Title: Dynamics of Punjab state's tourist image: a social media analytics perspective

Authors: Viput Ongsakul; Tanveer Kajla; Uju Violet Alola; Sahil Raj; Tran Tien Khoa

Addresses: NIDA Business School, National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok, 10240, Thailand ' School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, 147002, India ' Tourism Management, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul, 34310, Turkey ' School of Management Studies, Punjabi University Patiala, Punjab, 147002, India ' International University, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, 100000, Vietnam

Abstract: This study is based on a research project funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR-IMPRESS). This research examined the dynamics of Punjab State's tourist image from the standpoint of Social Media Analytics. This study analyses data available over social media platforms such as Twitter and TripAdvisor, for analysing user generated contents. The social media data was pre-processed for removing unwanted data which does not contribute to the analysis and reduces the accuracy of the results. By probing techniques such as "Word Cloud, Keyword Frequency Counts and Word Association", this study is able to find various motivations for popularity of Punjab State's tourist attractions among its consumers (tourists). Punjab State's destination management organisations, its leaders and managers could benefit from our analysis. The findings provide suggestions on how to market the state's tourist attractions across the country and the world at large more strategically in the foreseeable future.

Keywords: social media; twitter; TripAdvisor; social media analytics; word cloud; tourist image; Punjab state; India.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2021.116721

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2021 Vol.14 No.3, pp.408 - 428

Received: 03 Apr 2021
Accepted: 07 Apr 2021
Published online: 30 Jul 2021 *

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