IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i21p5926-d280057.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Location-Based Social Media and Online Reservation Services Tell More about Local Accommodation Industries than Open Governmental Data?

Author

Listed:
  • Csaba Sidor

    (Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Branislav Kršák

    (Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Ľubomír Štrba

    (Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Michal Cehlár

    (Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Samer Khouri

    (Institute of Earth Resources, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Michal Stričík

    (Department of Economics, Faculty of Business Economy with Seat in Košice, University of Economics in Bratislava, Tajovského 13, 041 30 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Jaroslav Dugas

    (Department of Information and Language Communication, Faculty of Business Economy with Seat in Košice, University of Economics in Bratislava, Tajovského 13, 041 30 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Ján Gajdoš

    (Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Barbora Bolechová

    (Department of Geo and Mining Tourism, Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Kosice, Slovakia)

Abstract

The paper follows-up ongoing research focusing on the potential of machine-readable data as additional knowledge in the governance of local tourism and destination management organizations (DMOs) in Slovakia. The current focus is on one classic social media (Facebook), one location-based social media (Foursquare), two hybrid travel-related platforms with partial attributes of reservation services (Google Places, TripAdvisor), and two online reservation services (Booking, Airbnb). The global aim is the usage of extracted data for the identification of additional entities with the obligation of local occupancy taxation, which is the financial backbone of Slovak (DMOs). A set of simple and globally reusable scripts constructed in Python and PostgreSQL were used to extract data on lodging providers from the Google Places application programming interface (API), the Facebook Place Search API and the Foursquare Venue API over grid overlays of districts’ spatial representation. For pure scientific purposes in the case of Tripadvisor, Booking, and Airbnb, with no suitable access to open APIs, web scraping methods were used for data extraction. The pilot case was applied in the boundaries of Kosice city (Slovakia), and the aggregations of processed data were compared with official open statistics. Results indicate that the automated continuous monitoring of online platforms could help local public administrations in decreasing occupancy tax evasions and even widen knowledge about online audiences and visitors’ satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Csaba Sidor & Branislav Kršák & Ľubomír Štrba & Michal Cehlár & Samer Khouri & Michal Stričík & Jaroslav Dugas & Ján Gajdoš & Barbora Bolechová, 2019. "Can Location-Based Social Media and Online Reservation Services Tell More about Local Accommodation Industries than Open Governmental Data?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:21:p:5926-:d:280057
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5926/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/21/5926/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J. M. Torres & R. M. Aguilar, 2018. "Using Deep Learning to Predict Complex Systems: A Case Study in Wind Farm Generation," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-10, April.
    2. Thomas Wozniak & Brigitte Stangl & Roland Schegg & Andreas Liebrich, 0. "The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-26.
    3. C. A. Martín & J. M. Torres & R. M. Aguilar & S. Diaz, 2018. "Using Deep Learning to Predict Sentiments: Case Study in Tourism," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-9, October.
    4. Thomas Wozniak & Brigitte Stangl & Roland Schegg & Andreas Liebrich, 2017. "The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 75-100, March.
    5. Nahid Malazizi & Habib Alipour & Hossein Olya, 2018. "Risk Perceptions of Airbnb Hosts: Evidence from a Mediterranean Island," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Robbin Deboosere & Danielle Jane Kerrigan & David Wachsmuth & Ahmed El-Geneidy, 2019. "Location, location and professionalization: a multilevel hedonic analysis of Airbnb listing prices and revenue," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 143-156, January.
    7. Teodoro Luque Martínez & Luis Doña Toledo & Nina Faraoni, 2019. "Auditing Marketing and the Use of Social Media at Ski Resorts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-24, May.
    8. Mariani, Marcello M. & Di Felice, Marco & Mura, Matteo, 2016. "Facebook as a destination marketing tool: Evidence from Italian regional Destination Management Organizations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 321-343.
    9. Valesca Lima, 2019. "Towards an understanding of the regional impact of Airbnb in Ireland," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 78-91, January.
    10. Zhihua Zhang & Rachel J.C. Chen, 2019. "Assessing Airbnb Logistics in Cities: Geographic Information System and Convenience Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-11, April.
    11. Lidija Lalicic & Assumpció Huertas & Antonio Moreno & Mohammed Jabreel, 2019. "Which emotional brand values do my followers want to hear about? An investigation of popular European tourist destinations," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 63-81, March.
    12. Malcolm Campbell & Hamish McNair & Michael Mackay & Harvey C Perkins, 2019. "Disrupting the regional housing market: Airbnb in New Zealand," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 139-142, January.
    13. Munawir & Mochamad Donny Koerniawan & Bart Julien Dewancker, 2019. "Visitor Perceptions and Effectiveness of Place Branding Strategies in Thematic Parks in Bandung City Using Text Mining Based on Google Maps User Reviews," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-20, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tarmo Kalvet & Maarja Olesk & Marek Tiits & Janika Raun, 2020. "Innovative Tools for Tourism and Cultural Tourism Impact Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-30, September.
    2. Ibrahim Mutambik & John Lee & Abdullah Almuqrin & Abdulrhman Alkhanifer & Mohammed Baihan, 2023. "Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and Urbanisation: Are Open Government Data Portals Helping?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-22, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcello Mariani, 2020. "Web 2.0 and Destination Marketing: Current Trends and Future Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Kisvari, Adam & Lin, Zi & Liu, Xiaolei, 2021. "Wind power forecasting – A data-driven method along with gated recurrent neural network," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1895-1909.
    3. Roland Schegg & Brigitte Stangl, 2018. "Special section on recommendations and analytics in tourism," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 1-4, April.
    4. Emeka Ndaguba & Cina Van Zyl, 2023. "Professionalizing Sharing Platforms for Sustainable Growth in the Hospitality Sector: Insights Gained through Hierarchical Linear Modeling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-24, May.
    5. Shijie Sun & Shengyue Zhang & Xingjian Wang, 2021. "Characteristics and influencing factors of Airbnb spatial distribution in China’s rapid urbanization process: A case study of Nanjing," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Sánchez Jiménez, Miguel & Matos, Nelson & Correia, Marisol, 2019. "Evolution Of The Presence And Engagement Of Official Social Networks In Promoting Tourism In Spain," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 7(3), pages 210-225.
    7. Sara Domínguez-Navarro & M. Rosario González-Rodríguez, 2020. "Social Media managerial implications for budget accommodation venues: use of Social Media platforms more effectively and efficiently," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(5), pages 1671-1689, December.
    8. Laura Serrano & Antonio Sianes & Antonio Ariza-Montes, 2020. "Understanding the Implementation of Airbnb in Urban Contexts: Towards a Categorization of European Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-21, December.
    9. Yifei Jiang & Honglei Zhang & Xianting Cao & Ge Wei & Yang Yang, 2023. "How to better incorporate geographic variation in Airbnb price modeling?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(5), pages 1181-1203, August.
    10. María Bonilla-Quijada & Juan Tugores-Ques & Josep Lluís Olmo Arriaga, 2021. "Promotion of urban tourism: insights into user engagement on social media," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 611-632, December.
    11. David Flores-Ruiz & Adolfo Elizondo-Salto & María de la O. Barroso-González, 2021. "Using Social Media in Tourist Sentiment Analysis: A Case Study of Andalusia during the Covid-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
    12. Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez & Pilar López-Delgado & Marisol B. Correia & Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado, 2020. "How do external openness and R&D activity influence open innovation management and the potential contribution of social media in the tourism and hospitality industry?," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 297-323, June.
    13. V. I. Blanutsa, 2022. "Geographic Research of the Platform Economy: Existing and Potential Approaches," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 133-142, June.
    14. Chunfang Zhao & Yingliang Wu & Yunfeng Chen & Guohua Chen, 2023. "Multiscale Effects of Hedonic Attributes on Airbnb Listing Prices Based on MGWR: A Case Study of Beijing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    15. Yuanyuan Guo & Yanqing Wang & Chaoyou Wang, 2019. "Exploring the Salient Attributes of Short-Term Rental Experience: An Analysis of Online Reviews from Chinese Guests," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-19, August.
    16. Jelke R. Bosma, 2022. "Platformed professionalization: Labor, assets, and earning a livelihood through Airbnb," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(4), pages 595-610, June.
    17. Christina Katsikari & Leonidas Hatzithomas & Thomas Fotiadis & Dimitrios Folinas, 2020. "Push and Pull Travel Motivation: Segmentation of the Greek Market for Social Media Marketing in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    18. Thomas Wozniak & Brigitte Stangl & Roland Schegg & Andreas Liebrich, 2017. "The return on tourism organizations’ social media investments: preliminary evidence from Belgium, France, and Switzerland," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 75-100, March.
    19. Judita Peterlin & Maja Meško & Vlado Dimovski & Vasja Roblek, 2021. "Automated content analysis: The review of the big data systemic discourse in tourism and hospitality," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 377-385, May.
    20. Levy, Deborah & Hills, Raewyn & Perkins, Harvey C. & Mackay, Michael & Campbell, Malcolm & Johnston, Karen, 2021. "Local benevolent property development entrepreneurs in small town regeneration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:21:p:5926-:d:280057. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.