Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the analysis of the potential contribution of festivals in generating a destination image through social media (particularly Twitter). Design/methodology/approach This study follows a multi-method approach by recollecting, analyzing and mixing quantitative and qualitative techniques. The authors focus on the case of Vic (Spain), analyzing the destination’s image as projected by different users (administration, private sector, particular users, residents) on Twitter in relation to an international musical festival, El Mercat de Música Viva de Vic (the Vic Live Music Market). Findings From a theoretical perspective, the study’s results advocate a reconsideration of the role of social media in the processes of creating a destination’s image. It is important to take into account the need to perform a specific analysis for each platform and consider how it operates and which stakeholders prevail by weight, by the clusters they pertain to and by their elicited descriptions. In the particular case of Twitter, the image-formation continuum generated by different actors through different sources is present here on one single platform. Research limitations/implications This study is limited in terms of being based on only one social media site, and it would be very interesting to complement it by analyzing other relevant social media platforms. Practical implications From a practical point of view, this presents a challenge to destination managers to learn how to work on each specific platform in order to oversee the different destination visions and their resources. Originality/value From the results, the authors affirm that destination-branding analyses now need a platform-specific approach as well as an in-depth stakeholder analysis, since it is no longer possible to separate producers and consumers in brand image creation. Branding is becoming a more inclusive and collaborative process.

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Abstract:The perceived risk of tourists' use of smartphones is a key issue in shaping the tourist experience in terms of sustainability, as it can affect the behaviour of tourists and influence their satisfaction with that experience. However, little empirical research exists on the relationship between tourists' risk perception and the perceived value of mobile device usage. This paper measures the association between tourists' perceived risk of mobile device usage and several variables that demonstrate the perceived usefulness of mobile devices: utility, hedonic value and future intention of use. A survey on tourists' use of smartphones was conducted in 2016 and, by means of a cluster analysis, four groups of tourists were identified with significant differences in their perception of the risk and use value of smartphones. Differences between tourists suggest that a single digital tourist profile does not exist and that tourism destinations and smart tourism DMOs (destination marketing organisations) should include risk perception in their management agenda. This will allow them to achieve a better understanding of tourist behaviour and to adapt the commercialisation of tourism products and services to a wide range of tourism needs. In addition, four regression models were applied to measure the association between the risk and perceived usefulness of mobile devices. On the one hand, dependence on mobile devices was associated positively with the perceived usefulness of mobile devices. On the other hand, the tourists surveyed saw privacy risk as having a major negative impact on the tourist experience, although it did not affect their perceived utility value and future use of mobile devices. Smart tourism destination managers should bear in mind that privacy risk issues related to the use of mobile devices must be integrated into an ethical perspective when marketing a destination.

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