SOCIAL MEDIA IN TRAVEL, TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY New Directions in Tourism Analysis Series Editor: Dimitri Ioannides, E-TOUR, Mid Sweden University, Sweden Although tourism is becoming increasingly popular as both a taught subject and an area for empirical investigation, the theoretical underpinnings of many approaches have tended to be eclectic and somewhat underdeveloped. However, recent developments indicate that the field of tourism studies is beginning to develop in a more theoretically informed manner, but this has not yet been matched by current publications. The aim of this series is to fill this gap with high quality monographs or edited collections that seek to develop tourism analysis at both theoretical and substantive levels using approaches which are broadly derived from allied social science disciplines such as Sociology, Social Anthropology, Human and Social Geography, and Cultural Studies. As tourism studies covers a wide range of activities and sub fields, certain areas such as Hospitality Management and Business, which are already well provided for, would be excluded. The series will therefore fill a gap in the current overall pattern of publication. Suggested themes to be covered by the series, either singly or in combination, include – consumption; cultural change; development; gender; globalisation; political economy; social theory; sustainability. Also in the series Tourists, Signs and the City The Semiotics of Culture in an Urban Landscape Michelle M. Metro-Roland ISBN 978-0-7546-7809-0 Stories of Practice: Tourism Policy and Planning Edited by Dianne Dredge and John Jenkins ISBN 978-0-7546-7982-0 Sports Event Management The Caribbean Experience Edited by Leslie-Ann Jordan, Ben Tyson, Carolyn Hayle and David Truly ISBN 978-1-4094-1855-9 Sex, Tourism and the Postcolonial Encounter Landscapes of Longing in Egypt Jessica Jacobs ISBN 978-0-7546-4788-1 Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Theory, Practice and Cases Edited by MARIANNA SIGALA University of the Aegean, Greece EVANGELOS CHRISTOU Alexander TEI of Thessaloniki, Greece ULRIKE GRETZEL University of Wollongong, Australia © Marianna Sigala, Evangelos Christou and Ulrike Gretzel 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Marianna Sigala, Evangelos Christou and Ulrike Gretzel have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Social media in travel, tourism and hospitality : theory, practice and cases. -- (New directions in tourism analysis) 1. Tourism. 2. Hospitality industry. 3. Travel--Online chat groups. 4. Tourism--Computer network resources. 5. Hospitality industry--Computer network resources. 6. Place marketing--Computer network resources. 7. Web 2.0--Economic aspects. 8. Web 2.0--Social aspects. I. Series II. Sigala, Marianna. III. Christou, Evangelos. IV. Gretzel, Ulrike. 338.4'791'02854693-dc23 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sigala, Marianna. Social media in travel, tourism and hospitality : theory, practice and cases / by Marianna Sigala, Evangelos Christou and Ulrike Gretzel. p. cm. -- (New directions in tourism analysis) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-2091-0 (hbk) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-2092-7 (ebk) 1. Tourism--Social aspects. 2. Hospitality industry--Social aspects. 3. Social media. I. Christou, Evangelos. II. Gretzel, Ulrike. III. Title. G155.A1S495 2011 910.68'8--dc23 2011030403 ISBN 9781409420910 (hbk) ISBN 9781409420927 (ebk) II Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, UK. Contents List of Figures ix List of Tables xi List of Contributors xiii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms xxi Introduction 1 PART 1 WEB 2.0: StratEGIC AND OPEratIONAL BUSINESS MODELS 1 Introduction to Part 1 7 Marianna Sigala 2 Web 2.0 and Networks in Wine Tourism: The Case Studies of greatwinecapitals.com and wineandhospitalitynetwork.com 11 Evangelos Christou and Athina Nella 3 Web 2.0 and Customer Involvement in New Service Development: A Framework, Cases and Implications in Tourism 25 Marianna Sigala 4 ‘Creating the Buzz’: Merchant City (Glasgow) Case Study 39 Jim Hamill and Alan Stevenson 5 Examining Hotel Managers’ Acceptance of Web 2.0 in Website Development: A Case Study of Hotels in Hong Kong 53 Daniel Hee Leung, Andy Lee and Rob Law PART 2 WEB 2.0: APPLICatIONS FOR MARKETING 6 Introduction to Part 2 69 Evangelos Christou vi Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality 7 Theoretical Models of Social Media, Marketing Implications, and Future Research Directions 73 Bing Pan and John C. Crotts 8 Riding the Social Media Wave: Strategies of DMOs Who Successfully Engage in Social Media Marketing 87 Jun (Nina) Shao, Mary Ann Dávila Rodríguez and Ulrike Gretzel 9 National DMOs and Web 2.0 99 Jim Hamill, Alan Stevenson and Daniela Attard 10 Arizona Meeting Planners’ Use of Social Networking Media 121 Woojin Lee and Timothy J. Tyrrell 11 Web 2.0 and Pricing Transparency in Hotel Services 133 Evangelos Christou and Athina Nella 12 Blogs: “Re-inventing” Tourism Communication 149 Serena Volo PART 3 WEB 2.0: TRAVELLERS’ BEHAVIOUR 13 Introduction to Part 3 167 Ulrike Gretzel 14 Travellers 2.0: Motivation, Opportunity and Ability to Use Social Media 171 Eduardo Parra-López, Desiderio Gutiérrez-Taño, Ricardo J. Díaz-Armas and Jacques Bulchand-Gidumal 15 Use and Creation of Social Media by Travellers 189 Kyung-Hyan Yoo and Ulrike Gretzel 16 Users’ Attitudes Toward Online Social Networks in Travel 207 Khaldoon “Khal” Nusair, Mehmet Erdem, Fevzi Okumus and Anil Bilgihan 17 An Exploration of Wine Blog Communication Patterns 225 Vasiliki Vrana, Kostas Zafiropoulos and Dimitrios Vagianos Contents vii 18 The Effect of E-Reviews on Consumer Behaviour: An Exploratory Study on Agro-Tourism 239 Katia L. Sidali, Matthias Fuchs and Achim Spiller PART 4 WEB 2.0: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND MARKET RESEARCH 19 Introduction to Part 4 257 Marianna Sigala 20 Knowledge Management and Web 2.0: Preliminary Findings from the Greek Tourism Industry 261 Marianna Sigala and Kalotina Chalkiti 21 Blog Content for Competitive Advantage: Lessons Learned in the Application of Software Aided Linguistics Analysis 281 John C. Crotts, Boyd H. Davis and Peyton R. Mason 22 Social Media Monitoring: A Practical Case Example of City Destinations 293 Alan Stevenson and Jim Hamill Index 313 This page has been left blank intentionally List of Figures 1.1 Web 2.0 Affects the Whole Process 8 3.1 A Holistic Framework for Managing Customers Involved in Web 2.0 NSD Processes 34 4.1 Number of Online Marketing Mentions about the ‘Merchant City Glasgow’ 48 7.1 Traffic Volumes of Top Mass Media Sites versus Top Social Media Sites 74 7.2 The Connections between Theoretical Models and Applicable Questions 83 9.1 Tourism 2.0 – Social Media and Global Tourism 101 9.2 Social Media Development Cycle 114 14.1 Causal Relations Estimated in the Structural Model 182 16.1 Reported Usage for Social Networking and UCG Websites 213 16.2 How Users Access Social Networking Websites 214 16.3 Number of Contacts Per User 215 16.4 Time Duration for Using Online Social Networks 215 16.5 Activities Engaged in When Using Online Social Network Sites 216 16.6 Information Sought by Users of Online Social Network Sites 217 17.1 Frequency of Discussed Topics within Central Blogs 234 18.1 Theoretical Framework 242 21.1 Comments Self-categorized and Summarized in an Actionable Manner 288 21.2 Competitive Market View: Vacationers’ Disappointments and Delights 289 22.1 Key Word Tag Clouds 304 22.2 The 6Is Social Media Performance Framework 307 This page has been left blank intentionally List of Tables 3.1 Exploiting Web 2.0 for Engaging Customer into all Stages of NSD 29 5.1 Summary of Web 2.0 Applications Discussed in Prior Tourism Studies 55 5.2 Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies by Chain and Independent Hotels 58 8.1 Social Media Marketing Functions (Yoo and Gretzel 2010) 89 8.2 Marketing Paradigm Shift (Birch 2011) 90 8.3 Social Media Marketing Laws (Gunelius 2011) 91 9.1 Sample DMOs 102 9.2 Social Media Channel Presence – Benchmark Criteria 104 9.3 European DMO Social Media League Table 109 9.4 Individual Channel Scores 110 10.1 Use and Perceived Usefulness of Social Media Network Sites by Meeting Planners 127 10.2 Reasons for Using Social Media Network Sites by Meeting Planners 128 11.1 Transparency Parameters and their Definitions 138 14.1 Motivations for Social Media Engagement by Tourists: Literature Review 177 14.2 Properties of the Constructs 181 15.1 Websites Used for Planning Overnight Pleasure Trips 195 15.2 Use of Travel-Related Consumer-Generated Media 196 15.3 Types of Social Media Used 196 15.4 Number of Social Media Types Used 197 15.5 Social Media Use Scope 197 15.6 Influence of Social Media Use on Travel Decisions 198 15.7 Influence of Social Media on Travel Information Search 199 15.8 Travel-Related Social Media Creators 199 17.1 Clusters of Wine Blogs 231 17.2 Discussion Topics describing Cluster Blogs’ Content 233 18.1 Results of CFA of the Overall Sample and the two Sub-samples 246 18.2 Path Values and Goodness of Fit for Endogenous