Can digital marketing on Instagram help to promote sustainable travel?

Abstract

The contribution of digitalization and digital platforms to tourism sustainability is a timely topic. In this research we analyze if a digital platform such as Instagram could contribute and be used as a tool to promote sustainability by destinations and by travelers. To this aim, we implement a methodology comprised of four steps: identifying the most recognized sustainable destinations in the world (i.e. Slovenia, New Zealand and Costa Rica), downloading and analyzing the last posts from the official accounts of the DMOs of these destinations, identifying the most frequently used hashtags related to sustainable tourism (#ecoturismo, #ecotourism, #sustainabletravel, #ecotravel and #sustainabletourism), and downloading and analyzing 500 posts from these accounts. Our results are mixed, and show some opportunities but also significant challenges and puzzling outcomes. In general, there does not seem to be a consistent use of sustainability concepts in the publications analyzed.