Prepared for what lies ahead in tourism
Stay up-to-date with current, independent statistics and information on tourism in the Alpine region.
Ski resorts primarily communicated positive winter experiences, avoiding COVID-19 focus.
Pictures often showed empty facilities, reflecting the absence of people.
Actual crisis communication by the ski resorts remained in the social media background.
Emotional connection to absent tourists was more important than pure information.
Summary of the study
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Austrian ski resorts had to simultaneously create an emotional connection with absent tourists and provide attractive offers for the local population. This study shows how ski resorts used Instagram to connect with their heterogeneous audience. To do this, the authors combined a quantitative hashtag analysis and a qualitative content analysis of 16 Instagram accounts.
The results indicate a tendency for ski resorts to communicate positively connoted winter holiday content and present themselves as attractive ski resorts. The focus is on the winter landscape, weather, infrastructure and vacation activities, while COVID-19 was rarely reported on. Only slight differences were identified compared to the previous winter season.
This study provides new insights into the previously limited research literature on crisis management in ski resorts and contributes to further COVID-19 research in tourism. The implications will help ski resorts prepare for communication in the coming seasons and future crisis management.
Key findings of this study
- Positive content dominated: Austrian ski resorts communicated predominantly positive winter holiday content and presented themselves as attractive ski resorts.
- Focus on landscape and activities: Topics such as winter landscape, weather, infrastructure and vacation activities were at the forefront of Instagram communication.
- Rare COVID-19 theming: Content on COVID-19 was rarely addressed directly; hashtags largely avoided terms such as "corona" or "COVID"
- Visual emptiness: Image analysis often showed empty facilities and landscapes, reflecting the absence of people during the pandemic
- Minor deviation from the previous season: Compared to the previous winter season, only minor differences in the communication strategy were found, apart from the emotional appeal and the presence of people.