Abstract:

The goal of this work is to provide a methodological contribution at the debate on the management of Smart Tourism Destination through the adoption of a social network approach. Specifically, the study aims to identify which are the nodes and dynamics of a virtual community of users built around the social network’s account of a tourism event with the intent of deriving useful insights for the competitiveness of tourism destinations. The empirical evidences related to “Bacco nelle Gnostre”, an agro-food tourism event in Apulia, a southern European region and destination of growing popularity, are presented in terms of centrality, modularity class and temporal evolution. Collected through the usage of Gephi, an open source tool for social network analysis, the evidences presented in the study suggest theoretical and practical implications.