Using Social Media Data to Plan for Tourism

The purpose of the article is to present the concept of using social media (SM) as data sources and communication tools, useful at the various stages of planning, implementing and monitoring the effects of tourism development on a local level. The first part discusses the stages of planning, then presents the characteristics of SM, along with a discussion of the issues presented in the literature to this date. The next part presents data sources and methods of research on SM and functions that they can perform in tourism. The concept presented, on the one hand, reviews the perspectives of practical use of SM as a communication tool and source of data and, on the other hand, the challenges related to the need to further deepen research on tourism planning methods that are adequate to the continuously changing environment.