La Paz : Social Media Strategies to Attract Gen Z Tourists

Introduction

Tourism is a competitive industry, hence, the emerging destinations are developing efficient marketing strategies according to the evolving traveler demographics to stay relevant and appealing (Sofronov, 2018).  Today, one of the most relevant and influential generational groups is Generation Z (Gen Z), born between 1995 and 2010, who witnessed the zoom of the internet, and have been shaping tourism trends through their digital behaviors and preferences. This study critically analyses social media strategies of La Paz, Mexico, an emerging tourism destination, by analyzing its official Instagram account: @golapaz and other social media accounts. This study aims to analyse the ways this destination is marketed to its potential visitors, especially Gen Z, along with practical recommendations to enhance its appeal and engagement (Entina et al., 2021).

Impact of Generational Cliques

Generational cliques mean groups born around the same time sharing similar social and historical experiences with distinct behaviors, attitudes, and values within those groups. These cliques’ influence the tourism, hospitality, and event (THE) sector significantly and how they position themselves. Every generation has its unique preferences, values, and communication styles, influencing their travel decisions. Here, Gen Z holds significant importance as they are digital natives operating with a socially conscious mindset. They want to have an authentic, meaningful, and sustainable travel experience, thus, they use social websites to research, select and share travel destinations more than Gen X and Gen Y (Corbisiero et al., 2022).

According to Pricope Vancia et al. (2023), rather than relying on traditional advertisements, Gen Z rely on visual content, peer-generated reviews, and influencer endorsements, favoring destinations that align with their values, which include unique and authentic local experiences and sustainability. Thus, it is crucial for the tourism industry to strategically align its digital content and marketing strategies with Gen Z's expectations by developing interactive, engaging and transparent content (Pencarelli, 2020).

Social Media Strategy of La Paz

The current official Instagram handle of La Paz, Mexico @golapaz is an important social media channel that promotes the destination to local and international tourists. The account publishes a collection of high-quality images and videos that showcase natural beauty and landscapes, including the beaches, wildlife, and adventure tourism opportunities in La Paz. This Instagram page showcases the clean and pristine environment of the region, focusing on marine life and eco-tourism, offering snorkeling, diving, and sustainable tours. The account incorporates soft, consistent aesthetics, with light, warm colours for the visuals representing La Paz’s coastal identity. The content is illustrated with informative captions, in Spanish and English language along with professional photography and short reels to reach a wider target audience. The page also incorporates stories, highlights and reels related to and informational captions, often in Spanish and English, broadening its accessibility. The page often uses stories, highlights and reels regarding environmental awareness and its conservation, a practice that aligns with Gen Z values (Çalışkan, 2021).

Even though the page has featured some visitor photos, it has shown only a few evidence of interaction or user-generated content. The page does not generate polls, offer Q&A sessions, contests, or collaborations with content creators, hence no active engagement with the followers. Additionally, the content is not posted regularly, indicating irregular gaps, reducing the engagement from the followers making the page stagnant.  The existing content focuses on sustainability and natural beauty, however, it lacks deeper storytelling or behind-the-scenes insights that would make La Paz more appealing to Gen Z for authentic experiences (Haddouche & Salomone, 2018).

Evaluation of Appeal to Generation Z

Although La Paz's social media strategy has portrayed the destination's environmental and cultural assets, natural beauty and eco-conscious philosophy, it only aligns with Generation Z's expectations partially. According to Robinson and Schänzel (2019), Gen Z tourists look for destinations that ensure an authentic cultural experience and provide memorable moments rather than picturesque landscapes only. Even though aesthetics are important as they need to capture unique moments for social media platforms that they frequently La Paz’s social media platforms currently fall short of offering experiential storytelling that resonates with Gen Z .

Pamularsih et al.(2024) state that there is a lack of active engagement on TikTok, which signifies underutilization of the social media page since the platform is capable of determining the travel trends amongst young travelers. Many of the viral challenges, destination discoveries, and real-life experiences are promoted on TikTok. However, La Paz does not use this platform to inspire, impacting the travel decisions of Gen Z, with most of the content lacking interactive elements like polls, quizzes, live streams, etc., which are highly valued by younger users. Generation Z also values authenticity and wants to listen to real travelers, engage with local customs, and tell stories that are relevant. Although La Paz has shown picturesque hot spots, it does not highlight the tourists', local communities', or sustainability practices impacting day to day life.

The page has not yet maximized the strategy of user-generated content (UGC). Gen Z has always valued peer recommendations and shared experiences rather than formal advertisements. The destinations that incorporate UGC promote the sense of the community and authenticity, which impacts this generation’s travel choice significantly.  La Paz can potentially generate enriching UGC, particularly due to its breathtaking natural beauty and sustainability programs, however, its platforms has failed to feature traveler submitted UGC or organize campaigns that encourage content creation from visitors (Yamagishi et al., 2024)