Sentiment Analysis: a Comparative Study of Online Booking Platforms Used for Spa Tourism in Northern Oltenia, Romania

Abstract

Abstract: Purchasing a tourist package for a specific tourist destination has become extremely easy and transparent through the diversity and continuously upgraded online booking platforms. Their content provides information through the reviews among tourists and hospitality managers, being, at the same time, opened Big Data for researchers or policymakers. Mining the reviews of two global platforms (Booking and TripAdvisor) and a national one (Turistinfo) the study aims to an-alyze the tourists’ sentiments and emotions experienced in a balneary destination such as Northern Oltenia, Romania. The research addresses the overarching question of whether positive sentiments dominate in destinations led by spa tourism, and consequently, which emotions are definers? For this purpose, 10,945 online reviews, from 2018 to 2020 for 248 accommodation units of the studied area were collected and processed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 17.0) and Geographical Information System (GIS). The key findings indicate that most travelers are satisfied with tourist destinations, sustained by the dominance of positive sentiments (82%) asso-ciated with a high rating score (8.9) and ‘joy’ and ‘trust’ emotions. Mostly positive sentiments are linked to the quality of five- and four-star accommodation units, but also to the intimacy of the small family’s business, the spatial framing in the landscape, and the friendship of the hosts. At the same time, the repulsive aspects draw attention to some problems of the state of the indoor or outdoor environment and the price-quality ratio. The research demonstrates the effectiveness of leveraging electronic word of mouth as a valuable resource for stakeholders in the tourism in-dustry. This approach enables a swift and sustainable assessment of tourist satisfaction, providing valuable insights for accommodation service providers to make informed decisions.