Towards a better understanding of tourist satisfaction in ethnic-minority villages: A sentiment analysis approach

Qiong, Wang, Shuib, Ahmad, Sthapit, Erose ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1650-3900 and Garrod, Brian (2025) Towards a better understanding of tourist satisfaction in ethnic-minority villages: A sentiment analysis approach. Tourism and Hospitality Research.

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Abstract

Using online reviews, this study explores the factors influencing visitor satisfaction in the context of ethnic-minority village tourism. Tourist satisfaction is a critical determinant of destination sustainability, particularly in rural ethnic minority villages that rely on tourism as a key driver of economic development and cultural preservation. Such villages offer unique cultural, environmental, and social experiences that distinguish them from mainstream destinations, yet they face challenges in meeting diverse tourist expectations while maintaining authenticity. To address this conundrum, online review data were analyzed using sentiment analysis, latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, and regression analysis. The findings identify several factors that impact upon tourist satisfaction: service quality, unique cultural experiences, geographically tailored marketing methods, and real-time monitoring and reaction capabilities. In addition, the results reveal a significant relationship between sentiment scores and tourist satisfaction, underlining the value of sentiment analysis in tourism evaluation. Key managerial implications include enhancing service quality, offering authentic cultural experiences, and developing regionally adaptive marketing strategies that incorporate real-time feedback mechanisms.