Using digital marketing to present the Šumava and Bayerischer Wald National Parks

Abstract

National parks are key to tourism and attract large numbers of people who are important for local businesses. Šumava and Bayerischer Wald are among the most important national parks in the Czech Republic and Germany. These national parks are divided by the border. The division allows us to analyze the diversity of marketing activities presenting the same nature in completely different regions. The purpose of this research is to explore the use of social media and websites in the official (supported by the state) marketing communication of Šumava and Bayerischer Wald National Park. Furthermore, the secondary goal is to describe the differences in the use of these tools on both sides of these national parks. The study contributes to a better understanding of marketing-related activities of national parks. A comprehensive literature and meta-content analysis were conducted to achieve this article's research aim and objectives. A quantitative approach was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the websites of Šumavaand Bayerischer Wald National Parks, addressing three specific research questions. The most cited problem with using websites is that the data may not be representative of all park users. We synthesize our findings, identifying gaps and opportunities for future research and presenting a set of best practices for using digital marketing.