Analysing spatial and temporal patterns of tourism and tourists' satisfaction in Nepal using social media

Information on where and when tourists go and what they value about their visits is important when promoting, planning, and managing destinations, particularly for countries reliant on international tourism income. Metadata from social media posts are starting to be used to monitor tourism but are they useful at larger scale across developing countries such as Nepal? Here we test how social media can provide insights using timestamped geolocated data and text from photographs on Flickr in Nepal. Based on posts by 3223 people, equivalent to 18,817 visitor days (Photo-User-Days), tourists to Nepal mainly visit two cities (Kathmandu and Pokhara) and four protected areas (Annapurna Conservation Area, Sagarmatha, Langtang, and Chitwan National Park), and mostly in autumn and spring, which is similar to the results from the limited official tourism statistics. An Importance-Performance Analysis of the text associated with the photographs revealed culture and natural landscapes were important to tourists although some people expressed dissatisfaction with specific attributes. These findings highlight the importance of diversifying tourism in Nepal by promoting other destinations, as well as additional natural and cultural attractions, and new activities including outside peak seasons. They also highlight the need to manage tourism in peak periods in popular destinations and to better address tourists' preferences and experiences. More broadly, the results highlight the benefits of social media data for monitoring tourism in developing countries but also emphasize important limitations with such data, including inadequate representation on Flickr of some cohorts including tourists from China. Management implications: Social media is increasingly used in tourism research but studies to date are focused on a few developed countries. This study demonstrates how social media data can be used to assess spatial and temporal patterns in tourism and analyse tourists' sentiments and satisfaction in developing countries such as Nepal. The findings highlight that Nepalese tourism is mostly limited to a few destinations, focused on a few attributes and times. Expansion to other destinations and seasons, additional natural and cultural attractions and new activities should be promoted to improve tourist satisfaction and minimize negative impacts of tourism.