Online tourism-related text: a perspective article

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to outline the development of online tourism-related text with particular focus on the role of technology in transforming this text. It also offers a vision of this ongoing development for the next 75 years, followed by a discussion of its implications for tourism research. Design/methodology/approach This paper offers a critical analysis and synthesis of the literature and brings a number of conceptual and theoretical frameworks to present a rich, in-depth discussion of the subject. Findings There have been important transformations in online tourism-related text because of the development of information technology. Particularly, the internet, along with more recent social media and the smartphone, has produced vast amount of text in a variety of formats and modalities. Computer programs are increasingly smarter in collecting, processing, understanding and even generating textual content in the context of tourism. Future communications will likely be mediated and dominated by artificial intelligence-based technologies, emerging interfaces and a mix of text and visual contents. Research limitations/implications Tourism research entails a paradigm shift that recognizes the changing characteristics of online tourism-related text and the importance of new conceptual and methodological tools for understanding the new language of tourism. Originality/value This paper offers a unique view that connects the socio-linguistic basis of tourism with the development of information technology. It may serve as the conceptual foundation for tourism research that uses text as data in understanding a range of marketing and managerial problems in tourism.