Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Abstract

The Use of Social Media and Internet Data-Mining for the Tourist Industry

Krsak B and Kysela K

Increasing competition in the field of the provision of services in tourism is forcing companies and institutions providing these services to think about the possibilities to increase their competitiveness, efficiency, and productivity. The aim of this initiative is to increase the customer´s satisfaction with the services provided, which directly correlates with the increase in the market share and viability of the organization. One of the important ways of enhancing the competitiveness is the collection, analysis, and application of data of the target groups. The source of these data is mostly Internet and the web-based services and solutions, such as Google Trends, Google search engine, Google Analytics, Flickr, social networks, etc. Therefore, we have conducted a comparative analysis by studying primary and secondary sources to find out which source of information provides the most interesting data to be mined in the area of the tourist industry by analyzing the searchability of the tourist destination through a set of pre-defined keywords. Further to a collection of the sources and their analysis, we have compared them by counting the amount of touristsearched relevant keywords and developed conclusions. Our study shows that the greatest impact the searchability of a tourist destination has on the tourist location is virtual communities and reviews found on the Internet.