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Travel Market Research Options

Conducting market research in the travel industry is crucial for understanding shifting consumer preferences and emerging trends, enabling businesses to tailor their offerings and stay ahead in a highly competitive market. Here's how.

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Travel & Tourism Market Research Options [+ Pros & Cons]

by Devan Grant

Posted at: 4/14/2023 12:30 PM

Americans have the travel bug. So much so that travel spending was up to $93 million this past February. 

And with increased travel comes the potential for fantastic trips – and ones straight out of a nightmare.

So to avoid those negative outcomes, we strongly suggest investing in travel and tourism market research options . 

To help, this post will share several different market research options for those in the travel and tourism industry.

Any one of these types of market research methods detailed below can be used to inform your organization’s marketing and other business strategies.

What is Travel and Tourism Market Research?

Travel and tourism market research involves gathering and analyzing data related to consumer behaviors, preferences, and trends within the travel industry.

This research aims to understand factors influencing travel decisions, such as destination choices, accommodation preferences, spending habits, and travel motivations, helping businesses in the travel sector make informed decisions to better cater to the needs and desires of travelers.

Benefits of Travel and Tourism Market Research

With 40% of US travelers wanting to feel that they have made the most out of their trip, it highlights the importance of providing a high-quality experience for customers.

And market research is an important tool for businesses in the travel and tourism industry to meet the changing needs of their guests and stay competitive.

There are several benefits of conducting travel and tourism market research including:

Identifying consumer trends and preferences: Market research can help identify consumer behavior, preferences, and trends in the travel and tourism industry. This information can help businesses, airports, and travel destinations tailor their products and services to meet the evolving needs and expectations of their target customers.

Understanding competition: Market research can help businesses understand their competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and their market share. As a result, travel and tourism destinations or businesses can develop effective strategies to stay ahead in a competitive space.

Identifying new opportunities: With travel and tourism market research, organizations can identify new market segments, untapped markets, and emerging trends in the industry. Keeping tabs on this information will assist in developing new products and services that meet the needs of these target audiences.

Improving marketing efforts: Earn insights into how travelers perceive a brand, what motivates them to choose one brand over another, and what messaging resonates with them. Then, use this information to create data-driven marketing strategies that resonate with your target consumer.

Reducing risk: Lastly, several travel and tourism market research options help companies make informed decisions about product development, marketing, and business strategy. This can help reduce the risk of failure and minimize the costs associated with trial and error.

Travel & Tourism Market Research Options

Businesses in the travel and tourism space can use several market research options to guide their marketing and product development efforts.

For example, as stated above, 40% of US travelers want to feel that they have made the most out of their trip.

Uncovering a unique statistic like this could lead organizations to focus on promoting experiences or activities that help travelers feel that they have made the most out of their trip, such as guided tours, local cultural experiences, or adventure activities.

They may also focus on ensuring that the customer experience is of high quality, with excellent customer service, clean and comfortable accommodations, and well-maintained facilities and equipment.

Travel and tourism market research options include: 

• On-site intercept surveys
• Ad concept testing
• Visitor or traveler surveys
• Online reputation management (ORM)

While our market research company dives into each of these methodologies below, you can also get a brief synopsis by watching this video.

#1: On-Site Intercept Surveys

What better place to gather insight from visitors than at the most pivotal points of their visit?

Intercept surveys are a form of quantitative research and can be conducted wherever there’s a steady flow of visitors. Think airports, museums, hotels, stadiums, and more!

They are one of the quickest ways to capture accurate and relevant information from the people spending time at your destination.

Typically, an intercept survey company would send a team member to administer a brief questionnaire via a tablet or other smart device.

The visitor can take the survey themselves or the team member can record the visitors’ responses on the device. As we’ll cover, this is a great travel and tourism market research option for those that want responses fast.

Benefits of Intercept Surveys 👍

1. They’re fast

Intercept surveys are one of the quickest ways to capture accurate and relevant information from the people spending time at your destination. Because of this, you’ll save a whole lot of time gathering feedback, allowing you to get a head-start on analyzing the information.

This quality makes them especially useful in the travel and tourism industry.

2. They’re timely

With the ability to collect data even in an offline environment, intercept surveys are great for getting feedback from people as their visit/interaction is still fresh in their minds.

• Did they enjoy their visit?
• Could any improvements be made?
• How far did they travel to the venue?

You can get answers to these questions and so much more.

Drawbacks to Intercept Surveys 👎

1. There may be hoops to jump through

While this varies for each project, establishments need to know that there are surveys being conducted in their space. This means that you’re relying on another party to give the okay for part of your project, which can complicate things. 

2. Not everyone wants to talk

Yes, the fresh information is worth it! But not everyone is willing to give it. Part of the game with intercept is snagging people who are willing to talk.

Furthermore, you’ll want to ensure what they’re telling you is relevant and not just something to earn an incentive.

For more about the process of intercept surveys as a travel and tourism market research option, read Case Study: Airport Uses Intercept Surveys to Create Customer Personas.

#2: Ad Concept Testing

Market research in travel and tourism is essential if you want to (repeatedly) launch successful ad campaigns! 

Have you and your team created new and improved advertisements to showcase all that your city or region has to offer?

If so, you’ve probably put a lot of effort into them. Don’t let that go to waste!

The most common types of ad concept testing for the travel and tourism sector include:

• Focus groups. Focus groups are a qualitative approach to ad concept testing that involves recruiting a mix of individuals to come together either in person or virtually. During the group discussion, your target audience shares real-time feedback on various aspects of the advertisements you have created. This allows for a more in-depth discussion about the advertisements and provides you with greater insight as to how the advertisement may be perceived by potential guests or visitors.
• Online surveys. Alternatively (and most commonly), you can employ an ad concept testing survey that asks a random audience to evaluate the advertisements and explain which one they prefer. Here, you can use the data collected to compare the advertisements side by side. 

Benefits of Ad Concept Testing 👍

1. Better ROI

Travel industry or not, nothing hurts a marketer more than a failed ad campaign. So in order to prevent that, testing a travel ad campaign for its effectiveness prior to launch is preferred. 

For instance, let’s say you run advertising testing and get a lot of critiques. Because of this, you can make those necessary changes before you go live.

And in turn, you’ll be saving money that would’ve been wasted on a failed campaign! 

2. Get the right message across.

Going hand-in-hand with what we just said, ad testing will make sure your travel campaign is clear to audiences. If there’s an issue with anything, this will be discovered and you can correct it.

Using data-driven marketing strategies like this will not only save you money but also increase the quality of your brand’s message. 

Drawbacks to Ad Concept Testing 👎

1. Don’t try it on your own

Sure, we could say this for any of the other methods we’re talking about. But this factor is especially important for ad concept testing.

It can be difficult to remain neutral as feedback comes in. After working days, weeks, or even months on a campaign, it's difficult to not become attached to the creative.

Some brands see negative feedback and take it personally or try to poke holes in the data to defend their work. 

Plus, when you partner with an outside team like Drive Research, you’ll be able to have the data accurately cleaned and interpreted. 

2. Don't test your ads too soon

Ad concept testing may involve showing respondents a concept or rough draft of a travel advertisement and asking them to evaluate it.

While this can provide some insight into how the ad might perform, it may not fully capture the impact of the final, polished product.

#3: Visitor or Traveler Surveys

Another great travel and tourism market research option is visitor surveys. Not only are they a great way to better understand the people visiting your location, but to also evaluate the success of any past or current marketing campaigns.

As a quantitative form of market research , visitor surveys can provide a boatload of insight.

This travel and tourism market research option lets you: 

• Understand who your visitors are
• Why do visitors come to your establishment
• Where your visitors are from

This insight is great for creating traveler personas to help your team visualize the kind of person who visits your destination.

Additionally, this option for travel and tourism market research is a good channel for evaluating the success of your marketing efforts.

You can include questions such as...

Did the visitor see an advertisement online about the area?

Was there something on the radio in their city?

Benefits of Visitor or Traveler Surveys 👍

1. Get the inside scoop

With visitor surveys, you’ll learn a lot about the people coming to visit your organization. You can see where they’re from, why they’re coming to you, and learn other key insights.

With this information, you can tweak your outreach strategies to better meet the needs of your visitors. 

2. Up your marketing game

When you understand your visitors on a deeper level, you can use that information to improve your advertising campaigns.

Additionally, you can use this information to promote your social media strategy. All of this comes together to make your organization highly appealing to future (and returning) visitors! 

1. Quality of the information

While there are very few cons to this type of research, it’s still worth noting that you’ll want to carefully check the quality of responses.

Visitors may just want to rush through and spend enough time answering. Though, working with an online survey company can help to create data quality checks and ensure all responses are of great quality.

2. They have the ability to drag on

The main reason is that it’s easy to get carried away with all the questions you want to ask your visitors! But respondents – travelers or not – don’t like long surveys.

For this kind of travel survey, think about 10 minutes or so. To avoid this, have a clear image of the questions you want to ask and make sure they’re not repetitive. 

Recommended Reading: 7 Tips to Help With Traveler and Tourism Surveys

#4: Online Reputation Management

It's universally understood that what goes online, typically stays there forever. And for travel and tourism destinations, online reviews are extremely impactful.

In fact, 95% of travelers read seven reviews before making a booking.

But what if you had the magical ability to shift consumers’ attention to something that casts your destination in a more positive light? 

Well, it's not actually magic, but rather what we like to call Online Reputation Management (ORM) and it's a great travel and tourism market research option.

Essentially, ORM involves adding new, positive content to the internet that then pushes the older, negative material to the end of the line (i.e. lower in the search results).

While our online reputation management company achieves this through customer surveys, there are other strategies that can be implemented to increase your Google reviews .

Benefits of ORM 👍

1. Bury negative reviews

ORM is incredibly useful for hiding those one or two negative online reviews that keep popping up. It also keeps new, fresh current events involving your destination in the minds of future guests. 

2. Receive more current reviews

Not only will ORM decrease the visibility of your negative reviews, but you’ll also begin to see more positive reviews about your business.

Because more respondents are being prompted to review your services, this will naturally boost the number of reviews that are coming in. The best part here is that the reviews are authentic! 

Drawbacks to ORM 👎

1. The bad reviews aren’t officially “gone.”

True, they’re buried–which means there’s a much lower chance for them to be seen. But still, they’re lurking.

Understanding that the process takes time will help, and eventually, those reviews will get so buried it’s likely they will rarely be seen. However, this is important to keep in mind when using ORM services.

2. You still may get poor reviews.

You can’t keep everyone happy. Even if you create an outstanding customer experience strategy based on solid data, you’re bound to have a cranky visitor or two complain online.

ORM doesn’t eliminate the chance of ever getting a bad review. Focus on using any negative feedback as a way to improve your brand, service, or location.

Final Thoughts

Conducting market research is crucial for any business in the travel and tourism industry, as it provides valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and trends.

As we've seen, there are several travel and tourism market research options available, each with its pros and cons.

Online surveys are cost-effective, fast, and easy to distribute, but they may suffer from low response rates and biased samples. Focus groups allow for more in-depth feedback and interaction, but they can be expensive and time-consuming to organize.

Therefore, it's important to choose the research method(s) that best align with your goals and budget.

A travel and tourism market research company, like Drive Research, can help recommend what methodology is best based on your unique needs.

Contact Our Travel & Tourism Market Research Firm

Drive Research is a national market research company specializing in the travel and tourism industry. We partner with various airlines, hotels, museums, and stadiums across the country to deliver data-driven insights. 

Interested in learning more about our market research services?  Contact Drive Research by filling out the form below or emailing [email protected] .

Devan Grant

Devan's love for learning serves him well as a market research professional. With two years of both quantitative and qualitative research in the healthcare space under his belt, he knows what it takes to answer some of the toughest market research questions.

Categories: Other Market Research Services

Need help with your project? Get in touch with Drive Research.

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Tourism and Hospitality Marketing Research

• First Online: 09 May 2021

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• Richard George 2  

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This chapter looks at the role of marketing research in tourism and hospitality marketing. It begins with a discussion of the importance of research to the tourism and hospitality marketer. The chapter then provides a definition of marketing research, and an explanation of the differences between marketing research and market research. Further, it discusses the reasons for doing marketing research and outlines different types of marketing research commonly used in tourism. The chapter then discusses the stages of the marketing research process. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the marketing research activities carried out by E ast Coast Rentals , a small car-rental company based in Australia.

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Big data in tourism marketing: past research and future opportunities

Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC

ISSN : 2444-9695

Article publication date: 9 January 2023

The purpose of this study was to uncover representative emergent areas and to examine the research area of marketing, tourism and big data (BD) to assess how these thematic areas have developed over a 27-year time period from 1996 to 2022. This study analyzed 1,152 studies to identify the principal thematic areas and emergent topics, principal theories used, predominant forms of analysis and the most productive authors in terms of research.

Design/methodology/approach

The articles for this research were all selected from the Web of Science database. A systematic and quantitative literature review was performed. This study used SciMAT software to extract indicators. Specifically, this study analyzed productivity and produced a science map.

The findings suggest that interest in this area has increased gradually. The outputs also reveal the innovative effort of industry in new technologies for developing models for tourism marketing. Ten research areas were identified: “destination marketing,” “mobility patterns,” “co-creation,” “gastronomy,” “sustainability,” “tourist behavior,” “market segmentation,” “artificial neural networks,” “pricing” and “tourist satisfaction.”

Originality/value

This work is unique in proposing an agenda for future research into tourism marketing research with new technologies such as BD and artificial intelligence techniques. In addition, the results presented here fill the current gap in the research since while there have been literature reviews covering tourism with BD or marketing, these areas have not been studied as a whole.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue descubrir nichos representativos de áreas emergentes y examinar el área de Marketing, Turismo y Big Data, evaluando cómo han evolucionado estas áreas temáticas durante un período de 27 años desde 1996–2022. Analizamos 1.152 investigaciones para identificar las principales áreas temáticas y temas emergentes, las principales teorías utilizadas, las formas de análisis predominantes y los autores más productivos en términos de investigación.

Metodología

Todos los artículos para esta investigación fueron seleccionados de la base de datos Web of Science. Realizamos una revisión sistemática y cuantitativa de la literatura. Utilizamos el software SciMAT para extraer indicadores. Específicamente, analizamos la productividad y elaboramos un mapeo científico.

Los hallazgos sugieren que el interés en esta área ha aumentado gradualmente. Los resultados también revelan el esfuerzo innovador de la industria en nuevas tecnologías para desarrollar modelos de marketing turístico. Se identificaron diez áreas de investigación (“marketing de destinos”, “patrones de movilidad”, “co-creación”, “gastronomía”, “sostenibilidad”, “comportamiento turístico”, “segmentación de mercado”, “redes neuronales artificiales”, “precios”, y “satisfacción del turista”).

Este trabajo es único al proponer una agenda para futuras investigaciones en investigación de Marketing Turístico con nuevas tecnologías como Big Data y técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial. Además, los resultados presentados aquí llenan el vacío actual en la investigación ya que si bien se han realizado revisiones de literatura que cubren Turismo con Big Data o Marketing, estas áreas no se han estudiado como un conjunto.

这一特定研究领域的目标是发现具有代表性的新兴领域, 并考察市场营销、旅游和大数据研究领域, 以评估这些主题领域在1996年至2022年的27年间是如何发展的。我们分析了1152项研究, 以确定主要专题领域和新兴主题、使用的主要理论、主要的分析形式以及在研究方面最有成效的作者。

本研究的文章都是从Web of Science数据库中选出的。我们进行了系统化的定量文献审查, 并使用SciMAT软件来提取指标。具体来说, 我们分析了生产力并制作了一个科学研究地图。

研究结果表明, 人们对这一领域的兴趣已经逐渐增加。本文也揭示了工业界在开发旅游营销模式的新技术方面的创新努力。研究确定了十个研究领域：“目的地营销”、“流动模式”、“共同创造”、“美食”、“可持续性”、“游客行为”、“市场细分”、“人工神经网络”、“定价 “和游客满意度”。

这项研究的独特之处在于提出了未来利用大数据和人工智能技术等新技术进行旅游营销研究的议程。此外, 本文的结果填补了目前的研究空白, 因为虽然有文献综述涉及旅游与大数据或市场营销, 但这些领域还没有被作为一个整体来研究。

• Tourism marketing
• Literature review
• Science mapping analysis
• Future research agenda
• Palabras Big data
• Marketing turístico
• Revisión de la literatura
• Análisis de mapeo científico
• Agenda de investigación futura

Blanco-Moreno, S. , González-Fernández, A.M. and Muñoz-Gallego, P.A. (2023), "Big data in tourism marketing: past research and future opportunities", Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC , Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-06-2022-0134

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Sofía Blanco-Moreno, Ana M. González-Fernández and Pablo Antonio Muñoz-Gallego.

Published in Spanish Journal of Marketing – ESIC . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence maybe seen at http://creativecommons.org/ licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

The field of tourism research is one of the most long-established areas, with more than 175,000 publications listed on the Web of Science (WoS) from 1940 until 2022 ( Kontogianni and Alepis, 2020 ).

Unfortunately, researchers have not always been in possession of sufficiently advanced tools and techniques to process all this information. However, thanks to big data (BD), grounded in facilities for the massive storage of quality structured data, this issue is starting to be resolved.

BD and its tools have changed the ways in which we can analyze and process information. However, there is currently no literature giving a thorough overview of how BD techniques have been used in tourism marketing over the past 27 years of its existence.

In the past decade, several authors have undertaken bibliometric analyses of tourism research literature. Work has concentrated on three key areas in isolation: tourism ( Hall, 2011 ; Köseoglu et al. , 2015 , 2016 ), BD in tourism ( Li et al. , 2018 ; Mariani and Baggio, 2021 ; Samara et al. , 2020 ) and tourism experience ( Kim and So, 2022 ). To our knowledge, no bibliometric analyses exist dealing with BD, tourism and marketing. Such a study has great value enabling researchers to gain an understanding of how key areas of study have evolved over time.

Compared to existing literature reviews on the topic “BD and tourism,” our work is distinctive in three ways. First, while the two previous literature reviews have focused only on BD and tourism, this study performs queries related explicitly to BD, tourism and marketing. We feel that the inclusion of marketing is essential as there is currently a lack of research into the practical applications of BD in tourism product design and marketing.

Second, while previous work has reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2020, we have extended the time span of interest to include all articles published, from 1996 to 2022. In this way, we cover not only the inception of this field but also its most recent evolution, including the two-year period of the COVID-19 crisis.

Third, unlike the present study, none of the previous review articles mentioned application of the bibliometric techniques of productivity analysis and science mapping.

The aim of this study then is to fill the gap identified in the current literature by completing possibly the first exhaustive bibliometric analysis of research output in the combined areas of BD, tourism and marketing.

The scientific database, the WoS, was selected for our analysis of trends and prediction of future research paths in this field. The analysis itself was completed through a complete indexation of articles found and the use of the bibliometric research tool SciMAT (Science Mapping Analysis Tool).

To uncover specific research niches representing emergent areas in the tourism marketing field.

To analyze the body of research in terms of principal authors, volume of publications and most productive categories.

To help academics and professionals gain a better understanding using a schema showing the evolution between 1996 and 2022.

To identify the key thematic areas that have drawn most research interest during the past 27 years.

We believe that one major contribution of this bibliometric analysis is the identification of 10 key themes in the past 27 years of BD research in tourism marketing. Furthermore, this study offers researchers useful information concerning the significance of BD in the development of tourism marketing strategies, both in the present and the future, and it highlights the emerging tendencies on which future investigation should be focused.

Our study begins with an overview of the evolution of BD in tourism marketing and goes on to explain our methods of bibliometric analysis, before giving a detailed explanation of the results of our empirical analysis and future research trends. We conclude with a description of the study’s limitations and its implications for the future.

2. The evolution of big data in tourism marketing

BD first emerged in 1989 with the birth of the World Wide Web. The term refers to the massive volumes of data produced online that are processed at high velocity, have a high level of veracity and comprise huge variety being both complex and diverse.

In the area of tourism, BD enables consumer profiling to create personalized services and make forecasts. Furthermore, recent research shows a clear tendency toward its use in the field of sustainable tourism; thus it has become an essential element in the United Nations plans to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals.

The use of BD in tourism marketing strategies can be explained through the classical resource-based view theory. This arises naturally from the fact that the use of BD requires physical resources such as sufficiently powerful computers; human resources, such as data scientists; and, because it is essential that organizations and corporate processes should be able to adapt to new technologies, intellectual resources like organizational capital.

The three major sources of BD for the tourism industry are as follows ( Li et al. , 2018 ): user data or user-generated content (UGC) like text and photos; device data, including that from the global positioning system (GPS) or Bluetooth; and transaction data such as Web searches and online bookings among others.

In the area of tourism marketing, research is dominated by studies that use online ratings and reviews to measure tourist satisfaction. Indeed, there are numerous studies concerning how hotels use electronic word of mouth (eWOM) due to the importance of this phenomenon in attracting tourists.

Furthermore, while the analysis of textual data is still important, photos are beginning to acquire prominence thanks to the development of web 2.0 and social networking platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook. These data have a diversity of uses, for example, to analyze the attitudes of tourists toward a particular destination, as well as tourist behavior, given that a photo greatly simplifies the process by which travelers can communicate their tourist experiences online. In this way, industry specialists can make recommendations to potential clients, and design marketing strategies to promote particular services or tourist destinations.

3. Research design and data collection

To gain an understanding of the themes of BD, tourism and marketing, we performed a bibliometric analysis of academic articles indexed in one of the most important academic databases: WoS. Bibliometric analysis was used as it has several advantages and enables the evaluation of academic research according to objective criteria. It is used as a tool, and it facilitates the identification of new lines of research.

Because the aim of our bibliometric analysis was to evaluate key themes explored by researchers, and identify thematic clusters, it was vital to have a holistic overview of the BD, tourism and marketing themes. We selected WoS over other sources for three reasons.

First and foremost, even though WoS and Scopus are the two most commonly used sources for bibliometric analysis, the WoS database is the only large-scale literature database from as early as 1940 ( Calof et al. , 2022 ) and also contains articles from journals identified as having the highest impact factor according to the Journal Citation Report index. Second, WoS, compared to Scopus, has the advantage of having its own tourism category. Third, and finally, the WoS database is the most frequently used source of scientific information ( Kim and So, 2022 ).

Several search criteria were deployed to retrieve the articles. In line with Mariani and Baggio (2021) we developed multiple search queries entailing a combination of the focal keywords “big data,” “artificial intelligence,” “machine learning,” “marketing” and “consumer behavior,” with hospitality and tourism words “travel*,” “touris*” and “hotel” in the text, abstract and keywords.

As the data used for this study was collected between 1996 and 2022, the search was conducted from the beginning of the coverage up to March 31, 2022. We eliminated articles which were not directly related to the topic of the analysis. The final data set used for the analyses contains 1,152 papers for WoS.

To execute the bibliometric analysis, our sample of articles was grouped into four time periods, each addressing a particular era in the evolution of research into BD techniques, tourism and information technology ( Xiang, 2018 ).

The first time period (1996–2006) corresponds to a phase of explosion and digitalization of information. It is composed of 12 papers and 147 keywords. The second time period (2007–2016) corresponds to a phase of acceleration in the use, storage and processing of massive digital data. It is composed of 112 papers and 387 keywords. The third period (2017–2020) constitutes the most recent phase in which this type of data and its associated technologies are established, and the research field has matured. It is composed of 426 papers and 811 keywords. The last period (2020–2022) corresponds to the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is composed of 602 papers and 578 keywords.

The research methodologies used in this work are in line with the other well-known principles used in bibliometric analyses and quantitative literature reviews ( Cobo et al. , 2012 ; Tranfield et al. , 2003 ) ( Figure 1 ).

4. Method: bibliometric analysis using SciMAT

There are two principal methods of bibliometric analysis: productivity analysis , which evaluates the impact of academic research, and science mapping which enables the visualization of the structure and evolution of concepts within an academic field. This investigation combines both types of analysis to present the most important conceptual domains.

The first stage of our investigation involved a retrieval of publications related to BD, tourism and marketing on the WoS database.

Following this, the search was revised for possible errors, and the relevant documents were extracted to begin constructing our thematic network, in this instance using keywords ( Cobo et al. , 2012 ). We then constructed a word-network based on keyword co-occurrence, that is, when words appear together in a document this implies a relationship ( Cobo et al. , 2011a ).

The next step was relationship network normalization via the equivalence index, with the aim of calculating the degree of similarity between keywords. This is deemed to be the most appropriate way to normalize co-occurrence frequencies ( Cobo et al. , 2011b ).

After the normalization process, a science map was constructed to show the knowledge structure of this research area through its key concepts. The present study used an analysis of co-words in a longitudinal framework ( Cobo et al. , 2011a ). A clustering algorithm was applied to the networks of co-words generated for each of our selected time periods, to identify the most significant word in each cluster.

The visualization techniques available in SciMAT enable the representation of the science map with the evolution of thematic areas, through a diagram that allows the representation of two Callon’s centrality and Callon’s density ( Cobo et al. , 2011b ).

Callon’s centrality measures the degree of interaction between one network and other networks. It is defined as: c = 10 × ∑ e kh , where k refers to a keyword belonging to a theme in one network, and h refers to a keyword belonging to themes in other networks. Callon’s density measures the internal strength of the network and is defined as: d = 100 ( ∑ e ij / ω ), where i and j are keywords belonging to a given theme, and ω is the number of keywords in that theme. Two measures can represent the detected networks. On the strategic diagram, centrality and density are represented on the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively ( Figure 2 ). In this way, the diagram is divided into four categories:

Driving themes (upper right quadrant): those that are very interrelated, developed in great depth and highly relevant.

Underlying and transversal themes (lower right quadrant): important general themes in the research field but which are less well developed.

Emerging themes or those in decline (lower left quadrant): under-developed topics.

Specialized or peripheral themes (upper left quadrant): marginal themes having little relevance to the research field as a whole.

The last step is the productivity analysis which incorporates indicators such as the citation number, and the h and g indices. It enables an understanding of which topics are most productive and have the greatest impact.

5. Mapping the co-word analysis

5.1 productivity analysis and science mapping.

BD has made a significant impact in the field of tourism marketing research. Since 2017, the number of academic articles published in this area has seen a fivefold increase. More than 89% of the articles were published in the past six years.

Of the 446 journals included in the database, only 6% are directly related to tourism marketing, that is to say, 26 journals containing 71 articles.

The majority of the articles are not published in tourism marketing journals but are distributed across a variety of journals focusing on other disciplines such as management, sustainability and technology. The category of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism itself contains 476 articles and Tourism Management is the second most productive category, with 224 articles published in this area. Finally, the most productive authors are Rob Law (School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong) and Zheng Xiang (Virginia Tech, Beijing Union University).

Certain themes have established their intrinsic importance throughout the 27 years studied here and we will discuss their development in what follows (see Table 1 ).

5.2 First period: digitalization of information (1996–2006)

Only 12 relevant articles appear in this 11-year period ( Figure 2a ).

5.2.1 Driving themes: “website,” “photographs,” “performance,” “online reviews” and “tourism patterns.”

The most highly related and most relevant driving themes are “website” and “online reviews” ( Cobo et al. , 2011a ).

The “website” cluster demonstrates the growing importance of three areas of research: traveler experiences recorded on blogs and Facebook; consumer perspectives on the personalization of products and services; and smart cities in Asia via the Internet of Things. The “online reviews” topic is connected with sentiment analysis for segmenting the international tourist market.

“Performance” and “tourism patterns” are concerned with forecasting in the tourism sector which studies segmentation strategies and the results in terms of performance ( Curry et al. , 2001 ) using social networks such as Sina Weibo.

The “photographs” topic is connected with analysis of smart tourism and ecotourism, and how to segment the market through self-organizing maps. Here, investigation predominantly focuses on the tourist motivations which have the greatest weight in buying decisions in the senior-tourist market segment ( Kim et al. , 2003 ).

5.2.2 Underlying and transversal themes: “behavior” and “big data.”

Tourist behavior is the most relevant of all the themes identified. Articles belonging to this cluster focus on environmental behavior, post-buying behavior, and forecasting tourist behavior. In addition, work in this area relies on two cognitive theories: the theory of reasoned action and its extension the theory of planned behavior. These theories are considered to offer the best framework for understanding tourist behavior ( Hsu and Huang, 2012 ).

The “behavior” theme is, in turn, related to others such as loyalty, market segmentation, mobility, demand and tourism forecasting. The majority of this research strand comes from the USA.

The application of human–computer interaction theory is another important topic here. This theory establishes the fundamentals for an understanding of tourists’ behavior in terms of how they search for and plan their trips ( Xiang, 2018 ).

To understand “consumer behavior,” researchers have used BD techniques such as time series ( Pattie and Snyder, 1996 ), and lexicon and text mining or modeling ( Bloom, 2004 ), and have predicted things like loyalty, sales and tourist satisfaction.

5.2.3 Emergent themes: “neural networks” and “tourism and hospitality.”

The theme “neural networks” is associated with predicting trends in “tourism demand” through the use of BD. Specifically, it links to how BD can improve models used in econometric forecasting ( Witt and Witt, 1995 ) through the use of artificial neural networks and so enable the development of improved tourism demand models ( Palmer et al. , 2006 ). Japan, China and Spain are connected to this theme. The most common types of analysis are cluster and multiple linear regression.

5.3 Second period: acceleration (2007–2016)

The total number of articles belonging to this period is 112, so is evidence of the huge growth index for publications in this field ( Figure 2b ). Topics such as “tourist satisfaction,” “big data,” “neural networks,” “China” and “social media” achieved 5,350 citations.

5.3.1 Principal driving theme: “tourist satisfaction”.

This is the most important driving theme in the field, leading in terms of number of documents, citations and values of h and g indices. It is strongly linked to WOM as recorded in reviews left by travelers describing their experiences in hotels, and the impact of these reviews on sales is also a topic of study.

This decade is characterized as an era of acceleration due to the enormous increase in UGC on the internet. This factor, among others, has enabled the in-depth study of eWOM ( Ghose et al. , 2012 ). UGC, comprising any online data either in the form of text or images, makes up almost 50% of BD in connection with tourism ( Li et al. , 2018 ). The reason for its extensive use lies in the fact that it can be easily accessed and processed, and indeed, it is very low cost ( Karimi et al. , 2020 ).

The predominant theoretical frameworks applied in this era include sign theory, attribution theory, transaction cost theory and expectancy theory. This demonstrates the impact of reviews in the description of consumer experience.

Online reviews are one of the significant elements in eWOM which can influence future demand from other clients, and as a result, has important commercial value ( Xie et al. , 2014 ). This is due to the way it can enable forecasting of future profits for hotels, decisions concerning the location of accommodation and room rates, as well as the improvement of results based on performance ( Pan and Yang, 2017 ).

A predominant trend here is articles addressing new ways of categorizing hotels based on the mean perceived utility of specific hotel features ( Berezina et al. , 2016 ). Other important work involves identification of which sorts of messages posted on social media enabled the greatest user interaction or the possibility of virality ( Mariani et al. , 2016 ). In this respect, Facebook and Twitter stand out.

5.3.2 Driving and transversal themes: “big data” and “neural networks.”

Alongside “tourist satisfaction,” these are the other driving themes in the second period. Both these concepts are cornerstones of marketing, due to their capacity to positively influence the performance of an organization. In this way, they are very interrelated terms and, in addition, are linked to the themes “perceived quality of service” and “loyalty,” which in turn are strongly connected to “tourist satisfaction.”

A large proportion of articles addresses the theme of “performance” and analyzes which variables affect tourism-business outcomes within a competitive environment. Among the areas that have received most attention in this regard are the quality of hotel services, and hotel attributes and efficiency, in addition to the identification of factors determining tourist satisfaction and appropriate strategic decision-making ( Moutinho et al. , 2015 ). The most common types of analysis are spatial ( Supak et al. , 2015 ), cluster ( Brida et al. , 2012 ), textual ( Krawczyk and Xiang, 2016 ), time series ( Claveria and Torra, 2014 ), fuzzy system ( Shahrabi et al. , 2013 ) and photo-sharing analysis ( García-Palomares et al. , 2015 ).

5.3.3 Secondary underlying and transversal themes: “administration and management,” “destination marketing” and “social media analyses.”

These three topics constitute the underlying transversal themes of research in this second period.

“Administration and management,” which began as a driving theme moves to being a transversal theme, that is, we see its consolidation. In the course of this theme’s evolution, BD research can be seen to undergo significant development, enabling it to encompass the problems of tourism management ( Xiang, 2018 ). In addition, this topic is aligned with the evolution in tourism demand. In this area, three big powers stand out: China, the USA and Europe, specifically Spain. In fact, “Europe” moves from being an emergent theme to become integrated into an essential cluster.

The topic of “destination marketing” is linked to the study of tourism destinations and traveler motivations. Of great importance here is the use of images and websites that guide traveler management ( Xiang, 2018 ). It is a fundamental theme from the resource-based theory, because online visibility is a differentiating factor leading to superior business performance because it potentially helps attract more tourists enabling increased rates of occupancy ( Smithson et al. , 2011 ).

Finally, the “analysis of social media” appears as an underlying theme. Understanding clients through the reviews left on social media platforms such as Twitter constitutes a key factor for success in the era of BD ( Park et al. , 2016 ). The principal techniques used in this field include neural networks and data mining.

5.3.4 Emergent areas: “pricing” and “geo-tagged data.”

These two themes are considered emergent areas. In contrast to the first period, these terms are now important, and they will have importance in the following (third) time period.

The “pricing” theme shows strong links to airlines through revenue management, pricing strategies and tourist satisfaction with low-cost or full-service carriers ( Leong et al. , 2015 ).

Through the use of geographic information systems, “geo-tagged data” has enabled the use of photos obtained principally from the Flickr social media platform ( Levin et al. , 2015 ).

5.4 Third period: consolidation (2017–2020)

Over these four years, the research field has grown with 426 articles ( Figure 2c ). Over this time period, tourism research undergoes a dramatic change as BD becomes a fundamental knowledge creation tool. This transformation is without precedent in academic research, and is thanks to ever more efficient management of the millions of bytes of data generated ( Batista e Silva et al. , 2018 ).

5.4.1 Principal driving theme: “tourist satisfaction.”

This is the highest central theme in the third period and is a topic that has gained importance with respect to the previous period. Tourism literature establishes general tourist satisfaction, and indeed tourists’ intention to return to a given destination is effected by many different destination attributes ( Alegre and Garau, 2010 ). For instance, consumers gain a specific degree of satisfaction as a function of their perceptions concerning the various attributes of hotels, thus perceptions represent one dimension of satisfaction ( Guo et al. , 2017 ).

This topic is strongly related to themes in the “tourist satisfaction” cluster from the second period, such as online and offline reviews, hotels and tourist intentions. Topics such as loyalty, and hotel attributes and service quality that were previously related to perceptions are now linked with satisfaction. Furthermore, terms such as “Twitter” and “UGC” have disappeared. Research is no longer so focused on general social networks, but rather on those that are specifically concerned with tourism such as TripAdvisor.

Data from reviews and blogs are now principally used in studies of satisfaction, recommendations and tourist opinion ( Deng and Li, 2018 ).

5.4.2 Secondary driving themes: “management,” “mobility,” “trust” and “destination marketing.”

Together with “tourist satisfaction,” these are among the driving themes of the third period. “Management” is a topic of relatively high importance in all the periods studied and, in the third period is once again a driving theme.

This cluster is related to other topics such as “social networks,” “Facebook” and “engagement.” The investigations in which these terms appear focus on the strategic use of Facebook to promote and market destinations ( Mariani et al. , 2018 ); on the analysis of opinions using texts ( Zola et al. , 2019 ); and the generation of commitment ( Villamediana-Pedrosa et al. , 2019 ).

The topic of “mobility” involves examples of the use of data obtained from GPS, social media and mobile telephones used between cities, and at open-air venues hosting sporting events or festivals ( Salas-Olmedo et al. , 2018 ). The theme of “trust,” on the other hand, exemplifies the growth of concerns and problems associated with engagement in the so-called trust economy ( Xiang, 2018 ), specifically Airbnb and Booking.com. Variables such as reputation, communication and pricing strategies are found to be moderating factors in the “trust” theme.

With respect to the “destination marketing” theme, here UGC predominates, as do marketing strategies on social networks and their analysis. In this way, organizations can understand the perceptions of users and develop strategies to promote revisiting.

In all, 73% of the articles look at tourist destination image. This theme has evolved from being dominated by the destination marketers, to become a dynamic process of interaction between tourists and promotion, before finally reaching a new era in which destination management organizations examine and modify their projected destination image based principally on behavior, perceptions, experiences and the diffusion of information by tourists on social networking platforms.

“Destination marketing” is related to heritage too, as well as rural tourism in protected areas and National Parks. Two basic objectives dominate: developing branding strategies and extracting trends in this area of tourism, with sustainability and ecological protection high on the agenda. The most common type of analysis is content analysis.

5.4.3 Underlying and transversal themes: “tourism destinations” and “photographs.”

Besides tourist satisfaction, these constitute the most important underlying and transversal themes in this period. Both are related to the analysis of geo-tagged text and images obtained from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor and Sina Weibo.

To improve their business intelligence, “tourist destinations” are supported by tools such as customer relationship management (CRM). The surge in social networks challenges traditional notions of how to manage client relationships, and thus social-CRM has appeared on the scene ( Chan et al. , 2018 ).

In terms of size, the “social networks” cluster clearly stands out. Current literature concerning CRM focuses on the analysis of BD and the use of social networking platforms to capture huge amounts of data and take advantage of customers’ improved interactivity to personalize services ( Sota et al. , 2020 ). TripAdvisor appears as the most widely used platform in terms of marketing strategies. Another area of high research activity is applied studies concerning China and sport tourism.

“Photographs” in conjunction with “tourism destinations” constitute the underlying and transversal themes of the third period of study.

This topic is highly related to the management and promotion of hotel rooms and online bookings, as well as attempts to better understand client profiling via BD ( Liu et al. , 2019 ). Furthermore, the availability of large sets of photos from trips shared online provides an accessible source of data for tourism researchers ( Ma et al. , 2020 ). This type of content can be interpreted through semiotic theory. The principal origin of online photographic content is social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Flickr, as well as blogs. These enable study of the discovery and development of tourist routes, marketing strategies and tourism patterns, and can be differentiated into two types: concerning travelers or trips. At present, tourism research related to photos is dominated by Flickr, despite the fact that Instagram has more users and contains more images.

5.4.4 Emergent themes: “market segmentation” and “internet.”

The “internet,” understood as the tool that provides the raw data on which the techniques of BD can operate, is starting to manifest as an emergent theme in the context of tourism marketing because it enables accommodation providers to adapt, for example, room characteristics and pricing strategies.

A further area of high interest is “market segmentation,” related to recommendation systems via the “internet” cluster. Both of these themes are themselves strongly linked to co-creation which enables, among other things, the personalization of products through market segmentation using traveler preference data and geo-localized data extracted from mobile phones. The use of BD techniques to segment the tourism market, in fact, continues to be recognized as a key source of value creation in the fourth time period.

5.5 Fourth period: COVID-19 (2020–2022)

To supplement this investigation in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, a further 602 articles published during the pandemic were added to our database. This additional, newly published work constitutes 50% of our database ( Figure 2d ).

5.5.1 Principal driving themes: “tourist satisfaction,” “social media,” “sharing economy,” “consumer” and “artificial intelligence.”

The theme “tourist satisfaction” continues to be the most important theme despite the COVID-19 pandemic. During these two last years studied, the number of studies dealing with BD see continued growth, particularly in reviews concerning the prediction of customer purchase preferences and its impact, and in looking at user experiences and perceptions through content analysis or making use of data gathered from platforms such as TripAdvisor. Specifically, areas being investigated include consumer behavior and social media marketing ( Nilashi et al. , 2021 ), and engagement with social exchange theory ( Song et al. , 2020 ).

The most extensively studied theme in this respect is sentiment analysis applied to text-based and photographic UGC shared on social media platforms, particularly Twitter. This analysis has allowed researchers to deepen and advance their understanding of destination marketing in the promotion of products and services.

The “sharing economy” is another theme that has gained importance in this last time period, with most research focusing on the social media site Airbnb ( Canziani and Nemati, 2021 ).

In addition, during this period, AI has become a consolidated topic with machine learning emerging as the most widely used technique to study the tourism ecosystem. Several Spanish authors specialize in the use of these techniques ( Marine-Roig and Huertas, 2020 ; Sánchez-Martín et al. , 2020 ; Valls and Roca, 2021 ) and they have been applied particularly successfully in the areas of tourism innovation and forecasting, decision-making and the analysis of performance and strategy.

5.5.2 Underlying and transversal themes: “hotel attributes” and “deep learning”.

These two themes are consolidated during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic becoming transversal topics. In particular, “hotel attributes” have been studied in relation to competitiveness, rating and the effect they have on WOM. The forms of data gathering most widely used include text and data mining which enable the analysis of language and emotions through text. “Deep learning” is another important tool as it facilitates visual analysis, the prediction of occupancy and opinion classification ( Gómez et al. , 2021 ), all of which help tourism managers to develop and promote appropriate response strategies informed by service management theory ( Zhu et al. , 2021 ). In this area, China appears to be the most visible.

5.5.3 Emergent themes: “sustainability,” “tourist recommendation,” “social media analysis,” “values,” “prices” and “gastronomy.”

The bibliometric analysis undertaken has allowed us to identify the emergent themes that are likely to become increasingly important in the future.

Sustainability. The number of studies concerning profitability and perceptions in ecotourism is growing exponentially. The principal sources of data for this work are Google data and geo-tagged photographs. Analyzing trends in ecotourism is part of a strategic approach to assessing progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals ( Go et al. , 2020 ).

Tourist recommendation. An emergent theme in the third time period, market segmentation continues to be important in this time period, and as before, it is driven by tourist recommendation. Researchers continue to use BD to analyses tourist recommendations, and additionally we see this source of data being applied to new variables such as types of tourism, length of stay, attachment and quality of service ( Penagos-Londoño et al. , 2021 ).

Social media analysis. A particular use of this type of analysis is to look at revisit intentions in hospitality. This concept is integral to the relationship between marketing and customer loyalty, and has traditionally been investigated largely through customer surveys using closed-ended questions ( Liu and Beldona, 2021 ). Currently, there is an exponential growth in revisit intention analysis, particularly to look at decision making in hotel management, with researchers now turning to supervised machine learning rather than using social media analysis.

Values. Little is known about the influence of cultural factors in consumers’ evaluations of review helpfulness, and as a result, research into values, particularly using the theory of dominant logic, must be categorized as an emergent theme ( Filieri and Mariani, 2021 ).

Prices. Researchers are beginning to apply BD techniques to understanding how differences in market perception and information create a price differential ( Casamatta et al. , 2022 ). Until now, setting the price for new accommodation has been often based largely on location, number of beds and type of house, among other physical factors. However, the use of machine learning and intention analysis is beginning to take over as the means for price prediction in online booking systems ( Trang et al. , 2021 ).

Gastronomy. In the third time period studied, there were only three articles considering this topic and thus, it was considered isolated and highly specialized. In the fourth time period, however, we identified 14 articles concerning gastronomy, and thanks to this increased research interest, it must now be considered an emerging theme. Particular work worth highlighting includes a study using neural networks, an otherwise rarely used technique in the tourism sector, to construct gastronomic tourist profiles through behavioral analysis ( Moral-Cuadra et al. , 2021 ). In addition, new research is emerging concerning the design of gastronomic experiences based on consumer opinion, that is, involving co-creation ( Lin et al. , 2022 ). The exponential growth in co-creation strategies has already been pointed out by other authors.

5.6 Ten thematic areas across 27 years

Here, we give a structural analysis of the evolution of an academic field that has matured over the past 27 years. This analysis shows the development of 10 key areas (shaded with 10 different colors in Figure 3 ): “destination marketing,” “mobility patterns,” “co-creation,” “gastronomy,” “sustainability,” “tourist behavior,” “market segmentation,” “artificial neural networks,” “pricing” and “tourist satisfaction.” The literature demonstrates a solid cohesion because many of the same themes appear in all four of the different periods of development identified, showing the consolidation of these themes.

In the first period we examined, there are two thematic areas which might be described as classic: “mobility patterns” (81 papers and 988 citations) and “tourist behavior” (81 papers and 1,474 citations). In the second period , two further topics are added to the list: “tourist satisfaction” (541 papers and 4,379 citations) and “pricing” (181 papers and 1,195 citations). In the third period , two further topics are added to the list: “destination marketing” (220 papers and 1,450 citations) and “co-creation” (40 papers and 639 citations). These three periods represent the basis of BD tourism marketing research and show a highly developed line of investigation: the prediction of behavior patterns based on geo-tagged content enabling the improvement of strategies for destination marketing.

The fourth period of study , composed of articles published most recently (2020–2022) and thus affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, contains several emergent themes that may well gain importance in the future. These topics include, “gastronomy” (17 papers and 86 citations), “market segmentation” (75 papers and 1,577 citations), “sustainability” (55 papers and 768 citations) and “artificial neural networks” (158 papers and 2,447 citations). Artificial neural networks in particular have been in use from the beginnings of applied artificial intelligence (AI) in tourism marketing. However, it is only in recent years that their use has become widespread, and they should now be considered among the most important tools in tourism marketing ( Mariani and Baggio, 2021 ).

The two themes that stand out most in terms of impact indices are tourist satisfaction and destination marketing. These topics can, therefore, be considered as those of central importance are fundamental to the development of the whole field.

The “tourist satisfaction” theme shows a definitive upward trend with respect to relevant indices and citation numbers. This theme starts with a very small footprint which has grown and reflects the rapid development of this topic such that it is now considered as one of the leading areas of research. On the other hand, topics such as “astro-tourism” initially achieved high impact, but this has not grown over time. Other areas exist that have maintained their relevance throughout the 27 years studied, for example, “pricing” and still others, such as “co-creation” and “gastronomy” that have expanded, branching into new themes and gaining relevance in each subsequent time period.

The fourth period indicates the expanding use of BD in the field of tourism marketing and the increasing multidisciplinarity of the areas under investigation.

6. Discussion

There are several conclusions in the present study. Among the most important of these is revealing the direction of future research trends as well as identifying the structure of relationships between current and past themes in the research areas of BD, tourism and marketing.

This is the first study to apply a bibliometric approach to a clear gap in the research, in that it covers these three thematic areas simultaneously. In addition, it is unique in covering such a wide time period, from 1996 to 2022; thus, it includes the two years corresponding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This two-year period is significant as it was particularly productive and saw the emergence of several new themes.

In this way, we have been able to identify tools, types of BD techniques, authors and most importantly, conceptual themes that have played the most vital roles in this research field throughout the 27 years studied. Thus, as explained previously, this work constitutes a significant contribution to the field by uniquely covering BD, tourism and marketing.

We developed a schematic diagram to show the evolution of principal research themes from 1996 to 2022, divided into four individual time periods. To this end, we used the SciMAT to make an initial, exhaustive bibliometric search of the literature with 1,152 articles published on WoS. This constitutes the entire academic output in this field to date and publications can be divided into four categories corresponding to different periods: digitalization of information (1996–2006); acceleration (2007–2016); consolidation (2017–2020); and COVID-19 (2020–2022).

To aid analysis, the body of research considered in this study was separated into ten major thematic areas: “destination marketing,” “mobility patterns,” “co-creation,” “gastronomy,” “sustainability,” “tourist behavior,” “market segmentation,” “artificial neural networks,” “pricing” and “tourist satisfaction.”

A particularly important area was “tourist satisfaction,” which shows an upward trend through the full 27-year span of this study, reaching what might be called its golden era in the third time period considered. Tourism research defines the general concept of tourist satisfaction and also identifies several dimensions, among which one of the most important is visitor perceptions of hotel attributes. The analysis of tourist satisfaction has been assisted primarily by marketing platforms on social media networks. In recent times, certain networks, such as Twitter, have declined in importance, giving way to other UGC platforms like TripAdvisor which allows access to tourists’ opinions through the reviews they leave.

The most important aspect of this work has been the identification of future lines of investigation and where there is a need to deepen our understanding in certain fields.

7. Implications

This investigation highlights the relevance of BD in tourism marketing research, demonstrates its importance to business and offers relevant and empirical information to tourism-related organizations and private businesses.

In the first place, this review suggests that researchers are interested in BD, tourism and marketing in many different disciplines. In fact, our analysis shows that many of the academics contributing to the field of BD and tourism do not publish in marketing journals. Thus, we would suggest that more interdisciplinary collaboration would help advance the field and, perhaps, this observation constitutes one of the principal contributions of this work. Through this analysis, we hope to provide information concerning new opportunities for research and help to strengthen lines of investigation that may be of potential interest both for academics and practitioners in this field. This is especially important for establishing possible collaborations between these two groups.

In the second place, marketing professionals should invest in more research into the problems they wish to solve using BD and AI since, as we have seen, their current uses are many and varied: predicting tourism demand, analyzing tourist satisfaction, or market segmentation. On the basis of such research, businesses could obtain a variety of appropriate data for every type of analysis or purpose proposed.

In the third place, while the tourism industry is making effective investment in the management of BD and its analysis of AI, this bibliometric analysis demonstrates that the contribution of academic research is also significant. Thus, collaboration between industry and academia would further invigorate this area of research and facilitate its advance.

Finally, given that the rate of evolution in marketing strategies based on new technologies is extremely fast moving, leading hotel and tourism businesses, and indeed, marketing consultants, must make use of AI to improve, innovate and extract the maximum value from data. Furthermore, this may be even more important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as this work demonstrates that the correct management of data is increasingly invaluable to the industry being able to respond and adapt to external shocks. This information can then be used to plan more efficient business strategies focused on specific types of clients.

8. Limitations and future research

It is necessary to address the limitations of this study. The use of other databases such as Scopus or Google scholar might have provided additional results. Thus, WoS was considered adequate for our purposes.

Despite this limitation, we feel this investigation is of undoubted interest. It provides a novel, possibly the only, presentation of the major trends in this area of research and as a result provides a point of departure for academics and practitioners to discover new avenues of investigation, as well as strengthening already established lines of research, for example, the “sustainability” theme in which it recommends considering the profitability of hotel businesses and tourist perceptions; or “gastronomy,” where there is a large gap in the literature concerning the gastronomical profiling of tourists, and this could be solved by the use of techniques such as neural networks. Other emergent themes are “social media analysis” to study tourist decision-making, “values” and “prices.”

Analytical process implemented

Strategic diagrams between 1996 and 2022 (cites and papers ): (a) 1996–2006; (b) 2007–2016; (c) 2017–2020 (March); (d) 2020 (April)–2022 (April)

Thematic map of big data tourism marketing literature (1996–2022)

Summary of the most important aspects of the four periods

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Ministerio de Industria, Comercio y Turismo (Spain), AEI-010500–2020-253 (DTI^A Project: 4.0 technological tools for measurement, evaluation and monitoring of the Friendliness concept linked to the Smart Tourist Destinations)

Declaration of interest: None

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The travel and tourism industry has long been a major staple of economic activity and growth in the USA. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the industry. The industry accounted for 2.9% of U.S. GDP in 2019, totaling about $1.9 trillion.   

In 2020, this economic share dropped significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Because of this decline, companies in the travel and tourism industry are reviewing how they operate and market their business. A major part of this is leveraging market data to make informed decisions and lead to new opportunities now and in the future.  

1. Travelers Can Get More Information Pre-Trip Than Ever Before

Modern tourists and travelers have greatly expanded access to destination information than ever before. With a simple Google search using terms like “Things to do in…” from their smartphone’s web browser, they can instantly find a list of highly-rated businesses and activities to do in their destination—or use that to plan out where they want to go in the first place.   

In the past, TripAdvisor used to rule the landscape of travel commentary and reviews. Today, Google has turned into a goliath of travel-related information, rich with reviews from Google users, reviews of businesses in the area, and even the ability to book a flight from the search engine.   

Airbnb, Hostelworld, and even Foursquare have revamped the travel review landscape as well. These companies have carved out specialized niches in the travel sector by targeting hosted bed-and-breakfasts, hostels, and local businesses, respectively.   

Even beyond these companies, there is a litany of individual travel influencers, bloggers, and YouTubers who can command their own unique followings looking for travel information.   

In fact, as part of our recent proprietary research into generational shopping habits, we discovered that Gen Z in particular leads their shopping path and is heavily influenced by search engines, online reviews, YouTube, and social media when gathering information. Top information sources emerge as:  

• Search engines (55%)  
• Online reviews (52%)  
• YouTube (47%)  
• Social media (35%)  

These four areas are distinct to Gen Z when it comes to information-seeking, and they underline the important fact that this generation does its research elsewhere before making a purchase from a company.  

In terms of travel, this applies across the board. If a member of Gen Z wants to schedule a trip themselves, you can be sure that they’ll do their research online, look for third-party opinions, and seek online reviews.  

Even if someone in Gen Z uses a travel agent to create an itinerary, their preferences indicate that they’ll first look through these digital resources to find one that works for them prior to reaching out to consider a purchase.  

Whether it’s for business or leisure, discovering what influences travel decisions and where they go to make travel decisions, allows brands to connect more effectively.  

2. You Can Earn a Strategic Advantage over Competitors

With a suddenly shrunken market, competition over the percentage of travelers and tourists will be greatly increased. Many of your competitors in the industry will be just as hard-pressed to attract and retain customers as you are. In lean times, it’s important to have every possible competitive advantage.  

Having a more accurate picture of what your travel and tourism customers want and need from in-depth market research can help you create better marketing and service offerings that address their needs and wants more effectively than your competitors. This can be an enormous competitive advantage for attracting and retaining a limited customer pool.  

As our own proprietary research has shown, people in general are becoming more open to the notion of travel in the wake of COVID-19 . By understanding these individuals — in addition to the ways that their lives have been shaped — it’s possible for brands to strategically expand their customer base.   

The method of doing this is simple: Hear what your customers want and offer it to the best of your company’s ability. When major fluctuations happen in any market, including travel, the brands that can best adapt to changing circumstances are the ones who have the most opportunity to thrive.   

So as COVID-19 restrictions finally fall away and the world feels generally more at ease with traveling again, brands get to make the choice of how they adapt to these changing circumstances.   

After all, only 4% of travelers believe that their “best years” are behind them . That leaves 96% who are ready to make memories and live life to the fullest by traveling. 

3. You Can Minimize Costly Errors

We’ve all seen at least one marketing campaign, product, or service that made us think “ what were they thinking when they wasted money on THAT? ” Insufficient market research in any industry can lead to less effective decisions and wasteful spending on activities that won’t provide a measurable return on investment (ROI).  

Comprehensive research (and especially focus group testing) can help identify consumer sentiments towards particular products, services, and marketing messages. This, in turn, can help identify potentially problematic items before they’re put in front of the mass market and create a “what were they thinking?” response from consumers.  

There may not be a better example of this happening than during the beginning and the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

During this time, the mantra of “social distancing” became ubiquitous across the world as a way to help minimize and prevent transmission of the COVID-19 pathogen.  

The term and its impact were seen throughout the corporate world, including in advertising.  

However, one travel company lagged behind .  

This company launched a new ad campaign complete with their corporate mascot. The idea of the campaign is that the mascot would be doing things considered to be faux pas in traveling, like being uncomfortably close to fellow plane passengers or helping yourself to a neighbor’s snacks.  

In a time when COVID-19 didn’t exist, this had the chance to be a funny, light-hearted campaign.  

But during COVID-19, viewers didn’t see a funny take on the pain points of commercial flights — they saw a company ignoring the social rules of the new normal.  

The backlash wasn’t necessarily severe , but the travel company got so much feedback that they quickly pulled the campaign and replaced it.  

This time, they featured the same corporate mascot again — but he wasn’t on a plane.  

Instead, he was sitting in a chair, applying hand sanitizer, and eating a bowl of his own popcorn (as opposed to someone else’s pretzels).  

A message on the commercial said that the mascot would be “social distancing for a while” and encouraged viewers to stay home, which was a bold statement at the time considering that this company made money based on travel bookings.  

But for the company itself, earning the good will of their potential customers was more important than making a buck during the global pandemic.  

They corrected their action, and as the world returns to something resembling normal today, they continue to do business with eager travelers.  

The moral of this company’s story is clear. It’s crucial to “read the room” when it comes to launching ad campaigns, particularly those centered around humor, prior to launching. So much can change in so little time that yesterday’s lucrative TV commercial could be tomorrow’s foot in the mouth.  

4. The Pandemic Has Changed the Industry

For better or worse, all of your brand and market research from before the pandemic is no longer an accurate reflection of the current state of the industry. COVID’s economic impact on the industry is clear — a 73% drop in global tourism in 2020 and 1 billion fewer travelers compared to 2019.  

Even though tourism and travel is potentially on the road to recovery following the introduction of the COVID vaccine and the lifting of emergency restrictions and “stay at home” orders, businesses will need to account for new priorities for health, safety, and sanitation held by tourists and travelers.  

Understanding what travelers expect to maintain their health and safety must be front and center. Whether it is for work or play, messaging should provide comfort, safety and trust to deliver on the best brand experience and encourage future travel.   

To influence that messaging, it’s important to understand the exact feelings that consumers have toward travel right now.   

Our Q1 2022 Consumer Sentiment Study found 30% of travelers say we all have to learn to adapt to new travel protocols to be safe. Conversely, 23% of travelers say they don’t know when they’ll feel confident in making travel plans again. 

As Q2 2022 begins, 360 Market Reach (now Leger) will also study and publish whether this sentiment has shifted.  

Are You Up to Speed on the Latest Travel Trends?  

With the travel industry continuing to change and adapt to the demands of consumers, it’s never been more important to understand travelers, what they want, and what they expect.  

We’re here to help. Our team of industry researcher experts can work with your company to understand what you want to accomplish and establish testing so that you can get the actionable data you need to make an informed decision.   

Are you ready to get started?   

Contact our team today !  

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What Is Market Research in Travel and Tourism?

By Alice Nichols

Market research is a crucial process for businesses in the travel and tourism industry. It involves collecting and analyzing data to understand consumer behavior, trends, and preferences. This information is then used to make informed decisions when creating marketing strategies, improving products and services, and expanding business operations.

Why Is Market Research Important in Travel and Tourism?

The travel and tourism industry is highly competitive. With so many options available to consumers, it’s important for businesses to understand what motivates their Target market to choose one destination or service over another. Market research provides insights into consumer behavior, such as what they value most when traveling, what factors influence their decision-making process, and what types of experiences they are looking for.

For example: If a hotel chain wants to expand its operations into a new city, market research can help them understand the local market demand. They can analyze data on the number of tourists visiting the city each year, the average length of stay, the types of activities that are popular among tourists in that area, etc.

The Benefits of Market Research in Travel and Tourism

There are several benefits that businesses can gain from conducting market research:

• Identify Target Markets: Market research helps businesses identify their Target market based on demographics such as age, gender, income level, etc. This information can be used to create Targeted marketing campaigns.
• Better Understanding of Consumer Behavior: By analyzing consumer behavior data collected through market research surveys or focus groups, businesses can better understand what motivates customers to buy their products or services.
• Improve Customer Satisfaction: By understanding customer needs and preferences through market research data analysis, businesses can improve their customer experience by addressing pain points.
• Increase Revenue: Market research data can help businesses identify new revenue streams. For example, if a hotel chain discovers that their Target market is interested in wellness activities, they might consider adding spa services to their offerings.

Types of Market Research in Travel and Tourism

There are two main types of market research: primary research and secondary research.

Primary Research: This involves collecting data directly from customers through surveys, focus groups, or interviews. Primary research is useful for gathering specific information on consumer behavior and preferences.

Secondary Research: This involves analyzing existing data sources such as government reports, industry publications, and competitor websites. Secondary research is useful for identifying trends and patterns in the industry.

The Bottom Line

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Tourism Market Research

June 24, 2024

SIS International

Have you ever wondered how destinations manage to attract waves of tourists year after year? Tourism market research is usually the answer. This essential process involves gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data about travelers’ preferences, behaviors, trends, and the overall market dynamics of the tourism industry.

Tourism market research is not just about understanding where people travel, but delving into why they choose certain destinations, what experiences they seek, and how they plan their journeys.

Tourism market research helps businesses understand the needs, preferences, and behaviors of travelers, as well as the dynamics of the industry itself. This involves studying why people travel, their selection of destinations, preferences in accommodation, transportation, activities, and other aspects of travel.

It focuses on gathering and analyzing feedback from tourists, which is an essential part of market research. This feedback helps businesses understand what they are doing right and areas where they need improvement. This way, it helps in identifying current and emerging trends in the travel industry, such as the rise of eco-tourism, adventure travel, or wellness tourism.

Online Travel Services

In recent years, online travel resources and services have become a major driving force in tourism. Digital Disruption has allowed consumers to book directly with travel companies, driving down prices and removing intermediaries.  As the use of electronic devices like notebooks, smartphones and tablets has risen, travel websites and apps help travelers to select plan arrangements and check flight and travel status. Online reviews, flight schedules, and ratings of various places and services are increasingly gaining currency worldwide.

Platforms like Booking.com, Expedia, and Airbnb have revolutionized the way travelers book accommodations, flights, and experiences. Thus, new opportunities are emerging globally, from well-organized trips with cruise liners in the Mediterranean Sea to adventurous backpacking tours through the jungle of Madagascar or Papua New Guinea.

Importance of Tourism Market Research

Tourism market research helps businesses and destinations stay attuned to what travelers seek. Whether it’s uncovering emerging trends in adventure travel, gauging interest in eco-tourism, or understanding the factors that influence destination choices, this research is vital in crafting strategies that resonate with current and potential visitors.

Beyond trend analysis, it identifies new market opportunities and even, deciphers the digital footprints of travelers, providing insights into how online reviews, influencers, and digital marketing can sway travel decisions. The insights gained from tourism market research also empower businesses to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, by understanding the expectations and feedback of tourists, businesses can improve their services, address pain points, and create more memorable and satisfying experiences.

Advantages of Tourism Market Research

The benefits of this research are numerous, impacting various aspects of the tourism industry from strategic planning to customer engagement. Here are some of the key advantages:

• Tourism market research provides valuable data that aids in strategic planning such as market trends, understanding competitive dynamics, and making informed decisions about marketing, product development, and service enhancements.

• Through tourism market research, businesses can segment the market based on various criteria such as demographics, interests, or spending patterns. This segmentation allows for more targeted and effective marketing strategies.

• Insights from market research help businesses stay ahead. By understanding the market and anticipating trends, businesses can differentiate themselves, offering unique value propositions to tourists.

• Tourism market research helps identify potential risks and challenges in the market, allowing businesses to develop strategies to mitigate these risks.

• Market research aids in evaluating the effectiveness of marketing strategies and business operations. By tracking performance against market data, businesses can make adjustments to improve outcomes.

When to Conduct Tourism Market Research

Determining the right time to conduct tourism market research is crucial for its effectiveness and relevance. There are specific instances and phases in the business cycle where this research becomes particularly vital:

• Before Launching New Products or Services : Before introducing a new tourism product, service, or even a destination marketing campaign, market research is essential. It helps in understanding market demand, potential customer preferences, and the competitive landscape.

• During Strategic Planning Phases : When businesses or destinations are in the process of strategic planning, market research provides the data to inform decisions, offering insights into trends, threats, and opportunities in the market.

• After Economic Changes : In response to significant changes in the industry such as emerging travel technologies, economic shifts, or changes in traveler behavior, conducting market research helps businesses understand the impact of these changes and adapt accordingly.

• When Expanding to New Markets : Entering a new geographic market or targeting a new customer segment requires tourism market research. This research provides insights into the new market’s characteristics, cultural nuances, and consumer expectations.

• Following Major Marketing Campaigns : After executing major marketing campaigns, conducting market research helps in evaluating their effectiveness. This includes understanding the campaign’s impact on brand perception, destination image, and consumer behavior.

• To Monitor Ongoing Performance : Regular tourism market research is crucial for ongoing performance monitoring. It allows businesses to keep a pulse on their market position, customer satisfaction, and to benchmark against competitors.

• In Response to Customer Feedback or Trends : When there’s significant customer feedback or noticeable shifts in travel trends, market research helps businesses understand the underlying causes and how to respond effectively.

• Pre- and Post-Peak Season Analysis : Conducting research before and after peak tourism seasons provides insights into traveler expectations and experiences. This information is vital for making improvements and planning for future peak seasons.

• Validate Assumptions : Whenever there are internal hypotheses about market trends or customer preferences, conducting market research helps in validating these assumptions with empirical data.

Tourism Opportunities

The tourism industry plays a substantial role in supporting economic growth and development. The growth of tourism can provide opportunities and challenges for countries globally.

One of the primary opportunities in tourism market research is the ability to identify emerging trends. By analyzing travel patterns, preferences, and consumer feedback, businesses can stay ahead of the curve, adapting their services and products to meet evolving demands. This is particularly crucial in a market highly influenced by cultural shifts, technological advancements, and changing global dynamics.

Similarly, developing countries often aim to develop their tourism industry for economic growth and promote cultural values and heritage globally. External benefits of tourism promotion can also include the development of infrastructure, education, and social sectors.

Apps have allowed consumers to book directly, lowering travel costs.  By being able to compare prices on many websites, customers can gain different experiences.  Travel companies have built ecosystems and scale, expanding beyond core services to provide full travel experiences.

Furthermore, tourism market research provides data for effective marketing strategies. By understanding who their customers are and what they value, businesses can craft targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with their audience, leading to increased engagement and sales.

Tourism Challenges

One major challenge is the fast-paced nature of the tourism industry. Trends in travel and tourism can change rapidly due to various factors such as economic shifts, political events, technological advancements, and social media influences.

Data accuracy and reliability pose another significant challenge. In tourism, much of the data is obtained from surveys, reviews, and online platforms, which can be subjective and sometimes unreliable.

Oil prices also impact a variety of factors such as airline fees and travelers’ disposable income and destination choices. Natural disasters have the opportunity to destroy sceneries and holiday destinations.  Other environmental issues such as climate change have the potential to impact a variety of ski and coastal resorts.

Additionally, seasonality is also a challenge in tourism market research. Travel patterns can vary greatly depending on the time of year, making it difficult for businesses to predict trends and plan accordingly. This seasonal fluctuation can impact the effectiveness of market research and its applicability throughout the year.

Prospects of Tourism Market Research

The prospects of tourism market research are promising, reflecting the dynamic and evolving nature of the travel industry. Here are some key prospects that highlight the potential and future direction of this field:

• Technological Advancements: With the rise of big data, AI, and machine learning, tourism market research is becoming more sophisticated. These technologies enable more accurate and in-depth analysis of travel patterns, customer preferences, and market trends.

• Sustainable and Responsible Tourism: There is a growing emphasis on sustainable travel, driven by increasing awareness of environmental issues and social responsibility. Market research in tourism is expanding its focus to understand traveler attitudes towards sustainability, helping businesses develop eco-friendly and socially responsible practices that align with consumer values.

• Customization and Personalization: The trend toward personalized travel experiences is on the rise. Market research plays a crucial role in helping businesses understand individual customer preferences and create tailor-made offerings.

• Global Market Insights: As travel becomes more accessible, tourism market research is expanding its scope to include emerging markets and diverse cultures. This global perspective is essential for businesses looking to tap into new markets and cater to an international clientele.

• Digital Transformation:  Market research is increasingly utilizing digital channels and platforms to gather data, engaging travelers through social media, mobile apps, and online surveys. This digital approach enables real-time data collection and analysis.

• Health and Safety Concerns: In light of events like the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a heightened focus on health and safety in travel. Market research is key in understanding traveler concerns and expectations regarding health measures, which is critical for rebuilding traveler confidence.

• Experience and Activity-Based Travel: The shift from traditional sightseeing to experience-based travel is another area of focus. Research into what kinds of activities and experiences attract different segments of travelers can guide businesses in creating more engaging and memorable offerings.

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• DOI: 10.24025/2306-4420.67.2022.278790
• Corpus ID: 260075387

MARKETING DIGITAL TOOLS FROM STARTUP PROJECTS IN THE TOURISM AND TRAVEL INDUSTRY

• I. Krupenna
• Published in Proceedings of Scientific… 22 December 2022

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40 Facts About Elektrostal

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 01 Jun 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy , materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes , offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development .

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy , with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

Elektrostal's fascinating history, vibrant culture, and promising future make it a city worth exploring. For more captivating facts about cities around the world, discover the unique characteristics that define each city . Uncover the hidden gems of Moscow Oblast through our in-depth look at Kolomna. Lastly, dive into the rich industrial heritage of Teesside, a thriving industrial center with its own story to tell.

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Land use changes in the environs of Moscow

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Suburbanization Problems in the USSR : the Case of Moscow

• Référence bibliographique

Gornostayeva Galina A. Suburbanization Problems in the USSR : the Case of Moscow . In: Espace, populations, sociétés , 1991-2. Les franges périurbaines Peri-urban fringes. pp. 349-357.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/espos.1991.1474

www.persee.fr/doc/espos_0755-7809_1991_num_9_2_1474

• RIS (ProCite, Endnote, ...)

Galina A. GORNOSTAYEVA

Moscow University

Suburbanization Problems

in the USSR :

the Case of Moscow

Suburbanization processes typical to cities in Western Europe, the USA and other countries are not observed in the USSR or they are distorted to such an extent that they may not be compared with existing standards. This states the question how Soviet cities-succeeded in escaping this stage of urban development. In order to answer this question, we should first summarize the main aspects of Western suburbanization.

Firstly, it is well known that the urbanization processes are linked to structural changes in the economy. Thus the transition from the stage of concentration to this of suburbanization is associated with industrialization, and the transition to the third stage - déconcentration - is related with the rapid growth of employment in the non-industrial sphere. Secondly, a suburbanization of economic activities can be distinguished. It applies in the first place to the building and iron- working industry, transports, engineering and chemical works. These are polluting and requiring extensive areas. This suburbanization of industry is caused by the following factors: rising demand for land from firms ; worsening of transport

tions in the inner cities ; demand for lower land costs and taxation levels in suburbs ; rapid growth of road transports; state policies regulating the growth of large cities ; migration of the labour force to the suburban zones. Scientific and educational activities are also transferred from the centre to the suburbs.

The third important aspect of suburbanization applies to the population. In the suburbs two opposite flows of population meet ; one is centripetal, coming from non- metropolitan regions, the other is centrifugal, coming from the central city. The reasons for the migration to the suburbs are as follows : declining living standards in large cities (overcrowding, slow housing renewal, environmental problems, etc.); growth of motorization of the population, development of communications (telephone, telex, fax, computer) ; intensifying decentralization of working places ; lower land prices in the suburbs ; state support for the intensification of real estate development in the suburbs. The above-mentioned factors and reasons for suburbanization are altered in the Soviet cities. Let us explore them, by taking for example the largest one - Moscow.