Social networks and promotion of thermal tourism destinations of the Euro-region Galicia-Northern Portugal

Abstract

The euro-region Galicia-Northern Portugal is the territory with more thermal resources in Europe, which has made possible the construction of a high number of thermal establishments, benchmarks in their sector. Against an ever-changing and evolving scenario in thermal tourism, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been relevant to improve the management and commercialization of its tourism activity. The present research assesses the relevance of social media as platforms for promoting thermal tourism hanks to the opinion of people responsible for thermal establishments in Galicia and Northern Portugal. The method used was the structured interview to health resorts managers, supported by the use of the tool MAXQDA 2011 for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Results show that, while most of the health resorts managers highlight the relevance of social media in the online promotion of their establishments, there is a general indifference as regards the use of these platforms.