Understanding Destination Value Co-Creation on Social Media: An Application of Travel Blog Analysis

Han Xu, Jon C. Lovett and Rob Law
Additional contact information
Han Xu: School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Jon C. Lovett: School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Rob Law: Asia-Pacific Academy of Economics and Management, University of Macau, Macao 999078, China

Tourism and Hospitality, 2022, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The sharing of travel experiences through social media platforms reflects contemporary consumer culture, but it is still a phenomenon being researched in tourism literature. In this paper, we theorize that sharing travel experience through social media may operate as a distinct social communication process, and investigate how it contributes to the co-creation of destination value. A qualitative analysis of 97 travel blogs reveals three distinct themes that have the potential for co-creating destination value: motivation, memorable travel experiences, and advice. The results indicate that tourists and destination marketers interpret destination value differently in motivation. The sharing of memorable travel experiences and advice with readers and fellow tourists improves potential tourists’ cognition and emotional connection to the destination, thereby increasing the level of tourist destination engagement. The extension of the consumer socialization framework provides a deeper understanding of the destination value co-creation process, and provides useful insights for destination promotion and management.

Keywords: consumer socialization theory; destination management; travel blogs; tourism experience; value co-creation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/3/3/35/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/3/3/35/ (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:jtourh:v:3:y:2022:i:3:p:35-588:d:849167

Access Statistics for this article

Tourism and Hospitality is currently edited by Mr. Philip Li

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