A new study titled “Pre-travel experiential tourism communication: A study of Catalonia and Veneto”, authored by our researchers Michele Girotto and Jordi Campo, alongside with Carolina Nicolas (Universidad de Santiago de Chile), explores how tourism institutions in Catalonia and Veneto (Italy) have adapted their communication strategies to highlight experiential aspects in the pre-travel phase.
Using a content analysis of posts published on X (formerly Twitter) by the official accounts of the Catalan Tourist Board (@turismecat) and Turismo Veneto (@TurismoVeneto) between 2019 and 2022, the study examines how communication evolved before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal that, while attempts have been made to diversify product categories, pre-pandemic tourism categories still dominate, limiting a fuller representation of the destinations’ offerings.
The study provides three main contributions:
- It shows how digital communication by destination marketing organisations (DMOs) reflects dimensions of the tourist experience, such as sensory, cognitive and affective components.
- It highlights that pre-travel communication strategies often focus on inspiration, but do not always align fully with the destination’s experiential image.
- It proposes a framework to guide DMOs in balancing product diversity with experiential appeals in their online branding strategies.
By analysing how experiential attributes are conveyed in digital communication, the authors illustrate how the pandemic acted as a turning point in shaping the ways in which destinations present themselves to potential visitors. While the post-COVID-19 period saw a stronger emphasis on experience-oriented narratives, traditional product categories remained central in the communication strategies of both regions.
The research underscores the importance of aligning online destination branding with the multidimensional nature of tourist experiences, especially in the inspiration and planning phases of travel. The authors argue that by embedding experiential components—such as emotions, interactions and sensory dimensions—into digital content, DMOs can strengthen the appeal of destinations and better influence tourist decision-making.
This article contributes to the growing body of literature on digital tourism marketing and experiential communication, offering practical guidelines for policymakers and tourism practitioners seeking to enhance the competitiveness of destinations in the post-pandemic landscape.
The study, published in the Journal of Vacation Marketing, was featured in the podcast series Tourism Marketing Insights, a monthly show available on Spotify. Listen to the episode here.
Discover more about the UB Business School’s research! Explore the full list of our researchers and their latest research here.