Sofia City Tourist Image In Selected Social Media

Abstract

The pandemic situation greatly changed the entire tourism sector and influenced the digital search and importance of the tourist destination image and presence in social media. Moreover, the virtual trips, open galleries and museums for virtual tours are expected to generate future interest and enhance the tourist arrivals in post-pandemic era. At the same time the identification of recognizable image-making attractions at destination level is complex process and difficult measure and manage. The purpose of the study is to identify and evaluate the presence of major tourist attractions in different digital channels – social media and platforms, as recognizable image-making sites about capital city. The methodology is primary data analysis of freely shared digital content based on key words and hashtags used in social media such as Instagram, Pinterest, Flikr. The data was gathered manually from 15th Apr 2015-15th May 2021 and 17000 posts in total were analysed for this study. The impact of the content was evaluated by type of pictures, major attractions and number of likes, comments and shares on the post. The results showed that there is limited number of digital contents related to the selected specific key words. There is no clear image of the Sofia city in the analysed social channels.