Popular Culture Review Volume 30, Number 2, Summer 2019 | Page 95

Popular Culture Review 30.2
Finally , electronic word-of-mouth ( eWOM ) has inherent limitations as a data source ( as on-line reviews are well known to be skewed�written by either highly satisfied or extremely disappointed customers ). However , star ratings aside , because reviews are usually unsolicited , they can offer researchers insight into visitor ’ s experiences in a particular destination without any influence from the researcher ( Xiang and Gretzel 180 ). Additionally , to gather this type of data in person , spanning such a range of dates , times , and visitor types , would be both prohibitively time-consuming and quite expensive . Thus , eWOM reviews provide researchers with an easily accessible place to start examining how visitors conceptualize a specific tourist attraction ( Owens 40 ). Nonetheless , more research , using other methodologies , is needed to confirm the findings of this study and to explore how the role of literature may differ from literary site to literary site . Additionally , both in this study and previous studies , visitors expressed a desire to seek out related texts after having visited the literary site ( Seaman 190 ), yet little is known about this phenomenon . The potential for tourism to spark an interest in and understanding of literature could be of use to educators worldwide and is therefore worthy of scholarly attention . Finally , if literature is not central to the literary tourism experience , what drives this enduringly popular niche form of tourism ?
WORKS CITED
Akehurst , Gary . “ User generated content : The use of blogs for tourism organizations and tourism consumers .” Service Business , vol . 3 , no . 1 , 2009 , p . 51 .
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