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Online reviews have received research attention in recent years, as they work as precursors of consumer behaviors. Previous studies have suggested that the influence of online reviews may vary across generations. However, the previous literature has not analyzed yet whether millennials and Generation X react differently to online reviews. This study aims to shed light on this by analyzing whether the attitudes and behavioral intentions generated by online reviews are different for these two generational cohorts.

An experimental procedure was designed to manipulate online review valence; data were collected from 351 respondents in two samples, Generation X and millennial participants.

Results suggested that positive online reviews generate more positive customer attitudes and booking intentions than negative online reviews. In addition, Generation X vs millennials moderates the link among online review valence, attitudes and booking intentions. The resultant behaviors from online reviews are more intense among Generation X than for millennials.

Managers should be aware of online review valence and their customers' generational cohort, that is, whether they are millennials or Generation X, as they react differently to online reviews.

This research examines the moderating role of millennials and Generation X in the relationship between online reviews, consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions. The aim is to explain how millennial and Generation X consumers react to eWOM, that is, whether generational cohort mitigates or enhances the effects of positive vs negative online reviews on consumer reactions.

Social media (SoMe) influencer marketing is a popular practice. The current study examines the interplays between SoMe influencers' source credibility, Millennial users' attitudes and intention to travel. It further investigates the moderating role of SoMe influencer following behavior on the aforementioned relationships.

A total of 212 useable responses were collected through an online survey. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regressions were employed for hypotheses testing.

Results indicated that source credibility had a significantly positive influence on the SoMe users' attitudes, which in turn was positively associated with the intention to visit the endorsed destination. Moreover, both relationships were strengthened for SoMe influencer followers than for nonfollowers.

The study expanded the source credibility theory to the use of SoMe influencer marketing on travel destinations among Millennial SoMe users. In addition, the research applied the self-determination theory to fill the gap in literature by examining the moderating role of SoMe influencer following behavior.

This paper aims to contrast the expectations placed on the smart destination as a theoretical management approach with the reality of emergent tech-savvy tourism demand by examining the response of this segment to three critical dimensions of technology use in the context of smart destinations. Tech-savvy tourists are here represented by highly educated Spanish millennial tourists.

Data were obtained through an online survey and analysed through descriptive techniques and exploratory factor analysis using SPSS. Literature review was critical for setting the foundations of the research in this novel context.

Results suggest the existence of a gap between the smart destination theoretical expectations and created hype and the real response of the examined demand in the three main scopes for this tourist-smart destination technology-based relationship, namely, mobile technology use, data sharing for personalised experiences and smart technologies for enhanced experiences.

Convenience sampling was used, and the results of the study cannot be generalised to all millennial tourists. The research is a first approximation to the interrelationship between tourists and smart destinations.

Tourists’ role and experiences mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) are decisive in smart destinations. Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), through their policies and actions, ought to take into account the limited predisposition of tourists in using mobile devices, sharing data and using smart technologies for their experiences. Privacy concerns appear to have special relevance for tourists and, therefore, for the future of smart destinations.

The findings offer relevant insights for smart destinations from a neglected angle hitherto, as they introduce several interesting nuances which do not match entirely the fast track taken by institutions, media and academia. This is critical for better understanding tourists in the current panorama, for DMOs and for the theoretical foundations of smart tourism. Besides, the exploratory data analysis reveals potential dimensions of millennials’ behaviour, which can be useful for further investigations.

The popularity of mobile technologies and applications is constantly growing and undoubtedly changing consumers’ and providers’ behavior. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive systematic literature review of academic research related to mobile technologies and applications in smart tourism published between 2012 and June 2017.

Published peer-reviewed articles were gathered from the three largest and most popular online databases and search engines – EBSCO host, Science Direct and Google Scholar and ENTER conference proceedings. Based on a keyword-driven search and content analysis, 126 articles were determined to be relevant to this study.

Selected publications were analyzed in accordance with the proposed research questions and thematically classified into three main categories: consumer perspective, technological perspective and provider perspective. The findings contribute to a better overall understanding of recent research into mobile technologies and applications in smart tourism by presenting the main results, methods, trends and other insights of relevant publications.

Although the researchers used two databases, one search engine and ENTER conference proceedings to collect articles, there is the possibility that some studies connected to the topic were not included. The study did not include books, other conference proceedings, literature reviews, theses, business reports and other possibly relevant publications.

This study provides a systematic review of the most recent published academic research (2012-June 2017; also including “Online First” articles) on mobile technologies and applications in smart tourism. The results of this study provide an agenda for future research in tourism and hospitality industry by identifying major trends and developments in smart tourism.

Hotels at present have largely adopted e‐commerce to achieve different business goals. The existing hospitality literature, however, rarely investigates the importance of specific dimensions and attributes of hotel web sites from the perspective of web site users. In other words, what should be included on their branded hotel web sites remains unknown to hotel managers. This paper aims to report an exploratory study that investigated the perceived importance of dimensions and attributes on hotel web sites from the perspective of travellers.

Through personal interviews with 304 travellers who had previously visited hotel web sites in the past year, the extent to which various hotel web site dimensions and attributes were perceived as important was examined.

Empirical results indicated that respondents viewed reservation information as the most important dimension, and room rates as the most important attribute. In addition, respondents viewed that the included dimensions and attributes were more important on web sites of up‐scale hotels than on web sites of economy hotels.

A limitation of this research is the non‐random sample used.

Findings of this study would benefit hotel managers in better understanding of the preferences of their customers on specific hotel web site dimensions and attributes, and assist hotel managers with the allocation of their efforts on e‐commerce development accordingly.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate travel agencies' social media usage and its perceived effectiveness by small- and micro-Italian travel agencies; the pre-pandemic period is compared to the forecasts for the post-Covid-19 period and different characteristics of firms and entrepreneurs are considered. Furthermore, the study analyses the expected benefits in terms of marketing objectives, such as improving brand image and/or personalizing the offer.

The research was developed through a questionnaire administered electronically to travel agents (282 respondents). The resulting data was analyzed by applying the McNemar test, a pairwise t-test and the multivariate analysis of variance.

The results show that social media are strategically significant for travel agents, even though their adoption is influenced by different agency aims; the perceived effectiveness results are diversified according to varying agency typologies.

The two main limitations of the study are its focus on the Italian context only and the missing consideration of the consumer's point of view. The latter prevents an exhaustive assessment of future trends regarding the use of social media in the client–agency relationship.

The study, which focuses on a little debated topic concerning the relationship between social media and SMEs, organically explores various dimensions related to the adoption of social media by small agencies, also considering the impact of the Covid-19 on the perception of travel agents. As a further element of originality, the research takes into consideration the main social platforms separately rather than the set of tools as a whole.

The paper first aims to analyse the role and functionality of geocollaborative portals in assisting collaborative trip planning processes and then it seeks to develop and test a model for measuring the multi‐dimensionality of customer value perceived by system users.

Primary data are collected from students assigned to use Yahoo! Trip Planner for collaboratively designing an hypothetical trip. A two step approach of an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis was used for testing the model measuring the types of customer value derived from the system use.

Findings provide evidence of the existence of both “give” (risk, time and effort to use the system) and “get” (functional, social and emotional) customer values.

Findings are limited to the demographics of the students' sample, while future research should also try to replicate the study in other contexts (e.g. cultures, type of trips and destinations).

The findings provide useful information about the value dimensions that can affect customer behaviour in using and preferring a particular geocollaborative portal, which in turn give useful guidance on how to design and develop the functionality and services of such systems.

The paper contributes to the fields related to the role of geocollaborative portals in supporting collaborative decision processes and the types of customer value deriving from and motivating technology use. The paper also contributes to the field related to user toolkits developed to assist customers in designing and customising products/services.

Social media has fundamentally changed the leisure travel behavior of Singapore residents. The purpose of this paper is to focus on Facebook and its impact on travel behavior. The study focuses on Singapore residents.

A total of 16 input and five output variables were tested, with a sample of 203 Facebook users residing in Singapore. Primary data modeling was done using ADANCO, a structural equation modeling tool that uses composite modeling approach for hypothesis testing. The analysis performed an estimated structural model and then determined the best model fit by measuring reliability, validity and path analysis and estimating model parameters.

Research findings indicate that Facebook has had a strong behavioral influence on the frequency of travel, itinerary planning and social sharing, while it had no impact during the destination-selection stage of travel planning.

Facebook’s influence on leisure travel behavior confirms the theory of planned behavior proposed by Icek Ajzen. From Facebook’s perspective, the outcome of this study is helpful in recommending the best use of the platform for destination providers.