This thesis is aimed to test a hypothesis of the country brand’s reliance on the online presence. The created evaluation model used in the primary research of this paper determines whether there is enough evidence in the data gathered to indicate that the online presence of a tourist destination corresponds to its country brand’s rank. The research is focused on the online presence of Lithuania as a weak ranking country brand. The online presence results of Lithuania as a tourist destination are compared to the examples of two stronger country brands. The conclusions derived from the comparison of the results determine the success of the online presence of Lithuania, establish whether the hypothesis of the thesis is true or not, while noting the limitations and possible errors of the research, and provide the suggestions for the country brand and online presence improvements.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
1. Goal of the Thesis
2. Thesis Objectives
3. Methods of Research and Analysis
4. Practical use of the thesis
II. Literature Review
1. Tourist Destination
2. Country Branding
3. Importance of the Online Presence
3.1. The Social Media
3.2. Online Travel Review Sites
3.3. The Use of the Search Engine
III. Description of the Models Used for Online Presence Evaluation
1. Evaluating the Tourist Destination’s Presence on the Social Media Sites
2. Evaluating the Tourist Destination’s Presence on the Travel Review Sites
3. Evaluating the Tourist Destination’s Presence on the Google Search Engine
4. Evaluating the Level of How Up-To-Date the Destination Relative Content Is
IV. Online Presence of Lithuania as a Tourist Destination
1. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Social Media Sites
2. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Travel Review Sites
3. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Google Search Engine
V. Online Presence of the Stronger European Country Brands
1. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Social Media Sites: Spain
2. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Travel Review Sites: Spain
3. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Google Search Engine: Spain
4. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Social Media Sites: Estonia
5. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Travel Review Sites: Estonia
6. Evaluation of the Online Presence on the Google Search Engine: Estonia
VI. Comparison of the Online Presence of all the Researched Countries
1. Presence on the Social Media Sites: Lithuania vs. Spain vs. Estonia
2. Presence on the Travel Review Sites: Lithuania vs. Spain vs. Estonia
3. Presence on the Google Search Engine: Lithuania vs. Spain vs. Estonia
VII. Conclusions and Suggestions
Appendix I. List of Social Media Profiles of Lithuania
1. Search using the keyword “Lithuania”
2. Search using the keywords “Lithuania”+”Travel”
Appendix II. List of Social Media Profiles of Spain
1. Search using the keyword “Spain”
2. Search using the keywords “Spain”+”Travel”
Appendix III. List of Social Media Profiles of Estonia
1. Search using the keyword “Estonia”
2. Search using the keywords “Estonia”+”Travel”
Research Objectives and Topics
The primary goal of this research is to investigate how the online presence of a less-known tourist destination compares to more popular ones, and to determine if a lack of online visibility contributes to a weaker country brand. By analyzing and evaluating the online presence of Lithuania, Spain, and Estonia, the thesis aims to test the hypothesis that country brand success is directly correlated with digital footprint and visibility.
- Impact of online presence on country branding and tourist destination perception.
- Comparative analysis of online performance across social media, travel review sites, and search engines.
- Evaluation models for measuring digital visibility and the "up-to-dateness" of destination content.
- Assessment of official versus user-generated content in destination marketing.
- Strategic recommendations for improving the online presence of less-popular tourist destinations.
Excerpt from the Book
3. Importance of the Online Presence
Nowadays, in the digital age, online presence is an essential part of most businesses. With low to no costs and a very wide reach, the internet has become an amazing tool for any brand, big or small, to become global by simply having an online presence. The internet is providing the opportunity for small and niche brands to establish and develop a market that will be even bigger than the ones of the big and powerful brands. Despite the fact that the small and niche brands might have, for instance, word-of-mouth marketing as the only available marketing method, the time has never been more advantageous for them, as the tools available have never been more powerful (Mortimer, 2007 pp. 16-17). Based on this, now is a great time and encouraging environment for smaller, less developed or emerging nations to compete with global nation brands. Countries with weaker economies and lesser to no financial power for funding their country or nation branding are usually less likely to compete with those countries that can devote lots of their resources due to strong economic power. But online branding offers such countries the opportunity they wouldn’t have otherwise - to establish themselves as a niche brand without any substantial costs. Through online branding the nation can get a much wider reach of their marketing audience and spread a positive word-of-mouth using such techniques as viral advertising, blogs, social media, brand advocacy and influencer outreach initiatives (Kirby, J. and Marsden, P., 2006).
The online presence of businesses as their marketing component is extremely important these days. Businesses learn to understand how important to their marketing is growing and evaluating their online footprint. Also referred to as “integrated web presence”, online presence is a great marketing component that, based on its depth and width, can reach the global tourism markets much more effectively, if managed well.
Summary of Chapters
I. Introduction: Introduces the critical role of online presence in the modern tourism industry, outlining the research goals and the focus on Lithuania as a case study.
II. Literature Review: Provides the theoretical foundation by defining tourist destinations, country branding, and the strategic importance of online communication channels.
III. Description of the Models Used for Online Presence Evaluation: Details the methodologies and checklists created to objectively measure social media, travel review site, and search engine visibility.
IV. Online Presence of Lithuania as a Tourist Destination: Applies the evaluation models to Lithuania, highlighting its current digital performance and challenges.
V. Online Presence of the Stronger European Country Brands: Evaluates the digital strategies of Spain and Estonia to serve as benchmarks for successful country branding.
VI. Comparison of the Online Presence of all the Researched Countries: Synthesizes the findings from the three countries to identify performance gaps and correlations between online visibility and brand strength.
VII. Conclusions and Suggestions: Concludes that online presence is crucial to country branding and provides actionable improvements for Lithuania.
Keywords
Online Presence, Country Branding, Tourist Destination, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Digital Marketing, Travel Review Sites, Lithuania, Spain, Estonia, User-Generated Content, Tourism Strategy, Brand Awareness, Keyword Analysis, Digital Visibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this thesis?
The research examines the relationship between a tourist destination's online presence and the strength of its country brand, using Lithuania as the primary case study compared against Spain and Estonia.
What are the main thematic areas of the research?
The study centers on three digital channels: social media platforms, travel review sites (like TripAdvisor), and Google search engine rankings.
What is the primary objective of the research?
To establish whether a lower level of online presence and visibility directly correlates with a weaker country brand in the tourism sector.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author uses empirical research, comparative analysis of statistical data, and custom-built evaluation models to assess digital performance.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
It includes a comprehensive literature review, the definition of custom evaluation metrics, in-depth analysis of Lithuania's digital footprint, and a comparative study against stronger European country brands.
Which keywords are most important for this work?
Key terms include Country Branding, Online Presence, Digital Marketing, SEO, and specific destination names like Lithuania, Spain, and Estonia.
How is the "up-to-dateness" of content measured?
The author created a specific model that assigns percentage values to the recency of updates on social media, websites, and review platforms, ranging from 100% (within one day) to 0% (unknown).
Why was Lithuania chosen for this case study?
Lithuania was selected because it possesses a relatively weak country brand compared to its Baltic neighbors, providing a clear example for investigating the impact of poor online marketing strategies.
- Quote paper
- Viktorija Širvinskytė (Author), 2016, How the online presence of a tourist destination affects the country brand. The Case of Lithuania, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/341076
