Digital Marketing as a Driver of Tourism
Brazil has enormous, underexplored tourism potential. To identify how digital marketing can boost tourism, the authors chose to examine the city of Paraty—a touristic microcosm of Brazil. Digital marketing is a low-cost marketing strategy that can reach potential tourists anywhere. Its use by tourism entrepreneurs has proven effective and able to generate significant return on investment. This exploratory study aimed to develop hypotheses. The authors used questionnaires and interviews to assess the perception of local tourism entrepreneurs regarding the affordances and advantages of digital marketing tools, techniques, and strategies. They found that entrepreneurs' adoption of digital marketing brought several benefits, including low investment costs and significant returns. However, the research revealed the need for training, mainly for small entrepreneurs to explore the numerous opportunities of the web in their businesses. Public authorities can also play a more leading role in combining and steering efforts to promote tourism.