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JCR Category: Business in ESCI edition

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues Open access
Journal Impact FactorTM (2025) 1.5 Q3
Journal Citation IndicatorTM (2025) 0.25 Q4
Received: 2026-05-29  |  Accepted: 2026-07-12  |  Published: 2026-09-30

Title

Instagram communication strategies of central and Eastern European capitals: activity, engagement, and content characteristics


Abstract

This paper examines how Instagram is utilised as a tool for online tourism communication through a comparative analysis of the official English-language profiles of six Central and Eastern European capitals: Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, Vienna, and Warsaw. The study covers a one-year period from November 2023 to October 2024. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, it combines quantitative analysis of posting activity (2,021 posts), user engagement, and caption length with qualitative keyword analysis of textual content. The results reveal substantial differences in posting behaviour, digital presentation, and communication styles across the analysed cities, reflecting distinct destination marketing strategies and underscoring the importance of content quality over posting frequency. A key empirical contribution is the identification of a positive correlation between caption length and user engagement, suggesting that more detailed and context-rich captions enhance audience interaction. At the same time, the findings indicate that strong visual identity and destination positioning may compensate for shorter captions. Furthermore, the analysis uncovers city-specific narrative patterns aligned with local tourism assets and target segments, offering deeper insight into how destinations construct their digital identities. By integrating performance indicators with content characteristics in a comparative Central and Eastern European context, the study addresses an underexplored area in existing research and advances understanding of Instagram-based city branding. The paper also offers practical implications for social media marketing and outlines directions for future research, including longitudinal, cross-platform, and behaviour-oriented analyses.


Keywords

Instagram, destination marketing, tourism communication, user engagement, content analysis, city branding, social media analytics, Central and Eastern Europe


JEL classifications

M31 , Z32 , D83


URI

http://jssidoi.org/jesi/article/6682


DOI


Pages

257-272


Funding

This article is one of the partial outputs of the currently solved research project IVSUPS2305. This research was funded by the Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, grant number IVSUPS2305.

This is an open access issue and all published articles are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Authors

Raušer, Daniel
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic https://www.vstecb.cz
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Dušek, Radim
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic https://www.vstecb.cz
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Konečný, Michal
Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic https://www.vstecb.cz
Articles by this author in: CrossRef |  Google Scholar

Journal title

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues

Volume

14


Number

1


Issue date

September 2026


Issue DOI


ISSN

ISSN 2345-0282 (online)


Publisher

VšĮ Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

Cited

Google Scholar

Article views & downloads

HTML views: 314  |  PDF downloads: 236

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Funding: This article is one of the partial outputs of the currently solved research project IVSUPS2305. This research /jesi/article/6682

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was funded by the Institute of Technology and Business in České Budějovice, grant number IVSUPS2305. /jesi/article/6682

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