Restaurant Online Reputation and Destination Competitiveness: Insight into TripAdvisor Data
Gastronomy for Tourism Development
ISBN: 978-1-78973-756-1, eISBN: 978-1-78973-755-4
Publication date: 26 August 2020
Abstract
Building on a TripAdvisor data for five Mediterranean destinations, namely, Greece, Croatia, Italy, France and Spain, this study analyses the constituents of restaurants' online reputation and their interrelation with destination competitiveness, in particular two Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) pillars, namely, Prioritisation of Travel and Tourism and Price Competitiveness.
The analysis has revealed that restaurants' online reputation is positively influenced by two factors, namely, Core elements, i.e. cooking, service and price-quality ratio, and Price. Furthermore, the restaurants' online reputation does not influence destination competitiveness (TTCI) directly, but indirectly throughout its main constituents, i.e. service and price. Price is the only variable with significant influence on overall TTCI. Within the sample of these destinations, Balkan countries, i.e. Greece and Croatia, perform very well in terms of their restaurants' online reputation. On the other hand, considering the overall TTCI rating, their competitive positions are substantially lower than those of Italy, France and Spain.
The study provides new insights into the relationship between gastronomic offer and destination competitiveness, and valuable practical implications for destination and hospitality management. Moreover, this study addresses various gaps in existing research on this topic. Specifically, it validates the reputation elements presented online using TripAdvisor data and analyses the impact of electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) not only as the outcome variable of other constructs, as is the case in the literature, but also as a central construct of the analysis. In doing so, it extends current research on this topic and fills the gap regarding the inclusion of the supply-side stakeholder perspective, which has long been recognised as necessary in any attempts to measure competitiveness.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
This study is based on data collected within the Interreg Mediterranean project ‘ShapeTourism – New shape and drives for the tourism sector: supporting the decision, integrating plans, and ensuring sustainability’. We acknowledge all the project consortium partners who contributed to database development and collection. This study reflects the opinions and attitudes of the authors exclusively, and not those of the project partners nor those of the Med Program.
Citation
Mandić, A., Pivčević, S. and Petrić, L. (2020), "Restaurant Online Reputation and Destination Competitiveness: Insight into TripAdvisor Data", Peštek, A., Kukanja, M. and Renko, S. (Ed.) Gastronomy for Tourism Development, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-755-420201011
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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