Electronic Word of Mouth: Improving the City Image and Increasing the Intention of Tourist Visit

Abstract

The tourism sector makes a significant contribution to the economic development of the country by contributing to the creation of income and employment in the community. This study was conducted in one of the cities in Indonesia, Bandung City which is the capital city of West Java province. Every year, the one source of regional income comes from tourism activities, hotel taxes, entertainment, and restaurants. However, for 2 (two) years the Covid-19 pandemic has been shaking the world, it has had an impact on national and regional tourism where there has been a significant decrease in visits. One of the efforts to encourage economic recovery is to increase marketing by strengthening the tourism image. The development of information technology has grown to a new term in marketing communication, Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) can reach a wider market than conventional advertising. A positive eWOM helps develop a destination's image so that it has a positive effect on attitudes toward a particular destination. This study aims to analyze how the influence of electronic word of mouth is one of the antecedents to the image of the city as a tourist destination and analyzes the city's image as a tourist destination, especially during the reopening of regional borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on tourist interest in visiting Bandung as a destination. This study uses a quantitative approach with data collection tools in the form of questionnaires distributed to 144 respondents. Analysis of the research model and hypothesis testing through structural equation modeling (SEM) using the AMOS 23.