Sentiment analysis of online destination image of Hong Kong held by mainland Chinese tourists

Online user-generated data are useful to researchers and practitioners to investigate an online destination image, which contributes significantly to the development of a tourism destination brand. However, finding an effective and efficient way to analyse big data remains a key challenge in the tourism industry. This study aims to figure out Hong Kong’s online destination image from reviews of tourism websites by mainland Chinese tourists. Precisely 72,284 online reviews from three tourism websites in mainland China were selected and analysed with the help of data mining and sentiment analysis. The key findings demonstrate that Chinese tourists have an optimistic image of Hong Kong; mainland tourists are of the view that Hong Kong’s weather is both hot and stuffy, Hong Kong houses pleasant and convenient yet small hotels, together with authentic yet expensive food, convenient shopping with a good night view, friendly locals, clean and lively atmosphere and also poor service. Overall, the sentiments, manifested online by mainland tourists about Hong Kong’s tourism industry, are positive although this group also observed some negative factors. This paper deepens the understanding of the destination image of Hong Kong, while noting substantial implications for both tourism management and the authorities.