Journal of Smart Tourism

  • 제3권3호
  • /
  • Pages.29-40
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  • 2023
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  • 2765-2157(pISSN)
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  • 2765-7272(eISSN)
경희대학교 스마트관광연구소 (Smart Tourism Research Center, Kyung Hee University)
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Role of Online Reviews in the Local Search Context

  • Seunghun Shin (School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) ;
  • Zheng Xiang (Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) ;
  • Florian Zach (Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
  • 투고 : 2022.01.12
  • 심사 : 2022.03.10
  • 발행 : 2023.09.30
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초록

This research aims to understand the role of online reviews in the local search context by examining the effects of reviews on the representation of tourism businesses on local search platforms (LSPs). By simulating tourists' local searches for restaurants on three LSPs, namely Google, Bing, and Yelp, this study examines how different ranking results are generated across the platforms and how online reviews contribute to the differences. The findings suggest that online reviews are incorporated into LSPs as ranking factors and, thus, affect tourists' decision-making by influencing the information search results in the local search context. As one of the earliest studies on local search, this study discusses how the existing knowledge about the role of online reviews in tourists' decision-making needs to be reevaluated in mobile and more dynamic environments, and offers practical implications for tourism businesses' search engine marketing.

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참고문헌

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