SOCIAL NETWORKS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IN THE TOURISM SECTOR

Tourism is a social and scientific phenomenon. From here, its knowledge must be approached from a complete vision and not limited to a single discipline or set of them separately, since it is multidisciplinary. The role of international relations in tourism is a phenomenon with great economic, social, cultural, and environmental consequences, which can condition the behavior of tourists and the tourism sector as a whole. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has affected the entire world population, the main economic engines of each and every one of the countries and international relations derived from the tourism sector. The coronavirus has not only affected the people who are under its effects, but it has also changed the global perception of reality just as the media have been forced to create a new way of communicating. Meanwhile, social networks have been the fastest and easiest way to disseminate all kinds of information and misinformation, adopting new formats and new anti-hoax measures (fake news). They have been effective and it is identified that thanks to the different platforms, citizens have found themselves somewhat more sheltered, understood and have received information about what is happening around their lives. Due to the closure of borders and the decrease in flights, worldwide tourism suffers serious consequences and for all this, the incidence of the coronavirus in the economy and international relations are protagonists of a difficult reality and a prompt and expected recovery. © 2021, Observare. All rights reserved.

Spanish Tipsters and the Millennial and Centennial Generations in the Scenario of a Pandemic

The growth and popularization of sports betting have led to the emergence of a new type of influencer: Tipsters, people and betting houses who influence and advise through social networks on the bets they consider most profitable. Both agents are also content‐generating, forming a particular ecosystem with a specific narrative. The research examines the narratives of both the personal and betting houses profiles that make up the category of tipsters and their impact on younger generations. It also takes an in‐depth look at the content and languages used by tipsters on social media and what determines their success in terms of followers and interactions. The period and place analyzed is the year 2020 in Spain, because it allows observing the differences between the periods of free transit and the quarantine period caused by Covid‐19. The selection of the studied profiles is based on the five most recommended profiles, according to 10 rankings in the sports betting sector. The results show how the tipsters’ narrative was adapted to the context of the pandemic to maintain interest during the quarantine and not lose its influence towards millennials and centennials. Especially relevant is the period after the quarantine, with long periods of stay at home by young people, where the narrative has iconic, symbolic, and linguistic elements typical of war periods. © 2022 by the author(s);licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal).

Tourism advertising in times of crisis: The case of spain and covid-19

The paralysis of tourist activity during the closure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic makes the communicative management of the crisis essential, especially for a country as reliant on tourism as Spain. The purpose of this research is to understand the values on which the communicative campaigns disseminated during and at the end of the “state of alarm” are built by applying an analysis based on those proposed by several authors focused on brand aspects, transmitters, persuasive and communicative elements, coherence, communicative objectives, and messages. The results show the existence of a national dialogue from the local and regional to the state level that aims to reinforce the image of the country and its main tourist demands while seeking to raise awareness (promise of consumption), through a message of hope, recovery, health, but also of enjoying the life associated with the tourist pleasures that Spain offers. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Social networks as a vehicle for happiness management in university governance

Purpose: This study aims to determine whether the communication of Universities in Madrid (Spain) on social networks through their official channels has caused positive results in students’ perceptions of their trust in university institutions during the first semester of the 2020–2021 term and to measure whether the implementation of happiness management strategies in the communication within university governance affected students’ happiness levels, as well as on the recognition of their belonging to the university. Design/methodology/approach: With an exploratory-correlational approach and a quantitative study, this study conducted a statistical-descriptive analysis based on the premise of a general linear regression model with correlations between the variables, using a data collection instrument, whose construct and content validity was previously assessed by experts, which was answered by 564 students of the Degrees in Communication and Marketing from the Complutense University of Madrid, University of La Laguna, and ESERP Business and Law School. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were implemented to analyze the correlation between variables;Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Pearson and Spearman’s coefficients were also used. Findings: Those students who used social networks to receive news from university institutions about the COVID-19 pandemic deem these channels official, sound and credible. Similarly, the use of official information from university institutions on social networks increases students’ happiness levels. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies aiming to provide scientific evidence of the relationship between happiness management and university governance. This research’s practical implications lead to attributing added value to these types of means for the university governance that seeks students’ happiness. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.