Web 2.0 and Destination Marketing: Current Trends and Future Directions

Marcello Mariani

doi:10.3390/su12093771

Abstract

Over the last decade, destination marketers and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) have increasingly invested in Web 2.0 technologies as a cost-effective means of promoting destinations online, in the face of drastic marketing budgets cuts. Recent scholarly and industry research has emphasized that Web 2.0 plays an increasing role in destination marketing. However, no comprehensive appraisal of this research area has been conducted so far. To address this gap, this study conducts a quantitative literature review to examine the extent to which Web 2.0 features in destination marketing research that was published until December 2019, by identifying research topics, gaps and future directions, and designing a theory-driven agenda for future research. The study’s findings indicate an increase in scholarly literature revolving around the adoption and use of Web 2.0 for destination marketing purposes. However, the emerging research field is fragmented in scope and displays several gaps. Most of the studies are descriptive in nature and a strong overarching conceptual framework that might help identify critical destination marketing problems linked to Web 2.0 technologies is missing.

Highlights

Today, tourism destinations are facing escalating and unprecedented levels of uncertainty and complexity and have to navigate a fast-paced and turbulent business environment, wherein achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage, even over short periods [1], is progressively more difficult and challenging
Moreno-Gil have mainly focused on European markets), and (2) tend to focus on a specific technology or social networking sites (SNSs) because the research team is knowledgeable about that Web 2.0 platform (e.g., Ge and Gretzel)
The above diagram is a parsimonious, yet a comprehensive representation of the body of research and knowledge created to date in the area at the intersection of Web 2.0 and destination marketing

Summary

Introduction

Tourism destinations are facing escalating and unprecedented levels of uncertainty and complexity and have to navigate a fast-paced and turbulent business environment, wherein achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage, even over short periods [1], is progressively more difficult and challenging. This situation is critical in the travel and tourism industries, where hyper-competition [2] is becoming increasingly apparent and demanding in the face of an ever changing economic, social, technological, regulatory and ecological landscape [3,4]. Most of the studies are descriptive in nature and a strong overarching conceptual framework that might help identify critical destination marketing problems linked to Web 2.0 technologies is missing

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion