The role of social media in contemporary tourism business

Social media represents a global phenomenon that has a great influence on society, primarily in terms of opportunities for new ways of communication that found wide application in modern business. In that sense, the paper analyzes the complex situation between social media communication and tourism. Main goal of the paper is identifying and defining the role that social media have in contemporary tourism. Methodology in the paper, related to contemporary tourism business includes: defining and analyzing social media with special emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages, then analysis and determining the importance of strategic online communication and finally identifying and analyzing the characteristics of individual social media that are of the greatest importance in this strategic process. One of the research conclusions is that the strategic approach of social media and online communication represents one of the key activities in modern tourism business. The set research goal was fulfilled through research analysis, i.e. the role of social media and strategic online communication in modern tourism business was determined, as well as characteristics of social media that have the greatest impact on it.