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A. I. Correia et al.
strategies focusing on sustainable tourism practices. Although there are a growing
number of academic studies on SM, it seems that research is still needed to understand its perceptions and its use to promote business offers, particularly in the context
of leisure tourism-enterprises and in the promotion of sustainable tourism practices,
when they are adopted by the enterprises. The present research aimed to offer insights
on the perceptions of owners of leisure tourism-related enterprises that provide
tourism and cultural-related activities and experiences in the geographic context
of VCLG.
The results indicate that, overall, SM are perceived as being very important to 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 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 leisure-related enterprises’ owners and/or managers have concerns about
sustainability, and some of them do implement and promote sustainable tourism practices. However, there is the general recognition that travellers are not willing to pay
more money for ‘sustainable activities/experiences’.
The results also show that the investment in paid posts is reduced, that the enterprises seek to post regularly and in a diversified manner, and that the engagement
monitoring is mainly based on the number of likes and shares. Furthermore, they
assume an intention to improve strategies and techniques related to the use of SM in
the next two years, as they believe that the increasing importance of SM as communication tools will be critical for the business success in the future, particularly related
to videos. They also believe that SM communications will contribute to add value to
the natural and cultural resources, reinforcing the importance of sustainable tourism
practices.
Regarding the VCLG, results reveal that there is a common recognition of the
lack of notoriety of VCLG, as well as scarce public investment in its promotion. The
enterprises’ owners/managers also recognise that the promotion of VCLG would
contribute to minimize the effects of seasonality, to enhance the current tourism
offer and demand, and consider the inclusion of VCLG on their SM as a differentiation factor that adds value to their offer, with great potential to raise interest in
different markets. They seek to promote the VCLG based on natural and cultural
resources (geosites and geo monuments); however, the focus is particularly on the
activities and experiences, given their clients’ major interests. Still, regarding VCLG,
the shared perception is that there is a lack of information and specialised human
resources/guides to guide and interpret the tours at the VCLG.
Some limitations of this study must be addressed, such as the reduced number of
interviews and the adoption of matrix-based content analysis that aimed to obtain
information to answer specific research questions. Therefore, in-depth studies are
needed in the future to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions
of leisure businesses about the importance and use of SM, particularly to promote
and develop sustainable tourism practices. Second, the study did not include the
A. I. Correia et al.
strategies focusing on sustainable tourism practices. Although there are a growing
number of academic studies on SM, it seems that research is still needed to understand its perceptions and its use to promote business offers, particularly in the context
of leisure tourism-enterprises and in the promotion of sustainable tourism practices,
when they are adopted by the enterprises. The present research aimed to offer insights
on the perceptions of owners of leisure tourism-related enterprises that provide
tourism and cultural-related activities and experiences in the geographic context
of VCLG.
The results indicate that, overall, SM are perceived as being very important to 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 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 leisure-related enterprises’ owners and/or managers have concerns about
sustainability, and some of them do implement and promote sustainable tourism practices. However, there is the general recognition that travellers are not willing to pay
more money for ‘sustainable activities/experiences’.
The results also show that the investment in paid posts is reduced, that the enterprises seek to post regularly and in a diversified manner, and that the engagement
monitoring is mainly based on the number of likes and shares. Furthermore, they
assume an intention to improve strategies and techniques related to the use of SM in
the next two years, as they believe that the increasing importance of SM as communication tools will be critical for the business success in the future, particularly related
to videos. They also believe that SM communications will contribute to add value to
the natural and cultural resources, reinforcing the importance of sustainable tourism
practices.
Regarding the VCLG, results reveal that there is a common recognition of the
lack of notoriety of VCLG, as well as scarce public investment in its promotion. The
enterprises’ owners/managers also recognise that the promotion of VCLG would
contribute to minimize the effects of seasonality, to enhance the current tourism
offer and demand, and consider the inclusion of VCLG on their SM as a differentiation factor that adds value to their offer, with great potential to raise interest in
different markets. They seek to promote the VCLG based on natural and cultural
resources (geosites and geo monuments); however, the focus is particularly on the
activities and experiences, given their clients’ major interests. Still, regarding VCLG,
the shared perception is that there is a lack of information and specialised human
resources/guides to guide and interpret the tours at the VCLG.
Some limitations of this study must be addressed, such as the reduced number of
interviews and the adoption of matrix-based content analysis that aimed to obtain
information to answer specific research questions. Therefore, in-depth studies are
needed in the future to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions
of leisure businesses about the importance and use of SM, particularly to promote
and develop sustainable tourism practices. Second, the study did not include the