Social media and sustainable tourism marketing : perceptions of owners of leisure-related enterprises operating within Viana do Castelo Littoral Geopark (Northwest Portugal)

Abstract

Social media (SM) are increasingly changing the context in which businesses operate, and therefore the understanding of continuously changing trends in the context of digital marketing is critical for the development of enterprises in the leisure market. Amongst those trends figures the increasing importance of SM, the growth of user-generated content and its influence, not only on travellers’ decision making but also in tourism-related enterprises’ marketing strategies that might also take into account sustainability concerns and main issues. This research aims to analyse current and future use of SM in the promotion of tourism businesses and activities, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism practices. Semi-structured interviews were adopted to identify and analyse the perceptions of owners and/or managers of leisure-related enterprises who are operating within the geographic context of Viana do Castelo Littoral Geopark. The results indicate that, overall, SM are perceived as being very important in the promotion of the business, reaching customers and enhancing interaction. However, some owners/managers do recognise their use as being complementary with Google ads, considering the perceived impacts on their sales. Currently, Facebook and Instagram are the most used SM, and the enterprises’ owners and/or managers are aware of their different objectives and audiences. In the future, all of them want to enhance SM management and professional use, with Youtube being the privileged network. In general, the owners and/or managers of the leisure-related enterprises have concerns about sustainability, and some of them do implement and promote sustainable tourism practices. However, there is a general recognition that travellers are not willing to pay more money for what are considered ‘sustainable activities”/ “experiences’. This research will discuss practical and theoretical implications about the importance and usage of SM to digitally promote natural and cultural resources in the context of leisure-related enterprises within the framework of sustainable tourism development and marketing. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.