Zoë Dunne
Current PhD Student
User Created Destination Content; A Typology of Tourism Content Creators
This research generates baseline findings on tourism destination content creators and their motivations. It seeks to improve our understanding on the changing landscape of digital media communications for tourism destinations. The diversity of stakeholders involved in tourism marketing communications is increasing rapidly with visitors themselves playing a prominent role by creating and sharing content via social media platforms and blogs.
This research sets out to examine content that is published online in relation to tourism destinations. It seeks to explain what motivates content creators to publish tourism destination content, and what the implications are for tourism destinations. The role of the content creator in relation to destination image is assessed. Key trends in relation to motivations behind user created content (UCC) and a typology of tourism destination content creator is identified drawing on netnographic techniques. The data gathered will result in an assessment of the applicability for various tourism sectors and regions, including recommendations to develop relevant programs related to UCC.
Presentations
• Dunne, Z. and Hanrahan, J. (2018), ‘Tourists as destination marketers; the motivations to create and publish tourism destination content online’, presented at the 14th Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference in Waterford Institute of Technology, (THRIC 2018).
• Dunne, Z. and Hanrahan, J. (2017), ‘Netnographic research on destination image and tourism content creators’, in Hanrahan, J. ed. Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland: Entrepreneurs driving tourism and hospitality, IT Sligo: School of Business and Social Science, 179 – 198.
• Dunne, Z. and Hanrahan, J. (2017) ‘User Created Destination Content; A Typology of Tourism Content Creators’ poster presented at the first annual IT Sligo Postgraduate Research Conference.
• Dunne, Z. and Hanrahan, J. (2016), ‘Visitor Created Content and Adventure tourism’, Book of Abstracts, International Adventure Conference, IT Tralee 19 – 21 October 2016, Adventure Tourism Research Association, 80– 82.
• Dunne, Z. and Hanrahan, J. (2016) ‘An analysis of visitor created content via location based social media platforms in Ireland’, presented at the 12th Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference, Limerick Institute of Technology, (THRIC 2016).
• Dunne, Z. and Hanrahan, J. (2015) ‘Visitor’s impact on destination image: Using visitor-generated content (VGC) through mobile technologies as a tool for sustainable collaborative communication’, presented at the 11th Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference, Letterkenny Institute of Technology. (THRIC 2015).
Collaborations
Slow Adventure in Northern Territories (SAINT) 2015-2018 Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (NPA) project on the development of slow adventure.