Analysing social media climate change discourses by coastal destinations

This study investigates social media climate change communication by Spanish coastal destinations on Twitter/X, analysing the communication themes (causes, impacts, adaptation, and mitigation) and contrasting strategies between destinations. Using a systematic methodology, tweets from January 2018 to February 2022 were collected and processed for extracting climate change-related content. The analysis highlighted a significant focus on mitigation and adaptation messages, with varying engagement levels across destinations. Results show a low volume of climate change communication in this platform and distinct communication strategies between Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) and City Councils, reflecting different goals concerning climate change discourses. Clustering and similarity analyses helped to identify communication strategies. This research note contributes to highlight the importance of understanding social media climate change communication emphasizing the need for comprehensive engagement on these issues by coastal destinations.