The Importance of Social Media for the Improvement of the Tourist Experience Offered by Rural Tourism Enterprises: The Case of the Alentejo

Introduction

It is clear from the authors consulted that price and quality are no longer the only points for competitiveness (Shaw & Ivens, 2005, cited by Veríssimo & Menezes, 2016). Today, the focus must be on a differential customer experience. It is important to highlight that tourist consumption goes beyond material goods; when the emotional aspects involved are considered, then it must focus on affective and cognitive aspects. This is the case even when tourist services have a clearly functional value for customers, such as hotels and transportation, because experiences can directly influence the process of evaluation of services and consequently the tourist experience (Veríssimo & Menezes, 2016).

Social media are changing the way society consumes and contributes to the creation of information. Technology now allows individuals to easily contribute their thoughts, opinions and creations to the Internet (Hays, Page & Buhalis, 2013). Their use has been gaining more and more importance in recent years and has had a very significant impact on the tourism sector. It has brought more interactivity to internet and forged the relationship between customer and firms (Veríssimo & Menezes, 2016). The way it influences activity can be viewed in two ways. On the one hand, from the point of view of the consumer himself, especially the way in which tourists access information, in particular to decide and plan their trip and to share their experiences. On the other hand, and for those who are interested in investigating, social networks are used tourism companies as a means to support their marketing activities, such as the promotion of tourism products (Danhil, Marzuki, Langgat & Fabeil, 2014; Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014).

In a study called “Digital Channels in Travel”, conducted by Deloitte and Facebook, it was concluded that social networks have an important role in the choice of travel and that is why companies in the industry should take advantage of this business opportunity (https://www2.deloitte.com/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/influencia-dos-social-media.html). Social media could be used by the hospitality industry as a tool to enhance marketing experience and to connect to customers, because thus it is possible to understand their needs and wishes, offering differentiated services, creating brand value and getting a competitive advantage over their competitors (Veríssimo & Menezes, 2016, p. 24).

So, the use of social media and on-line channels are new challenges for tourism enterprises in rural areas, particularly for hotel managers. These information and communications technologies (ICT) are a means by which tourism subsector companies can communicate with customers more easily; they make it possible to perceive consumer behaviour and to estimate the choices that the consumer may make in terms of accommodation. In this way, it has become indispensable to maintain a constant presence in these online channels, not only to take notice of what consumers are talking about in terms of the hotel accommodation in question, but also to determine the best communications strategy to undertake and which information should be made available, taking into account what the consumer is looking for.

This is the situation. However, many of these small and medium-sized hotel companies have been slow to adopt technologies due to lack of money and/or time, as well as a lack of knowledge about how they work (Oliveira, Correia & Fernandes, 2017).