Travel Blogs Research Articles

“YOU POST, I TRAVEL.” Bloggers' credibility, digital engagement, and travelers' behavioral intention: The mediating role of hedonic and utilitarian motivations

AbstractBloggers are becoming increasingly relevant in consumers' decisions, particularly travel decisions. This study has investigated the influence of bloggers across cultures and from different theoretical perspectives. Drawing upon source credibility, uses and gratification theory, and content engagement constructs, we propose an integrated model of bloggers' influence investigating the role of credibility, motivations and engagement in the information adoption process of travel blog readers. Results from a survey of Italian and American consumers show that blogger credibility positively influences hedonic and utilitarian motivations to read a blogger post, but it does not affect digital engagement. Further, hedonic and utilitarian motivations significantly affect blog engagement (utilitarian motivation's influence not significant in the Italian sample), which, in turn, positively influences both continued use and electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Moreover, continued use influences information adoption in both samples. The study contributes to knowledge about the interplay between source credibility, utilitarian and hedonic motivations, and engagement on consumers' intentions (i.e., information adoption, eWOM, continued use) in the context of blogging.

Travel blogging between personal staging and commercial alignment – a conceptual framework

Due to recent changes in the blogosphere, and in travel blogging in particular, there is a need to reflect on travel blogs as complex media. In this article, commodification and professionalization processes, as well as the specific situatedness of travel blogs at the interface of on- and offline worlds, are taken into account in order to present a differentiated and adaptable conceptual framework for analyzing travel blogs. Within this framework, blogs are situated between personal staging and commercial alignment. The paper shows, how the use of different blogging practices (such as sharing and recommending travel experiences) allows bloggers to construct and use different web-identities simultaneously. By using close and wide readings, it is demonstrated how playing the role of connoisseur of a tourist city and online friend (personal staging) enables bloggers to establish a profitable travel blog and be effective with their marketing strategies (commercial alignment). A case study of travel blogs relating to Barcelona serves as an illustrative example and confirms the suitability of this conceptual approach.

THE USE OF TRAVEL BLOG WRITING IN A TERTIARY LEVEL ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES COURSE

Blogs can be used as constructive means in EFL teaching allowing learners to exert control over their own writing and enabling them to communicate with the global community of internet users. Among different types of blogs, travel blogs can be employed as pedagogical means for real life based learning and L2 writing improvement. Through travel blogs, learners can both explore different places and write about their travel experience in L2. However, the use of travel blog writing in teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has not yet been investigated. In this study, travel blog writing was integrated into a tertiary level ESP course aiming to improve learners’ linguistic skills in the fields of tourism and travel. The research investigates the learners’ views about blog writing as a part of their ESP course through a questionnaire and interviews. According to the findings, travelling and writing about the tourist attractions of one’s city via a personalized blog was found to increase writing motivation but the experience was also defined to be demanding as it requires heavy workload. Overall, this experience was reported to enhance autonomous, reflective and collaborative learning, increase cultural awareness and contribute to learners’ self-expression and L2 writing improvement.

Remarks on lexical adaptation of loanwords in the Slovak language (based on the blog nomination family)

Abstract The case study concentrates on a lexical adaptation of the nouns weblog and blog in the Slovak language. The processes of borrowing and subsequent adaptation are analysed in accordance with the theory of lexical motivation (TLM). Lexical adaptation represents a process on the basis of which a loanword is incorporated into the system of the borrowing language (L2), i.e. serving as an underlying, motivating word for coining new lexemes, and thus generates a nomination family (nomination nest). The concept of the nomination family is based on the understanding of the term word-formation nest, commonly used in derivatology. The nomination family is a cluster of all lexemes (single-word, or multi-word expressions), which are grouped around the initial, underlying, motivating loanword on the basis of formal and semantical relationships. The nomination family of the loanwords weblog and blog is substantial, and includes more than 200 entries. Both initial lexemes (weblog, blog) are taken from English (using the terminology of TLM, the concept of interlingual motivation is employed) while the nomination relationship – abbreviation (weblog → blog) has been transferred from L1 to L2. The word blog is thus polymotivated, its formation can be viewed in a twofold way: (a) as a loanword it has been borrowed from L1 (interlingual motivation), (b) as an abbreviation it has been formed from weblog (abbreviation motivation). A number of entries have been taken over and integrated at the same time (e.g. bloger, bloging, foodblog, foodbloging etc.) into the blog nomination family in the Slovak language. The impact of word-formation is extraordinarily evident in the formation from the word blog, cf. words denoting male and female persons (bloger, blogerka), adjectives (blogový, blogerský), verbs (blogovať), and notably compounds and their derivatives (videoblog, videoblogový, videoblogovať, videobloger, foodblog, foodbloger, foodblogerka, mikroblog, mikroblogovať, mikroblogový, etc.). Even though almost half of derivatives can be classified as nonce-formations, this kind of word-formation manifests a huge potentiality of word-formation motivation in the Slovak language. Moreover, a significant place in the blog nomination family is held by multiword expressions such as politický blog ‚political blog‘, cestovateľský blog ‚travel blog‘. In addition, competition between multi-word expressions and semantically identical compounds (technologický blog – techblog) is rare. A complex notion to be denominated is predominantly expressed either by means of a multi-word expression (finančný blog ‚financial blog‘, knižný blog ‚book blog‘), or a compound (foodblog, mikroblog).

China as an International Travel Destination: A Corpus-based Analysis of Online Travel Blogs

China as an International Travel Destination: A Corpus-based Analysis of Online Travel Blogs

In Byron’s Footsteps, through Byron’s Eyes: Literary Tourism and ‘Imagined Geographies’ of Southern Albania

ABSTRACT In his famous poem, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Lord Byron represents Albania as an exotic and Oriental place, and as a suitable ‘stage’ for the ‘performance’ of adventurous travel. In this paper, I explore the various ways in which literary tourists following ‘in the footsteps of Lord Byron’ in Albania reproduce and/or challenge and change ‘imagined geographies’ of that country. This is carried out through discourse analysis of their written accounts of their travels. The texts analysed include published travelogues, newspaper travel articles and travel blogs written by those who have travelled through southern Albania ‘in the footsteps of Byron’. I argue that these tourists do not, in general, simply reproduce Byron influenced ‘imagined geographies’ of Albania in their travel writings but rather represent Albania as they find it, often highlighting the big differences between the Albania of Byron’s day and the Albania of today. And I also argue that, while some tourists find that the encroachment of modernity into the lands described by Byron disrupts their ability to perform ‘Byronic travel’, others find it quite possible to maintain a ‘Byronic’ spirit of travel in the Albania of today.

E-WoM di mom travel blog: keterikatan, pengaruh informasi, dan kekuatan informasi visual

The Social Networking System (SNS) is used to share messages through electronic WoM (e-WoM) through blogs. Related to someone in e-WoM has a social construction motivation that involves tie strength and informational influence. This article analyzes how attachment, informational influence, the power of visual information in e-WoM user engagement on mom travel blogs can determine travel preferences and decisions for families. In addition to conducting a literature ulasan, this article also analyzes Mom Travel Blogs in Indonesia, namely jalanjalankenai.com and momtraveler.com. These blogs found that the social relationship between the reader and the blogger is an attachment that motivates involvement in e-WoM on the blog. These blogs also provide informational influence and present the power of visual information to convince readers of travel preferences.

Impact of Electronic Word of Mouth Communication and Destination Image on Behavioural Intentions: The Case of Eskişehir Turkey

Electronic word of mouth is an important concept in the tourism industry since sharing information and experiences on various online platforms can affect tourists’ perceived destination image and behavioural intentions. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between electronic word of mouth, destination image and behavioural intentions in the context of Eskişehir case. The sampling technique used was non-probability sampling with both purposive sampling and convenience sampling. In this context, the created questionnaire form; in various digital platforms; was presented to the people who visited Eskişehir in the last 3 years. Data were collected from 392 domestic tourists between December 2020-January 2021. The socio-demographic data obtained from the participants was interpreted by calculating the frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation values from descriptive statistics. The top three digital platforms where the participants read/watch the most travel reviews on the internet are respectively; Instagram, Tripadvisor, and various personal travel blogs. Regression analysis with the help of SPSS program was used to test the hypotheses in the model created for the relationship between variables. The findings of the study show that eWOM has positive and significant results on both destination imageand behavioural intentions. Also, the destination imagehas a positive and significant influence on future behavioural intentions.

Extraction and Visualization of Tourist Attraction Semantics from Travel Blogs

Travel blogs are a significant source for modeling human travelling behavior and characterizing tourist destinations owing to the presence of rich geospatial and thematic content. However, the bulk of unstructured text requires extensive processing for an efficient transformation of data to knowledge. Existing works have studied tourist places, but results lack a coherent outline and visualization of the semantic knowledge associated with tourist attractions. Hence, this work proposes place semantics extraction based on a fusion of content analysis and natural language processing (NLP) techniques. A weighted-sum equation model is then employed to construct a points of interest graph (POI graph) that integrates extracted semantics with conventional frequency-based weighting of tourist spots and routes. The framework offers determination and visualization of massive blog text in a comprehensible manner to facilitate individuals in travel decision-making as well as tourism managers to devise effective destination planning and management strategies.

Pirating the skies? A review of airline booking ploys

In this paper, we review the literature on airline booking ploys/loopholes associated with practices of hidden-city, throwaway, and back-to-back ticketing. A diverse literature on this topic has developed, albeit that the emergence of this literature has to some degree been masked by the often-monodisciplinary approach of individual contributions. In this review, we discuss the main tenets of this increasingly wide-ranging literature and try to identify some of the most notable research gaps. Four research clusters are identified: (1) network revenue management, (2) aviation and consumer law, (3) tourism and business ethics, and (4) consumer marketing and travel journalism/media. Overall, we find that there have been limited interactions across individual contributions and the different clusters. In light of this, we argue that more coherence within the literature could benefit our understanding of airline booking ploys. The literature is furthermore imbued with a normative tone: some authors strongly oppose the exploitation of partial and out-of-sequence ticket use from a legal or ethical point of view, while others take a more nuanced position or even a pro-consumer stance. This is also reflected in the ways in which the fare loopholes are represented in non-academic accounts such as travel blogs, books, and news articles.

Туризм в эпоху социальных сетей: картинка или реальность?

The development of social networks and universal digitalization have led to widespread changes in society and in all spheres of activity, including tourism. The growing popularity of information platforms containing content created by travelers has determined the vector of scientific research towards the dominant role of social networks at the stage of the travel planning process. The increased impact of social networks as the main source of tourist information determines the tourist location, place and type of residence. As a rule, the choice of potential tourists is determined by interesting stories, colorful landscapes, reviews, formed public opinion and other content broadcast on the network by users. The article defines the role of social networks (travel blogs, forums) in modern society. It is shown that social networks have replaced travel agents, GPS-numerous maps and guidebooks, and the Instagram feed – a photo album. The authors conclude that modern travel has completely moved to the digital environment and now it is almost impossible to imagine a trip without posts on social networks and an endless stream of recommendations in the comments. The article pays special attention to the role of Instagram in the modern development of tourism, including negative aspects that have a disastrous impact on the industry.

Digital marketing strategy through mobile application to increase room sales At Ibis Styles Bali Legian Hotel

This study aims to identify the market segment of Ibis Styles Bali Legian Hotel and to find out the digital marketing strategy through the mobile application in increasing room sales. This study used descriptive qualitative research methods and used primary data through interviews, observations, documentation and questionnaires. The results showed that the market segments at Ibis Styles Bali Legian were mostly FIT (Free Independence Travelers) from the Distribution and inbound segments, and the majority of tourists from Australia. The digital marketing strategy through the mobile application in increasing room sales were through promotion of products and services for brand awareness, strengthening online reputation and traffic growth, through social media, online banners on the landing page, optimization of SEO, SEM and keywords to facilitate searches/browses, collaborate with influencers and travel bloggers as well as provide extra benefits in transactions made through mobile applications. With this strategy, impacting the reservations via mobile applications is dominating the market segment by 85% of the total market and increase the sales from year to year.

Pemanfaatan Travel Writing Sebagai Sumber Informasi Bagi Wisatawan Nusantara

The era of information and communication technology provides opportunities and convenience for tourists to meet their needs of self-actualization by telling their experiences through writing, so-called travel writing. Travel writing can be used as a source of information to guide some potential tourists in planning their travels. Furthermore, it can also increase the number of domestic tourists’ visit to several tourist destinations spread across the nation. This research, through the descriptive qualitative approach, aims to thoroughly describe the phenomenon of the use of travel writing as the source of travel information. The informants in this research were 7 people. The data were collected through in-depth interview and questionnaire. The research results shows that magazines, newspapers and web portals have high credibility, while travel blogs have an objective and reliable. There were 5 characteristics of travel writing which expected by the reader such as simple writing, clear language, photo display, facts, and have value of benefits

Creative tourism and creative spectacles in China

The topic of creative tourism has gained a growing amount of attention from scholars in recent years. However, although the importance of festivals and events in such tourism has been acknowledged, the nature of and role of such “creative spectacles” in creative tourism has not been adequately addressed. This paper aims to address this research gap. To do so, this paper will begin by introducing a suitable definition of creative spectacles based on earlier references to it in Richards and Wilson’s (2006) formative paper on creative tourism as well as based on explanations of creative tourism that have been given since. To shed light on the practical nexus between creative tourism and creative spectacles, this paper will subsequently provide a survey of and concrete examples of creative tourism experiences as they relate to various festivals and events in China's UNESCO-designated creative cities through travel blog analysis. Our paper will conclude with recommendations for tourism planners as well as suggested areas for future research.

Destination Image of Kyrgyzstan: A Content Analysis of Travel Blogs

ABSTRACT This article presents findings of a study concerned with destination image of Kyrgyzstan. As online narratives provide an important source for destination image formation, the present study analyzed a total of 360 travel blogs about the country with a computer-assisted program, Leximancer 4.5. Analysis suggested that the image of Kyrgyzstan as a destination is mainly associated with nomadic culture and natural resources. It also indicated that foreign visitors view the country as a transit, not a final destination, and that the critical aspect of the country’s image is its poor transportation infrastructure. The article encourages destination marketers and policymakers to take relevant measures to create positive images of the country. Additionally, it recommends that natural resources as well as cultural endowment should be capitalized on, and transportation infrastructure should be improved.

Contents and quality of travel tips on malaria in English and Spanish travel blogs

BackgroundEurope has about 10,000 imported cases of malaria each year, or around 80 cases per 100,000 trips to endemic areas. Non-use of chemoprophylaxis in travellers remains the main reason for this. The proliferation of online travel blogs as a source of advice (sometimes the only one used) for preparing a trip to an endemic area may play a role in the decision to use chemoprophylaxis. The aim of this study was to analyse the information offered on malaria in the main travel blogs in English and Spanish.MethodsFive hundred travel blogs in English and 100 in Spanish, considered highly relevant were analysed. The relevance were according to different metrics: (1) Alexa Rank; (2) social networks (RRSS) measuring the total followers of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube; (3) number of monthly visits using the SEMrush tool; (4) domain authority; and (5) number of backlinks or incoming links using the SEMrush tool.ResultsOf the included travel blogs, 57% of those in English and 64% of those in Spanish offered information on malaria, and 79 and 75%, respectively, featured a discussion on malaria written as a blog post or in forum comments. Information on chemoprophylaxis was available in 56.1% of English-language blogs and 10.7% of Spanish-speaking blogs, while its side effects were discussed in 38.6 and 68.8%, respectively (p < 0.001). Content analysis revealed that the information was usually insufficient, incomplete or, more seriously, inaccurate. In many cases, this could discourage users from taking appropriate preventive measures.ConclusionsTravel blogs in English and Spanish provide low-quality information on malaria. The so-called “travel influencers” must communicate reliable, verified and quality information on malaria on their channels in a way that could contribute to reducing the burden of the disease in travellers.

Creative tourism and creative spaces in China

ABSTRACT This study investigates creative tourism and creative spaces in China through travel blog analysis. In particular, we explore creative tourism-related experiences within China’s 14 UNESCO-designated creative cities. To do so, 456 identified creative spaces were individually searched in four popular Chinese travel experience sharing platforms. In total, 552 travel blogs were collected for analysis using Nvivo qualitative software. Our findings not only reveal the practical connections between eight types of creative resources and creative tourist experiences and activities but also the nuances between three key elements of such tourism experiences: participation, knowledge acquisition, and the experiencing of local life. Our paper concludes with practical recommendations for tourism providers and policymakers wishing to leverage their destination’s creative resources for creative tourism development.

Projected Image of Turkey in Travel Blogs

Travel and destination information is mostly provided by textual and storytelling communication practices. With the spread of mobile phones, digital tools and Web 2.0, photographs have become an important medium for reflecting destinations. This study analyses how Turkey is visualized and reflected as a destination through photos by the top 100 most-visited travel bloggers. As a result of the research, predictable findings (e.g. the most visited city: Istanbul or the most interesting historical monuments: Sultan Ahmet, Hagia Sophia) were obtained, and unexpected results were also gathered by the researchers. Among these, street cats (31) attract the same level of curiosity as the Topkapi Palace (34), and bloggers shared Cappadocia’s (21%) photos more than all coastal regions involved in intense of tourism (17%). These results imply clues on which destinations or attractions of Turkey should be emphasized and provide some information about Turkey’s image as a destination.

Impacts of Online Social Support and Perceived Value in Influential Travel Blogs

As a result of exponential growth in the popularity of blogging, travel blogs have demonstrated their enormous marketing potential, and have become an increasingly important mechanism for exchanging information among tourists. The present study modeled online social support and perceived value as antecedents of the impacts of influential travel bloggers on their blog members’ travel-related behavioral intentions, and examined the mediating role of sense of virtual community (SOVC) among these relationships. The analysis results herein demonstrate that online social support, perceived value, and SOVC relate significantly to blog members’ behavior intention. Furthermore, the influence of perceived value and SOVC on behavior intention are both respectively significant. With SOVC as a mediating variable, the CI indirect effect of the perceived value on travel intention did not include 0, indicating an indirect relationship between these two variables. Referring to perceived values, the findings indicates that blog members perceive the influential travel blogs as offering epistemic value more than others. These findings have theoretical implications for social media and online interaction related literature, and have critical business implications for customer to customer (C2C) marketers to distinguish themselves within the expanding number of influential travel blogs.

Wisata Sejarah, Warisan Budaya, dan E-Service: Study Kasus untuk Menilai Preferensi Pelaku Wisata Dimasa Pandemi Covid 19 di Yogyakarta

This paper discusses the use of in-depth FGDs to assess residents, tourists, and travelers' preferences for e-service electronic services that will increase access to historical tourism heritage and cultural tourism in Yogyakarta Special Region (Keraton Yogyakarta and Taman Sari) during the Covid Pandemic. 19. Several electronic e-services are mentioned, such as in social media FB, TW, IG and travel blogs. The implementation of this integration is closely related to information and communication technology (ICT). The results show that the need for customized information e-service services, profiling, booking systems, trip planner, guided tours, online practical information (transportation schedules, etc.) as well as virtual tours. In several findings, the FGD group expressed the need for various forms of electronic governance. Cellular devices and navigation systems are also high on the agenda in more technologically advanced cities.