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Article
Publication date: 29 April 2020

Matthew Tingchi Liu, Yongdan Liu, Ziying Mo and Kai Lam Ng

Travel websites allow tourists to share their thoughts, beliefs and experiences regarding various travel destinations. In this paper, the researchers demonstrated an approach for…

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Abstract

Purpose

Travel websites allow tourists to share their thoughts, beliefs and experiences regarding various travel destinations. In this paper, the researchers demonstrated an approach for destination marketing organisations to explore online tourist-generated content and understand tourists' perceptions of the destination image (DI). Specifically, the researchers initiated an investigation examining how the destination image of Macau changed during the period of 2014–2018 based on user-generated content on travel websites.

Design/methodology/approach

Web crawlers developed by Python were employed to collect tourists' reviews from both Ctrip and TripAdvisor regarding the theme of “Macau attraction”. A total of 51,191 reviews (41,352 from Ctrip and 9,839 from TripAdvisor) were collected and analysed using the text-mining technique.

Findings

The results reveal that the frequency of casino-related words decreased in reviews by both international and mainland Chinese tourists. Additionally, international and mainland Chinese tourists perceive the DI of Macau differently. Mainland Chinese tourists are more sensitive to new attractions, while international tourists are not. The study also shows that there are differences between the government-projected DI and the tourist-perceived DI. Only the “City of Culture” and “A World Centre of Tourism and Leisure” have built recognition with tourists.

Originality/value

Given the easy accessibility of online information from various sources, it is important for destination marketing organisations to analyse and monitor different DI perspectives and adjust their branding strategies for greater effectiveness. This study uncovered the online DI of Macau by using text mining and content analysis of two of the largest travel websites. By analysing and comparing the differences and relationships among the frequently used words of tourist-generated content on these websites, the researchers revealed some interesting findings with important marketing implications.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2023

Kafferine Yamagishi, Danzel Canayong, Mariella Domingo, Kim Nieva Maneja, Angel Montolo and Arabelle Siton

This paper aims to explore the causal relationship of user-generated content (UGC) on trust in UGC (TUGC), destination image (DI) and tourist visit intention (VI) guided by the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the causal relationship of user-generated content (UGC) on trust in UGC (TUGC), destination image (DI) and tourist visit intention (VI) guided by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory. This work further examined the mediating effect of TUGC and DI between UGC and VI.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through online and personal-administered surveys and randomized sampling. This work employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed model empirically.

Findings

In line with the SOR Theory, this work found UGCs that induce positive emotions and connection to the users motivate VI rather than UGCs that are predominantly factual. Furthermore, UGCs are considered reliable, authentic and less biased than brand-generated content. The findings of this work contribute to the theoretical understanding of UGC to VI in a destination.

Practical implications

This work proposes that destination marketers prioritize UGC that evokes positive emotions and connections with users, as it is more effective in encouraging VI. Strategies such as incentivizing content creators, improving online presence and engaging influencers can maximize UGC. Enhancing online traffic quality, visibility and interaction and implementing content policies are crucial for UGC's effectiveness. Marketers should align destination products with tourists' interests and collaborate with influencers for affiliate marketing to increase tourist-generated UGC. Furthermore, improved connectivity encourages UGCs about the destination.

Originality/value

In tourism marketing, UGC has become a valuable information source for tourists in making informed travel decisions. UGC is a tourist-generated content that offers factual information and authentic experiences through images, videos or text posted through social media platforms. UGC is considered more reputable than travel firms and the mainstream media as an information source. Due to the limited works on UGC in the literature, the influence of UGC on tourists' VIs has remained unexplored at the time of writing. This work bridges this gap by empirically examining the impact of UGC on Gen Z tourists' VI guided by the SOR theory.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 December 2021

Xi Song, Ziying Mo, Matthew Tingchi Liu, Ben Niu and Li Huang

This study initiated an investigation of how the Macau–Zhuhai tourism cooperated and discussed how Macau and Zhuhai could join hands to develop tourism in the region. The study…

Abstract

Purpose

This study initiated an investigation of how the Macau–Zhuhai tourism cooperated and discussed how Macau and Zhuhai could join hands to develop tourism in the region. The study demonstrated an approach for destination marketing organizations to explore online tourist-generated content and to understand tourists' perceptions of the destination image (DI).

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1,291,057 reviews (535,317 for Macau and 755,740 for Zhuhai) were collected, analyzed and examined to determine how the DI s of Macau and Zhuhai changed during the period of 2015–2019 based on tourist-generated content on travel websites (TripAdvisor, Ctrip.com and Qyer.com) through a text-mining approach.

Findings

The result revealed that Macau and Zhuhai were in a hybrid of competition and collaboration on tourism DI s. First, Macau and Zhuhai competed in hotel and catering industry. Macau was appealing to international tourists and provided high-end and prestigious offerings; while Zhuhai was impressed by cost-effective accommodation and food. Second, Macau diversified industrial structure with diverse “Tourism, Leisure and Recreation” and “Culture, History and Art” more than Zhuhai did. Meanwhile, Macau should balance the different demands of international and Chinese tourists. Third, complementary potentials were found in natural resources, urbanization technology and tourism innovation and related projects.

Practical implications

The research provides valuable insights for policymakers and industrial managers on their endeavors to develop DIs. Policymakers should be able to develop supportive mechanisms and tourism facilitators to promote industrial collaboration and mutual DIs. Managers could refer to the components in the changing DIs and identify the developmental gaps and cooperation potentials in their targeted areas.

Originality/value

The research fulfills the gap in regional tourism studies on Macau, in which the evaluation on synergetic influence and neighbor effect from Zhuhai has been underexplored. Facilitated by up-to-date data mining techniques, the study contributes to both DI and coopetition literature in tourism marketing; and this should inspire further studies on the antecedences of DI changes, resolutions to the competing interests and DIs of different stakeholders in different forms of strategic cooperation in regional tourism. The employment of DIs is an explicit demonstration of tourists' immersion and values attached to the destination, providing effective cues on the status of coopetition.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 34 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 April 2022

Igor Stojanovic, Luisa Andreu and Rafael Curras-Perez

This paper aims to further the knowledge of what effect destination and tourist social media communications have on destination brand equity.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to further the knowledge of what effect destination and tourist social media communications have on destination brand equity.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors performed a quantitative study with 433 international tourists and social media users using an online survey and structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results show that user-generated content (UGC) and destination-generated content (DGC) both positively affect tourist behavior through the mediating role of destination brand equity. Of the two, UGC is more important for building a positive destination image and more valuable for improving perceived destination quality and value. The results also show that affective image is a powerful predictor of tourist behavior.

Practical implications

The findings provide useful insights for destination management organizations (DMOs) and social media marketing strategies. DMOs need to generate content that was highly relatable and evokes emotion, and encourage tourists to share their own experiences to improve destination brand equity and future behavior.

Originality/value

The study was conducted in the passive, pretrip stage before a travel decision is taken, which offers unique insight into how social media communications affect: destination brand equity and users’ decisions to choose certain destinations over others.

研究目的

本文旨在进一步了解目的地和旅游社交媒体传播对目的地品牌资产的影响。

研究设计/方法/途径

本论文使用在线调查和结构方程模型对 433 名国际游客和社交媒体用户进行了定量研究。

研究结果

结果表明, 用户生成的内容(UGC)和目的地生成的内容(DGC)都通过目的地品牌资产的中介作用对游客行为产生积极影响。两者中, UGC对于建立积极的目的地形象更为重要, 对于提高感知的目的地质量和价值更有价值。结果还表明, 情感形象是旅游行为的有力预测因素。

实际意义

研究结果为目的地管理组织 (DMO) 和社交媒体营销策略提供了有用的见解。 DMO 需要生成具有高度相关性和唤起情感的内容, 并鼓励游客分享自己的经验, 以提高目的地品牌资产和未来行为。

原创性/价值

该研究是在做出旅行决定之前的被动旅行前阶段进行的, 它提供了关于社交媒体传播如何影响:(i) 目的地品牌资产, 以及 (ii) 用户的选择决定某些目的地优于其他目的地的独特见解。

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2023

Ahmed Hamdy, Jian Zhang and Riyad Eid

This study's goal is to look at how visitors' experiences affect the indirect links between the destination's extrinsic motivations (DEMs) and tourists' intrinsic motives (TIMs)…

Abstract

Purpose

This study's goal is to look at how visitors' experiences affect the indirect links between the destination's extrinsic motivations (DEMs) and tourists' intrinsic motives (TIMs), on the one hand, and the perceived destination image (PDI), on the other.

Design/methodology/approach

Using structural equation modeling, 613 tourists from different nationalities were used to test the five hypotheses.

Findings

The research results revealed that second-order destinations' extrinsic motivations directly impact TIM and PDI. It also showed that tourists' experiences as moderators reduce the direct effect of DEM on PDI for first-time visitors compared to repeat visitors. Moreover, it increases the direct effect of TIM on PDI for repeated visitors.

Practical implications

Destination managers can fix the problems that hurt their reputations and images by hiring police officers in tourist areas and cleaning tourist places. In the same way, destination managers and travel agencies should use AI tools to create social media marketing campaigns focusing on natural and historical monuments. Also, the marketing plans should stress the value for money (for example, lodging, food and attractions’ cost). Finally, destination marketers can make programs for repeat visitors, focusing on DEM and TIM.

Originality/value

This article tries to fill a gap in the research on PDI formation in emerging markets as a modern technique in destination marketing by using the push-intrinsic and pull-extrinsic theories. It also looks at how the tourists' experiences moderate the direct link between DEM, TIM and PDI. Lastly, this study examines how TIM affects a destination's image in emerging markets.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 July 2023

Araceli Galiano-Coronil, Sofía Blanco-Moreno, Luis Bayardo Tobar-Pesantez and Guillermo Antonio Gutiérrez-Montoya

This study aims to analyze communication from the perspective of social marketing, positive emotions, and the topics chosen by Spanish tourist destinations to show their…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze communication from the perspective of social marketing, positive emotions, and the topics chosen by Spanish tourist destinations to show their destination image. Additionally, this research shows a message classification model, based on the aforementioned characteristics, that has generated a greater impact, offering clarity to tourism managers on the type of content they should publish to achieve greater visibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used in this work combines content analysis and data mining techniques. The classification tree using the chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) algorithm was selected to determine predictors of like behaviour.

Findings

The results show that the predictor variables have been emotions, social marketing and topics. Also, the characteristics of the messages most likely to have a high impact are those related to emotions of joy or happiness, their purpose is behavioural, and they talk about rural, cultural issues, special dates, getaways, or highlights of a town or city for something specific.

Originality/value

This study is the first to analyze the content of the tweets shared by destination tourism managers from a social marketing, positive emotions, and sustainability perspective, determining the possible predictors of likes on Twitter. The authors contribute to the literature by deepening the understanding of how social marketing and the positive emotions promoted drive a more significant impact in tourism communication campaigns on social media. The authors provide destination managers with a way better to understand the variables relevant to users in tourism content.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 42 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2024

Xinhua Guan, Zhenxing Nie, Catheryn Khoo, Wentao Zhou and Yaoqi Li

This study aims to explore the connection between travel content consumption in social networks and social comparison, envy as well as travel intention. It analyzes whether…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the connection between travel content consumption in social networks and social comparison, envy as well as travel intention. It analyzes whether tourists’ travel intention is affected by travel content consumption in social networks, and more importantly, whether social comparison and envy play a mediating role in this process.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected through intercept in four popular tourist spots in Guangzhou and Zhuhai in South China. A self-administered questionnaire was used. A total of 400 participants were recruited, and 291 valid questionnaires were obtained. Bias-corrected nonparametric percentile bootstrap mediation variable test method was used to test hypotheses.

Findings

The study yielded three results. First, travel content consumption in the social networks positively influences travel intention. Second, travel content consumption in social networks indirectly affects travel intention through social comparison and envy. Third, the control variables, such as gender, age, education and income, mainly affect envy.

Originality/value

This study constructs a theoretical framework of stimulus–cognitive appraisal–emotion–behavioral responses. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to reveal that the internal psychological mechanism of travel content consumption affects travel intention. It also discloses that envy of seemingly negative emotions can encourage positive behaviors in certain situations.

Abstract

Details

Tourism Social Media: Transformations in Identity, Community and Culture
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-213-4

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2021

Shiv Shakti Ghosh and Sunil Kumar Chatterjee

This study demonstrates the synthesis of a knowledge organization framework from tourist reviews and an ontological model with its implementation in graph database, which is based…

Abstract

Purpose

This study demonstrates the synthesis of a knowledge organization framework from tourist reviews and an ontological model with its implementation in graph database, which is based on this framework. The aim is to influence place-making outcomes at tourist destinations.

Design/methodology/approach

The faceted classification approach has been used for generating and validating the framework based on online reviews about urban tourism parks. The framework was used to develop an ontology using Protégé ontology editor that was implemented using GraphDB.

Findings

Three fundamental facet categories, namely Component, Aspect and Outcome, each consisting of several sub-facets, were synthesized from the analyses of the reviews. Besides helping in constructing the ontology, the analysis also helped in calculating an importance-score for the reviews that helped in ranked information retrieval.

Research limitations/implications

The analyses of the reviews were done manually and may carry human bias. But it is robust as it is based on a canonical faceted methodology.

Practical implications

It is envisaged that this study will help tourist destination planners in decision-making by easing the utilization of tourist generated reviews by the knowledge management systems they use. Opinions of tourists will be induced in destination planning thereby helping in the production of quality “places.”

Originality/value

The presented faceted framework aims to specifically aid knowledge organization pertaining to online reviews related to tourist destinations. The focus is on organizing knowledge to facilitate tourism development for better place-making outcomes, which is an important area of research though it has little contributions.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 78 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 July 2013

Ana María Munar

This chapter addresses emerging social media cultures and socio-technical practices through the theoretical lens of Theory of Communicative Action. This conceptual scene is used…

Abstract

This chapter addresses emerging social media cultures and socio-technical practices through the theoretical lens of Theory of Communicative Action. This conceptual scene is used to explain the interplay between social media and tourism. It analyzes the paradoxical role of interactive technologies as forces for the reproduction and transformation of this industry. The chapter discusses processes of colonization of personal relations and life-spaces. The analysis shows the ambivalent potential of tourism social media as communicative technologies for emancipation but also as tools for hierarchization, control, and exploitation. Finally, further theoretical examination of technological development and tourism practices is sought.

Details

Tourism Social Media: Transformations in Identity, Community and Culture
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-213-4

Keywords

1 – 10 of 128