Online Reputation and Destination Competitiveness: The Case of Spain

Abstract

This article empirically explores the relationship existing between the online reputation and tourism competitiveness of Spanish coastal tourism destinations. It is based on big data from comments made by tourists in social media. The existing literature suggests that, in theory, a destination's online reputation plays a key role in promoting its competitiveness. However, the results obtained in this study reflect, for the Spanish case, that this effect is today still very small and other determinants of competitiveness exist that are more relevant in promoting a true competitive advantage of destinations.