From Text to Insight: a Comparative Analysis of Sentiments and Emotions in Rural and Urban Tourism Experiences in Spain

Abstract

In an era where the digital environment plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer choices, sentiment analysis emerges as a crucial tool for unravelling tourists experiences. This study employs sentiment and emotion analyses to delve into tourist reviews in rural and urban areas in Spain. Employing advanced text mining techniques with Python programming, we scrap 173,369 reviews from rural areas and 347,040 reviews in urban areas from the website TripAdvisor from the period 2012-2022. Results show significant differences in sentiments and emotions by area and by review category (environmental, social, economic, technological, and cultural), offering valuable insights for destination management and strategic tourism development. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53486/dri2024.17; UDC: 004.8:[339.138:336.71]; JEL: M14 Corporate Culture•Diversity•Social Responsibility.