The Role of Online Information Sources in Promoting Banja Luka City Brand: Report on the Main Target Groups by Country of Origin

Despite the immense role of online information sources in destination promotion, many DMOs (Destination Management Organization) are still not using it in an adequate way. This especially refers to tourist destinations which are still in their initial tourism development phases. The main aim of the paper was to analyze what information sources certain target groups use to get informed about Banja Luka city brand and how dominant are websites, social media and other online information sources. The study was conducted during September – December 2017 and included the total of 504 respondents from four countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The sample included respondents who have visited and those who have never visited Banja Luka. The analysis shows that Word-of-mouth, Website of the tourist destination, and Facebook are the most frequently used information sources by all analyzed respondents. Also, it is confirmed that online sources are more dominate than the traditional one. This is an exception only in case of Twitter which showed to be very rarely used to get informed about this destination. The study indicates certain differences between analyzed countries which are discussed in the paper.