Amongst Indonesian portfolio destinations, nature tourism has a dominant share of 35%, including marine tourism (35%), eco-tourism (45%), and adventure tourism (20%) (www.kemenpar.go.id). Adventure tourism, notwithstanding that it has less dominance than the nature destination portfolio (20%), has the fastest growth compared with other tourism industries since adventure tourism have contributed 67% of adventure tourists expenditure spending in the destination visited (Adventure Travel Trade Association; www.jawapos.com).
The consumption potential is also supported by a shift in the consumption perspective, as people are now spending more on leisure, experience, entertainment, and tourism. This shift is marked by people who are turning to the consumption of experience. A person’s prestige status is no longer a matter of owning luxury goods, but of experience and adventure.
Although the nature tourism industry has been highly promising and supported by the shifting of consumption patterns and technology in social media activities, there are still few studies that have investigated determining factors, including electronic word of mouth activity by tourists. Social media is the main impetus in fulfilling tourist needs. Popular tourist destination options enable signaling for tourists about the quality of tourist destinations.
The popularity of tourist destinations will be a reference or signal to visitors of the tourist destination as a consumable experience including uniqueness, novelty, quality, perceived value by visitors (Kim & Chung, 1997; Dean, 1999; Erdem, 1998).
Thus, if tourists receive information about a destination that is supported by many people, it will be considered to reflect the choice of quality tourist destinations. Conversely, if the tourists who visit unpopular tourist destinations feel that it is a riskier choice than those that are popular, then the more popular tourist destinations will be able to increase the value that tourists will feel.
From the perspective of the tourism industry, tourist experience will affect tourist EWOM activities. Research on EWOM that is influenced by the value of experience has been widely done, Nina & Sara, (2016); Prebensen et al., (2013); Williams & Soutar, (2009), the perceived experience value is functional, conditional, social, emotional, and epistemic value. The value of experience includes interactions that give relative preference to the individuals involved. Therefore, the perception of the value of experience, especially regarding holidays, involves tourists who participate in the creation of value. Research by Williams et al., (2017) that emotional value and novelty are strong predictors of tourist satisfaction.
The experience value perceived by tourists can be in unidimensional form. In this context, perceived value often refers to indicators of emotional and novelty value. Tourists who feel proud, comfortable, happy, and confident felt emotional value and will ultimately make an impact on EWOM activities.
The development of internet-based electronic media platforms has given a developmental impact on community activities, especially EWOM activities, by making comments, reviews, sharing images on the media. Based on the description that has been presented, the importance of understanding the destination service providers for improving E-WOM. Often E-WOM is associated with the value perceived by the consumer’s internal side. Therefore, a new perspective in the service sector of tourist destinations. Service providers to be superior and different from adventure tourism destinations by emphasizing the internal side of consumers and external consumers. Increased E-WOM activity by tourists can be the popularity of destinations, conspicuous tendencies, value experiences.
The results of this study enable the provision of managerial contributions, including the variable of conspicuous tendencies activities that has the greatest influence both on the value perceived by tourists and electronic word of mouth activities. Managers of tourist destinations also need to manage adventure tourism destinations, can. In mediation relations, tourism managers must pay attention to the important role of the value that will be given to tourists. A value perceived by tourists is able to encourage the value perceived by visitors.
Author: Dien Mardhiyah
Detail of this article available at:
https://www.ijicc.net/images/vol11iss1/11139_Hartini_2020_E_R.pdf
Sri Hartini, Dien Mardhiyah, Sukaris Sukaris. 2020. Determinant of E-WOM: Popularity Destination, Value and Conspicuous Tendency regarding Adventure Tourism. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net Volume 11, Issue 1.
