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Serious Games at the Service of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Read chapter Read first chapter

2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Social Media Tools and (E)Destination: An Italian Case Study

Authors : Anna Paola Paiano, Lara Valente, Valentina Ndou, Pasquale Del Vecchio

Published in: Tourism, Culture and Heritage in a Smart Economy

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Social networks have a significant role in the tourism sector: both on the demand and on the supply. They are an important information source for travelers, allowing destination makers to ‘socialize’ and share information and comments with users and possible visitors. Leveraging off social media to market destinations has proven to be an excellent strategy as largely recognized in several studies focused on the comprehension of importance of social media in the online tourism market (Chung and Buhalis, 2008; Inversini and Buhalis 2009; Xiang and Gretzel 2010). Following these developments, tourism managers have started to put in practice new strategies that exploit social media tools in order to promote and incentive tourism in the area. Therefore, the primary purpose of the study is to show how digital strategies and, especially, the use of social media tools, may be critical to enable tourism destination competitiveness. The main objective is to analyse a destination digital strategy aimed to define the best features to perform a winning digital strategy that allows to promote and market a tourist destination on the web. Framed in the above premises, a benchmark of some Italian e-destinations best practice examples [ENIT 2015 Blogmeter 2015 have been conducted with the aim to comprehend trends and main features of the use of technologies and applications. The chosen cases are, then, analysed more in depth, through a qualitative online exploratory survey. The results obtained from a contemporary and successful Italian DMO, evidence the criteria enabling a competive 2.0 tourism strategy.

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previous chapter Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Current Aspects
next chapter PM4SD as a Methodological Framework for Sustainable Tourism
Appendix
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Footnotes
2
If Toscana and Marche boost a widespread 2.0 strategy in tourism over the whole territory, playing as real DMOs, both Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, respectively with Venice and Trieste, reveal just some local attempts to apply and use different tools for the realization of a digital strategy.
 
3
Thus, the DOM can guarantee the necessary support for the implementation of some objectives of the region, shaping economic outcomes in the tourism sector, such as the promotion of the destination and the provision of tourist services in the Adriatic and Ionian macro-region, as well, in compliance with the EU Program 2014–2020.
 
4
Giorgetti points out that it is in their interest that the numbers that are stoned on several occasions are at the service of the two major objectives of their strategy, that is “increasing the brand reputation of the Marche and facilitate arrivals and presences. In this sense, the data provided by the most important subjects of monitoring and analysis at national and international level are clear and are the ones of which we are most proud”—retrieved on: http://​polcom.​it/​2015/​10/​comunicare-le-marche-nella-macroregione-adriatico-ionica/​.
 
5
For example, a photo on Flickr is exploited on Facebook, so as to bring the volume to both, but more importantly is sharing a photo of one user posted, for example on Instagram, which becomes the image of a post prepared and published by the Social Media Team. In short, it is a network within a network.
 
7
Le Marche Sul Web—Analisi E Report Della Presenza Delle Marche Sul Web. Monitoraggio Novembre 2014/Gennaio 2015—Regione Marche Pf Turismo E Tutela Dei Consumatori.
 
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Metadata
Title
Social Media Tools and (E)Destination: An Italian Case Study
Authors
Anna Paola Paiano
Lara Valente
Valentina Ndou
Pasquale Del Vecchio
Copyright Year
2017
Book
Tourism, Culture and Heritage in a Smart Economy

Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47731-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-47732-9

Copyright Year: 2017

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47732-9_18