Fourth International Conference on Tourism and Leisure Studies

Abstract

The term “island tourism” has been used to identify a specific and differentiated form of tourism. Different islands around the globe compete and cooperate in a global market, so their cycles are interconnected. This paper analyses the relationship between the different islands and archipelagos and their connected cycles. In particular, the study explains the likelihood to visit one island depending on the previous visits to other islands and the motivations to travel and the digital information sources (TripAdvisor, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.). The research includes in its analysis some of the main tourist islands and archipelagos in the world, combining European short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul destinations, in different stages of their life-cycle. The study uses data from 6,964 tourists from the main European markets and provides interesting recommendations for island destination management organisations about how they can effectively design their marketing activities and how to cooperate and compete with other islands depending of their life cycles.