SOCIAL MEDIA AND SPA TOURISM BEFORE AND DURING COVID-19

Abstract

As COVID-19 pandemic has left great consequences on all economic activities, social media has served as a vastly helpful communication tool for most industries, including tourism. The spa destinations are trying to attract tourists by changing the way of using social media while adapting to the new situation. The aim of this paper is to analyze the social media used in the promotion of spa tourism. The authors compare two different phases: pre- COVID-19 and during COVID-19 using data collected from 126owners of tourist accommodation in spas destination. The research showed that during the period of COVID-19, the respondents most often use Instagram and Booking, they post the content most often once a week using photos and text. In addition, the results show that the respondents emphasize the location and price (in the pre- COVID-19), but during the COVID-19 pandemic, they put importance on health safety andcleanliness.