Tourism Promotion on Social Media.

In the past three years, there has been a significant leap in the use of Social Media by DMO’s (Destination Management Organisations, or Tourism Offices in their broadest definition). What was once a minimal and inactive presence on just one or two platforms (mainly Facebook and Instagram), directly managed by the Tourism Office staff, has evolved to outsourcing the Community Manager role and maintaining a more active presence on three or more social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google+). This shift demonstrates the growing importance of Social Media as a tool for tourism promotion, due to the massive global popularity of social networks with millions of users connected daily. Nobody consumes something they don't know, which is why it has become essential to promote tourist attractions and services to as many people as possible who are in a position to consume them, using the most appropriate channels to communicate this information in an effective and direct way, in order to spark the interest of potential tourists. In other words, being visible where people are.

The Ranking.

Coinciding with these dates, and as every year, the Association of Tourism Professionals in Local Administration in Catalonia (APTALC) has conducted an analysis of the presence of Catalan tourist destinations and brands on Instagram.

There is no doubt about the tourism utility of Instagram: it generates thousands of images that showcase positive aspects of the territory, which can be used for promotion. It boosts local citizens' self-esteem, informs, motivates, and inspires future visitors, and positions destinations in the collective imagination, along with many other aspects that managers need to consider. Instagram has become the social network par excellence for tourism.

This list has been compiled based solely on the official accounts of the destinations, that is, those corresponding to the organizations responsible for managing tourism in the area (whether in the administrative sphere or managed directly or through an external service).

The number of followers has been taken into account, and not other aspects such as the number of photos posted by each organization or the number of photos tagged with a specific hashtag.

The ranking is topped by the Tourism account of Barcelona with 68,800 followers. For the second consecutive year, the Ametlla de Mar Tourism profile holds second place with 20,400 followers, and in third place is the Tarragona Tourism account with 16,700 followers. Completing the Top 5 are Girona with 12,200 followers and our colleagues from Deltebre with 10,000.

Thus, tourism and the promotion of destinations have fully entered social media, becoming indispensable platforms for reaching the public with our destinations and attractions, such as: beaches, nature, gastronomy, activities, events, etc...

Source: Turisme de l'Ametlla de Mar.