The increase of online diaries, or blogs, has not only affected communication channels, but also the way tourism destinations are being promoted and consumed. To date, few studies have focused on the content of travel blogs as a rich source of destination marketing information. A review of the current research on travel blogs revealed that the two most popular research methods used to analyze the content of online diaries are content analysis and narrative analysis. This paper provides a discussion of the strengths, weaknesses and implications of using content analysis and narrative analysis on travel blogs. After a presentation of alternative research methods on travel blogs, the authors present industry and methodological implications related to the nature of online diaries.

The emergence of virtual social networks has enabled people to communicate and gather information at the click of a button. Although it has been generally accepted that Internet blogs are an important factor influencing consumers' purchase decisions, the content of travel blogs has commonly been reduced by current research to statistical data and mere categories. This article suggests that it is only by incorporating qualitative analyses of travel bloggers' experiences that destination marketers can extrapolate, comprehend, and ultimately incorporate into marketing strategies the meanings tourists assign to their tourism experiences. A brief review of the current research methods on blogs establishes the need to apply a realist evaluation of travel blogs using qualitative techniques to complement quantitative research methods. This would allow for both objective and subjective travel experience components to be examined and considered for research and marketing purposes.

Given the increasing socio-economic significance of food festivals, this study examines the characteristics of visitors to the Hefei Crawfish Festival in Hefei city, Anhui province, China, along with the determinants of their festival expenditure. Specifically, the study examines correlations among festival spending patterns and the visitors' event-related motivations, food-related motivations, and food involvement levels. Using a Tobit model, the research suggests overall that visitors' total or foodrelated expenditures at the festival were not associated with their overall scores on event-related or food-related festival motivations, and visitors' spending during the festival had negative correlations with their overall food involvement scale scores.

This study attempted to describe the different Western images related to Dracula tourism, and the role Bran Castle tour guides have in the image formation process. This is accomplished by analyzing the contents of Western tourists’ travel blogs, and of qualitative interviews elicited from Bran Castle tour guides. The qualitative content analysis resulted in seven themes focused on historical and fictional images of the destination. The results show that the majority of Western bloggers visit Bran in search for Count Dracula; however, the Bran Castle tour guides focus on presenting the historical truth. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to the destination image formation literature and the concept of authenticity.

No abstract