Proposal for Employing User-Generated Content as a Data Source for Measuring Tourism Destination Image

Abstract

The user-generated content (UGC) published on the internet offers great advantages as a source of data. This study proposes a way to make better use of its potential to measure tourism destination image, based on the recommendations of Echtner and Ritchie. These authors indicate that in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of tourism destinations, it is necessary to carry out a holistic and attribute-based analysis using unstructured and structured data, respectively. Since UGC provides both types of data, here we propose its use to study and compare the images of five tourist cities. Our results demonstrate that UGC is a valid source for the study of tourism destination image, confirming the need to adopt a holistic and attribute-based approach to this concept. They also show that not all attributes influence the overall impression of a destination.