Topic Modelling for Ski Resorts: An Analysis of Experience Attributes and Seasonality

Ziye Shang, Jian Ming Luo and Anthony Kong
Additional contact information
Ziye Shang: Faculty of International Tourism and Management, City University of Macau, Macau, China
Jian Ming Luo: Faculty of International Tourism and Management, City University of Macau, Macau, China
Anthony Kong: School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Knowing how to improve skiers’ experiences in ski resorts is vital for developing the ski industry. This study aims to provide a holistic understanding of the key attributes of skiers’ experiences and explore them in the context of seasonality. Based on the user-generated content of 14 ski resorts and the topic modelling and sentiment analysis method, a framework of skiing experience attributes was built. Compared with the seasonal data, the dynamic of skiers’ concerns and perceived performance was revealed. The skiers’ concerns in peak seasons and off seasons manifested different orientations. The results show that the relatively important attributes tend to have relatively low performance in the peak seasons. In off seasons, skiers emphasise non-skiing-oriented attributes. This study showcases that skier’s interests and evaluations of various experience attributes vary with seasons. The findings help to understand the skiers’ peak and supporting experiences, which could be used to build ski resorts management and seasonal hedging strategies.

Keywords: ski resort experience; seasonality; topic modelling; user-generated content; importance–performance analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3533/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/6/3533/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:6:p:3533-:d:773285

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().