Promoting cultural tourism through e-media in Macedonia: young population perception

Being defined as one of the everlasting resources, the cultural heritage enriches tourism supply of Macedonia, thus identifying it as unique tourist destination. The geographical location makes Macedonia a magnet for tourists from all over the world. Enormously rich in cultural treasures it might be the next big discovery for curious and always seeking cultural tourism travelers. The paper makes an attempt to investigate possibilities for promoting cultural tourism in Macedonia by using the Web as the leading source of information particularly important in times of increased number of competitors in tourism market. This study is focused on strengths and challenges associated with application of Internet as a rapidly evolving medium in tourism promotion. For this purpose, the paper examines the perception of young population generally towards the aspect of usage of on-line social networks and the Internet in sharing cultural tourism experiences. In this respect, the aim of this research is to determine the level of application and trust in e-media for cultural tourism promotion purposes. So, this empirical evidence reports on analysis based on data obtained from customer survey among 502 young-adult consumers in Macedonia. The outcomes confirm the research hypothesis and point to crucial importance of introducing e-media for promoting cultural tourism. Moreover, this research may serve as a strong background for enlarging quantity of tourists and travelers particularly interested in cultural tourism, as well as in increasing the knowledge for Macedonia as a tourist destination. Finally, the paper strongly recommends this concept and urges the need for identifying effective framework for mitigating the up-to-date modest tourism results, thus acting as basis for initial suggestions in improving cultural tourism promotion