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Stefania Cerutti, Elisa Piva

University of Eastern Piedmont, Italystefania.cerutti@uniupo.it

elisa.piva@uniupo.it

http://www.uniupo.it

The role of tourists’ feedback in the The role of tourists’ feedback in the enhancement of religious tourism destinations.enhancement of religious tourism destinations.

The case of Sacred Mount of Oropa (Italy).The case of Sacred Mount of Oropa (Italy).

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IntroductionIntroduction

MethodologyMethodology

Research FindingsResearch Findings

ConclusionsConclusions

Agenda

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Introduction

In recent years, tourism has faced several changes, mostly related to the advent of the Internet and to the development of ICT (Buhalis and Law, 2008; Fu Tsang, Lai and Law, 2010).

Internet has forced destinations to transform themselves to be more interactive, innovative and efficient as the online consumer is more active, demanding and in control (Russel, 2010).

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to access to generate to share

INFORMATION

IMAGE, REPUTATION

DESTINATION MANAGEMENT

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Religious destinations should take into account the online reviews and feedbacks, adapting their offer according to the needs expressed by the visitors.

The aim of the research is to assess: how the Sacred Mount of Oropa (Italy) is

perceived by the tourists within their comments on TripAdvisor and

how the local management could improve the quality of the offered experiences through their analysis.

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A4TORINO-MILANO

The Province of Biella

The Sacred Mount of Oropa

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Methodology

The data analysed in this work were provided by TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com)

the most prominent online travel review platform in terms of use and content available (Zehrer, Crotts and Magnini, 2011)

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The 226 reviews were posted on TA by people who visited the Sacred Mount of Oropa.

The data were collected on 25th November 2014 and processed on December 2014.

The analysis of these data is interpretative.

The research is based on a qualitative approach which allows to understand the views, attitudes and behavior of visitors.

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The methodology consists of a qualitative content analysis.

The study has selected a manual coding process in order to transform non-structured information into a format that allows analysis.

The process has been designed to extract information on the geographical origin of the visitors, their motivations, the primary elements of description and perception used to assess their experiences.

Research Findings

Average

Rating

4.2/5

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ORIGIN OF THE REVIEWERS

Foreign Visitors

Switzerland, Brazil,

Australia, Portugal,

USA, Santo

Domingo, Monaco,

Argentina, Russia,

Netherlands and

Germany

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ORIGIN OF DOMESTIC REVIEWERS

Proximity Tourism

18%

Province of Biella

65%

Piedmont Region

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27% of visitors have specifically indicated a motivational push factor for visiting the Sacred Mount of Oropa.

Approximately 10% of the reviewers claim to be a repeat visitor, attracted to the site because of the proximity and memories linked to their childhood.

7% generally refer to a one-day trip (e.g. Sunday trip, family tour, group excursion, etc.).

Only 4 reviews out of 226 contain a specific reference to religious and devotional motivations.

MOTIVATIONS

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PRIMARY ELEMENTS OF DESCRIPTION

A list of key word

topics (nouns) was

searched in the texts,

and their frequency on

the reviews were

recorded.

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PRIMARY ELEMENTS OF PERCEPTION

A list of key word

topics (adjectives) was

searched in the texts,

and their frequency on

the reviews were

recorded.

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PRACTICAL INFO AND ADVICES

About 60% of the Oropa Sacred Mount’s reviewers enclose concrete information on the characteristics of the destination and the services that are being offered (e.g. large parking lot, presence of a cable way, opportunity for excursion on several paths, presence of good restaurants at low prices, etc.).

32% of the tourists give useful advices to live a better religious experience (e.g. don’t miss the old church,

we recommend a visit to the ex voto gallery, etc.) and non-religious experience (e.g. to be visited in the summer, to be avoided in the weekends, don’t miss the “polenta concia”, etc.).

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Conclusions

The local management of the Sacred Mount of Oropa should take into consideration these reviews to improve its tourist offer. The analysis enabled to understand that there is a need of: a greater range of promotion and communication activities to attract

foreign markets; a wider integration between the religious elements and other

proposals of the territory (e.g. gastronomy, culture, sport, etc.); a higher maintenance and care of the ancient buildings and the

outdoor paths of the Sacred Mount. The research could represent a further validation of the

importance that online reviews may have in the enhancement and promotion of religious tourism destinations acting as a precious source of information.

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Thank you!!!Thank you!!!

“We have no other choice but to understand and manage change”

(UNWTO, 2011)