Consumer perception of tourist experience through online reviews

Abstract

Purpose Overall, there is a lack of research using online reviews as a proxy of customer experience when addressing the study of tourism in island destinations. Design/methodology/approach The current investigation aims to fill this gap by focussing on an African small island developing states, i.e. Cape Verde. This paper reports of tourist reviews extracted from TripAdvisor from “two islands of the senses” as coined by this archipelago’s national tourism organization, specifically Santo Antão and Fogo islands. The data analysis was performed through Leximancer software to generate concepts out of words, followed by themes. Findings The present research focussed on experiences in island tourism to identify their main dimensions based on visitors’ narratives in online reviews. The obtained results are of potential value to the literature by contributing to a better understanding of tourist experience in the context of tourism in islands in an understudied country, Cape Verde. Originality/value Results are presented and object of discussion vis-à-vis scientific literature and conclusions put forward in this journal paper.