Elsevier

Tourism Management

Volume 88, February 2022, 104429
Tourism Management

Would you enjoy virtual travel? The characteristics and causes of virtual tourists’ sentiment under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2021.104429Get rights and content

Abstract

There are numerous arguments regarding the attitudes of different tourists and scenic destination managers regarding virtual tourism. However, it remains difficult to understand the public's attitude towards virtual tourism in a crisis situation. In this way, under the influence of COVID-19, this study explores the public sentiment and drivers of virtual tourism using Python and the grounded theory method. The results reveal that tourists' positive sentiment in virtual tourism dominates, with few tourists showing negative or neutral sentiment polarity. Furthermore, there is an obvious law of time decay in the intensity of public sentiment. Especially as the crisis fades, the supplementary effect of virtual tourism on on-site tourism weakens. Moreover, project design, experience quality, travel convenience, travel cost, travel motivation and destination attractiveness are the critical factors affecting tourist sentiment. The findings provide implications for the sustainable development of both destination and virtual tourism in a new world order post-COVID-19.

Keywords

Virtual tourism
COVID-19
Crisis situation
Sentiment analysis
Big data
Cause

Cited by (0)

Shu-Ning Zhang is a Ph.D student in College of Tourism, Huaqiao University, China. Her research interests include in tourism culture and innovation, tourism marketing, etc. E-mail:

Yong-Quan Li is a professor of tourism research at Huaqiao University. He also serves as Director of Research Center of Tourism and Service Management, Associate Dean of Tourism Security Research Institute, Deputy Chairman of Youth Federation of Huaqiao University, etc. His research interest focuses on tourism innovation management, the integration of culture and tourism, etc. E-mail:

Wen-Qi Ruan is Ph.D of management, an associate professor of College of Tourism, Huaqiao University, China. His academic research areas cover tourism information, tourism destination management, tourism safety, etc. E-mail:

Chih-Hsing Liu is an associate professor of Department of Tourism Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology. His current research interests are in the area of tourism management, creativity, knowledge management and social network. Email:

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