Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Myunghwa Kang, Ph.D., is an associate professor in Hospitality, Restaurant, and Tourism Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, U.S.A. Her research focus is on marketing and information technology in tourism and hospitality. Specifically, she focuses on social media data mining and analytics to understand how emerging information technologies and social media can support the creation and management of social and emotional experiences for tourists.

Hanyoung Go, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of Hospitality, Restaurant and Tourism Management program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research focuses on the impact of technology on human experiences and has addressed tourist perception and spatial experiences through AI robots with machine learning, interactive maps, virtual environments and social media.

Abstract (150 Words)

Beaches are popular natural attractions for holiday vacations and recreational activities among tourists and important tourism resources to tourism communities that brings valuable economic value. However, increasing pressure of the beach tourism impacts the beach coastal environment, negatively affecting both ecological status and the recreational experience of tourists. Massive amounts of tourist data, such as online reviews and consumer behavioral data on social media, have vastly grown and become a valuable source of information to understand tourists and support the environmental and marketing decisions of tourism destinations. To date, measurement parameters of beach quality perception, as expressed by actual or potential beach visitors, have been developed mainly by relying on the survey questionnaires on physical, social, environmental, and service-related aspects. Therefore, there is a need to define and assess the quality of tourist beaches based on visitors’ experiences presented in online reviews on social media. The purpose of this study was to compare commonalities and variations of beach quality between assessment parameters from questionnaire surveys and those from tourist online review analysis on social media and, ultimately, to propose measurement parameters of beach quality and prioritizes based on beach visitors’ perceptions and attitudes presented in reviews on social media.

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Development of Beach Quality Assessment Parameters Based on Tourist Reviews

Beaches are popular natural attractions for holiday vacations and recreational activities among tourists and important tourism resources to tourism communities that brings valuable economic value. However, increasing pressure of the beach tourism impacts the beach coastal environment, negatively affecting both ecological status and the recreational experience of tourists. Massive amounts of tourist data, such as online reviews and consumer behavioral data on social media, have vastly grown and become a valuable source of information to understand tourists and support the environmental and marketing decisions of tourism destinations. To date, measurement parameters of beach quality perception, as expressed by actual or potential beach visitors, have been developed mainly by relying on the survey questionnaires on physical, social, environmental, and service-related aspects. Therefore, there is a need to define and assess the quality of tourist beaches based on visitors’ experiences presented in online reviews on social media. The purpose of this study was to compare commonalities and variations of beach quality between assessment parameters from questionnaire surveys and those from tourist online review analysis on social media and, ultimately, to propose measurement parameters of beach quality and prioritizes based on beach visitors’ perceptions and attitudes presented in reviews on social media.