Attitudes Expressed in Online Comments about Environmental Factors in the Tourism Sector: An Exploratory Study.

Jose Saura,Pedro Palos-Sanchez,Miguel Rios Martin

doi:10.3390/ijerph15030553

Abstract

The object of this exploratory study is to identify the positive, neutral and negative environment factors that affect users who visit Spanish hotels in order to help the hotel managers decide how to improve the quality of the services provided. To carry out the research a Sentiment Analysis was initially performed, grouping the sample of tweets (n = 14459) according to the feelings shown and then a textual analysis was used to identify the key environment factors in these feelings using the qualitative analysis software Nvivo (QSR International, Melbourne, Australia). The results of the exploratory study present the key environment factors that affect the users experience when visiting hotels in Spain, such as actions that support local traditions and products, the maintenance of rural areas respecting the local environment and nature, or respecting air quality in the areas where hotels have facilities and offer services. The conclusions of the research can help hotels improve their services and the impact on the environment, as well as improving the visitors experience based on the positive, neutral and negative environment factors which the visitors themselves identified.

Highlights

IntroductionTourism and the activities linked to its growth have become a key part of the world economy and have made local populations suffer the consequences of the impact of these activities on the environment [3]
Node 2 (N2) for environment factors identification. These results demonstrate users for concerns about negative environment factors
The development of new technologies and especially social networks has allowed the tourism sector to incorporate important changes when assessing actions related to the environment and social responsibility policies [6,7]

Summary

Introduction

Tourism and the activities linked to its growth have become a key part of the world economy and have made local populations suffer the consequences of the impact of these activities on the environment [3]. Activities for tourism provide important amounts of income and jobs, promote knowledge of other cultures and conserve cultural and natural heritage, as well as investing in local infrastructure [4]. These activities provide both economic and social benefits. Not everything is positive as some styles of tourism and certain recreational activities can lead to the destruction of habitats, the deterioration of the landscape and competition for scarce resources and services (fresh water, territory, energy, wastewater treatment, etc.) [5]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion