Events and tourism destination promotion: An analysis to social networks of the Portuguese wine commissions, in pandemic times

Abstract

The increasing success and use of social networks lead companies to use them as a tool of dissemination and promotion. Portugal is an important tourist destination and one distinctive element of its offer is "Gastronomy and Wines", with the country comprising 14 wine-growing regions with different characteristics. The objective of this study is to analyze the publications and activities developed by the 14 Regional Certification Commissions (RCC) regarding event planning and tourist promotion of the region, during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the information provided on the social networks Facebook and Instagram. A content analysis of all publications made between March 2020 and December 2021 on the aforementioned social networks, was carried out. Data has shown that all the 14 RCC analyzed have an online presence on social networks. However, it is possible to distinguish very
different levels of content development. Regarding the events promoted by the RCC, the commercial and institutional ones (e.g., wine tastings) were the most common, followed by the technical and scientific ones (e.g., webinars and workshops). As far as tourism promotion is concerned, the publications are very diverse and include suggestions for visiting the region, the existing heritage, the producers and members of the wine routes and their wine tourism spaces. Implications for wine tourism agents are discussed.