The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings

Authors:
Qiang Ye;Rob Law;Bin Gu;Wei Chen
Affiliations:
School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Heilongjiang 150001, China;School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China;McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, USA;Rady School of Management, The University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
Venue:
Computers in Human Behavior
Year:
2011

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Abstract

The increasing use of web 2.0 applications has generated numerous online user reviews. Prior studies have revealed the influence of user-generated reviews on the sales of products such as CDs, books, and movies. However, the influence of online user-generated reviews in the tourism industry is still largely unknown both to tourism researchers and practitioners. To bridge this knowledge gap in tourism management, we conducted an empirical study to identify the impact of online user-generated reviews on business performance using data extracted from a major online travel agency in China. The empirical findings show that traveler reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase in traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Our results highlight the importance of online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism.