A comprehensive picture of the social media challenge for DMOs

ABSTRACT

Scholars strongly agree that DMOs are hubs devoted to the production of memorable experiences. In the last few years, several authors have been pointing out that destinations are called to a major “paradigm shift” over the web 2.0 revolution. However, this remains a partially under-explored topic. We want to come to a comprehensive understanding of how, to what extent, and under what critical conditions social media can reshape DMOs’ value processes. We opted for a multiple case study research method with a grounded-theory approach. Our analysis reveals enormous opportunities for social networks to directly and indirectly impact on the destination brand equity. This is a potential that DMOs are barely exploiting, however, mainly due to cultural issues.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• DMOs
• tourist experiences
• brand equity
• value