The study examines the use of social media by European tourism offices located in the European geographical area. Specifically, it looks at how they use Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr and Google +). The aim is to obtain a precise picture of this environment, to gain knowledge of the importance of each social network, the extent of their use by European Tourism Offices and the number of users, followers and views which they generate. The study enables tourism offices to compare their results with similar sized offices and also to find out which of the offices are particularly successful and which show a deliberate policy to establish an active presence on the social networks. The study encompasses 213 destinations across Europe.

1. European Tourism Offices and Social Networks
A Study on the Main European Tourism Offices and their Social Media Presence
© European Best Destinations

2. This study examines the use of social media by 213 European tourism offices
located in the European geographical area.

3. Of 213 destinations studied, once the national accounts have been set aside,
only 22 are not present on Facebook. This gives us a level of presence on
Facebook for the main European tourism offices of 89.64%.
Top 3 European
tourism offices on
Facebook

4. Of 166 tourism offices representing 5,214,511 "likes" the top ten represent
3,113,677 "likes" or 59.71% of the total. The median number is 8, 249 likes

5. Of these 186 tourism offices, 146 or 78.49% are present on Twitter. This
figure makes Twitter the second most used social network by the offices
of European tourism. (Facebook #1)

6. Of the 10 tourism offices with the highest number of Twitter followers, 7 are tourism
offices in the United Kingdom. The Top 10 tourist offices alone account for 373,200
Twitter followers or 47.53% of the total followers of European tourism offices in
this study.

7. The top 10 tourism offices having tweeted the most represent 109,859
tweets, i.e. 31.93% of the total tweets of the tourism offices in this study.

8. Youtube created in 2005 and owned by Google since 2006 is the the third
social network most used by the European Tourism Offices included in this
study.

9. The tourism offices present on Youtube reach a total of 24,116,936 views.
The top 10 tourist offices in this ranking alone represent 11,654,036 views
on Youtube, i.e 48.32%.

10. The total number of subscribers for the 137 tourist offices on Youtube is
27,570 subscribers. Average number of subscribers : 201/channel

11. 39.25% of European tourism offices included in this study have a Flickr account
The average number of images/tourism office is 1,018 and the median number is
193 images.

12. The top 10 tourism offices alone share 56,316 photos, i.e. 75.76% of the
images of european tourism offices of this study on Flickr.

13. Of the 213 destinations included in this study, once the national accounts have
been set aside, 35 have a Google+ account, i.e. 18.80% of the offices
included in the study, with an average number of 1,413 “+1”

14. The ten best European tourism offices on Google + represent 40,637
subscribers, i.e. 82.16% of all the European tourism offices included in the
study.

15. Pinterest is the 5th social network most used by the tourist offices in
Europe, tied with Google + with 35 accounts and 12,124 followers

16. The first ten tourism offices have a total of 8,780 followers, i.e 72.58 % of
Pinterest followers for European tourism offices of this study.

17. The ten offices having posted most photos on Pinterest represent 11,625
pins, i.e. 69.63 % of the total number of pins posted by the European tourism
offices included in the study.

18. Only 32 offices hold an Instagram account i.e. 17.80%. The average number of
followers is 1,427 and the average number of posts is 260.

19. By analysing the ranking of the most followed tourism offices on Instagram we can, as for
Twitter, observe a strong geographic concentration. Visit Copenhagen, Visit Oslo and
Visit Stockholm are the three European tourist offices most present on Instagram.

20. The ten most active tourism offices on Instagram represent 6,052 posts, i.e.
72.74% of posts by the European tourism offices included in the study. Top ten
tourism offices most active on Instagram in Europe: Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm,
Reykjavik, Lille, Toulouse, Zadar, Oslo, Brussels, Montreux.

21. Top 10 Instagram Followers/Posts

22. Average number of posts/account : 260
Median number of posts/account : 130

23. The main social networks used by the European
tourism offices are :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Facebook is used by 89.64% of
European tourism offices
Twitter is used by 78.49% of European
tourism offices
Youtube
is used by 73.65% of
European tourism offices
Flickr is used by 39.24% of European
tourism offices
Google + and Pinterest are used by
18.80% of European tourism offices
Instagram is used by 17.20% of
European tourism offices

24. The main social networks for European tourism
offices/number of subscribers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Facebook is the first network used by the
tourism offices with a total of 5,214,511 «likes ».
Twitter is in second place with a total of
785,182 followers.
Youtube is in a special position with 27,570
subscribers but 24,116,936 views.
Google + brings together 49,458 subscribers
to European tourim offices.
Instagram brings 44,685 subscribers to
posts by the European tourism offices included
in the study.
Pinterest brings together 12,124 subscribers
to posts by the European tourism offices.

25. Top European tourism offices on social networks / most
popular tourism offices:
The 3 most popular European
tourism offices have between
themselves 2,312,703 users, or
37.72% of the total number of
followers of European tourism
offices on the social networks.

26. Ranking of European tourism offices according to their
presence on the 7 social networks of this study
TOP 3 European tourism
offices on social networks /
average rankings on the
major social networks.

27. Contact us
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