Introduction
Destination management organisations’ (DMO’s) digital media, including official websites and social media, are essential tools for developing public relations strategies conducive to building and maintaining favourable relationships between the destination and key publics. Supported by the government, a DMO represents a destination, provides official travel advice and helps develop the long-term tourism of the destination contributing to economies (Figueroa, 2019; Volo, 2008).
Public relations is the predominant activity in communication and promotion in the tourism industry as it is responsible for raising the profile of emerging destinations and enhancing the prestige of established ones (Huertas, 2008, p. 406). The DMO’s digital platforms work as distribution channels to provide prospective tourists with an abundance of information on the local attractions (Chung et al., 2015, p. 2), helping tourists create travel plans and promoting the destination (Rafetzeder, 2019, p. 35). As the host country’s cultural orientation and the target audience’s cultural orientation are often two contrasting foci, it is crucial for tourism public relations practitioners to acknowledge cross-cultural differences.
By employing Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as explanatory factors, this study analyses the characteristics of digital public relations strategies in tourism with a particular focus on DMO websites and social media in Australia and Hong Kong. It examines the perceived cultural values of the respective host destinations and the cultural differences in what and how these two places communicate with the public on digital media. This paper aims to provide tourism public relations practitioners as well as website and social media developers a better understanding of how to efficiently convey messages and build mutually beneficial relationships with multicultural audiences on digital media.
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