Abstract
The aim of the paper is to investigate how shared experiences and values within virtual communities on social media might contribute to niche tourism product development at heritage sites. In the past decades academics in a wide range of disciplines turned their attention to analyse the impact that social media has generated on individuals behaviour, social relations, communication etc. In tourism and hospitality studies much attention was paid on the online and social media presence of Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) as well as on the tourists’ generated content on destinations, products and services. This paper shifts the emphasis on virtual communities and how their understanding and interpretation of heritage sites might contribute to improve the institutional tourism narrative.