User-Generated Content as a Research Mode in Tourism and Hospitality Applications: Topics, Methods, and Software

The rapid growth of information generated by consumers of tourism and hospitality services calls for a systematic review of how user-generated content (UGC) has been applied in tourism and hospitality research. This study surveyed 122 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings that used UGC as a data source. The study investigates (a) the scope of the tourism and hospitality issues that are addressed using available UGC; (b) the methods that have been applied to UGC data to achieve research objectives; and (c) the software that has been used to collect UGC and extract information from large UGC data sets. The study also presents the emerging topics and challenges in UGC research.