Tourism and the pandemic context: analysis of virtual tours in the official social networks of Maranhao destination (Brazil)

ABSTRACT

Tourism is a sector largely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and requires changes to be implemented with great agility. This article aimed to analyze the virtual behavior, on instagram, of the State Tourism Office, amid a pandemic, to promote the State of Maranhao. Methodologically, the research was undertaken in two main moments (1) bibliographic research, discussing the topics related to covid-19, tourism, tourist communication, internet, photographs;(2) netnographic research verified the posts, images and videos, on Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Maranhao instagram. This study is characterized as exploratory, with a quantitative and qualitative analysis. It was possible to verify that in the pandemic context, there was a considerable increase in posts on instagram @ seturmaranhao and @materradeencantos, with content that contributes to virtual tours to Maranhao.