Abstract (150 Words)
This research project is a content analysis which looks at Walt Disney World’s (WDW) social networking sites (SNS) to better understand online brand community as an integral facet of the post-pandemic tourism industry. Brand community speaks to emerging literature that is expanding the concept of what constitutes a 'community' and addresses the theme park's visitors who are active online but are may be geographically dispersed. The data collected reflects the ways, since the initial outbreak, WDW has engaged with its customers beyond consumers, but as fans and ambassadors, as well as, offers the guests' perspective on the attraction’s adaptions to the new social distancing policies as the pandemic has progressed. This work directs our scholarship towards what the future of tourism engagement might look like from mass tourism attractions, particularly as the world recons with an increasingly unstable future.
Engaging Tourists Through Brand Community: An Analysis of Walt Disney Theme Park During the 2020 Global Pandemic
This research project is a content analysis which looks at Walt Disney World’s (WDW) social networking sites (SNS) to better understand online brand community as an integral facet of the post-pandemic tourism industry. Brand community speaks to emerging literature that is expanding the concept of what constitutes a 'community' and addresses the theme park's visitors who are active online but are may be geographically dispersed. The data collected reflects the ways, since the initial outbreak, WDW has engaged with its customers beyond consumers, but as fans and ambassadors, as well as, offers the guests' perspective on the attraction’s adaptions to the new social distancing policies as the pandemic has progressed. This work directs our scholarship towards what the future of tourism engagement might look like from mass tourism attractions, particularly as the world recons with an increasingly unstable future.
