Uncontrolled positive promotion and tourists’ satisfaction

Understanding the controversial effect of uncontrolled positive promotion is essential for anticipating possible effects on both environmental and social destination sustainability impacting on local businesses and communities. The aim of the paper is to examine visitors’ perception of a destination affected by overtourism due to uncontrolled positive promotion arisen by social media and the film industry. The methodology design of the study is composed by a literature review on the topics and a case study analysis, both of them concurring to prompt the discussion on the emerging and under-researched phenomenon of uncontrolled positive promotion. The case of Lake Braies (South Tyrol, Italy) is examined through user-generated contents on the TripAdvisor web platform. Preliminary findings show that the destination, which received great visibility thanks to a Tv series, is positively perceived despite the frequent reference to crowdedness. The study offers a concrete gaze on the phenomenon of uncontrolled positive promotion to both academics and practitioners. The study is one of the few developed to examine the controversial impact of uncontrolled positive promotion. In particular, it applies the analysis of user-generated contents to illustrate emerging phenomena on promotion via social media, overtourism and tourists’ satisfaction with the destination.