Tourism Promotion Using Social Networks: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Social networks function as a strategy for the promotion and dissemination of tourism destinations. The objective of this systematic review is to determine what is known about the use of social networks as a tool for tourism promotion, in the scientific literature between 2012 and 2022. The Prisma methodology (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta - Analyses) was used, the databases were Science direct, Taylor and Francis, Dialnet, Redalyc and Scielo, with a total of 49 systematized articles, the inclusion criteria were those that are published between 2012 and 2022, are in Spanish, English or Portuguese language, and that have free access. The results obtained determine that, 78 % of the articles are current as of 2017, with a significant decrease during 2020 due to the global health crisis. It is concluded that the use of social networks by tourists allows them to publicize a destination indirectly, and they do so by posting photos and videos, accompanied by texts, either with information about the destination or with inspirational phrases. Finally, it is mentioned that there is a wide variety of social networks that could be used to promote a destination; but, among the most relevant we have Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, which have been observed in most of the articles, regardless of the category, are used as the main social networks for the dissemination and promotion of destinations. Tiktok could also be included as a social network with a lot of diffusion power; however, there are still not many studies that support this information.