Leveraging social media in marketing Finland as a holiday destination to Spanish tourists

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how social media can be leveraged in marketing Finland as a holiday destination to Spanish tourists. The objective was to find out what kind of travel-related content attracts the attention of Spanish social media users, and which of Finland’s attributes as a holiday destination they find the most appealing. The study also aimed to discover what kind of segmentation opportunities exist among Spanish social media users with respect to their preferences to travel-related content and the use of different platforms. Data for this study was collected through an online survey. 703 Spanish social media users were asked to evaluate their attitudes towards travel as well as brand content on social media. Respondents were also shown collections of Finland-themed images and asked to indicate preference for the ones they found the most attractive. Based on the survey results, three market segments were identified. Each of these segments was substantial enough and demonstrated significant potential for the Finnish tourism market. Members of each segment expressed interest in the Finnish tourism product and exhibited homogenous behavior with regard to travel and social media. As a result, Finnish destination marketers can deliver these target audiences highly customized and relevant social media content