Reviving from the pandemic: Harnessing the power of social media reviews in sustainable tourism management

Liang, Brian; Dahms, Sven; Reay Corkindale, David; Liddiatt, Joe

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector encountered multiple challenges. Numerous governments chose to lock down their cities and countries. Despite this, many companies found their online businesses making the greatest leaps in their portfolios and social media platforms became one of the most valuable sources of in-formation for purchase decisions. There have been numerous studies on the effects of social media reviews - a form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), on consumer behavior. Few were found related to their impact on group package tour (GPT) while considering mixed eWOM, that is, both positive and negative present in the word-of-mouth communication. As the tourism sector gradually revives, the need to further explore how tourism and hospitality service providers can adapt to changes in post-pandemic consumer behavior has become imperative. The influence of social media reviews on consumers’ value perceptions of a GPT to Japan, allowing for the influence of the marketing mix element of advertised price, was examined through online experiments in this study. Positive, negative and mixed eWOM were examined. It was found that eWOM was more influential on consumers’ value perceptions than the advertised price for all price acceptability levels. Mixed eWOM was found to negatively affect consumers’ final price perceptions which override the impact of quality perceptions in value formations. The value perceptions of the GPT became less acceptable when eWOM was mixed compared to when eWOM was absent or was positive. Mixed eWOM had a negative effect on value perceptions, but not as great as when negative eWOM was present and this was consistently found to apply for all price acceptability levels of the GPT. The study’s contribution to eWOM research and implications on post-pandemic recovery of tourism and hospitality service providers are made, together with suggested strategies using innovative technologies and communications to enhance their adaptive resilience in the new normal.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 24, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2025
• Journal: Tourism and Hospitality
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13796707