How do destinations use twitter to recover their images after a terrorist attack?

Identifier:  imarina:5133126

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina5133126

Authors:  Oliveira, Andrea; Huertas, Assumpcio

Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the destination marketing organizations (DMOs) of Barcelona and Cambrils communicated information about the terrorist attacks they suffered and what they have done to recover their image. The tweets posted on the Barcelona and Cambrils profiles were examined following a content analysis method focusing on three categories of communication: (1) the terrorist attacks, (2) the actions by the DMOs to manage them, and especially (3) the tourism-related decisions that were taken in order to recover the image of the destinations. The results reveal that to a great extent the destinations focused their communication efforts on managing the attack and to a lesser extent on messages to promote tourism in the region as a way to recover their image.