Celebrity Positive WOM and the Impact on Tourist Perceptions: COVID-19 and the Case of Portugal

Abstract

This chapter presents a theoretical reflection on the possible impact of politicians' positive Word of Mouth (pWOM) on the tourists' risk perception and destination image of Portugal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reflection is based on the collection of remarks or comments made by international politicians collected using Google as the search engine and subsequent manual textual content analysis. The results show five recurring themes in the politicians' pWOM: general praise, pandemic numbers, politician positioning, health care and population attitude. The discussion includes a reflection on the outputs of the channels used for the dissemination of the messages and the importance of the politicians' countries of origin to a market strategy that highlights Portugal as a tourism destination.

Citation

Almeida, I. (2021), "Celebrity Positive WOM and the Impact on Tourist Perceptions: COVID-19 and the Case of Portugal", Seabra, C., Paiva, O., Silva, C. and Abrantes, J.L. (Ed.) Pandemics and Travel (Tourism Security-Safety and Post Conflict Destinations), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-070-220211012