are generated around tourist destinations [6,11,13]. It has been concluded that tourism must try to reach the largest possible number of age groups, including the elderly, by adapting its products and services to the needs of an increasingly older but eager and able to travel society [71].…”

“…The analysis of these mobile apps shows that they meet the expectations of senior tourists, who constitute a relevant generation for cultural tourism and are of special interest for the sustainability of WCHS. The configuration and development of these tools must be adapted to this generation, which we call Generation W.Sustainability 2019, 11, 3203 2 of 17 image and reputation of the destination [11,13]. Thus, RICT contribute to sustainable tourism through their communicational, relational, and experiential capacity [6,[14][15][16].…”

“…In the tourist sector, the key is the experience resulting from all the travel stages: pre-travel (search of information, planning, decision-making), on-travel (experiences resulting from the use and consumption of the product or service, and the relationships established with the host community) and post-travel [9,13,[17][18][19]. In addition, the value of experience has acquired more importance with the arrival of the model 2.0 [19,20] and its potential to multiply the reach of the traditional word of mouth [13,21] and the electronic word of mouth (eWOM), when focused in the digital field [22,23].Having highlighted the importance of RICT in the tourism sector, including the cultural one, there are questions about the uses of RICT among different types of tourists, both real and potential, and, consequently, about the differences between digital immigrants and digital natives [24]. Both segments of the population constitute interesting groups for cultural destination marketing organizations [25][26][27] with different expectations and use of RICT [3,28,29].…”

“…Sustainability 2019, 11, 3203 2 of 17 image and reputation of the destination [11,13]. Thus, RICT contribute to sustainable tourism through their communicational, relational, and experiential capacity [6,[14][15][16].…”

“…The intangible and eminently experiential nature of tourism products and services [7] and the fact that they cannot be tested before they are bought give great importance to the user's experience. In the tourist sector, the key is the experience resulting from all the travel stages: pre-travel (search of information, planning, decision-making), on-travel (experiences resulting from the use and consumption of the product or service, and the relationships established with the host community) and post-travel [9,13,[17][18][19]. In addition, the value of experience has acquired more importance with the arrival of the model 2.0 [19,20] and its potential to multiply the reach of the traditional word of mouth [13,21] and the electronic word of mouth (eWOM), when focused in the digital field [22,23].…”