This book describes ongoing developments in social media within the tourism and hospitality
sector highlighting impacts on both the demand and the supply side. It offers a combination of
theory and practice with discussion of real-life business experiences.The book is divided into
three parts the first of which provides an overview of recent trends in social media and
user-generated content clarifies concepts that are often used in an overlapping way and
examines the digitization of word of mouth via online networks. The second part analyzes the
impacts that social media can have on traveler behavior for each step in the travel process and
also on suppliers highlighting opportunities threats and strategies. In the third part of the
book future potential trends deriving from the mobile marketing technologies are explored and
possible methods for social monitoring by means of key performance indicators are examined. It
is considered how engaging customers and prospects by means of social media might increase
customer loyalty foster electronic word-of-mouth communication and consequently have
important effects on corporate sales and revenues. The discussion encompasses methods to
measure company performance on each of the social media in order to understand the optimal mix
that will support and improve business strategies.
