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Although the importance and variety of emotions have been emphasized in existing literature, studies on discrete emotions remain limited. This study aims to propose a method for more precise recognition and calculation of emotions in massive amounts of online data on attraction visitor experiences and behaviour, by using discrete emotion theory.

Using HowNet’s word similarity calculation technique, this study integrated multiple generic dictionaries, including the sentiment vocabulary ontology database of the Dalian University of Technology, the National Taiwan University Sentiment Dictionary and the Boson Dictionary. Word2vec algorithm filters emotion words unique to hospitality and tourism in 1,596,398 texts from Sogou News, Wikipedia and Ctrip reviews about attractions, and 1,765,691 reviews about attractions in China.

The discrete sentiment dictionary developed in this study outperformed the original dictionary in identifying and calculating emotions, with a total vocabulary extension of 12.07%, demonstrating its applicability to tourism.

The developed new dictionary can be used by researchers and managers alike to quickly and accurately evaluate products and services based on online visitor reviews.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to construct a sentiment dictionary based on discrete emotion theory applicable to hospitality and tourism in the Chinese context. This study extended the applicability of affective psychology to hospitality and tourism using discrete emotion theory. Moreover, the study offers a methodological framework for developing a domain-specific sentiment dictionary, potentially applicable to other domains in hospitality.