El uso de Twitter como instrumento de comunicación en los destinos turísticos de España y Portugal durante la crisis de COVID-19

Francisco Pastor; María Ángeles  Cabrera González; Joao Paulo  de Jesús Faustino

doi:10.15198/seeci.2022.55.e777

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Published: May 13, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2022.55.e777

Keywords:

Twitter, Tourism, Communication, Crisis, Pandemic, Social Network, Interactivity, Audience

Francisco Pastor

Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

María Ángeles Cabrera González

Universidad de Málaga

Joao Paulo de Jesús Faustino

Universidade do Porto

Abstract

This research seeks to analyze the activity, the most used topics, and the ability to generate interaction of a dozen tourist destinations in Spain and Portugal through the social network Twitter in November and December 2020, coinciding with the third wave of the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly affected both countries. The sample is made up of a total of six Spanish and six Portuguese tourist destinations, which correspond to Nielsen areas, geographical areas divided by this market research company based on their homogeneous marketing characteristics. Thus, in the sample, there are five types of destinations for each country: region or autonomous community (Andalusia, Algarve), large coastal destination (Balearic Islands, Azores), large municipality (Madrid, Lisbon), medium-sized city (Málaga, Oporto) and destination inland (Castilla y León, Central Portugal), to which are added the national Tourism accounts of Spain and Portugal (Turespaña and Visit Portugal). To achieve this goal, a content analysis of the 1,382 tweets published by the official accounts of these destinations has been carried out. It is concluded that the pandemic did not cause a significant change in the content included on Twitter and that the destinations did not use all the potential that this social network offers as a means of information.

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How to Cite

Pastor, Francisco, María Ángeles Cabrera González, and Joao Paulo de Jesús Faustino. 2022. “The use of Twitter as a communication instrument in tourist destinations in Spain and Portugal during the Covid-19 crisis”. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI 55 (May):93-111. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2022.55.e777.

Issue

Vol. 55 (2022)

Section

Crisis Communication Management. Present and future

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Author Biographies

Francisco Pastor, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

Francisco-Manuel Pastor-Marín

Communication at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), where he teaches different subjects in the Degree in Journalism and the Master's Degree in Cultural and Natural Heritage Management. He has a Master's Degree in Political and Electoral Communication from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Postgraduate in Marketing and Communication of Sustainable Tourist Destinations from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Currently, he works as an educator at the Centro Internacional de Formación de Autoridades y Líderes (CIFAL), dependent on the United Nations UNITAR agency; and collaborates with the World Tourism Organization (WTO-UNWTO) as a facilitator. He has been responsible for Communication in the Tourism Area and director of Information and Digital Participation at the Malaga City Council, as well as a section chief at La Opinión de Málaga.

Orcid ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2895-4741

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=dCO62t8AAAAJ&hl=es&authuser=1

María Ángeles Cabrera González, Universidad de Málaga

Professor of Journalism at the Universidad de Málaga, where she teaches Digital Journalistic Design and Edition and Written Information Technology. She is the director of the Strategic Chair of Interactivity and Design of Experiences at the Digital Content Pole in Malaga. She is a representative of the PDI Board of the Universidad de Málaga and a member of the board of directors of the Spanish Society of Journalism. She has been Vice Dean of Research and Innovation at the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the Universidad de Málaga. She has participated as Chief Researcher in four coordinated R+D+i projects on Internet Journalism, Cybermedia, Digital Convergence, and Journalistic Innovation. She has carried out long research stays on the study of Cybermedia, the Internet, and Social Networks at Universities in Brazil and Israel and has directed seven doctoral theses.

Orcid ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9451-1212

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=es&user=HSBtrok

Joao Paulo de Jesús Faustino, Universidade do Porto

Professor at the Universidad de Oporto. He worked for twenty years in relevant positions in the publishing and media industry and has carried out projects and consulting work for various public and private institutions (World Bank, Portuguese Media Regulatory Entity, Portuguese Government, European Commission). He was secretary-general of the Portuguese Media Confederation, president of the Communication Observatory, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Professional Training in Journalism (Portugal). He was president of the International Media Management Academic Association (IMMAA) and vice president of the Portuguese Press Association. His research focuses on media studies and the creative industries (marketing, management, economics, entrepreneurship, innovation, regulation, and public policy).

Orcid ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4131-5909

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