Title: Promotion of emerging tourism destinations in social media: evidence from post-Soviet Central Asian countries

Authors: Azamat Maksüdünov; Kyialbek Dyikanov

Addresses: Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Djal, Campus of Chyngyz Aitmatov, Bishkek, 720038, Kyrgyz Republic ' Department of Management, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Djal, Campus of Chyngyz Aitmatov, Bishkek, 720038, Kyrgyz Republic

Abstract: Facebook is becoming widely used by all private, public, and non-governmental organisations in Central Asia. However, this study is limited to national tourism organisations, operating to promote the destination. The primary purpose of the study is to reveal the current state of online promotion activities of national tourism organisations in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The Facebook pages of the above-mentioned organisations were subjected to content analysis. According to the results, the adoption of social media as a destination-marketing tool has been actively used for the last few years as a relatively new phenomenon in Central Asia. Moreover, social media is being used insufficiently in terms of content, language, and user engagement. Still, the research results revealed that Kazakhstan was in a better position, followed by Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The findings of this study may provide important clues for the relevant government institutions and organisations responsible for destination marketing.

Keywords: tourism destination; destination promotion; social media; Facebook; national tourism organisations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2023.138752

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2023 Vol.8 No.1, pp.1 - 15

Received: 08 Mar 2023
Accepted: 23 Aug 2023
Published online: 30 May 2024 *

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